Tea

evercloserunion

Is there any major difference in quality between teabags and loose tea? Or are there even different types of more or less "real" tea available?

You know, like you have instant coffee, but for "real" coffee you need to at least get ground beans which haven't just been freeze-dried and then depending on the level of freshness you want you can grind and even roast yourself.

Is tea like this?

rockbeer

Kind of.

You have the kind of tea that goes in Barry's and PG Tips tea bags. That's bascially the sweepings off the factory floor, strong, bitter and only palatable with milk and often sugar.

That's more or less the same stuff that goes in poor quality loose leaf.

Then you have proper estate tea, of which there are lots of varieties of varying character and quality: Assam, Darjeeling (the 'champagne' of tea), Nilgiri etc., and all the Chinese ones I don't know much about. Anything with any of those names on the box will be way better in quality than generic 'tea'. There are blends too, ad different leaf types - you'll see terms like orange pekoe and first flush used to describe different types and harvests.

It's just as complex as the coffee world once you get into it, but to most people tea is just tea. Best to get a book or read up online if you really want to learn about it.

Abeyance

I agree ... most standard tea bags use tea of quite a poor quality and some to require a lot of milk or sugar to "kill" the bitter taste ..

I suppose tea and coffee are similar to wines .. "real" tea is great and can easily be drank without milk or sugar .. but the flavour of a tea is largely dependant on the type of leaf and the time of year it was harvested ... again exactly like the vineyard location and species of grape used in wines.

The main problem i personally have with tea is that as a tea-aholic I find it very hard to source a good quality loose tea so usually end up with tea bags .. In my opinion the best of which is lyons ( red box pyramid bags ) ..

If you were to buy several different teas, even if all from the same company, and taste each without milk or sugar you would be able to tell the difference.

The difference in quality between various companies is huge. There is only one brand of tea I like but everyone has their personal preferences, either what they are used to or like the best from what they have tried.

But as a tea drinker for the last 16 odd years I have to say, what ever you do stay well away from the english teas and "morning" teas ... they are just plain terrible !!!

Mr Magnolia

I'd agree with opinions voiced above.

Abeyance wrote: »

The main problem i personally have with tea is that as a tea-aholic I find it very hard to source a good quality loose tea so usually end up with tea bags .. In my opinion the best of which is lyons ( red box pyramid bags ) ..

Do you shop online for your teas?

But as a tea drinker for the last 16 odd years I have to say, what ever you do stay well away from the english teas and "morning" teas ... they are just plain terrible !!!

D'ya think? Coming from a house that would have (and still does) drink the likes of Lyons some of the breakfast teas are decent imho. What type of tea would you normally go for or recommend?

Gran Hermano

Abeyance wrote: »

I have to say, what ever you do stay well away from the english teas and "morning" teas ... they are just plain terrible !!!

As an infrequent tea drinker, one of the types I do like is English Breakfast
Tea. I like my tea full bodied and malty - coming from coffee drinking I find
the body of most teas to light. Hasbean stock a Belfast Breakfast Tea which
is extra malty and M&S stock an extra strong loose tea - now if I'm in the
mood for a spot of Rosie Lee I'll brew up either of those.

Abeyance

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Do you shop online for your teas?

Aye but have to be honest and say most of the time I dont bother .. I do treat myself to a nice "oolong" tea every now and then .. The main problem is boiling water destroys the flavor of oolong tea .. idealy it shud be brewed at a few degrees below boiling 80 - 90 ish, so its hard to guage + brewing it in a spring water helps to bring out the flavour more ( probably the fluride in tap water that ruins the taste )

(Oolong is a strange sort of tea .. unlike Black or green tea it improves each time you use the leaves .. some say the 3rd or 4th time you brew from the leaves is the best .. its initially quite bitter but has a sweet aftertaste)

As for breakfast teas I suppose I just find them bland .. to the extent that you can taste the water .. if that makes any sense

Darjeeling tea is quite a nice tea .. its a Black tea and has a somewhat rosey flavour.

Pu-erh tea is an aged tea ... like a fine wine its a rich flavour and can be steeped to preference strong or week its very full bodied and doesnt suffer from that bitter taste of black or green teas that have been brewed for too long .. Only problem is as an aged tea it accumulates a lot of "tea dust" so you have to remember to rinse it in boiling water before actually making the tea ( I hate all the bits in the tea ^^ if i wanted bits i'd drink Fanta ^^ )

But as i said i treat myself to some every now and then but usually its plain old Lyons Gold Blend meduim - strong with a little milk and one level sugar ..

tonyfelloni

I love tea... 10 cups a day all the way!

My favourite is a brand called the hearth of africa it's a fair trade one but really good. Same price as normal tea too.

Used to be sold in Superquinn but not sure if thats the case anymore, I know tesco used also to sell it.

T

Think it's time for a cuppa!

FTGFOP

Has anyone been into Gurman's tea in Cork city? It's on Fenns Quay.

Abeyance

cant say I have tbh ... it worth a visit ?

FTGFOP

I went in myself recently and I was fairly impressed. I would say that if you're near the city at all then it's definitely worth a visit.
It's a small shop that does loose leaf tea. According to the girl working there (who may the owner, I don't know), Gurman's is a franchise of a Lithuanian tea & coffee company. She sounded like she might be Lithuanian herself and seemed fairly into her tea (and not just working there, which is why I think she's the owner).

She had a large selection, all kept in tins and not glass pots which is something I like to see. I was in a rush when I was going by but I know she had a lot of green teas and a few examples of the black teas I was interested in. I came away with an FTGFOP Assam, which was pretty posh and the cheaper of two Ceylons she had. I was pretty blown away by the Assam, which was light and powerful at the same time, if that's not nonsense. As for the Ceylon, although my favourite tea is Assam I find myself drinking the Ceylon I got in the shop more often than I usually would with Ceylon, it's usually something I would only drink in the afternoon and then not more than a cup in any one sitting before I'd get tired of it but this one I got was smooth enough that a few mornings now I've had three cups straight with no milk and no sugar in healthy contrast to the way I like my Assam.

Anywho, I tried for ages to get a website for the company, having trouble because Gurman's is the name of this Lithuanian company's tea & coffee line rather than the company itself, but eventually I found one. The English version doesn't seem to be much more than a placeholder but the Lithuanian version has lots of information about their products which include examples of Oolong and Pu-erh. I was only in and out quickly so I can't tell you if this outlet has any/many Oolongs and Pu-erhs, but from the website the company definitely sells them in some outlets. I reckon I'll go back there again in a week or two and when I do I'll keep an eye out for those types and re-post then so you can weigh up whether it'd be worth a visit for you.

I could get used to having a tea shop of this calibre nearby, but I have to say I'm worried it won't be there for very long. For one thing there's the recession and for another I'm not sure (enough) Irish people are interested in fine teas -despite us being the per capita biggest consumers of tea generally. I wasn't exactly cheered up looking around this website, where the number of threads on coffee dwarf those on tea and on top of that a lot of the tea threads are about the best way to squeeze a tea bag and a teapot is an extravagance. By comparison the coffee threads are excellent with lots of information and strong opinions -and, after reading them, I'm even considering a burr grinder! Perhaps I'm wrong, and this little shop will thrive because the country’s legion fine tea drinkers are mostly luddites who, therefore, don't have a strong web presence but if I'm not it's a shame since enjoying great tea requires a fraction of the effort as enjoying great coffee does.

If you're really bored here's a one-word-at-a-time translator.

banshee_bones

Personally Assam for me anyway kicks ass, its a good strong tea, friend of mine mixes it with a "regular" loose leaf tea because it can be a bit intense on its own!

I also like earl grey, quite mild and fruity. I love experimenting and trying out all different types of tea.

FTGFOP

banshee_bones wrote: »

Personally Assam for me anyway kicks ass, its a good strong tea, friend of mine mixes it with a "regular" loose leaf tea because it can be a bit intense on its own!

I also like earl grey, quite mild and fruity. I love experimenting and trying out all different types of tea.

Rock on, brotha Sistah!
I'm trying to think when I got into tea in a bigger way than dunking a teabag and I think it might have been picking up some Twinnings' Early Grey in the supermarket. I wasn't crazy about it, and I still haven't met an Early Grey I really like but it did make me want to try the Twinnings' Pure Assam written about on the back of the box. The supermarket only had the Earl Grey when I went back so I went to a little shop in my town that carries the sort of niche items that you won't get in the supermarket, and there I got some pure assam teabags by an English company whose stuff this shop carried. The owner said I'd get loose leaf if I called back another day, as well as putting me off Twinnings. Anyway, I liked the teabags and went on from there.
"The Brahmaputra Valley in north-east India", I love that, "Brahmaputra", the word *sounds* drinkable.

JIZZLORD

when it comes to tea i'm an assam man. but my day to day tea is barrys classic blend, both loose and in teabags. i often mix a bit of lapsang souchong in with the loose barrys to add flavour, though i've been doing it for 18 months i still haven't plucked up the courage to drink another cuppa with just lapsang souchong. it ads a nice smoky taste to my brew but on it's own it's intense...

evercloserunion

Well even though this thread was started out of pure curiosity I've decided I'm going to start trying some of the nicer teas as an alternative to coffee at night (coffee's still my poison during the day, but I need to start getting decent nights' sleep). I bought myself a packet of Twinings mint tea (I know it's technically not tea but an infusion) and I'm hooked on the stuff, it's sooooooo good. Nice for unwinding too.

I heard Twinings do a multi-pack of nice teas, is this true?

FTGFOP

I went back to the shop a couple of weeks ago and they definitely have examples of oolong and pu-erh. They had a 'milk oolong' which is just tea but apparently has a milky flavour, so that's kinda cool, and they had a 'ginseng oolong' but I think that's a blend of tea and ginseng rather than an oolong with a ginseng quality.
They had pu-erhs as well but I forget exactly what kinds they had, I'm not sure they had any that weren't mixed with herbal ingredients.
Pu-erh has to be bottom of my must-try-these-teas list, it's kinda scary.

Abeyance, since you're in Wexford you're probably a more frequent visitor of Dublin than Cork, where I'd say you'd have a good few tea shops to choose from, but if you do find yourself in Cork you have a better idea now whether this shop would be worth a visit for you.
Take it easy.

evercloserunion

FTGFOP, could you recommend any really nice teas? I presume from your posts you are fond of the Assam?

There is, AFAIK, a very good tea shop in the CHQ centre in the Dublin Docklands. I only glanced in but there's an entire wall lined with different kinds of tea.

darjeeling

I must try the CHQ place - it looks promising, going by the website. I've long been on the lookout for somewhere that does good black Indian / Ceylon / Russian Caravan etc loose-leaf tea at an honest price.

I used to go to Bewleys, but their loose-leaf tea is nothing special. Fallon & Byrne, similar - expensive little French tins, and an intermittent & not huge selection of bag-your-own.

I got a present of some of the new Twinings 'Tea Deli' 2nd flush Assam & 1st flush - and almost green - Darjeeling (was drinking it when I registered). Fairly outrageously good tea, but at a price. Unfortunately UK only, or on-line. Here, though, Twinings chewy 1706 has become my favourite bag brew.

.

friendface

I love tea and usually drink 8+ cups a day. However, I didn't know much about other teas than what I buy in the supermarket and having read a few of yer posts, now I feel like I am really missing out. I'm afraid I generally drink nothing other than Barry's tea with milk.

Can ye recommend a good shop/online store to get some decent quality tea? thanks.

friendface

Has anyone used this website http://www.houseoftea.ie/.

Was thinking of getting the 'Around the World' sampler set to try out a few of the different teas that are out there.

Fad

I bought some Lapsang souchong in Estonia for my mum (Dont worry I knew what I was doing) she stuck it in the press, everything smelt like bacon flavouring after. Not alarmingly pleasant.

I like tea, not hugely into it though, prefer tea.

FTGFOP

evercloserunion wrote: »

FTGFOP, could you recommend any really nice teas? I presume from your posts you are fond of the Assam?

There is, AFAIK, a very good tea shop in the CHQ centre in the Dublin Docklands. I only glanced in but there's an entire wall lined with different kinds of tea.

I am definitely fond of Assam, but since you like peppermint tea (I'm assuming without sugar) and you're going to be drinking tea as a substitute for coffee in the afternoon/night I'm going to say try their "Keemun Superior OP" (fifth from the bottom here).
Ask for 50g or 100g, or whatever their minimum is in case you don't like it. I think you will like it though, a few sips into the cup you'll start to notice a building sweetness on the tongue that makes it very easy to drink. It's a world away from Barry's/Lyons' tea too, whereas if I recommended an Assam, or, to lesser extent, a Ceylon you might find the differences a little underwhelming for your money.
So I say give the Keemun a whirl, brew it up one cup at a time to begin with, boiling water in a small teapot* (no tea ball or t-sacs, just use a strainer when you pour). Be generous with the tea and mean with the water, and keep the total brewing time** under four minutes, or let's say 3.5 to start, to make sure you're not 'looking' for the flavours through any harshness/tannin.

*If you don't have a teapot use a little milk jug or just another cup, cover with a saucer while it brews, and throw a tea towel over to keep the heat in. And on heat, scald your teapot/vessel and your cup so the tea's not lukewarm by the time you drink it.
**and I mean literally time it on your phone or your iPod, not just a rough guess from the wall clock or whatever.

How do you like your coffee? Black/with milk/(or is it espresso/latte?)? Dark roast/mild roast? Region pref? Bright/Cocoa-ey?
I might recommend other teas if I knew how you liked your coffee, I take it black so if I was looking for a tea to sub for a coffee it wouldn't be Assam, it would be something like a Ceylon/Kenyan that I would take without milk.
And the other question would be do you like barry's/lyon's/(brand you grew up with) tea to begin with?

p.s. no condescention intended re:tea prep. / teapot ownership, but the little things can make a nice tea taste like twig water just as easily as they can ruin your Jamaican Blue Mountain peaberry, and if you're young/a student/sharing a flat there's a good chance you don't have teapot ...or probably a little milk jug for that matter, oops.

maninasia

FTGFOP wrote: »

I went back to the shop a couple of weeks ago and they definitely have examples of oolong and pu-erh. They had a 'milk oolong' which is just tea but apparently has a milky flavour, so that's kinda cool, and they had a 'ginseng oolong' but I think that's a blend of tea and ginseng rather than an oolong with a ginseng quality.
They had pu-erhs as well but I forget exactly what kinds they had, I'm not sure they had any that weren't mixed with herbal ingredients.
Pu-erh has to be bottom of my must-try-these-teas list, it's kinda scary.

Abeyance, since you're in Wexford you're probably a more frequent visitor of Dublin than Cork, where I'd say you'd have a good few tea shops to choose from, but if you do find yourself in Cork you have a better idea now whether this shop would be worth a visit for you.
Take it easy.

These teas are actually all variations of Chinese teas and it's funny that they are being imported by a Lithuanian company. Oolong tea is famous , mostly grown in the high mountains of Taiwan, it has a unique characteristic for a Chinese tea being semi-fermented and giving it a lovely reddish colour, it's strong dry but fresh tasting and a little sweet ...Oolong tea was a sensation when introduced into England over 150 years ago from Taiwan and China. Puer is made from wild tea trees or from a special variety of tea tree. Real Puer tea is extremely expensive so it's often the fake stuff found in shops.

FTGFOP

friendface wrote: »

I love tea and usually drink 8+ cups a day. However, I didn't know much about other teas than what I buy in the supermarket and having read a few of yer posts, now I feel like I am really missing out. I'm afraid I generally drink nothing other than Barry's tea with milk.

Can ye recommend a good shop/online store to get some decent quality tea? thanks.

I can recommend Taylors/Bettys, (they're the same company), ordered from them lots of times.
Haven't ever ordered from Houseoftea, but they're the same guys as Evercloserunion is talking about having a shop in the CHQ building.

banshee_bones

FTGFOP wrote: »

Rock on, brotha Sistah!
I'm trying to think when I got into tea in a bigger way than dunking a teabag and I think it might have been picking up some Twinnings' Early Grey in the supermarket. I wasn't crazy about it, and I still haven't met an Early Grey I really like but it did make me want to try the Twinnings' Pure Assam written about on the back of the box. The supermarket only had the Earl Grey when I went back so I went to a little shop in my town that carries the sort of niche items that you won't get in the supermarket, and there I got some pure assam teabags by an English company whose stuff this shop carried. The owner said I'd get loose leaf if I called back another day, as well as putting me off Twinnings. Anyway, I liked the teabags and went on from there.
"The Brahmaputra Valley in north-east India", I love that, "Brahmaputra", the word *sounds* drinkable.

ha ha thanks! it was actually that friend who mixes the assam and loose that got me into proper tea! then i bought the teatime rocks dilmah tea infuser! Love it! Now i have an entire shelf in my press dedicated to tea! Peppermint, Jasmine, Assam, Earl Grey,Ceyleon,oh and regular barrys teabags!

Mr.Boots

As far as im concerened Suki Tea is one of the best out there, its all we use in my place...and its an irish company also which is great!!!

http://www.suki-tea.com

paddyenglishman

i used house of tea a while ago .Good service ,good product .
I'm an assam man myself ,i try not to drink anything else . i recommend this one , its expensive but its good Assam SFTGFOP1 "Mokalbari" And i agree with FFGFOP learn to make it properly ,its well worth it besides its good to an obsessive about some things tea , Good Food ....... goats .. i digress

friendface wrote: »

Has anyone used this website http://www.houseoftea.ie/.

Was thinking of getting the 'Around the World' sampler set to try out a few of the different teas that are out there.

Pericles

FTGFOP, I'll second your recommendation of Gurman's. I live up the road from them and I've been in there loads since they opened before Christmas, and I love them. Some fantastic pure and speciality teas (I'm drinking a pot of Lapsang Souchong tea now, yum yum), although the owner (the black-haired Lithuanian girl) seems to prefer flavoured teas, which I'll admit don't do it for me.

I, too, am worried that the place will go out of business, but they seem to have some govt funding (Heritage council, or something) and they're selling to a fairly captive (if small) market, so you never know. They do sell coffee too: mostly flavoureds, which are lovely (especially the Irish Cream) but also some normal stuff. I don't know anything about coffee though so they could all be rank to the connoisseur!

As well as the Assam, which is great (we're typically Irish, that's the main ingredient of Irish Breakfast tea IIRC ), their Darjeeling and Lapsang Souchong teas are my favourites. They have allsorts though, it was interesting to try some Yerba Mate for the first time.

EDIT: Hmm, just realised that was my very first post – I obviously don't work for Gurman's, etc! I'd just never seen the Tea & Coffee board before.

Assets Model

Suki tea: http://www.suki-tea.com/opencontent/default.asp?itemid=1&guid=86F070E9-AFD0-4ECB-9F10-1856F1B60ED1 is a very good website but they don't stock japanese green tea which is a pity.

luap_42

Not sure if this thread is dead or not, so here goes.

Tea bags = Tea dust. There may be some good brands, but why bother navigating which is the best dust and least offensive bag (bleached). If you want to taste tea, drink it loose and black. Like Guinness the water is critical. If you have awful tasting tap water, you won't get a great cup of tea from it, so use a filter jug and maybe it'll improve the taste. If you have good water and good loose tea then you can begin.

A tea pot is best, but loose tea in a cup strainer is still far superior to any tea bag/dust. Empty the kettle completely, if it's full of limescale, then descale it as that also affects the taste. Use fresh (unboiled) water only. Let the kettle boil completely and then allow it to settle for 10-30 seconds. Do not use water on the boil or you'll scald the tea. When it has settled after boiling, make the tea according to the strength you like. If you want to actually taste the tea correctly, drink it black and not too strong. Milk and sugar alter the flavour and ensure you are drinking a different drink.

Barry's Gold Blend loose tea is their best quality every day blend, provided you drink your tea black (as originally intended), and is a nice golden coloured blend of Kenyan and Assam. Won a tea blending award in 1934. Beats anything that Lyons produce hands down. On the other hand I can't touch any other blend from Barry's either.

Personally I mix Barry's Gold Blend loose tea with Twinings Earl Grey loose tea in a 2/3 to 1/3, or 3/4 to 1/4 mix. Been doing it for 8 years now. Invented by Tasmanian friends of mine who were literally renting a shack in Greystones back then, hence the tea is named The Shack Blend, Shack Tea etc. It has a fresh taste from the Earl Grey and a nice medium strong taste from the Barry's Gold Blend.

Strangely I can't get Twinings Earl Grey loose tea in any shops now. Tried Bewleys Earl Grey, absolute kak. So I'll probably have to start looking for an alternative, feckin' supermarkets are stocked full of tea dust and hardly anything else. They are CRETINS of the highest order.

Another great, great tea, is Arabic style tea, aka Mint Tea. This can be fresh mint with either loose green tea (Moroccan), or loose black tea (elsewhere). Traditionally it is full of sugar and drunk in small glasses, always black, but is really nice with no sugar as you can really taste the mint. Unfortunately the Arabs and most of Asia tend to use only Liptons teabags. There are so many varieties of mint, you could spend a year trying out all the variations, but good fresh mint is a must.

banshee_bones

luap_42 wrote: »

Like Guinness the water is critical. If you have awful tasting tap water, you won't get a great cup of tea from it, so use a filter jug and maybe it'll improve the taste. If you have good water and good loose tea then you can begin.

Wow i suppose its common sense but i never ever thought about this! Living in Galway the water was always questionable! ha ha

luap_42 wrote: »

Barry's Gold Blend loose tea is their best quality every day blend, provided you drink your tea black (as originally intended), and is a nice golden coloured blend of Kenyan and Assam. Won a tea blending award in 1934. Beats anything that Lyons produce hands down. On the other hand I can't touch any other blend from Barry's either.

Lyons is kak, their teabags are worse! I mix the assam and loose tea myself aswell.

luap_42 wrote: »

Personally I mix Barry's Gold Blend loose tea with Twinings Earl Grey loose tea in a 2/3 to 1/3, or 3/4 to 1/4 mix. Been doing it for 8 years now. It has a fresh taste from the Earl Grey and a nice medium strong taste from the Barry's Gold Blend.

Wow i never would have thought of doing that as i regard earl Grey on its own as a nice light flavour! I must try that out!

luap_42 wrote: »

Another great, great tea, is Arabic style tea, aka Mint Tea. This can be fresh mint with either loose green tea (Moroccan), or loose black tea (elsewhere). Traditionally it is full of sugar and drunk in small glasses, always black, but is really nice with no sugar as you can really taste the mint. Unfortunately the Arabs and most of Asia tend to use only Liptons teabags. There are so many varieties of mint, you could spend a year trying out all the variations, but good fresh mint is a must.

Could not agree with you more, the smell alone of a few mint leaves in hot water is divine. I have the last of my Dilmah Morrocan Mint Green Tea and i have yet to get my hands on some more , so dissapointed our coffeshop chain in Galway that used to carry it have discontinued it i really love it!

Tea-a-Maria

If anyone's looking for a tea shop in Dublin,I've been to Le Palais des Thés on George Street and it is quite good.They sell both loose and bagged tea,as well as tea pots and books.They also give free samples.It's an expensive place mind.Still though,I love their Thé Des Amants,it's Christmas in a drink!:D