(no subject)

[miko2]

I don't know why this would be interesting to anyone, but anyway, sometimes I can't get a subject out of my mind unless I write about it.

For years I've been more of a tea drinker in theory than in practice. I would buy tea and then not use it, or take years to use it.

That changed a couple of years ago when our company gave us stainless steel thermoses with the company logo on them as gifts. Not wanting to just put the thermos in storage and never use it, I made certain to fill it with tea the very next day. I continued to do this, and now five days a week I fill it with tea in the morning, and then usually again after a few hours. It only holds a bit less than two normal cups of tea. I like black tea so my first batch of tea is always caffeinated, but I make sure that the second batch is something without caffeine.

Flavored Black Teas

It used to be that my favorite teas were pretty basic. I loved (and still love) Market Spice tea, but I don't buy it as often anymore because most of the flavor is in the oils they soak the tea in, and that goes away pretty quickly if you don't use it right away. I also used to really like Lipton's Blackberry black tea and Bigelow's Raspberry black tea -- I've always liked flavored black teas. I sometimes liked Black Currant tea too -- I guess that was probably a Bigelow tea as well, can't remember. Stash Tea makes a nice Peach black tea too.

These days I'm more of a tea connoisseur and I prefer specialty teas with full leaves for better flavor. I have Blacberry flavored black loose tea from Teavana that I like quite a bit, although it's kind of expensive (up front anyway -- you buy a lot of tea at once so it's probably cheaper in the long run). I also have some Mango Ceylon from Teavana that I like.

Earl Grey

I've also become a big fan of earl grey. I especially like the Numi Aged Earl Grey, it has incredible flavor and aroma. Unfortunately Fred Meyers in Auburn rarely carries it, Albertson's doesn't have it, and Top Foods wants $7.99 per box (18 tea bags). A good substitute is Tazo Earl Grey. I bought some of that last night, it was half off at Top Foods (normally $6.99 a box, well above what Fred Meyers charges). Right now I also have some Zhena's Gypsy Tea Earl Grey, which is not bad but not as good as I was expecting.

I've been sort of tempted to pick up the Stash Tea Double Bergomot Earl Grey. I'd probably like it, but in general I consider Stash Tea as only a notch above generic non-gourmet teas like Lipton and Bigelow. In other words, their tea bags are filled with "tea dust" rather than full tea leaves, so the flavor can never really fully compare. I still like some of their teas, though, and they're cheaper, so I'll probably pick up the Double Bergomot at some point to try it. But I suspect nothing is quite as good as the Aged Earl Grey from Numi, that's the tea that got me on this Earl Grey kick in the first place.

Chai

I also like Chai teas, although some more than others. I really like Stash Tea's Double Spice Chai. I haven't found another Chai that I like quite as much, but there are lots of different kinds out there to try. At the moment I have a jar of Teavana Matevana / Roobish Chai mix that is quite good; I have some Zhena's Gypsy Tea Coconut Chai, and I have some Numi's Golden Chai.

Non-Caffeine Teas

I'm not a fan of many of the herbal teas out there, because so many of them wind up feeling like slightly flavored hot water rather than a drink like tea or coffee. Sometimes I'll have some mint tea, but chamomile or some of the other common herbal teas don't grab me so much.

I like Roobis tea (red tea) though. I haven't really settled on a specific brand that I favor over any other; right now I don't have any in my desk drawer at work. I think the last box I bought was just generic "Fred Meyer" brand Red Roobis tea. But overall, Roobis tea is good.

I've become a big fan of the fruit teas made by the London Fruit & Herb company. At the momenth I have a box of their Blueberry Bliss. Their fruit teas are really full-flavored and very tasty. It's too bad that they're so hard to track down, I had to order them online last time around. It's made in England and only available as an import in the U.S.

At the moment I'm not really a big fan of green tea or white tea. Maybe I just haven't found the right brand/blend yet.

For Christmas I asked for a new teapot and a thermos. Now I make tea on the weekend in the morning and put it in the thermos and drink it over several hours. The thermos my family got me is a bit large though -- it holds multiple cups, up to 5 I think. I try to never fill it completely full, that's too much to drink.