Tea... an important issue

Oh no of course not... that would be wrong after all...

That's what I was thinking!

Thank goodness for that.

Gaucho tea - yerba mate - just right for you urban gauchos*
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate
It's a magic drink - do read all about it.

You don't have to follow the whole ritual with gourd and bombilla (although that is good). You can brew it in one of these http://www.funktionalley.com/m4n?cat1id=10&oid=etailer-product&catgr=0&cat2id=0&_locale=1&viewMode=1&prodid=127

I buy it online but I'm sure there must be shops in London - let me know if you find any outlets. The info on the coffee thread was really useful. I hope I can repay that and help you discover yerba mate.

Yorkshire Gold!

Recently discovered this stuff at Tesco. Mighty strong, mighty tasty:

until very recently i worked in a tea shop imaginatively called 'tea' and i can recommend it for anyone wishing to expand their tea horizons. not the cheapest but when you compare some of the starbucks coffee prices it is competitive.

added to that our very own punkpixel did the branding for the shop.

details here www.wearetea.com

my favorites are the lapsang, jasmine silver needle and oolong teas. the yunnan gold is a really interesting black tea too.

there are 43 types stocked so enough to cater for all tea tastes

i prefer green tea

Tea is better than lager. Pg and typhoo have got to be the best and it has to be strong with the milk first!!

putting milk in the cup first originates from aspiring toffs with cheap china. the cold milk means the near to boiling tea wouldn't crack the cups.

that said it does somehow taste better (a bit like spaghetti hoops tasting better than long spaghetti).

Tea is better than lager.

Truth fail.
Neg Rep.
Reported.

:P

I can honestly say, if I had choice of just one kind of drink, it would be tea :)

Tea is better than lager

i dont see tea served in feckin pubs

how many pints of tea can you drink? exactly
beer=1 : tea=0

Tea doesn't make you drunk. Tea fail.

i was referring to the lager tea

Is that a CGI image or have I been looking at this pc too long?

salmonchild - did you ever come across yerba mate?

until very recently i worked in a tea shop imaginatively called 'tea' and i can recommend it for anyone wishing to expand their tea horizons. not the cheapest but when you compare some of the starbucks coffee prices it is competitive.

added to that our very own punkpixel did the branding for the shop.

details here www.wearetea.com

That's the one near St Paul's isn't it? Went there once for an Assam and they over-brewed it. That lovely delicate flavour and they destroyed it - real shame. It's a nice enough place, and the branding is good too, but if they're going to open a place that suggests it sells gourmet tea, they should learn how to brew a cup first...

salmonchild - did you ever come across yerba mate?

yeah, some of the supertea blends contain mate. nice caffeine free alternative although it contains similar stimulating chemicals.

what was quite funny was when pg did their rooibos promotional campaign- sent a shed load of customers our way asking for caffeine free tea.

a softdrink company called firefly do a range of drinks one of which is mate based- can't remember if it is 'health kick' or 'wake up' but its pretty refreshing.

That's the one near St Paul's isn't it? Went there once for an Assam and they over-brewed it. That lovely delicate flavour and they destroyed it - real shame. It's a nice enough place, and the branding is good too, but if they're going to open a place that suggests it sells gourmet tea, they should learn how to brew a cup first...

all teas should be 'correctly' brewed due to the tea making process put in place.
the only reason i can think of for your disappointing cuppa is staff not adhering to the timing properly and/or your visit being in the time when new tea suppliers were sought and calibrations had yet to be changed.

a woman called jane pettigrew was responsible for the initial measurements and looking at her credentials you would have hoped she got it right!

sorry you were let down dude- but be sure that we can always customise the strength for you (what am i talking about i no longer work there!)

If 531 was a drink it would be Tea.

For Christmas my Auntie bought me a pack of teas called the '12 teas of Christmas'. It has 12 different teas in it. I can't remember all of the teas in the pack, but it's a great way of gtrying out new teas. They aren't massive packs, just enough to have a few pots of tea and find out whether you like it or not.
I've also been given some slightly more obscure tea that I can't pronounce. More to follow.

I will let you know when I try them and what I think of them.

Others are very welcome to tell us what they think of new teas they are trying. I'd definitely like to hear of some new ones. Especially the obscure ones!

I can honestly say, if I had choice of just one kind of drink, it would be tea :)

Water for me every time!

Hold on, you need water for tea, so I might as well say 'tea', too, and get two drinks for the price of one. :)

You need water for beer too. Epic tea fail.

I was 'corrected' by someone recently when I said 'brewing tea'. They insisted that only 'stewing tea' was correct. Is this a can of worms or is there a straightforward explanation?

Stewing tea is bad, by most accounts.

"Putting the tea in the water before you boil it will produce stewed tea. It's a very strong tea usually drunk with a lot of sugar. It's not to everyone's taste."
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Good-Cup-of-Tea

water temperature is of utmost importance- boiling for black, 80 deg Celsius for green and white and oolongs anround 95.

many people are put off green teas due to a bitter taste but this is usually because they have used boiling water which scorches the leaves.

it all comes down to oxidation