Tea Snobbery

[Ashi]

Mmm, tea. Coffee's good and all, but I'd prefer tea any day :D

I have only a few different kinds of tea, primarily Celestial Seasonings brand, but I love them all. I drink pretty much only flavored black teas and white tea, and mostly the latter at that. I have all of my tea the same way: warm, with tons of half and half in it. I can't stand tea without any milk, cream, or the like, but I've yet to try it with sugar. I don't really go for premade, bottled tea, since I've had bad experiences with overly sugared kinds.

[flummerina]

I'm currently loving Harney & Sons pomegranate oolong tea. And am currently storing all my pens and writing-miscellaney in the myriad pretty tin teabag boxes I've acquired through loving it. It's a pretty intense addiction, and I now have a lot of boxes.

Seriously, though: that is some damn good tea.

[0xDEADBEEF]

Advice needed: rose tea. Please?

So I have all these beautiful little dried rosebuds but I'm not sure what to do with them. I had about 5 in a mug of hot water with honey, which tasted like water with honey (the friend who gifted them to me said to use 1 or 2!). Googling is surprisingly unhelpful. There are no other leafy bits, just the buds.

What now?

I haven't tried it with "real" rosebuds, but rose water in Twining's Earl Grey tea is delicious!

[wubrgamer]

+1 for the tea forum...

I think this is totally worthy of it's own section...because trivializing tea as a "beverage"...is just wrong...

[Lotaria]

O, Tea! Yes, I am entirely snobbish about my tea, and tend only to use teabags when they're free. At functions and such. Otherwise, it's loose leaf tea all the way. I drink different types of tea at different times of the day; to generalise, the caffeine content of my tea is postively correlated with the number of hours until bed time.

Advice needed: rose tea. Please?

So I have all these beautiful little dried rosebuds but I'm not sure what to do with them. I had about 5 in a mug of hot water with honey, which tasted like water with honey (the friend who gifted them to me said to use 1 or 2!). Googling is surprisingly unhelpful. There are no other leafy bits, just the buds.

What now?

I realise this suggestion is somewhat belated, but you might consider adding the rosebuds to peppermint tea. This is my personal herbal tea of choice (although I use rose petals, rather than buds). It gives the peppermint tea a richer, fuller taste - slightly buttery. Alternatively, I have found that rose goes well with berry tisanes - reminiscent of turkish delight.

[Garm]

I <3 tea so much I went so far as to buy a 4 litre Micom water heater thingy from Zojirushi. I use it constantly.

[hermaj]

Advice needed: rose tea. Please?

So I have all these beautiful little dried rosebuds but I'm not sure what to do with them. I had about 5 in a mug of hot water with honey, which tasted like water with honey (the friend who gifted them to me said to use 1 or 2!). Googling is surprisingly unhelpful. There are no other leafy bits, just the buds.

What now?

I haven't tried it with "real" rosebuds, but rose water in Twining's Earl Grey tea is delicious!

Hrrmmm. I know when you want to make tea from rosehips you've got to boil the hips and water and then let it simmer for ages, maybe half an hour. It might be the same idea with these?

[Moo]

It's worth a try! As are all the other suggestions, thanks all.

[podbaydoor]

O wise xkcdians, I ask for advice on this topic: reusing tea bags. (Yeah, I'm cheap, but tea is an indulgence for me.)

When I google, I just get stuff for reusing tea bags in skin care regimens and the like, or cheap people saying that they reuse tea bags, but no info as to how they do it. I'm specifically worried about mold or bacteria growing in the bag between uses, and haven't found anything definitive about it. Do I refrigerate the bag? Immerse it in cold water? Only reuse bags within a certain time period? I haven't gotten sick yet just from leaving the bag in a clean cup overnight, but I get that it's probably not a good idea to reuse a bag that's more than a day old. What do the rest of you guys do?

[Moo]

An interesting question. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking you could make tea in a pot so you get the max amount of tea from the bag, then refrigerate the left over tea and microwave as needed?

Other than that refrigerating the bag seems to make sense.

[Nath]

Is this green tea or black? I know re-infusing green tea is common practice, but I haven't tried it with black (and won't, because I drink it with milk). On the rare occasions that I drink green, I'd probably just fill it once or twice, at one sitting. I doubt any serious ecosystems would turn up in a few hours, though. I wouldn't go with cold water. The good flavourey stuff would still be dissolved; it would just take longer.

For unflavoured black tea, I'm not sure how much sense it makes to rebrew. Some of the cheap brands compare quite favourably with the pricier ones, and this is probably even more true if you compare the second brewing of a pricier brand to the first brewing of a decent cheap one.

An interesting question. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking you could make tea in a pot so you get the max amount of tea from the bag, then refrigerate the left over tea and microwave as needed?

If you're going to bother with a pot etc., why use a bag?

[Moo]

Just working with the situation as given.

[someguy]

O wise xkcdians, I ask for advice on this topic: reusing tea bags. (Yeah, I'm cheap, but tea is an indulgence for me.)

I've been known to brew a cup of mate (an infusion from back home that comes in baggies, like tea,) drink it at night, and then brew a second one with the same, er, matebag, throw away the bag and leave the mug covered until the next day. Then all I needed to do was heat it.

[TheSkyMovesSideways]

O wise xkcdians, I ask for advice on this topic: reusing tea bags. (Yeah, I'm cheap, but tea is an indulgence for me.)

That's some serious necromancy there.

As has been mentioned, using the same leaves of green (or oolong) tea for multiple (2-5) infusions is very common, with higher quality leaves being tolerant of a greater number of infusions. Normally, I'd say these infusions would be done within the time space of a few hours, maximum. Although I haven't actually ever seen mould on leaves without having accidentally gone away, leaving them in the pot for weeks.

Black tea, which I assume you refer to because you didn't specify otherwise, usually isn't used for multiple infusions, and tea that comes in bags also isn't usually used for multiple infusions (typically being low quality). But you could always just give it a try and see if it works. Re-using tea bags within a single day certainly isn't going to kill you, it just might start tasting pretty average.

Also, tea is pretty damn cheap. I buy decent loose leaf tea, and probably pay about 10-20 cents per cup. Trying to save money on that is beyond being cheap. (:P) Also, "indulgence" implies that you're not drinking it on a regular basis. Is that what you really meant?


Anyway, back to the original topic... I mostly drink green tea, both Chinese (various) and Japanese (sencha), and well as green rooibos (I haven't liked the taste of the much more common red rooibos when I've tried it) and pu-erh (seriously potent fermented black tea). Typically green throughout the day when I'm at work, rooibos at home, and pu-erh after a heavy meal. I buy most of my tea from an online store called "SpecialTeas", because the local (physical) tea stores are more expensive and have a much smaller range.

Finally, after having recently spent time in Arizona and northern Florida, then returned home (to Australia) to temperatures in the high 30s (that's 95-105 °F for those still using flat-Earth units), I'm developing a taste for sweet tea.

[Nath]

Also, tea is pretty damn cheap. I buy decent loose leaf tea, and probably pay about 10-20 cents per cup.

Loose leaf is cheap, unless you count the cost of time lost fiddling with brewing equipment. At work, at least, bags are good. Still, I have a little tin of cheap loose Assam for when I need an excuse to procrastinate.

The Twinings-style individually wrapped teabags are a fairly ridiculously bad deal, unless you are only an occasional tea drinker. There does tend to be a lot more choice, but most of the options tend to be flavoured teas, which aren't my thing.

Anyway, back to the original topic... I mostly drink green tea, both Chinese (various) and Japanese (sencha), and well as green rooibos (I haven't liked the taste of the much more common red rooibos when I've tried it) and pu-erh (seriously potent fermented black tea).

I've been curious about rooibos. There's a tea shop nearby which has it on the menu, but they ended up serving a Taiwanese-style milk tea with rooibos instead of tea; I couldn't really taste much beyond sweetened milk. It's available in supermarkets, but only blended with crazy fruit and herb flavourings.

[podbaydoor]

I have some loose-leaf, but mostly bag as I don't have a real teapot at the moment. Yes, I'm pretty cheap, and I don't mind the milder taste of the second use. In the future I won't leave the bag for more than a few hours.

I...er...do enjoy the Twinings bag tea. But I'm a college student living in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest. Can't afford to be a true snob.

[Moo]

Rooibos doesn't have a very strong taste, but is slightly sweeter than English tea in my opinion. I find it quite soothing and it is regarded as somewhat medicinal in South Africa (it supposedly helps settle the tummy and is good for bathing allergic/reactive skin). The taste is hardly spectacular though, I will admit. I enjoy it when it's too late to really be having caffeine (alternating between that and camomile but camomile makes me very drowsy), when I want comfort, when I feel like honey and lemon instead of milky tea or coffee (it lends itself very well to this), and as iced tea again with honey and lemon which is extremely refreshing.

[PictureSarah]

I love rooibos, but hadn't heard that it was good for the skin. Have you tried this? My whole life I've been allergic/sensitive to virtually nothing, but in the last few years I've developed all kinds of reactions to wool, humidity, aridity, heat, cold, smoke, smog, car exhaust, etc... Do you think the rooibos might help? I never thought of putting it on my face.

[Rinsaikeru]

I don't tend to re-use/re-steep tea because it ends up cloudy and murky tasting. I just make LOTS the first time and keep the cozy on the teapot so it stays hot longer. I like Twinings--mostly Lady Gray, Irish Breakfast, and English Breakfast. I like some herbal stuff too, but usually it smells much better than it tastes.

I also like spicy teas with pepper and cinnamon in. hmmm those are really great.

Edit: Also, I'm on a volunteer committee that meets about bi-weekly. The most convenient place has awful tea--so we smuggle our own in, order tea, and use our own teabags. It's someone else's turn each week to bring the tea.

[Moo]

@PictureSarah:
I dont know if you saw when I posted about it in the woman thread but there's a woman who created a very successful range of skincare products after hearing that she should try bathing her baby with very sensitive skin in it. Read a bit about it here; I have to head home but PM me about it if you want. I use that skin care range and am very happy with it, although I'm too lazy to use the tea to cleanse my face. I would think it's worth a try. I can try it with you if you want. I'll do some more research on it and her tomorrow but I know she earned a doctorate for her research.

[blue_eyedspacemonkey]

mmm...tea...
I love tea, no milk, no sugar. Fruit/herbal tea is good too, but can't compare with a good old cuppa. I've recently tried Earl Grey at our company's free coffee/tea morning, and I like it lots, but can't justify buying myself it lately. When I get paid next/out of my overdraft, I may treat myself
I've had chinese rose tea, but mine was tea leaves with dried rose petals in it, so made like normal tea. It's made of win. Betty's tea room [url]http://www.bettys.co.uk/cafe.asp?storyid={A35FB337-BDF8-472F-B64F-4B993A62516A}[/url] in York, amazing.

[the_stabbage]

I like tea. I'm lucky to have obtained a nice variety of loose-leaf tea, and it ruined my taste for tea. The stuff I get in bags now just isn't as good

I'm not a big fan of Earl Grey, it tastes like soap to me. I have my tea without milk and with as little sugar as I can, so maybe that's the problem. I like the Jasmine tea I have. Also, the Kyoto Cherry Rose stuff is good (tastes like carnival pink fluff).

[justaman]

In the interests of Correctness:

Herbal teas etc, that don't contain actual tea (Camellia sinensis) are properly called Tisanes, or so I am told by my SO who used to work for Tetley Tea. Apparently it is even illegal in some countries to use the word "tea" for something that doesn't contain actual tea.

Forgot to add: Jasmine is my favourite, especially accompanying Yum cha (Dim sum for you US peoples). I have had some very nice apple and peach flavoured ice teas as well. My local tea shop "The T shop" is pretty good and sells internationally over the tubes. I think they even let you mix your own if you go into the store, not useful for most of you of course, but useful for me.

[Rinsaikeru]

Well Chai means tea...so saying Chai Tea is silly--but that doesn't stop it happening. Herbal Tea isn't tea at all, but we still call it that.

One thing that does make me twitch however: It's a useage found primarily in the USA and more likely the further south you go "Hot Tea." All tea starts hot (if it's actually tea at all) so that is the standard. You indicate "Iced Tea" because that is not the standard for tea. Grarraaahgh. Ok yeah I know you can call it whatever you want and Iced Tea is more popular particularly in warmer climates etc. But still!

I think pretty much anything you steep in hot water will end up being called tea (unless it's coffee ). Yes, my favourite herbal tea contains no tea--it has almonds, beets, apples, and some other crap in it though--it tastes like cake. Cake tea..mm

[Kizyr]

O wise xkcdians, I ask for advice on this topic: reusing tea bags. (Yeah, I'm cheap, but tea is an indulgence for me.)

As was said before, sometimes it's fine to re-use tea, but it depends on a few things.

For regular teabags, there's usually not a problem re-using it once in the same day--though, particularly for black teas, there's a noticeable drop in flavor. (The same might hold for green/oolong, but I never buy bagged green or oolong tea anymore.) For loose-leaf, it's a bit more common to re-infuse, although I wouldn't recommend re-using it the next day, just because I think the flavor will be altered. Oftentimes, particularly with green and oolong tea, it's normal to re-infuse 7-8 times in one sitting; at my favorite teahouse in DC, you can usually sit around for an hour or two on one 'cup' of tea re-infusing several times over.

Generally speaking, I really don't think there's any particular value to re-using tea the way you're talking. Loose leaf is fine for re-infusing it, but I'd stick to doing so in one sitting--since loose leaf tea is usually a pretty good value anyway--and teas meant to be re-infused are usually meant to be re-infused over a short span of time.

I've been known to brew a cup of mate (an infusion from back home that comes in baggies, like tea,) drink it at night, and then brew a second one with the same, er, matebag, throw away the bag and leave the mug covered until the next day. Then all I needed to do was heat it.

The yerba mate I have is loose-leaf, and if I drink it (which is almost never, considering the huge amount of caffeine--though it's delicious) then I'll use the usual cowhide cup with filtered straw and all. I've found, though, that if you leave it out for only a few hours without cleaning it out, it can be a magnet for mold.

Though, that's just leaving the tea sitting out. Normally it's supposed to go through many, many infusions (and passed around, etc.), so mate is one kind of tea that's practically designed to be re-infused several times over. Just... store it properly and not in the original cup.

I...er...do enjoy the Twinings bag tea. But I'm a college student living in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest. Can't afford to be a true snob.

Twinings actually isn't that bad. Among branded and bagged teas, it's probably one of the better ones (and the best that's easy to find). But, it's a noticeable step up in quality to just going loose-leaf for everything. (In my collection, I do still have 2 or 3 small boxes of Twinings--although this is among the 20-or-so varieties I have.)

The only ones I'd always avoid are anything packed in cylinders (Republic of Tea, e.g.). I've never found any of those brands to be palatable.

I've been curious about rooibos. There's a tea shop nearby which has it on the menu, but they ended up serving a Taiwanese-style milk tea with rooibos instead of tea; I couldn't really taste much beyond sweetened milk. It's available in supermarkets, but only blended with crazy fruit and herb flavourings.

I'd avoid getting rooibos mixed with anything--the fruit and other things they add to it almost always detract from the flavor. It's best straight, and sometimes with a little honey and/or milk. But too much milk, and other ingredients with the leaves (e.g., rose hips, lavender, etc.) usually mitigate the flavor.

Best way I've found to brew it is to add half a spoon of rooibos to a cup and half of boiling water, let it boil for maybe 5 minutes, then add some honey and a little evaporated milk. But, it's pretty good straight without anything added. KF

[Nath]

I...er...do enjoy the Twinings bag tea. But I'm a college student living in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest. Can't afford to be a true snob.

Oh, I have no problem with the taste of Twinings. It's just bad value for money. It's perhaps slightly better than mass-market quality tea (as far as I can tell), packaged and marketed as upmarket stuff at 25 cents a cup. Then again, if you like flavoured tea, I guess it's the cheapest well-known brand.

I used to keep a pack of Twinings lying around when I was a college student living nowhere in particular in the Midwest. I didn't make tea in my room often enough to get a box of regular tea bags -- they'd probably have lost a lot of flavor by the time I finished them.

If you're just drinking black tea, especially with milk, it might be worth trying a British (available in some supermarkets) or Indian (if there's an Indian grocery in the area) brand, if you can find it. PG-Tips and Taj Mahal are the two I have at the moment, and I like them both. Tetley might be easier to find, but gets astringent quite easily. I'm told that Red Rose is among the better brands widely available in the US, but I haven't tried it.

I'm not a big fan of Earl Grey, it tastes like soap to me. I have my tea without milk and with as little sugar as I can, so maybe that's the problem.

Yeah, I don't really understand Earl/Lady Grey either. It's usually hard to taste the tea under all that bergamot, and bergamot-water... really isn't all that much fun. Even though it's probably objectively less astringent than the stuff I drink, it somehow manages to taste more astringent.

Apparently it is even illegal in some countries to use the word "tea" for something that doesn't contain actual tea.

I am going to have to find one of these countries, and move there.

I'd avoid getting rooibos mixed with anything--the fruit and other things they add to it almost always detract from the flavor.

Yes; not much point trying it if all I can taste is the flavourings.

[TheSkyMovesSideways]

I have some loose-leaf, but mostly bag as I don't have a real teapot at the moment.

When I'm at work, I use an in-mug tea infuser, which works quite well. You could try that.

I'd avoid getting rooibos mixed with anything--the fruit and other things they add to it almost always detract from the flavor. It's best straight, and sometimes with a little honey and/or milk.

I like to mix 2-3 parts rooibos with 1 part honeybush tea. No milk or sweeteners. Delicious!


Also, one other tea I forgot to mention - I got a taste for mate de coca while in Peru recently. Great stuff. Tastes a little similar to green tea, but with some nice "medicinal" properties. Unfortunately I had to dump all my remaining coca leaves in Lima airport at the end of my trip, for fear of what US customs would do to me if I didn't.

[Kizyr]

When I'm at work, I use an in-mug tea infuser, which works quite well. You could try that.

That looks pretty useful. I think I'll try to get one of those now... Is it also easy to clean?

I never really like the usual tea infusers (like the wire mesh or perforated steel balls), since they tend to be poor at infusing and leak tea leaves.

I like to mix 2-3 parts rooibos with 1 part honeybush tea. No milk or sweeteners. Delicious!

I never heard of honeybush 'til I Wikipedia'd it just now. It sounds pretty good; I'll have to try and get some now.

Also, one other tea I forgot to mention - I got a taste for mate de coca while in Peru recently.

Yeah I had the same thing while I was in Cusco (didn't bother trying to bring back any with me, of course). It... really clears the sinuses and helps you unwind at high altitudes. I did like it, but not enough to want to drink it regularly. KF

[Rinsaikeru]

Those mug tea infusers can range in price--you can even get travel mugs that have them included (some also have a compartment at the base to store extra loose leaf tea). My sister has a travel mug with an infuser that cost $10CAD but just the infuser could run anywhere from $5 to $20 probably--if you're not paying an exorbitant amount for the thing.

I don't like the metal ball infusers either, the latch is difficult to operate or too loose and the ball doesn't infuse properly either.

[Moo]

I like honeybush tea but ultimately prefer rooibos. 0.02c.

[someguy]

I've been known to brew a cup of mate (an infusion from back home that comes in baggies, like tea,) drink it at night, and then brew a second one with the same, er, matebag, throw away the bag and leave the mug covered until the next day. Then all I needed to do was heat it.

The yerba mate I have is loose-leaf, and if I drink it (which is almost never, considering the huge amount of caffeine--though it's delicious) then I'll use the usual cowhide cup with filtered straw and all. I've found, though, that if you leave it out for only a few hours without cleaning it out, it can be a magnet for mold.

Though, that's just leaving the tea sitting out. Normally it's supposed to go through many, many infusions (and passed around, etc.), so mate is one kind of tea that's practically designed to be re-infused several times over. Just... store it properly and not in the original cup.

Hola . They're sort of two different things actually; you may know the one that's brewed in a mug with a tea-like baggie as mate cocido. Do you get much of a 'buzz' from mate? Maybe I'm just used to drinking it, but it doesn't really affect me in any way that I can tell.

I've also recently seen mention(s) of some study classfying mate as a possible carcinogen, but then looked around some more and it wasn't so much the mate itself (or you'd have found an empty country when you visited) but the temperature of the water, which as you know pretty much shoots straight into one's throat when a bombilla is used. So I started brewing it a bit less hot. I used to heat the water pretty much until it boiled.

I understand what you mean at the end but again, notice that I wasn't referring to the mate that's drunk with a straw-and-gourd but to the one that's brewed in a mug, just like tea. If you leave the yerba mate sitting in the gourd after you're done, it will indeed get moldy.

[Kizyr]

Hola . They're sort of two different things actually; you may know the one that's brewed in a mug with a tea-like baggie as mate cocido. Do you get much of a 'buzz' from mate? Maybe I'm just used to drinking it, but it doesn't really affect me in any way that I can tell. ... I understand what you mean at the end but again, notice that I wasn't referring to the mate that's drunk with a straw-and-gourd but to the one that's brewed in a mug, just like tea. If you leave the yerba mate sitting in the gourd after you're done, it will indeed get moldy.

Ahhh, we're definitely talking about two different things then. Thanks for the clarification.

I never got a "buzz", but definitely a noticeable kick, particularly after a few drinks. But it was definitely a caffeine-related one; not much different from drinking several cups of coffee.

I've also recently seen mention(s) of some study classfying mate as a possible carcinogen, but then looked around some more and it wasn't so much the mate itself (or you'd have found an empty country when you visited) but the temperature of the water, which as you know pretty much shoots straight into one's throat when a bombilla is used. So I started brewing it a bit less hot. I used to heat the water pretty much until it boiled.

Heh! That brings back memories. You know how many times I nearly scalded the roof and back of my mouth?

I've actually found the flavor much better when the water isn't so hot. When it's nearly boiling, you end up just tasting the heat of the water more than any flavor of the mate itself. KF

[Encarnacion]

i just (like, 20 minutes ago) read an article about tea plantations in india, work conditions, picking wages, benefits and such... i think when i buy tea i'm going to start checking out the backgrounds of the companies that produce them. I've never had moral qualms about any food items before, but i've never much paid attention to how things i eat get to my table. i didnt realize it can get as bad, or worse, than textiles and other every-day mass-produced items.

anyone have any info on tea growers that i should not buy or that i SHOULD buy based on ethical reasoning?

I know it comes from Pura Vida Coffee company, but said company is very concerned with fair trade, ethical business practices from grower to consumer, and helps the communities the coffee is grown in. It also only sells organic coffee.

http://www.puravidacoffee.com

The tea company whose product Pura Vida sells is also very concerned with fair trade and ethical business practices, though I am unaware of how much community improvement they are involved in beyond that. However, their facilities are built to very eco-friendly standards, and they do quite a bit to not create so much waste. They also only sell organic teas.

http://www.choiceorganicteas.com

I'm not at all being paid or otherwise egged on by these companies to mention them, I just think what they are doing is good and don't mind a bit advertising for them, and should buy tea from them more often.

[Nath]

I recently found some plain rooibos. Not bad, but I didn't think it was nearly as flavourful as tea -- it didn't give me that "yay, tea" feeling I get from camellia sinensis. Still, a good option for a late night hot drink.

[Rinsaikeru]

For me....rooibus is ok but I find that you can never fully strain the red tea out because it's so tiny. At least, that's my experience.

[Nath]

I could only find bags, so that wasn't really an issue for me. But in any case, a few particles of loose tea at the bottom of the cup don't bother me much.

[Rinsaikeru]

Well it's a bit different with loose leaf and a strainer that's got holes that are too large--a fair quantity of the whole leaves get through and get in your teeth etc.

[Kizyr]

Well it's a bit different with loose leaf and a strainer that's got holes that are too large--a fair quantity of the whole leaves get through and get in your teeth etc.

I ended up getting that in-mug tea infuser that TheSkyMovesSideways mentioned. It works perfectly. (And it's easy to clean.) It's fine enough that the leaves don't sift through, but since it's open and in-mug, it still brews nicely. KF

[Rinsaikeru]

Yes! I got one of those in mug infusers this week too--this thread has impacted my life. I don't currently have any rooibus to test it on though, so that will have to wait. I do have a fantastic ceylon from a friend and some herbal fruity stuff loose leaf.

[Nath]

Well it's a bit different with loose leaf and a strainer that's got holes that are too large--a fair quantity of the whole leaves get through and get in your teeth etc.

Yeah; the particles I was referring to weren't from the rooibos bags. They were from loose leaf Assam brewed in a badly-made tea ball. I just leave the last few drops in the cup.