# Tea drinking habits.....



## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

*What Tea do you drink*​
Common tea bags (PG, Tetley, typhoo etc)827.59%Loose leaf blend (eg breakfast)26.90%Loose leaf single estate (Kemun, assam, Lapsang, Darj)310.34%Loose leaf green tea13.45%Loose herbal infusions13.45%Bagged blend (eg breakfast)310.34%Bagged single estate (Kemun, assam, Lapsang, Darj)26.90%Bagged green tea413.79%Bagged herbal infusions26.90%Something I have missed (tell me what though)310.34%


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

Hi all,

I made myself a brew before work this morning and it got me thinking. I used a well known brand of tea bags to make cuppa. Now, you won't find a jar of instant coffee in my house nor a coffee bag so why do I go with the old tea bag then when I could quite easily use loose leaf? Habit? Tea is tea? A blke at work has that opinion (even though we do about 20 loose leaves!)

So, what are your tea habits at home guys and why? Is it just that the humble tea bag reperesents a much greater quality than that of it's coffee cousin? Why do big brands seem to get tea blending right but not coffee? Or is it because I know very little about tea? I'd like to think I have a good palette but is it the same for tea? Am I to the tea expert what "nescafe/coffee's coffee" people are to me?

What are your tea habits? Anyway, here's a poll!










Lee


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## sandykt (Dec 3, 2009)

If I could take my coffee machine to work, I would!! However, in the absence of a good coffee at work (my colleagues often say "there's nothing wrong with the instant, you know" - I always keep quiet preferring not to be rude, I always drink Twinings English Breakfast teabags, a really nice refreshing cup of tea.


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## ChiarasDad (Mar 21, 2010)

We're a Darvilles of Windsor household. Available loose or in teabags, and we use the teabags. Very good flavour and quite strong -- it's easy to over-infuse if you turn your back on them for a few moments. I drink Earl Grey with honey, my wife drinks their Assam with milk, and guests always seem to ask for English Breakfast so we keep that too. Very nice teas.

Unfortunately I have no answers to your more philosophical questions. Raised in the Colonies the other side of the Atlantic, I can't claim a well-developed palate for tea of the quality and refinement for which England is known. My guess, though, is that just as with coffee one develops a palate by conscientious sampling of the beverage as selected and prepared by its best practitioners. I imagine that a well-developed palate in one beverage may improve one's speed of learning in another, and that it probably does confer some automatic discernment of overall quality, but that each beverage has its own subtleties to learn and master over time regardless of one's previous experience.


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## Samstan (Dec 21, 2009)

sandykt said:


> If I could take my coffee machine to work, I would!! However, in the absence of a good coffee at work (my colleagues often say "there's nothing wrong with the instant, you know" - I always keep quiet preferring not to be rude, I always drink Twinings English Breakfast teabags, a really nice refreshing cup of tea.


I have a solution for non-tea drinkers. I bought a cafetiere mug via eBay and grind some coffee each day to take to work to make a couple of decent mugs of coffee during the day.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Don't forget to vote in the poll as well









Its always interesting to see what the trends are.


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## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

My only memory of loose leaf tea comes from when I was a teenager and I used to work as a gardener. The old dears we used to do maitenance for always seemed to use loose leaf and I would often forget and end up swollowing the leaves which taste pretty foul and made me disregard the thought of buying them myself.

There's a roaster about 30 miles from me called Roberts and co and when I get around to visiting them I'm going to buy some of their loose leaf tea and give it a whirl.It may recindle my love of tea which i've gone right off since buying my Ascaso.

I did go through a phase of buying white tea but I cant seem to find it in the shops anymore and can't be arsed with the hassle of buying it online and making sure I'm in when it arrives.

I think white tea was a trendy thing to be into in the late 90's/ early 2000's but has now fallen out of favour.


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## DonRJ (Apr 3, 2010)

We drink Earl Grey tea, usually tea bags but occasionally I will buy loose leaf from a specialist shop in Lincoln and go through the old warm the pot routine as taught by my mum who is a died in the wool pot of proper tea person.

Don


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

I have been drinking a lot of Ginger and lemongrass loose leaf at work, that's pretty nice! Can't abide lapsang though!


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## Greenpotterer (Nov 29, 2009)

LeeWardle said:


> I have been drinking a lot of Ginger and lemongrass loose leaf at work, that's pretty nice! Can't abide lapsang though!


must beg to differ there Lee lapsang is my fav must admit its an acquired taste and it has been known for me to be expelled from the room whilst drinking it. Must say though also have a taste for Islay malts but thats a totally different subject.

Presumably the palate changes with age.

Gaz

btw drink ginger and lemongrass on the few warm days


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## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

LeeWardle said:


> I have been drinking a lot of Ginger and lemongrass loose leaf at work, that's pretty nice! Can't abide lapsang though!


I haven't got around to trying that yet.... I do drink the occasional spearmint, and sometimes assam. Depends on my mood really, also if I'm behind the espresso machine at work, I'll drink coffee, otherwise, I tend to get a tea.


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

Greenpotterer said:


> must beg to differ there Lee lapsang is my fav must admit its an acquired taste and it has been known for me to be expelled from the room whilst drinking it. Must say though also have a taste for Islay malts but thats a totally different subject.
> 
> Presumably the palate changes with age.
> 
> ...


I take it Islay are pretty smokey then? I'm a lover of Oban and dalwinnie on the single front. I enjoy a quality blend too. Bourbon is weakness of mine. Makers Mark makes me wheep, especially as a sweet manhattan!

I like a good Gin too. Tanquray or Plymouth. Oh, food vodka too. Smirnoff black, Skky, grey goose is tasty. Er, rum, Bacardi 8 year is amazing. Oh dear I've gone off topic and sound like an alcoholic.

Needless to say, I drink the above rarely as it costs a fortune and I can't go near the cheap stuff.

Lee


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## FurryCup (Jun 10, 2010)

Tea!! can't stand the stuff.







I think me granny must of had relations with a Yank during the war, cos' it's coffee all the way for me.


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

FurryCup said:


> Tea!! can't stand the stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I hate tea, which my wife drinks inbetween my lattes. I don't think we have the same grandfather...?


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