Any tea drinkers?

[Joeywhat]

I *much* prefer coffee, and in the winter my coffee intake goes WAY up. In the summer, I limit myself to two cups in the morning, and once in a great while, a cup at night (regular, not decaf and I still sleep just fine, thank you very much!).

In the summer, I also drink a good bit of ICED tea--but for a born & bred southerner, I'm an oddity, as I do NOT like my iced tea sweetened at all. Most of the folks around here really want iced tea SYRUP--they drink it so sweet it would make me gag!
Anyway--I'm not much of a hot tea drinker. I absolutely ADORE the *idea* of drinking hot tea and I get on these kicks where I decide to start drinking it. But so far, I have not found a tea and/or mix-in combination that I can say I truly enjoy. I've tried various types of teas (nothing too exotic though, I confess--mostly whatever the boys have bought and left at the house), I've tried it with a bit of honey, with milk, with Agave. Some of those things bring it a LITTLE closer to palatable to me, but in the end, I just don't really enjoy it as much as I WANT to enjoy it, and I end up within two weeks just giving up and drinking coffee instead.

What don't you like about it? Could be that you're steeping too hot and/or too long, causing it to be way too bitter...or maybe tea just isn't your bag. I've been brewing my Oolong 5 times before tossing, and each time it gets a little mellower. First brew is typically very strong (but I don't mind strong tea), and it mellows considerably after that...doesn't really taste the same as just not using less tea, either. So it could be that you need to steep it a couple times to get the taste you like.

 

[molested_cow]

Fun fact: Tea really absorbs flavors. If you leave tea leaves in the same container as other food, the tea leaves will absorb the smell of the food and you will actually taste it when you make tea out of it. For example, if you store your tea leaves in the fridge with say... garlic, the tea will taste like garlic, even if you store the leaves in sealed vacuum bag.

If you don't want your leaves to smell weird, store it in a place where the air flows free and low humidity. For me, I store my tea in the dry cabinet along with my camera gears. So far I have yet to taste my camera in my tea!

That said, here people like to place a tea bag on the speaker side of a desk telephone, so it doesn't smell like bad breathe.

 

[IByte]

Coffee in the morning, tea bagging in the evening with a twist of real lemon. Republic of Teas is my favorite brand.

 

[Kazooie]

tea bagging in the evening with a twist of real lemon.

I... don't think that means what you think it does.

 

[bc_steve]

Yes, and you've reminded me that I need to get a teapot where I am right now. Haven't had tea in a while.

My favourite is lemongrass, which I am growing in the garden right now, so I really should get myself a teapot. Green tea and white tea are nice as well. When I was in India I really got into the chai tea and the kashmiri khawa, both incredible (there are many bastardizations of chai in North America, but a good cup can still be had). I really got into cardamon over there too, and last time I was at my parents I had an excellent tea with a mix of ingredients including lemongrass and cardamon, and I think cinnamon and a few others.

When I first started making tree I definitely made the mistake of steeping it for too long. If you are getting loose tea from a store that specializes in that, they should tell you or write on the bag how much tea to use and how long to steep it for. Often it is only 1-4 minutes depending on the tea.

 

[Aden8100]

I am also tea drinker. ​According to recent research, water and green tea is the best way to lose your weight. I took 8 to 12 glasses of water gradually and 2 to 3times cup of tea in a day. And now I feel much difference in my weight.

 

[HappyStar]

I drink green tea every day. It helps to have a healthy life and good in weight lose.