Mark HDecided to give Yorkshire Tea one more chance. The last two boxes we've bought have tasted terrible. Both different size boxes, both different exterior designs (one was a charity promotion), so different batches, but both bloody awful for tea. Happy to report it's back to its normal self. Also happy to report that we've thrown the other teabags into the bin.
Barry Schwartz 🫖@neonbubble It is first flush Darjeeling season! If you want to get fancy instead of continuing with the crapola teabag stuff.
Not a fan of most fancy teas. I like a green tea if I'm actually in Asia, and I quite like the smokiness of a Russian Caravan blend, but tea bags in a mug suits me fine most of the time.
@neonbubble I can’t drink the gunpowder greens, I get sick. I like a lot of other greens, including the Japanese senchas that you can’t steep for more than a few seconds before it gets to be too much.
I just ordered 1.5 kilos of Margaret’s Hope from India, and it could be a PITA to actually get it delivered, due to Donald Trump being a moronic mercantilist. Never in the past was getting anything delivered a PITA, except once I had to pay a tariff on electronics last time Trump was squatting.
@neonbubble First flush is special in that it is low in flavor, high in astringency. But the thing is, some years it is bad, very, very occasionally it is very, very good. At least to me. And I just keep at it for that once every 10 or 15 years.
@neonbubble I do drink a lot of lapsang souchong, which I suppose they may put in those Russian Caravan blends.
@chemoelectric When I've dabbled with proper leaf tea in the past (we used to have a very good shop here in Portsmouth for it) I have definitely preferred the flavours of assam and oolong but it's all too much hassle most of the time so a decent enough blend in a bag is more than good enough to accompany a day's working.
@neonbubble I have bags I can put tea in but the last time I used them was when we had sewer problems and were staying in a hotel. I put the tea in the bags and stuck the bags in the coffee machine instead of coffee pods. :))))))
@neonbubble Assam and Ceylon would be the usual stuff for strong-flavored teas. Also stuff from Africa or Indonesia I think usually tastes like Assam in my experience, but I haven’t had any in years.
They are growing tea in Colombia now but charging a lot for it. Maybe if they mix it with coca leaf.
@neonbubble I use small Japanese-style teapots. The kind with side-handles. Much easier. Glazed for most black teas, unglazed for the others. Makes life much easier. So it actually isn’t that much harder than using a bag. Especially for oolongs and greens and puers.
I mean, for oolong, I can stuff the pot with leaves and just refill it with water until I start to feel I would get caffeine intoxication if I kept it up.
Ian Tindale@neonbubble all proper tea is theft