Spec Me! Tea!

ExRayTed

ExRayTed

ExRayTed

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Leading on from This thread. Recommend me some tea please! I currently use bags (Yorkshire Gold) but I want to delve into loose leaf black tea, made properly. I shall be purchasing a tea-pot for the job. I'm assuming I'll need a strainer of some description. General Discussion. Please educate me.
 
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HHfUBp
 
I came into this thread to make condescending comments to northerners in need of advice regarding evening meals. I drink coffee and have nothing useful to add.
 
Good choice OP sir
Welcome to a world of flavoursome tea

You'll probably want an infuser, basically a wire mesh ball that you put your tea leaves in for mugs of tea. Some good tea pots come with an infuser, if you're going to be having loose leaf then I'd recommend getting one, then you wont really need a strainer too much.

Assam and Ceylon are a good place to start also look out for Russian Caravan, it's lovely
Darjeeling, Lapsang and Earl Grey take a bit of getting used to because of their different flavour IMO, but definitely worth it.
I also enjoy Nilgiri, Keemun, Yunnan, Kenyan and other blends as well as Jasmine and Oolong.

Loose leaf tea is graded:
  • Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (FTGFOP) Extremely high quality
  • Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (TGFOP) Similar to GFOP, but with an even higher proportion of golden tips.
  • Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (GFOP) A higher quality tea, that includes the golden tips of the young buds leaves.
  • Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP) Similar to OP, but used for teas from the rest of India or other regions.
  • Orange Pekoe (OP) A good quality tea, consisting of large leaf pieces. Used for teas from Sri Lanka or south India.
  • Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP) Tea with many small or broken pieces of leaves.
  • Fannings / Dust The tiny bits and pieces, usually leftovers from processing. Commonly found in tea bags.

Try and find a good tea specialist shop where you can probably try out different types, or alternatively order online from somewhere like Whittard or Tea Palace.

You want roughly 1 tspn of leaves per cup (and 1 extra for the pot). Loose leaf also needs more time to brew compared to the fannings in tea bags, because of the reduced total surface area. Remove the leaves and then (if necessary) add the bare minimum amount of milk, too much and it'll spoil the flavour. Definitely don't add sugar.
 
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Just take a trip to the Yorkshire Tea Plantations. Travel east on the M62, turn north.........

Sainsburys (Taste The Difference) Kenyan Fiartrade Fine Tea is nice and strong with a dark brown colour and really tastes good, we've been buying it for years - better than any tea we've bought in Kenya. They probably export the best stuff.

I lived in Hong Kong for a couple of years and the Chinese would put a large amount of black tea in a half pint tumbler and fill it with hot water so the whole tumbler was filled with the wet swollen tea. They would then pour a small amount of the liquid, say one fluid ounce into a cup and then fill the cup with boiling water.

I've noticed that some people in Goa (India) put tea into cold water and then bring it to the boil. It's always served pre sweetened, so it's likely that the sugar is added to the boiling mix. It tastes very nice too.
 
Squark said:
Good choice OP sir
Welcome to a world of flavoursome tea

You'll probably want an infuser, basically a wire mesh ball that you put your tea leaves in for mugs of tea. Some good tea pots come with an infuser, if you're going to be having loose leaf then I'd recommend getting one, then you wont really need a strainer too much.

Assam and Ceylon are a good place to start also look out for Russian Caravan, it's lovely
Darjeeling, Lapsang and Earl Grey take a bit of getting used to because of their different flavour IMO, but definitely worth it.
I also enjoy Nilgiri, Keemun, Yunnan, Kenyan and other blends as well as Jasmine and Oolong.

Loose leaf tea is graded:
  • Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (FTGFOP) Extremely high quality
  • TGFOP. Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (TGFOP) Similar to GFOP, but with an even higher proportion of golden tips.
  • Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (GFOP) A higher quality tea, that includes the golden tips of the young buds leaves.
  • Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP) Similar to OP, but used for teas from the rest of India or other regions.
  • Orange Pekoe (OP) A good quality tea, consisting of large leaf pieces. Used for teas from Sri Lanka or south India.
  • Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP) Tea with many small or broken pieces of leaves.
  • Fannings / Dust The tiny bits and pieces, usually leftovers from processing. Commonly found in tea bags.

Try and find a good tea specialist shop where you can probably try out different types, or alternatively order online from somewhere like Whittard or Tea Palace.

You want roughly 1 tspn of leaves per cup (and 1 extra for the pot). Loose leaf also needs more time to brew compared to the fannings in tea bags, because of the reduced total surface area. Remove the leaves and then (if necessary) add the bare minimum amount of milk, too much and it'll spoil the flavour. Definitely don't add sugar.
Click to expand...

Excellent. Just the sort of advice I was looking for. Do all teapots perform to the same standard (possibly stupid question) because I've seen some eye-wateringly expensive examples.
 
Squark said:
Good choice OP sir
Welcome to a world of flavoursome tea

You'll probably want an infuser, basically a wire mesh ball that you put your tea leaves in for mugs of tea. Some good tea pots come with an infuser, if you're going to be having loose leaf then I'd recommend getting one, then you wont really need a strainer too much.

Assam and Ceylon are a good place to start also look out for Russian Caravan, it's lovely
Darjeeling, Lapsang and Earl Grey take a bit of getting used to because of their different flavour IMO, but definitely worth it.
I also enjoy Nilgiri, Keemun, Yunnan, Kenyan and other blends as well as Jasmine and Oolong.

Loose leaf tea is graded:
  • Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (FTGFOP) Extremely high quality
  • TGFOP. Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (TGFOP) Similar to GFOP, but with an even higher proportion of golden tips.
  • Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (GFOP) A higher quality tea, that includes the golden tips of the young buds leaves.
  • Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP) Similar to OP, but used for teas from the rest of India or other regions.
  • Orange Pekoe (OP) A good quality tea, consisting of large leaf pieces. Used for teas from Sri Lanka or south India.
  • Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP) Tea with many small or broken pieces of leaves.
  • Fannings / Dust The tiny bits and pieces, usually leftovers from processing. Commonly found in tea bags.

Try and find a good tea specialist shop where you can probably try out different types, or alternatively order online from somewhere like Whittard or Tea Palace.

You want roughly 1 tspn of leaves per cup (and 1 extra for the pot). Loose leaf also needs more time to brew compared to the fannings in tea bags, because of the reduced total surface area. Remove the leaves and then (if necessary) add the bare minimum amount of milk, too much and it'll spoil the flavour. Definitely don't add sugar.
Click to expand...

Top post, was curious as to what the letters meant!

Darjeeling is great tea, no sugar, no milk.
 
ExRayTed said:
Excellent. Just the sort of advice I was looking for. Do all teapots perform to the same standard (possibly stupid question) because I've seen some eye-wateringly expensive examples.
Click to expand...

I'm just using some stainless steel ones at them moment, I should probably get a glass or china one really.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about the teapot, I shouldn't think it makes a huge difference. Being inert, a glass teapot may possibly give a 'cleaner' flavour, whereas an aged teapot might possibly give more body the tea (I tend not to scrub my teapots clean, just a wipe and rinse)
 
Twinnings Everyday

After tasting this all the other stuff like Tetley's PG tips etc tastes way too bitter.

I love my coffee but a tea made right at the right moment is awesome.
 
Good post Squark. I've tried a couple of those mesh ball infusers but a few small leaves always seem to escape into the mug. I use one of those plastic mesh baskets from Whittards which has little hooks which rest on the edge of the mug. For me the difference between loose leaf tea and bags are night and day. I really like Whittards English Breakfast leaves which I find very thirst quenching.

I don't mind the odd herbal or green tea too. Lemon and ginger and Peppermint are pretty good but in moderation. I find some of the others far too fruity, much like a hot cordial.

My boss gave me some Kusmi tea which he and his missus rate very highly and they get shipped over by friends in France. I've not actually had the chance to try it yet though. I think after seeing this thread I'll have a taste later on.
 
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Hamster said:
Good post Squark. I've tried a couple of those mesh ball infusers but a few small leaves always seem to escape into the mug. I use one of those plastic mesh baskets from Whittard which has little hooks which rest on the edge of the mug.
For me the difference between loose leaf tea and bags are night and day. I really like Whittard's English Breakfast leaves which I find very thirst quenching.

I don't mind the odd herbal or green tea too. Lemon and ginger and Peppermint are pretty good but in moderation. I find some of the others far too fruity, much like a hot cordial.

My boss gave me some Kusmi tea which he and his missus rate very highly and they get shipped over by friends in France. I've not actually had the chance to try it yet though. I think after seeing this thread I'll have a taste later on.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I've become somewhat of a tea enthusiast over the last 5 years.

TBH I'm not a huge fan of the various fruit teas that you can get, likewise I find it's like drinking hot Ribena.

I haven't heard of Kusmi tea before, let me know what it's like :)
 
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