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Bees on Wheat posted:Yeah, I tend to just add dried jasmine flowers to my tea, so I can choose how floral to make it. Same with chrysanthemums, roses, and other flowers. I think I paid about $2 for 1.5oz of plain dried jasmine at a Chinese convenience store last time I bought tea there. Then a week later someone gave me a bag of the same stuff, from the same store, "in case your poo poo isn't floral enough". My friends know me so well. A restaurant here does a tea that's straight-up chrysanthemums and honey. It is amazing for a sore throat! I ought to try adding flowers to tea; I really like floral notes and usually just buy whatever jasmine green seems decent enough at the Asian market.
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Jan 12, 2017 02:30
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Captain Video posted:O-Cha started selling cooking-grade matcha for a price that was hard for me to pass up at least for the sake of science, and I'm quite interested in doing whatever the gently caress with it. A glaze for salmon, shortbread cookies, sauce for beef or chicken (or a marinade), make your own pasta with it as flavoring, a drizzle sauce to put on anything vaguely sweet or savory, granola, cheesecake, fruit salad, a stew or soup... I may come up with some more later, but matcha is a nice flavor and goes with almost anything. Next time you go for a meal, see if you imagine a way work it in!
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Mar 2, 2017 14:59
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Iced tea chat: I brew green tea double strength and then pour about a 12oz mug's worth into a 16oz glass full of ice. Sometimes I add some honey while it's hot, sometimes I add some mint leaves, or replace some of the ice with frozen berries, or all three. It is really nice in the summer! For iced tea, I use Bigelow's Organic Green Tea. It's supermarket, but it's Good Enough for icing. Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger makes for a fantastic iced herbal tea, too.
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May 13, 2017 03:46
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:Speaking of iced tea, any recommendations for types or specific teas work best iced? I love iced jasmine green tea. So much. The stuff from Adagio is fine for it. I also like the cherry herbal tea from there iced. And still standing by my grocery store green tea for iced tea. Bigelow Organic green tea, brewed double strength, makes a nice and cheap iced tea. It tastes like it's sencha. Maybe try some sencha to ice, too.
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May 16, 2017 01:25
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Part of it is the leaves themselves-- salmonella is a contamination concern.
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Jun 10, 2017 15:11
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I haven't been able to have caffeine for months for health reasons. I recently got the OK to have small amounts. I am at a 7:30am meeting after losing an hour to DST. This little packet of Bigelow Organic Green tastes like heaven. I can't wait to get back into green tea again.
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Mar 13, 2018 13:24
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What's a good oolong jasmine? I used to drink some stuff I got from one of the Asian grocery stores, but they have stopped carrying it sometime in the last 1.5 years I had to spend without caffeine. I picked up a sample of green jasmine from Adagio with my order of herbals and I don't know-- I think I need a stronger tea flavor than green to go with the jasmine scent.
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Apr 20, 2018 15:08
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theHUNGERian posted:Can anybody recommend a good source for a fruity and/or green tea for cold brewing? I looked at harney.com and I was overwhelmed by all the options. I've only ever tried hot teas from Trader Joes (which I find ok) and pre-bottled unsweetened cold green tea from "Pure Leaf" which I fond delicious. If you want to make a pitcher at a time, Adagio has pre-measured packs that you chuck in a quart of water and steep overnight, just like Lipton. All their green tea ones seem to be flavored, so that probably isn't a good option. I will say that their White Peach is delicious for what it is. Biomute posted:Green and fruity? I'd probably go with a Biluochun. Pi lo chun owns for iced tea; I got a big shipment of white monkey instead of it this spring and I am missing it. It's going in my next order for sure.
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Jul 1, 2018 23:26
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bitprophet posted:Agree. Also their CEO is apparently quite a scumbag (harassing LGBT employees, etc). Dang, I love their rooibos vanilla chai. I hate jerk CEOs more. Anybody have any good rooibos chai recommendations? I like Adagio's due to the lack of black pepper.
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Jul 24, 2018 19:37
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I really like the Upton chais, specifically the rooibos and masala. Looks like they have pepper on them, though I never noticed it getting in the way of other flavors. I also occasionally supplement it with fresh ground clove. That rooibos one does look pretty close and so does their spice-only blend. Worth a couple of samples! More tea is always good.
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Jul 24, 2018 19:53
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I've got 8 different samples of chai and chai-like rooibos coming from Upton and Harney & Sons. I look forward to logging all my sample notes and my kitchen counter being a mess of sample bags, just like when I was starting out. Now, why I've been craving a nice cup of hot chai on summer evenings I'll never know.
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Jul 25, 2018 02:46
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Oh, I'm getting close to replicating Adagio's rooibos vanilla chai! 1tsp Upton vanilla rooibos, 2tsp Upton chai namaste (a spice-only mix). Needs a bit more citrus and clove, but I can always add in some dried orange peels and cloves myself. I've been impressed with Upton's rooibos offerings. Nice big leaves, no dusty floor sweepings. Their unflavored stuff is nuanced and delicious. So during this chai-spice journey I also got a few samples from Harney & Sons, as I'm addicted to their Paris when I want a flavored black. It was not a great time. I've had a better cup of rooibos from Celestial Seasonings. Lots of tiny leaves, cinnamon without any flavor, everything just too mild to make an impression. I will give them this-- their Mulled Plum Cider smells like Christmas. (It does not taste like Christmas, as the chicory root aftertaste is not pleasant.)
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Aug 2, 2018 02:26
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david_a posted:Vahdam likes to throw in free samples in an order and this time tumeric was one of them. Has anybody had a tumeric tea? It does not sound appealing to me. Does it have other spices with it to make golden milk tea? Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, etc? If so it is delicious.
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Aug 3, 2018 00:07
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I had a chai spice whiskey and a black tea whiskey from a distillery in Colorado and they were both very nice. I'd probably want to do more research on alcohol extracables in tea before making my own. (That's surely a reason why rooibos worked better.) These days I make the tea and then add alcohol to it.
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Aug 13, 2018 04:14
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Finally tried the Yunnan FOP sample that Upton threw in my order and it's pretty nice! Wish I could drink caffeinated tea all the time. Have some decaf Ceylon but Ceylon isn't a particular favorite to begin with and why I stick to herbals if I can't have the real thing most of the time. I think they make decaf green but I can't imagine it survives anywhere close to intact.
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Sep 20, 2018 01:03
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Truck Stop Daddy posted:Got both my YS and bitterleaf orders. Seems Bitterleaf did a mixup and sent me their 2018 year of the dog yiwu, instead of the 2017 year of the rooster. It's probably same same. Big tea sesh coming up this evening, trying to figure out whether to take the YS Hui Run ripe or the year of the dog to work... Bi luo chun is my jam; please come back with a trip report. That looks amazing.
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Oct 2, 2018 20:22
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Truck Stop Daddy posted:The bi luo chun is pretty nice. Just realized that it's a black tea... Currently gong fu brewing it. Dry leaves smell like a candy store, steeped leaves smell of honey. Nice golden color on the wash. First couple of steeps was surprisingly weak (10-15s each ish). Longer brew times fixed it. Watery mouth feel, slightly sweet. Notes of some sort of spice. Taste lingers in the mouth long after drinking it. Mouth watering. Very drinkable stuff! Sounds pretty delicious! Thanks for reporting back.
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Oct 8, 2018 19:49
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silvergoose posted:Looking for a gift for my mom, I normally get her tea or somesuch. She tends towards herbals/roobois, loose leaf, hoping to find something on amazon in the 10-20 range. I've really liked the roobois from Upton best. Not Amazon, though. My favorite herbals are still from Adagio (blood orange and dewy cherry) though I am slowly replacing them. Adagio often ships through Amazon.
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Nov 27, 2018 17:00
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RandomPauI posted:I picked up a canister of https://www.teavivre.com/rose-whisper-herbal-tea.html for a friend but I found out she wouldn't be able to drink it. Coincidentally, there's an upcoming Christmas party for the DSA. It's lemony and floral, I'd go with gin. Maybe one of the newer more floral ones, possibly a citrusy one, but not a juniper-heavy one.
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Dec 15, 2018 18:42
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Weltlich posted:Would someone be kind enough as to recommend me a high-quality infuser? Sup rooibos buddy Finum makes a good one in multiple sizes--I have some at home and they work well. At work I have a House Again Extra Fine Mesh Tea Strainer because it was on sale at Amazon. It works well too.
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Jan 25, 2019 20:19
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Weltlich posted:Awesome. Also, what brands of rooibos are you getting these days? I've had good luck with rooibos rocks (and it's easy to get via Amazon) but I'm always looking for other suppliers. I've been happy with the rooibos from Upton lately. Nice big leaves and seems pretty fresh.
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Jan 25, 2019 20:51
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Finally got around to trying the Yunnan FOP black tea that Upton included in my last rooibos order. (Getting to drink caffeine like once a month isn't fun.) It is delicious and smooth, a bit earthy/grainy with a touch of smoke, and paired excellently with the Pirouette chocolate wafer stick thingy I dunked into it. Nice clean mouthfeel without being too astringent. A++ will drink again in 4-6 weeks.
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Mar 9, 2019 15:40
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gamingCaffeinator posted:I think it's about time to start making iced tea for the summertime. Do you guys have a preferred type of tea, or method for making it? I brew them at least double strength (and usually triple strength). Dump one mug of tea into one 12oz glass filled with ice. Most of the ice melts, the tea chills, and it's perfect. I really love Harney & Son's Birthday Tea iced. Plus it's decaf so I can have it all day long. Just about any fruit-based herbals are good too. I especially like them if they have a lot of orange peels or rosehips. I'm moving away from Adagio teas generally but their Dewey Cherry and Blood Orange are fantastic when iced.
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Jun 3, 2019 02:21
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Sekhmnet posted:So I just noticed that my WinCo has actual bulk tea available(in a seperate weird multi dispensor) in addition to the bulk stash tea bags they've always had. I got an ounce of the 'royal earl grey' tea, and its pretty good. My question for the thread is: what are all these blue, red and green things that probably aren't tea? I've mostly been drinking this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00136MKEO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 Since its a ton of tea and it tastes good. This stuff has more of a spiced flavor, which I'm sure I'll lean into but I like the sort of vanilla cookie flavor of a milder earl grey. Do you have a photo of the loose tea itself?
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Aug 19, 2019 22:03
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MockingQuantum posted:Hey thread, I've got a couple of questions: I've just been getting back into tea. I drank a lot--in terms of volume, not variety--in college and right after, but just picked the habit up again after a while of not touching tea. Now I can actually buy decent stuff instead of the cheapest bagged green tea I can find! Grab a cup that fits your mesh infuser and use it to help rinse it out after knocking the leaves out. Just stick the strainer in it, fill up with water, and it will help lift the stuck leaves away from the sides. It will go much, much quicker.
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Aug 27, 2019 16:19
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gamingCaffeinator posted:I got a sample of sencha from Adagio, and treated it like any other green tea from them (175 degrees F, 2 min). It tasted like seaweed with a hint of canned tuna. It'll usually taste a little seaweedy and heavily of chlorophyll, but Adagio is not a good sencha source. Just about any other source of sencha will have a more palatable flavor. I've been happy with one of the samples I got from Upton but there are fresher sources of Japanese greens. Oddly enough I think Bigelow Organic Green Tea might have some sencha. Try some of that if you want to see if you even like the flavor profile. (Only their organic one has any kind of distinct taste, the regular one is a mix of dust.) I really don't suggest you go that route unless you don't want to make another order for tea.
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Oct 18, 2019 19:19
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:This is not a fancy tea question (though I did used to make real tea from loose leaves when there was a nice tea shop here for a bit!) Harney and Sons decaf black Paris is good, but decaf tea will always taste less good because some of the flavor is lost in the process. I like caffeine free herbals a lot. Rooibos chai from Upton is one of my favorites right now. I drink a lot of chamomile and Bigelow Mint Medley as well. A lot the flavored herbals are overpowered by hibiscus so watch for that if you don't like that flavor.
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Oct 25, 2019 15:48
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Got some just chamomile tea and it was pretty foul and a very disconcerting color with milk in it. Kind of an anise taste and I really don’t love anise. Gonna try some decaf Irish breakfast next and see how bad it is. Thanks for all the ideas! Don't add milk to chamomile. Just get whatever chamomile, add the bag or infuser to your mug, pour boiling water on it, forget about it for like 10-15 minutes while it cools, then drink it. It will taste like a little like it smells. Kind of sweet and vaguely hay-ish.
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Oct 27, 2019 17:03
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I stick my Thermapen in the kettle and get an idea of where I'm at. (It is fully worth the $85 and you will use it constantly for all sorts of cooking and baking things. It doesn't replace a candy thermometer but can work in a pinch.) I find that I can generally get good results with black tea without much fuss on time & temperature, but greens I have a list of times and temps of everything because it can all be so different.
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Dec 12, 2019 23:33
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gamingCaffeinator posted:I'm going to have to try it. Their La La Lemon is honestly not great. I think it's the orange zest added that makes it bitter. My mom and sister both tried to like rooibos and failed, calling it "dirty twig water." I somehow loved it, for the exact same reason.
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Feb 5, 2020 02:37
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Heath posted:My shop carries a strawberry and pomegranate rooibos that's just lovely. Next time I have it I'll get some photos. Oooh, that sounds delightful. My rooibos-hating family members first tried a vanilla rooibos too. Common denominator, perhaps? My first exposure was to a rooibos-citrus blend and I found that worked perfectly well. Drank honeybush straight for a while, too, before moving on to straight rooibos (though I do prefer it flavored).
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Feb 5, 2020 05:37
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CeramicPig posted:What do y’all keep your self serve loose leaf tea in? I’ve used ziplock bags or paper coffee cups cause that’s what’s been provided, but I’d like something I can label and have in my work backpack that won’t break, and doesn’t look mildly sketch when I pull out a bag of dried leaves at work. I have a bunch of the old tiny tins that Adagio used to send their samples in and those work well. I also like the 4oz tins from Harney and Sons and Upton if I need to bring a lot of tea to work. Amazon has a decent selection of tea tins that look pretty and range from a few ounces to megasized. If you prefer plain latch-lid jars look for them at bulk supplier websites. (Check the 1oz friction-fit tins while you're there too.)
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Feb 17, 2020 04:58
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LifeLynx posted:I switched to tea because it's cheaper and tastes better than homemade coffee, but I've been doing it wrong and know it could taste better. You'll not get close to coffee caffeine levels unless you want to drink multiple cups of tea (which is fine if your body lets you). Twinnings Earl Grey in the bags is absolutely weak and tasteless so I can see why you are brewing it double strength. Honestly Bigelow isn't half bad tea and I happily drink it when I don't have loose tea. Constant Comment is what I usually get from them. (I swear their organic green is sencha floor sweepings and it is good for the price.) Do you want to stick with bags? Is loose-leaf tea Ok? Do you want flavored tea, or plain tea? I find loose leaf tea no more trouble than when I would make my own coffee, but the pyramid tea bags seem to do pretty well these days if you don't want to get a filter basket. Or you can buy disposable paper filters for tea and it is like using a bag, just one you fill yourself. Since you're a coffee drinker I think you'll probably prefer black tea. Adagio sells through Amazon and their offerings are a good introduction to tea. Perhaps one of their black sampler sets? Though those aren't available through Amazon, and if you stray from Amazon there is better tea available. Adagio has bags of some of their tea. I never was much a fan of Adagio's Earl Grey, but I did enjoy their peach oolong quite a bit. Harney and Sons Paris is a delightful flavored black tea available in bags and loose. It's usually cheaper on their site but I've seen it on Amazon. BTW if you like Earl Grey and want to make sure you are knocked senseless by it, Upton Tea has an Extra Bergamot that is quite bold. (Normal black caffeine levels though.) A major thing for getting better tea is figuring out how long to steep it. When you get some tea in, we can help you with that. The other big thing for making better tea is finding out what temperature you're getting the water to when you microwave it. That will make a big difference in what you extract from the leaves.
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Feb 19, 2020 05:03
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Upton has dried ginger root bits that are fantastic on their own (I like a bit of honey) and a great addition to other teas.
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Mar 15, 2020 03:53
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I made a last-minute order from Upton (gotta have my rooibos) and threw in a couple of flavored black tea samples, for funsies during the quarantine. I now have two samples of Peach Sky black tea, as the free sample this month is apparently Peach Sky. Hope I enjoy it!
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Mar 26, 2020 02:38
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Finum brewing baskets are very fine-meshed and come in multiple sizes-- have you tried those? Upton is where I get my rooibos, and I've had some interesting Indian greens from them too.
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Jun 13, 2020 15:57
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The brain likes novelty, and begins to ignore common sensations. The solution is to keep a variety of teas in rotation!
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Sep 2, 2020 17:48
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CeramicPig posted:I’m really into blends. I like a fair amount of flavors in my teas, I like layers of flavors, I really like dessert teas. Chais are my overall favorite though. Harney & Sons make some tasty blends (Paris  ) so I am with you on enjoying dessert teas and other blends!Bigelow has some gems in their lineup - it's a great place to start for your coworker. (Not sure if she'll get into greens, but avoid their unflavored non-organic green--near tasteless. Their Organic Green is a serviceable sencha blend and I keep a box at work.)
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Oct 21, 2020 04:57
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Vim Fuego posted:Hey all, I'm thinking about buying a tea machine for my wife. I didn't see anything in the OP or a quick thread search about them. If that's because they're bad and no one uses them I can accept that. Otherwise I'm looking for a good tea machine with a long keep-warm feature. One that pulls the leaves out of the water when it's done brewing. Any recommendations? How much are you willing to spend, I guess? What kind of tea is she currently drinking that would make this sort of thing a good idea? If it's just that she likes to drink warm tea all morning, there are other solutions that are less expensive and generally more practical. I would suggest instead an electric kettle, a thermos, and a tea pot (and maybe cozy). Or maybe one of those mug-warmer gizmos.
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Dec 6, 2020 05:27
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Reiterpallasch posted:Speaking of horrid impractical tea machines, someone made a Juicero for matcha. A mere $370 for the machine, and then just $3/cup or so for their premium (Kagoshima) matcha! You're practically losing money by not buying it! Oh no it comes with a recipe for "matcha-jito" mocktail 
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Dec 7, 2020 14:01
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