Tea

[DCM]

Do they sell Twinings Tea in the States?

Yes, they do. I just did a little grocery store Earl Grey taste test. Twinings was my favorite.

Their Earl Grey is also very tasty. I feel like a bit of a snob for recommending Twinings, as it's the one of the priciest of the tea brands here. Me and the missus have Yorkshire Tea as our go-to, everyday brand of tea. Personally, I always like to let my tea brew for at least 5 minutes, and preferably 10 to 15, always avoiding to squeeze the tea bag when removing it, as it tends to give the tea a bitter, tannin-y taste. And we always have it with milk, as is pretty much standard here in the UK.

[SpinyNorman]

Do they sell Twinings Tea in the States?

Yes, they do. I just did a little grocery store Earl Grey taste test. Twinings was my favorite.

Their Earl Grey is also very tasty. I feel like a bit of a snob for recommending Twinings, as it's the one of the priciest of the tea brands here. Me and the missus have Yorkshire Tea as our go-to, everyday brand of tea. Personally, I always like to let my tea brew for at least 5 minutes, and preferably 10 to 15, always avoiding to squeeze the tea bag when removing it, as it tends to give the tea a bitter, tannin-y taste. And we always have it with milk, as is pretty much standard here in the UK.

I picked up a Twinings black tea sampler over the weekend. It has English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey and Lady Grey. I just made myself a cup of Lady Grey to get through the rest of the afternoon. It's tasty.

[Allentown]

tea bag

? I've always heard either a fixed-size vessel or just letting the leaves settle was better than bags, because even a generous bag ends up preventing the leaves from fully blooming. Am I wrong in this? What kind of bags do you use?

[BenM]

We Iike Twinings Irish Breakfast but don’t think it’s available in the UK ironically. Here in Aus it’s an easy supermarket pickup.

I always infuse it for ages too and squeeze the bag out when removing.

[tersh]

I am a drinker of tea in the Chinese style, with very brief steeps, high tea:water ratio. I only have two Yixing tea pots so far, but that's just because I'm poor. My preferences tend towards darker stuff. I like a lot of oolongs, and Puerh (cooked or pressed) is great. The PNW has many excellent tea shops, so lots of good things are available.

That said, I do still enjoy cheap black tea made in the European fashion too.

[DCM]

tea bag

? I've always heard either a fixed-size vessel or just letting the leaves settle was better than bags, because even a generous bag ends up preventing the leaves from fully blooming. Am I wrong in this? What kind of bags do you use?

The tea comes pre-packaged in individual, perforated tea bags, which you just place directly in your cup/mug of choice and then pour in boiling water. It's definitely not as good as brewing loose-leaf tea in a tea pot and then straining the brew through a fine-mesh tea strainer, but I drink 5-6 cups a day and am too lazy to always be cleaning out the tea pot.

[Skander]

I'm a fan of Red Rose (Canadian) for tea bag tea- it's equally good with and without milk. For fancier drinking I'm really loving keemun mao feng than I get online- but you really have to get the brew time on the nose for it to be its best. I like a good oolong too - I have these individual serving vacuum sealed packages my Chinese neighbors gave me as a present, but they're entirely in Chinese and so I have no idea where to get more...

[Skid]

I'm a fan of Red Rose (Canadian) for tea bag tea- it's equally good with and without milk. For fancier drinking I'm really loving keemun mao feng than I get online- but you really have to get the brew time on the nose for it to be its best. I like a good oolong too - I have these individual serving vacuum sealed packages my Chinese neighbors gave me as a present, but they're entirely in Chinese and so I have no idea where to get more...

My wife really likes the Red Rose brand too!

I was in China just over a year ago and went to a tea shop. Between my son and I we brought back a dozen large tins of different teas. I've just started drinking some of them after reading about the health benefits of green tea. I'm amazed by how good the tea tastes compared to the packaged green teas available in North America, or the tea commonly served in Chinese restaurants which can be bitter. It's naturally sweet with no bitterness whatsoever.

For a large cup I steep with 1 tablespoon of dry tea leaves. Takes a few seconds and done. Drinking some right now

[Allentown]

This is as good a place as any to ask:
I think I read somewhere that good, quality tea can & should be used multiple times, and different characteristics of the tea will be brought forward after multiple steepings. Did I make that up? Tagging @tersh because I think it's a by-product of the Chinese-style method he mentioned?

[Skander]

I find that works best for green teas. Black teas don't seem to double steep well for me.

[cgeorg]

It's absolutely a thing. Pu-erh and Oolong (both chinese) are a couple that are well known for it.

[tersh]

This is as good a place as any to ask:
I think I read somewhere that good, quality tea can & should be used multiple times, and different characteristics of the tea will be brought forward after multiple steepings. Did I make that up? Tagging @tersh because I think it's a by-product of the Chinese-style method he mentioned?

To build on the above: Yes. Absolutely. Experiencing the changing flavor profile as you move through the steeps is fun and interesting.

But! It depends on the tea, and how you steep it. Most black tea that you buy is processed in a way that means you should steep it once for the time on the box. In some cases (like PG Tips) it's strong enough that you can do a quick steep of a minute, minute thirty, and get another one out of the same tea bag. But most European tea is pulverized tea leaves, not whole leaves.

In contrast, I was drinking a silver needle white tea last night, and that steeps for a matter of five or so seconds, in ~180 water. You can easily produce ten (or more!) cups of tea that way, from the same leaves. Though I recommend making small volumes of tea this way using a small cup and strainer, gaiwan, or yixing teapot. It requires more tea leaves than you'd expect, and good tea expands quite a bit in volume as it wets. You'll also throw away the first steep for most teas, which is used just to "wake up" the tea leaves.

Most tea is processed towards some style of brewing. You can't really brew European tea like you would Chinese, and brewing Asian teas like its English Breakfast will produce something far stronger and astringent than the tea producer intended. I really like a lot of Rishi's tea, but they put terrible brewing instructions on most of it. Their cooked Puerh is really quite good, but steeping it for five minutes is not the best idea. Thirty seconds is far more appropriate.

[Skid]

@tersh, you seem like a tea connoisseur. As mentioned above, I brought back several types of tea back from China with me, but have no idea what types they are. Most are labeled XIHULONGJING, but there seems to be some variation even among these. Some have very flat pale leaves, and at the other end of the scale others are darker, almost black leaves that are twisted or curled. I assume these variations are all types of Longjing teas? Any comments on the different curing processes between the teas?

I received a tea gift from my hosts which is in a fancy display box that I haven't opened yet. It is labeled Yu Cang XI Hu Longjing. I also have some Hangzhou (which was the city where I bought the tea) White Chrysanthemum tea.

When I make these teas I briefly steep a tablespoon or so in a very fine strainer for may be 10 -15 seconds. Seems to be perfectly strong at that point. As you mentioned the tea leaves swell in size at least 3 times.

[Allentown]

So, buy a few teas, find one I like, buy a few oz of it, then experiment with how to make it. I've just got a tetsubin (yup, I had to look it up) that I've primarily used for black teas, if/when I make green tea I typically use a strainer. Now I want a gaiwan, though.

[tersh]

tersh, you seem like a tea connoisseur. As mentioned above, I brought back several types of tea back from China with me, but have no idea what types they are. Most are labeled XIHULONGJING, but there seems to be some variation even among these. Some have very flat pale leaves, and at the other end of the scale others are darker, almost black leaves that are twisted or curled. I assume these variations are all types of Longjing teas? Any comments on the different curing processes between the teas?

I don't know that I'd call myself a connoisseur. Certainly there is no end to the folks that know more than me. I've learned enough to be able to prepare tea well, but don't know much about growing regions, and I tend to stick to Puerh and Oolongs. Like many things Chinese, it's a very, very deep subject.

I honestly don't drink that much green, but Longjing can be really nice. I'd guess that the more oxidized (darker) leaves might be have been roasted considerably longer, but I'm not deep enough into that variety to be familiar with the various oxidization (sun/air curing, smoking, steaming, various roasting approaches, pile fermentation) approaches that might be used and have it still qualify as a Dragon Well. That's pretty awesome though, if you've got leaves from the same region and harvest time, with a range of processing types. Be a good way to look at how processing influences flavor.

I received a tea gift from my hosts which is in a fancy display box that I haven't opened yet. It is labeled Yu Cang XI Hu Longjing. I also have some Hangzhou (which was the city where I bought the tea) White Chrysanthemum tea.

When I make these teas I briefly steep a tablespoon or so in a very fine strainer for may be 10 -15 seconds. Seems to be perfectly strong at that point. As you mentioned the tea leaves swell in size at least 3 times.

Yeah, 10-15 seconds is plenty long. You might experiment with even briefer steeps, down to a five seconds or so. It's quite surprising how much flavor you can get out of a few seconds, and it can allow for the more delicate scents and flavors in the tea to be experienced.

[Allentown]

more delicate scents and flavors in the tea to be experienced.

OK, mister bourbon barbarian... (I couldn't recall the term you used after 3 seconds of reflection, and then barbarian got stuck in my head. Brute?)

[tersh]

more delicate scents and flavors in the tea to be experienced.

OK, mister bourbon barbarian... (I couldn't recall the term you used after 3 seconds of reflection, and then barbarian got stuck in my head. Brute?)

Brute. Brute is the word you're looking for.

And you'll note, I tend stick to heavier hitting teas, too. I like my Puerh to taste like dirt and funk.
If you steep those too long, the tannins overwhelm a lot of stuff.
But for whatever reason I am actually sensitive to the "floral" and "grassy" flavors that you find in teas. Maybe because it's a hot beverage?
I dunno.

[Hamburgerfan]

I don't know anything about tea but I like genmaicha.

[Allentown]

Well I was close at least, and got there eventually. Brain goblins.

[Idlehands]

@mgil
You like tea?

Gimmi your address, my buddy works for harny and sons tea and keeps bringing me tons of the stuff.
I'll mail you some with nudes etc.

hard or soft?