A good cuppa tea trivia

[gurdymonkey]

One of my friends was mentioning "a good cuppa" and Lemon Zinger in the same sentence.  With all respects to the dear lady, Lemon Zinger is not tea. I don't care what the Celestial Seasonings people have to say, it cannot BE tea as it contains no tea leaves. That goes for a number of other so-called herbal "teas."

Tea comes from tea plants, which are a species of camellia. White, green, oolong and black tea ALL come from the same plant, they are simply picked at different stages in the growth of the plant and processed differently. Camellia sinensis, the tea plant:

Dammit, I like my tea to BE tea, not a cup of wet, sour tasting flowers, thank you. Pretty much the lone exceptions to this are Twinings or Stash's Lemon Ginger and Stash's Licorice spice herbal infusions.

That said, here are actual tea varieties/brands that I like. I mostly drink my tea without milk or sugar, though I may go for the occasional squirt of honey with some varieties. The big exception is chai. Masala chai is SUPPOSED to have milk in it.

Earl Grey, hot, like the man said. Bergamot gives it its distinctive, citrusy tang.

English or Irish "breakfast" teas are usually black tea blends made to be adulterated with copious amounts of milk and sugar. I take mine straight, to the horror of B&B proprietors across the UK. Good hot or iced.

Lapsang souchong is prepared by drying the leaves over a wood fire, giving it a strong, smoky taste. Not for the tea wimp.

Bigelow's Constant Comment is excellent hot on a cold day, but woe if you let it sit and get cold - the cloves will turn into a bitter oil slick in your cup.  Likewise Bigelow's Cinnamon Stick variety is best drunk hot.

Green tea is everywhere these days, its health benefits trumpeted all over the media. Bigelow's Green Tea with lemon is my workaday tea, primarily because that's what they stock at the coffee station at work. Antioxidant benefits of green tea aside, it's still good after it's gone cold in the cup, as frequently happens. Good Earth's Green Tea is fine and I also like the basic genmai cha green tea/brown rice varieties.

If you are a tea enthusiast, check out http://www.2basnob.com/tea-home.html

Comments

[zsof.livejournal.com]

LOL

But to me Lemon Zinger *is* tea. I'm such a coffee snob, and that never translated into tea for me (and I much prefer Kona over Jamaican Blue Mountain, thank you verra much).

Thanks for the lesson on tea. I'll go crawl into my nook and drink my lemon zinger flower water (not tea, right?) with lots of honey. ;)

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

And I'm NOT a coffee snob. Coffee is for long haul road trips and THAT means diner coffee. Black.

Go figure.