Your favorite loose leaf tea? [Archive]

Geila

1-14-13, 2:08pm

I'm used to always buying tea bags - Ishbel is probably shuddering right now! :) And I want to start trying some loose leaf.

What is your favorite? Please describe it's character (is that the right word?) to give us an idea of its taste.

Tradd

1-14-13, 2:33pm

My favorite isn't exactly cheap.

Kusmi Tea Bouquet of Flowers No. 108. It's a Russian-style Earl Grey. Much more citrus to it than the Twinings Earl Grey (English) I also drink. I'm at work right now on my phone so I can't easily get to Kusmi's website but you can easily google it. This tea smells so good everyone I've shared it with loves it.

IshbelRobertson

1-14-13, 2:48pm

Drat it,I've lost the reply I'd painstakinglypecked out on the ipad (off topic, but I still prefer my laptop!)

I only buy Twining's teas, probably because my Mum did. I drink Darjeeling at breakfast, although my husband prefers Assam. For the rest of the day, I drink Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Lapsang Souchong or Orange Pekoe. I drink darjeeling with a mere splash of milk and no sugar. The others i drink without milk and EG and LG with a slice of lemon.

JaneV2.0

1-14-13, 3:15pm

I love jasmine flower, but it's been so long since I've bought loose tea I have no recommendations.

Rosemary

1-14-13, 4:13pm

For info about tea, and high-quality loose-leaf teas, try
http://teasource.com/
This is a small company based in the Twin Cities.

Mrs-M

1-14-13, 4:15pm

Loose-leaf tea, isn't something I have gotten overly serious about, so no recommendations to share.

ApatheticNoMore

1-14-13, 4:40pm

Loose-leaf tea, isn't something I have gotten overly serious about, so no recommendations to share.

Yea. The thing about loose leafs in a tea ball is the caffeine concentration of black tea tended to vary widely (so one day I'd be unable to sit still in my chair and wanting to bound out of there, and the next struggling for energy) - ok I'm somewhat caffeine sensitive maybe. Tea bags are very uniform little dosages of caffeine, although I'm decafing now. It's been awhile, nowdays it's mostly organic fair trade stuff in tea bags, but Peet's tea did have some tasty flavored loose leafs back in the day (that were none so organic and fair trade probably unfortunately).

cdttmm

1-14-13, 4:54pm

treehugger

1-14-13, 5:10pm

My favorite brand of loose leaf tea is Rishi. I like their Green Tea Mint and their Maghreb Mint. But then, I only drink green or herbal tea and I love mint! :D The Maghreb Mint also has cardamom and ginger in it -- spicy!!!

Oooh, I've had that a mint tea that sounds like that (at Samovar (http://www.samovarlife.com/lounges/yerba-buena-gardens/)) and it's the most delicious mint tea I have ever had! It has pepper in it, too, for spice. I like the look of Rishi's offerings; I may have to place an order.

We always have Twinings loose leaf English Breakfast and Earl Grey on hand at home. But I also like to just go to a tea shop and try out small amounts (when it's sold in bulk) of new things. Like wine, or coffee, or cheese, or chocolate (or anything delicious :)), it's fun to just taste different things and learn as I go.

Kara

razz

1-14-13, 5:37pm

I really like Brooke Bond loose leaf tea and go through large boxes of it using a tea bell.
I used to like Tetley in the teabags but they added something to it and I really dislike it now. It is hard to find loose leaf tea as most tea around here is sold as teabags.

Mrs. Hermit

1-14-13, 6:20pm

Twinings Orange Pekoe or Darjeeling for me, please. Loose Leaf Red Rose (very hard to find in the US) is good too.

Mrs-M

1-14-13, 10:27pm

Originally posted by ApatheticNoMore.
Tea bags are very uniform little dosages of caffeineGood point. As much as I hate admitting the fact, I'm lazy when it comes to preparing loose-leaf tea. Shame on me.

fidgiegirl

1-14-13, 10:42pm

For an herbal my fave is Evening in Missoula, available at the link Rosemary shared. Loooooooooove it!

Geila

1-15-13, 1:36pm

I've enjoyed looking up the various links and teas provided. It's a big tea world out there! :)

This week I'm going to take myself on a tea date and try something new. We have Peet's - I want to try some of dado potato's Lion Mountain Keemun tea - and we also have a tea house. The only problem with the tea house is I would be soooooo tempted by the scones. :(

Rosemary

1-15-13, 4:32pm

Agree on the Evening in Missoula tea! I also like Zhena's Gypsy Tea rooibos chai.

BarbieGirl

1-15-13, 9:26pm

I've been drinking Gyokuro Imperial green tea. It smells and looks marvelous! It just smells so...so green!

I also just like plain old Tetley! ;) Lately, I've been up at night because of a cough that keeps me awake. Ive been trying herbal tea to help the cough and soothe my soul.

Rosemary

1-15-13, 9:55pm

One of my favorite green teas is that combined with roasted brown rice, called genmai cha. It has a more mellow flavor than straight green tea.
If you're just getting into teas, note that brewing instructions are different for green and white teas compared to black tea. For the green and white tea, the water should be under boiling temp, around 180F I believe - otherwise the flavor is too bitter.

BarbieGirl

1-15-13, 10:56pm

I'll have to try that, Rosemary. Genmai cha...I love trying new teas! Where do you get it?:thankyou:

Rosemary

1-16-13, 9:52am

I think that most tea purveyors will have it. Here, for instance:
http://teasource.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=6005&Category_Code=GreenFlavored&Product_Count=2
Amazon sells it in large quantities (e.g. a pound).
You can likely find it in Asian markets, where I've also seen the brown rice blend sold separately for adding to one's own green tea.

BarbieGirl

1-18-13, 10:11pm

Thanks, Rosemary! I'm going to buy some from your link the next time I need to buy tea.
The price is very reasonable!

Barb

JaneV2.0

1-18-13, 10:21pm

When I lived in Portland, I bought tea at Kobos. I see they have a website:
http://www.koboscoffee.com/product-category/tea

BarbieGirl

2-7-13, 1:59pm

Jane--I bought some tea at Teavana....just checked out your website Kobos and it was by FAR cheaper (by more than 50%!) than Teavana! For the exact same tea!

Ill try ordering from them next time for sure.

Barbie

gail_d

2-7-13, 2:12pm

I bought some organic blueberry jasmine tea from a local coffee/tea shop and it is so very good! So fragrant!

herbgeek

2-7-13, 8:41pm

Harney and Sons Assam CTC is my go-to tea. Its brisk, strong, holds up well to milk, is assertive. What coffee would be like if it was tea. :) Fills your mouth with flavor. And its really cheap for loose tea, a pound is only $13, and that seems to last forever!

http://www.harney.com/ctc-assam.html

catherine

2-20-13, 5:50pm

I'm just getting into this. I have a Bodum teapot with the infuser that I bought a while ago and I'm just getting around to appreciating it. I'm on a green tea kick, but know nothing about it. I'm thinking of going into Princeton where they have a really fantastic tea shop and talking to the owner, but in the meantime, I just bought a big box of "Dragon Well" green tea at the Asian supermarket here and looking forward to having a cup in about 20 minutes.

If anyone else can tell me what they think of the different kinds of green teas I'd love to hear it.

bae

2-20-13, 5:52pm

My tea addictions are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapsang_souchong

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genmaicha

cdttmm

2-20-13, 6:52pm

Lately, I've been enjoying Tartary buckwheat tea in the afternoons.

Anybody else here drink it?

puglogic

2-20-13, 7:16pm

Agree on the Evening in Missoula tea! I also like Zhena's Gypsy Tea rooibos chai.

Rosemary and Kelli, I think I'd drink this just because of its name. It sounds like the title of a Woody Allen movie.

I love independent local foodstuff providers, so I may be placing an order as well.

redfox

3-5-13, 11:15am

My tea addictions are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapsang_souchong

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genmaicha

ditto the Genmaicha!

domestic goddess

3-5-13, 1:39pm

I've ordered a bit of tea from www.stashtea.com (http://www.stashtea.com). They have a good variety of flavors, I think, but I'm a bit picky about tea. Not a bit fond of green tea, although I like white tea--go figure! My current favorite is Irish Breakfast Tea, because I like the caffeine kick. It really jump starts me when I get that afternoon lag. I do use tea bags fairly often, because they ae easier to take to work, and I like milk in my black tea. The stores here don't have a great selection of loose tea, and there isn't a teahouse nearby, so when I get loose tea, I order it.