Map Meme and Tea Musings

[omorka]

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My tea collection is getting rather large (again). I should take another comprehensive survey at some point.

I'm not a very good tea snob. Tea snobs drink first-flush Pu-erh with no adulterants, or an estate Darjeeling, same. I add sugar or honey and either half-and-half or (more often) a wedge of lemon to pretty much all my teas. I am also entirely too fond of frou-frou flavored teas, things with dried raspbery bits and hibiscus blossoms and slivers of vanilla bean jumbled amongst the tea leaves. I am, in fact, Republic of Tea's bitch. Having said that, of the three "traditional" flavored teas - jasmine, lapsang souchong, and Earl Grey - I'm really only fond of jasmine. Lapsang souchong tastes like creosote. And most Earl Greys have more bergamot than I can handle. (There's a related, more recent family called the Lady Greys that have less bergamot, and usually a little lemon or orange peel, and I do enjoy those, in particular Stash's Empress Grey. RoT's Earl Greyer is way, way too strong for me.)

Moreover, while I'm fond of most greens, and black tea is what I was raised on, I'm just not really developing a taste for oolongs. I kind of like Ti Quan Yin, if I'm in the right mood, but otherwise most oolongs taste vaguely astringent. Which doesn't make sense, right? An oolong is just halfway between green and black. I do like rooibos, although I wish people would stop calling it red tea - it's its own plant, not Camellia sinensis at all. And I also tend to like it better gussied up with citrus peel or spice.

Anyway, my current favorite is Mighty Leaf's Orange Dulce, which has orange, a bit of bergamot, and vanilla. Not a morning tea, though - not enough caffeine to wake you up. More of an after-dinner or midafternoon tea with cookies.

Comments

[lolleeroberts.livejournal.com]

If you like teas then take a road trip to Java Coffee and Tea at Fondren and Westheimer. They have a website too.

http://www.javacoffee.com/

They have all sorts of bulk teas, quite reasonable. Lots of blacks,
greens and flavored teas. Herbal teas too. They ship, and the cost for Texas delivery is cheaper than the gas to get to them. I get my coffee and tea within 3 business days. (Not affiliated, just a happy customer, yadda, yadda.)

I'm with you on the Tea snobs. I like an Assam or Darjeeling with some sweetener and a bit of milk or cream. I like lemon in Ice tea - an abomination to tea snobs but mother's milk to someone raised in the South. And while I'm not crazy about flavored coffees, flavored teas can be quite tasty. I like the Lady Greys better, just like you, and I enjoy the cinnamon/orange peel Constant Comment style blends, especially on really cold mornings.

We'll have to have you out sometime for tea and scones with Devonshire cream. And little finger sandwiches. I'll get down my English bone china teapot and cups. We can all wear hats.

[lasarina.livejournal.com]

Same here. I always adulterate mine - not a big lemon fan, unless having throat issues. Cream or half-n-half or milk if I have to, occasionally without. Choice of sweetener depends on mood, and tea of course. I loved a green, jasmine and ginger that Border's had only at the holidays called Resolution, but the @#$%%^ discontinued making it ::sob:: I have to have my blacks. I can't drink coffee for caffeine without major pain and digestive issues, so I really prefer teas. Love, love love darjeeling, cannot hack the Greys (but the bergamot is wonderful in body wash - The Body Shop uses it in some) but my ultimate comfort tea? Constant Comment, turbinado sugar or honey and cream. I also do a "fake" chai with it and pumpkin pie spice.

[nebanebet.livejournal.com]

I love rooibos. To me it tastes just like Froot Loops, which makes me giggle. :)