Tea Time

[CheshireLove]

I am a Canadian and have limited access to British teas so I have to ask...is the Yorkshire Biscuit Tea as good as it sounds?? Do folks in the UK actually drink Yorkshire tea? Or is that an insult to all British teas?

I have so many questions. Thank you for this thread.

I have never see or heard of Yorkshire Biscuit Tea! What on earth is that? It sounds awful.

This is the good stuff

 

[lemonlime]

After asking around and searching the forum, I couldn't find a thread where we could discuss and recommend 'actual' tea. Share your favourites, recommend flavours and call out the greenwashing brands!

Special thanks to the Niomi Smart threads for reducing (elevating?) our conversations to tea out of boredom.

 

[martaS]

Bought pukka tea for the first time (vanilla chai) and it's so weak, even after letting it brew for 10+ mins. Since learning about the green washing shite won't be repurchasing personal favourites are Suki Tea, T2 and good old Punjana (which I don't think you can buy out of Ireland unless it's on Amazon maybe - best tea imo)

Someone else posted pictures of Tea India chais - try them, they're really strong! Both tea-wise and spice-wise.
I love the coconut (but it's not to everyone's liking, in my old work 2 colleagues liked it too so we would order together but a friend who really loves tea said it tastes too much like a pudding), the cardamom is my second favourite. Both great as an iced chai latte.
If you're not keen on the coconut or cardamom, do try their masala/real chai - can't remember which name is the newer/correct name. This one has a blend of spices so might a good start.

I also like Clipper's Indian Chai but again, it might not be to everyone's liking as it's quite heavy on cloves and orange peel. I actually quite like this one with no milk and a wedge of orange but I am from the continent and we do put lemon and orange into black tea.

I also really like Dragonfly teas, they have a great range of rooibos. I love rooibos but the plain stuff can get a bit boring so I like to get their Earl Grey Rooibos, Vanilla Rooibos (they use high quality vanilla so it quite lux, for a tea) and the spicy Cape Malay Chai Rooibos is one of my all time favourites.
They also do a great jasmine green (Clipper's decaf jasmine green is also one of my faves).

Other Clipper teas I like:
- Snore and Peace, great before bed,
- Sleep Easy, even better before bed, smells great and is really comforting,
- Organic green tea & citrus & aloe vera and also Organic green tea & echinacea & citrus - both really refreshing. Sometimes pure green tea can be a bit much!

The only Clipper teas I don't love are the white teas, I think white tea is just too subtle to be brewed in the bag, the Clipper ones just taste of the bag and not much else.

I, like many of you, also love Yogi:
- Green Energy is a fave, refreshing, really nice for people who don't like plain green tea. One of my colleagues I mentioned before can't drink pure green tea but loves this one. I think it's the elderflower and lemon verbena that really lift this tea and make it stand out;
- Green Balance, also interesting green but not as fresh/light as the Green Energy;
- their Bedtime tea is also nice but not as nice as the Clipper ones;
- Choco Mint tastes like an After Eight, really potent and lovely for that 3pm cuppa during winter time;
- Sweet Chilli - interesting but not for the faint-hearted, it is a bit spicy;
- Choco - is what it says on the label, again nice in winter. Quite sweet so if you are trying not to have that 4th biscuit, it might just do;
- Turmeric Chai and Turmeric Orange are nice if you're trying to get into turmeric teas;
- but the one I truly adore is the Echinacea. Again, like with Dragonfly ones, is rooibos based and I am a bit partial to some rooibos.
- they also do an insanely tasty before bed tea with lavender oil. Sadly I only bought it once from Waitrose but if you like sleepy herbal teas, do try it.

I started my tea adventure with Pukka and probably tried most their teas by now. I also didn't realised it got sold but as I explored other teas, I slowly went off the brand. I do go back every now and then but as other people notice, their infusions did get a bit weaker.
The one tea from Pukka I absolutely adored was the Three Tulsi. There is no other herb that tastes like Tulsi. It was a revelation. I don't think they make it anymore and the newer Tulsi Clarity just isn't the same. But if you like unusual tea, try tulsi from other brands if you can find some, it's just something else. Some of Tea India Ayurvedic blends also contain tulsi but it's not the same as pure tulsi.
Pukka really helped me when I wanted to lose weight and was trying to stop putting sugar in tea. Lots of their teas have liquorice so are naturally super sweet and therefore a great thing to drink when you're trying to give up sugar. (Quite a few Yogi's one have liquorice too). Be careful though those with high blood pressure as it can elevate it (mine is so low that I had nurses wonder how I was still up and awake LOL).

I used to love Twinnings' Earl Grey and Lady Grey and they even did a Rose Grey (I am sure it wasn't called that but it was divine) but then I read an article on the Guardian about how many pesticides they use (there was a whole list of tea producers) and it put me off and hence why I started exploring Pukkas, Yogis and so on. I'd like to think they've improved now and should really follow it up but I just stopped buying their teas. I am not judging people who still do and also all these lovely organic teas we have been discussing cost a bit more than Twinnings and not everyone spend a small fortune on tea like I do.

Lastly, yes, some fruit teas are Satan's piss but there is a Very Berry tea from Higher Living that I managed to buy a fair few times from TK Maxx, both loose leaf and bags and it's very lovely and fruity. Taylors of Harrogate Kew Rose Lemonade Tea is also lovely but very hard to get hold of these day and certainly quite pricey on Amazon and the likes.

To really finish my little tea essay off, some great places to buy tea (if you live in Cambridge or area or UK in general) are Revital (small independent wholefoods chain which also sells online), Arjuna (independent Cambridge wholefoods) and Holland and Barrett (also online). Waitrose is great (but sadly out of the way for me so I go maybe once a year). TK Maxx is great for tea roulette (when you just buy random teas from random brands) but also you can sometimes get Clipper, Tea India and some other brands. There is also more and more tea at coffee festivals, especially the London one which will hopefully resume after covid. I love how many random lattes I tried there in 2019 (betroot/purple potato latte anyone?) and you get a lot of samples and freebies.

That's it. I might also upload a picture of my current tea cabinet situation when I have a moment.

I love this thread and look forward to reading everyone reccs!

Oh also. I read too much Guardian, it seems, but some of those teas in pyramid bags might release microfibers (tiny particles of plastic) when brewed and no-one wants to drink plastic and there's enough of it in the environment already which we ingest through drinking water, sea salt, fish and seafood and so on. Just something to be aware of!

 

[Yel]

Yogi choco chili I've bought some green matcha powder and I'm not sure if you're supposed to wisk it for two minutes or just use it as an ingredient to smoothies etc. The packet just says the latter but it's quite nice as a tea and feels like a green juice and green tea in one.

 

[openbook1]

I'm in North America, originally from the Uk. Well, it is hard to find English Breakfast here...normally I have to look in the British aisle of a grocery store if they have one. Instead of EB, they have one called orange pekoe which is awful. The earl grey here is weak too unless imported.

Some of my favourites: spiced apple, it just a generic grocery store brand.
I love Rooibus tea. It is one of my favorites.
Celestial brand has some good herbal tea, I love the peach and raspberry. Blueberry is nice too.
There is a brand sold at Homesense called English Tea Shop and they have some nice teas too.

 

[Oohthedrama]

I cannot deal with 2020 anymore. It’s like a year of April fools days.

 

[Blowup80]

Ooh bloody love tea.

Ringtons gold label for during the day
PUKKA night time before bed
PUKKA peppermint and licorice when I fancy a change.

When I'm feeling low or poorly I love Tetley milky tea with extra sugar down my mam's house and I'm 41.

 

[martaS]

This is quite nice but you can't taste the nutmeg & vanilla too much. I have it with a small splash of dairy-free milk.

 

[martaS]

I was out shopping yesterday and would you believe it, Pukka teas are now £4.75 at Holland and Barrett, and £5 in Waitrose! How mad is that?

 

[martaS]

After not buying Pukka for the longest time, this is my fave sleepy tea ATM:

You can taste both the herbs and fruityness, just lovely. I can't wait to have a cup every night ^^

This is also a nice before bed tea but quite bitter-herbal.

Lastly, if you like a Rooibos, here is a nice fruity one. This one is a bit weak (subtle I guess) so nice for when you just make a small cup rather than a massive mug ;-)

Has anyone tried https://ticktocktea.com/? They all sound so amazing I honestly don't know where to start

 

[Oohthedrama]

Oh this is my thread!!!!!

in a day I drink,
liquorice and cinnamon,
spiced ginger,
Nettle,
black or sweet chai,
And cinnamon.

Best brands are Yogi, pukka were up there but they’re a bit chav lately, the bags break really easily and I really don’t like their cinnamon
for ginger and nettle I use twinnings
Cheaper and better ingredients.

I’m never off the toilet but you could set you clock by me

 

[Oohthedrama]

Everyone has a box of Barry’s in the cupboard in Ireland

 

[Mustard]

Everyone has a box of Barry’s in the cupboard in Ireland

I’m in London. I get mine from Ocado since the local Irish shop near here closed down.

 

[BigQueenEnergy]

Yogi Tea Green Balance is my favorite!

 

[ksb12345]

I am a Canadian and have limited access to British teas so I have to ask...is the Yorkshire Biscuit Tea as good as it sounds?? Do folks in the UK actually drink Yorkshire tea? Or is that an insult to all British teas?

I have so many questions. Thank you for this thread.

 

[kittymeowlondon]

three cinnamon by pukka or classic by yogi tea I LOVE THEM

 

[martaS]

Have you guys noticed how expensive Pukka teas are these days? At least £3 when not on offer, it's really not cheap for 20 bags

 

[martaS]

Hello Tea Friends. I was actually thinking about this thread because I bought these bags a few days ago:

But like with many Pukka teas these days is a bit wishy washy I only had it twice but sometimes when you drink nice tea, you know it's the one from the very first sip. I think I will have to make it in a very small cup too to make sure I get a strong brew.

On the topic of Pukka, I loved drinking this last winter:

It's herbal and fruity at the same time and for a while it was my favourite little treat, to have a small cup of this about an hour before bed!

Now, is there anyone here who loves a really strong cuppa? The Welsh Brew might be for you. I brought a box back from Wales after a holiday for my office colleagues and no-one but one person drunk it! She is someone who doesn't drink coffee and practically lives off big mugs of strong tea with the tiniest splash of milk! Sadly we don't work together anymore but we keep in touch and whenever I go to Wales, I have to bring her a box or two I think she prefers the Gold version but the basic one is really nice too!

They do some flavoured teas too and this is my fave!

I also like this one but there are other brands who do flavoured green teas but are cheaper.

I noticed that they started offering more loose leaf teas and infusions so next time my tea cupboard starts looking a little empty, I think I will put an order in.

I recently unearthed a box of Tea India's ginger chai and decided I had it for a while so it's probably the time to try and have it a bit more regularly before it loses its potency. (Teas don't really go off, do they, but sometimes become less potent/weak). Since I am not originally from the UK, I am not super used to drinking milky tea and it's actually quite popular on the continent to have a thin slice of lemon, or a squeeze of lemon juice in your black tea, I have been having the ginger chai with slices of orange The ginger and orange work really nice together and the tea tastes very christmassy

I can also see that their herbal/Ayurvedic teas had a bit of a revamp so will probably try these too in due course.

And lastly, I got some teas from Bird & Blend because they keep popping up on my IG ads (have been influenced! ) but I thought they'd be great for gifts. (Which I am yet to give to the people I bought them for so no idea if any good). But while I was at it, I got myself this:

I wouldn't say Oolong is my favourite type of tea but sometimes when I go to this particular friend's house, she'd make Oolong in a big pot for everyone to drink and it started to grow on me. I do like coconut flavoured drinks and this tea was divine! I will definitely buy some for the friend, I think she'd quite like it too!
The nice think about Bird & Blend is that most their teas come in loose leaf and bag options and I love having the choice. I wouldn't carry loose leaf to work with me as it can be messy to clean, and you need a strainer and everything, so it's nice to be able to just take a handful of tea bags instead

How has everyone on here been? Have you made new tea discoveries? Please share, and also do share teas that might have disappointed you!

 

[Delia Smith]

Ringtons, Twinings English Breakfast, Tea pigs everyday brew, or a good loose leaf if i'm feelin' fancy.

 

[rainbowlemon]

Arabica coffee is the highest it's been with further price increases expected. Price below is in USD.

My sister recently bought the Pukka love tea which is worth the hype. We're working our way through the box.