/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Twining's Earl Grey.

I don't get it. What is wrong with bagged tea?

>>4890388
I don't either... it tastes fine to me, I just put that in there to explain to all of the people who are going to complain.

I'm guessing it's because the bag ruins the flavor somewhat, and the tea that comes in bagged tea isn't always the highest quality.

>>4890388
It's made with the lowest quality "stuff".

If you have a perfectly (or very well) brewed pot/cup of tea made with quality leaves, you'll taste the differences.

Trust me; I thought the same exact thing. I got into tea and for about a year I just bought bagged stuff because I thought loose leaf was expensive (it really isn't) and was much "harder" to make then hot water > bag in water > bag out of water > drink (when it's practically the same concept). Then I was taken to a real tea house and had a high quality white tea, I KNEW it was better, and I've never looked back.

Sure, I drink a bagged tea every now and then if I'm not feeling the loose leaves, but to say they're the same thing is not true at all.

>>4890384
This, or Clipper.

>>4890384
Love this.

So what's a website to get loose leaf sent to you that's good? I'm especially looking for Earl Grey.

Since you dig English breakfast, go for some PG Tips.

Celestial Seasoning's Sleepytime, with just enough milk to make it kinda cloudy. A cup of that and I'm about passing out half an hour later. It's also great for stomach aches, so is Peppermint tea.

>>4890439
I find that PG is way too bitter/strong for me. English breakfast is just right.

>>4890452
I have peppermint tea and I love it, it is the only tea I don't need to add anything to.
Haven't tried the sleepytime tea, thanks for the recommendation though. Same to the Earl Grey guy... I have some EG black tea that I really enjoy, so that tea will probably be great.

milk and 2 sugars, perfect.

>>4890435
>So what's a website to get loose leaf sent to you that's good? I'm especially looking for Earl Grey.

upton imports is really good (but their website look like its from the early 2000s)

>>4890388
>>4890394

If you're new to tea its hard to tell the difference between bagged black tea and loose leaf black tea. But you can immediately tell the difference with other types, especially green tea. I don't think I've even seen pu-erh, oolong or white bagged tea. Loose leaf also has a much wider variety and allows for more control of the flavor. It's also not very expensive: it might actually be cheaper in the long long run. It just takes an initial investment to get a teapot, a thermometer, a scale, etc. The tea itself is actually pretty inexpensive.

>tfw running out of Pittsburgh Breakfast tea
Its a blend a local shop sells. I stay away from bags nowadays, but I agree with above that Twinings is bretty good.

>>4890435
http://www.theteatable.com/

http://www.enjoyingtea.com/

>>4890470
It's sort of like if you mixed chamomile with peppermint, it's very mild and soothing. Oh, another good tea to try is their Bengal Spice. If you're the kind of person who takes their tea with milk and sugar normally, Bengal Spice is actually somewhat sweet all on its own. It's a herbal non-caffeinated chai blend...thing. Pretty decent!

>>4890639
You drink sleepytime with valerian? That stuff is great for getting to sleep.

>>4890476
>putting milk or sugar or honey etc. in your tea
What are you, a child?

>>4890704
Meh, its teabags. I can forgive it.

>>4890704
>making chocolate milk instead of plain milk
>putting butter on toast
>putting mustard on a hot dog
what are you, a child?

seriously, get the fuck out you pretentious twat

>buying bagged tea
>drinking literally tea dust

shit, loose tea isn't even that expensive if you go for standard orange pekoe

>>4890718
none of those are drinks

would u put sugar or milk in your beer or coke or a glass of wine?

well made tea on it's own is complex and you dilute and ruin it with sugar and milk

>>4890718
No, I have to fight the good fight against Americans putting sugar and milk into their tea.

Nothing pretentious about that you ketchuplovingmotherfucker

>>4890721
are you fucking drunk?

>>4890723
n..not all Americans do that, anon

>>4890724
well I can't exactly say put sugar and milk in milk since it is milk and has sugar

>>4890726
yeah you're drunk

>>4890730
you can't follow basic logic?

you drink tea for tea flavor, not for sugar milk

This stuff, I love it. I prefer it to the loose leaf version.

anything tazo, and most of celestial seasonings' stuff, especially their cinnamon apple spice.

>>4890382
Yorkshire Gold. Looseleaf is better than bagged tea 99% of the time, but Yorkshire Gold manages to be better than the lower grade looseleaf stuff you find at Turkish groceries despite being made of fannings. How? Fuck if I know they probably have a wizard chained up in their cellar.

>>4890721
>>4890733
Nobody puts milk in delicate, subtle teas. Milk is for strong, bitter black tea to balance it out.

>>4890750
>p..please let me go...I'm so tired of tea...
>i could be out using my powers for world peace...

>>4890781
you'll keep making good tea and you'll fucking like it!

I know this is a bagged tea thread, but are there any infographics or resources on how to brew loose leaf tea "correctly"? There is so much information out there that I'm not sure which way is best.
Obviously the kind of tea matters too, but just a general guide would be great.

>>4890384
It's slightly cheaper to buy this loose than in bags.

>>4890452
>Celestial Seasoning's Sleepytime, with just enough milk to make it kinda cloudy.

That's too adorable
Marry me

>>4890818

>>4890818
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npFAFX04ROE&t=8m36s

there is a good, good eats episode of it

its not that hard, one teaspoon = one cup, near boiling water, 5 minutes and the drink

U WOT M8

Can anybody recommend a tea that has a very strong flavor that isn't very bitter.

>>4890889
if your tea is bitter, you're steeping it too long and using the wrong water temperature.

>>4890889
if it's bitter, you are boiling your water too much or letting it steep for too long

try a milk oolong or gingsing oolong, it's very hard to get it bitter

>>4890818
As long as the loose tea leaves get into water, there's not really any trick to loose leaf, except that it's preferable that the tea leaves have room to spread out in the water. I guess ideally you would brew the tea in a teapot where the leaves are just thrown in, then pour all the liquid out into another vessel when steeping time is over. I use a teapot with a removable mesh for convenience, though.

>>4890895
I like my tea bitter, whats wrong with that?

>>4890935
>I like my steak overcooked, what's wrong with that?
>I like my wine spoiled, what's wrong with that?
>I like my avocado unripe and hard, what's wrong with that?

>>4890869
That's good for black tea, but
> Green tea, boiling water, 2-3 minutes
Gross, should usually be more like 170F for 1 minute.

>>4890949
>should usually be more like 170F for 1 minute.
What

I usually did near boiling and for 5 minutes
have I been drinking burnt leaves

>>4890955
For green tea? Yeah.

>>4890955
bruh my green tea is 80C for 30 seconds, i have no idea where you got boiling water for 3 minutes

>>4890963
the box told me to do it

>>4890960
did I lose my patrician card
I know better now

>>4890955
The hotter you steep, the more the bitter compounds are released (caffeine, catecchin on the chart), but the sweetness is not increased that much (Theanine on the chart)

>>4890965
You'll get it back after you order a cake of ten year aged raw pu-erh and talk down to people on /ck/.

I generally don't like tea. It's ghastly and horrible. But then I like the lipton's iced tea in their lovely fruity flavours like peach or mango. Is it possible to create this at home, without it just being sugar water like I'm sure this stuff must be? I want to be healthy...

>>4890723
Americans don't really drink tea. If they do it's fruity shit you buy at a tea shop or something. America is coffee country.

Anyone tried Throat Coat? It's slippery elm tea, tastes like sweet black licorice; I fucking love it. Makes your throat feel cozy too.

>>4891031
>slippery elm

if it's not Camellia sinensis, it's not tea.

the only bagged teas I drink are Sonnentor teas.

http://en.sonnentor.com/
It's a local brand, but I do think they have distributors all over the world.

>I'm poor
well, then my post was pointless

>>4890382
rooibos tea it is the best tea there is you can make it as strong as you want it will never turn bitter

>mfw watching Americans turning the simplest thing in the world, a cup of tea, into some fancy pants perfectionist bullshit

It's the same with beer. We don't call ale 'craft beer' over here, it's not treated as some mad scientist invention, it's just normal, any pub you go into will have several local ales available. I think it's better this way, but what do I know.

Thinking about it, I blame your coffee culture for all this. It's the same concept, taking something simple and obsessing over it to ridiculous levels. Well you've ruined coffee already, you're having a good crack at ruining beer, please don't drag tea down with this bullshit too.

PG Tips

>>4891268
>not knowing anything about tea ceremony
>not knowing anything about japan and chinese culture
>mfw americlaps really think this

>>4891282
How did you come to the conclusion that he's American?
Was it referring to Americans in the third person and talking about pubs?

>>4891268
People in America drag it down because SOOOOOO many people just use low quality shit or are completely ignorant to loose leaf tea.

So when someone comes by and is like "hey yeah, it's better stuff for the same amount and not that much more time consuming" people lose their shit and call them "sophisticated" when in reality they just aren't retarded.

>>4890818

>buy one of these
>put tea leaves in it
>drop it in a cup of boiling water
>walk away for 3 minutes
>come back
>discard pic related from mug or keep it in who cares
>enjoy tea

There really isn't anything special to it, its hot water leeching compounds from plant matter, the longer you leave the plant matter in the water the more intense and also bitter the tea gets.

>>4890818
pretty much what >>4891392 said.
for optimal brewing times and temperature just google it.
general rule of thumb:
green/white tea: 1-2 min, ~70-80°C
black tea: 2-3 min, 100°C (if you use milk or some shit, let it steep for 4-5 minutes, but that's just me)
herb tea: 100°C, time depends on the herbs used, but generally around 5-8 minutes

>>4891268

Oh look, more people attacking us for our freedom.

Immigrants took European culture, we put a man on the moon. Beer advocate said we have more craft beers than anywhere else. We won the Judgment of Paris. You have horses in your food. Why is every other country so obsessed with us?

Maybe my tastebuds are shot, but I seriously do not think that tea tastes of anything. Could be shitty made tea that I've tasted too, but it usually just comes off as warm water for me. Did anyone else start out kinda not being able to taste anything?

>>4891468
What does your general diet consist of?
Maybe your taste buds are shot.

>>4891469

I don't overeat sugar at. Can't really think of anything I eat/drink that's artificially sweetned or flavoured either.

>>4890382
For English breakfast I usually go with Twining's.
But you've got the right idea with Celestial I'd say, because that shit is great.

>>4890704
fuckikeing autists

>>4890730
oh your soo funny saying that

i guess you and me are "drunk" also hahahah ahhahh ahahahahaahhha its not funny

TAZO is my new fave. I got some Stash ginger peach green tea today. I'm drinking it right now for the first time and it's great.

>>4891268
Uh yeah
We take bullshit ideas and perfect them and bring progress because there's always room for improvement, or throw them into obscurity as the useless junk they are

That's why we developed the assembly line, created the internet, and went to Mars.

...is what I'd like to say, but fact is, most subcultures here are just bored people finding a hobby. But still

AMERICA

>"I just love sharing a cosy hot cup of lapsang souchong tea."

Winter White Earl Grey. epic

The lemon ginger is a bit... odd.
The peach and cherry from the pack are excellent though.
mint is always nice.
muh rooibos.