Suddenly I have something to do with the chocolate-mint plant that exploded out of its pot and all over my patio. Do you dry the leaves first, or does it work fresh?
If you get a floral black tea, brew a little bit of it in a cup, then add hot chocolate powder, stir until the powder is melted, then add milk and microwave it, it tastes fucking amazing. The best tea I've done that with is French Earl Grey. @(Not) Literally A Bird I'll get that tea for you and mail it to you, don't you worry *paps* You have to go to France and get me tea from Mariage Freres tho =P
I can say for a fact that cocoa nibs and coffee brewed together taste awesome. I can't imagine mint would interfere with that, assuming that you get the proportions right! I might try coffee/cocoa nibs + a mint simple syrup to taste?
Allergies succkkkk. I'm allergic to chamomile, which is one of the reasons I got super intent on what's in my tea: it depresses my breathing. It's . . . a problem. And we do mix blends at home! I have a few different loose leaf teas with a single note, and I try them in different combinations, always using the lowest water temp any of the ingredients needs. Part of what I do, though, is just smell what they smell like together dry? And a lot of the time I just guess and fine tune from there. The fine tuning is mostly, like, seeing how you want different proportions, so brewing single cups of looseleaf tends to work best so far. Like, I wanted a thing that tasted like blueberry pie, so I tried half and half vanilla oolong and wild blueberry tea, and then that was too much vanilla, so I tried it two parts blueberry to one part vanilla oolong, and just fidgeting like that. @Aviari, fresh or dry both work: you get slightly different flavors with each, and might find you have a preference for one or the other.
I like green tea with honey in it but I'd like to expand my tastes. Could anyone recommend some teas to me? Preferably ones that aren't too intense or bitter.
@Bel Capricorn it's still a green tea, but have you tried genmaicha? it has roasted rice in it and it has a really neat nutty flavour.
has anyone done any cooking with tea? i've seen recipes for poached fish in green tea and other savoury dishes, and i'm curious as to how much of the tea flavour you actually get out of it.
Green Seduction Moment Of Zen (I'm biased towards David's, it's what I've had the most of) PeachBerry Jasmine Sutra is from TeaVana and delicious.
Oooh! Tea thread. I have found very few teas that I do not like. Some favorites: good keemun just by itself; jasmine green tea with honey (or simple syrup) and lemon (@Bel Capricorn you might like that one, brew it for 2 minutes or less or it gets bitter, though); ceylon with milk; earl grey; assam with fresh mint leaves just sort of mixed in; earthy puerhs; and ti kwan yin. For brands, a lot of local places, like this one. Peets was my go-to for everyday black tea, but now they're carrying Mighty Leaf instead of their own brand :(. Mariage Freres scented teas are godly and I love them. The chai I make most often is actually just from Trader Joe's, but it's got a pretty good spice balance.
Hello, just dropping in to say that the only tea I've like ever liked is Bengal Spice Tea But also tagging @Kaylotta because she has tons of tea and I don't think you'd mind talking about it. :)
lol - well, i love tea and coffee. i know a little bit about tea, not so much about coffee. my fave tea ever is Dong Ding (Taiwanese) oolong; i'm also a big fan of Nepalese black teas (and the Kenyan teas I've had have been quite good too). it's been a while since i've had the spare cash and time to really drink proper loose full-leaf tea, and so my stash is aging a bit (whoops) - i've got a nice genmaicha in there, as well as a handful of greens and a handful of blacks that i can't be bothered to get out and list right now. i used to buy a lot from Rare Tea Republic but I think they were bought out ... ? oh no i just googled and they just moved further into their parent company. anyway their stuff was good, dunno if it still is. i also really like buying from Life in Teacup, a small company run by a woman in Boston (I think?). every tea i have ever ordered from her has been incredible and very reasonably priced. i have a significant stash of flavoured teabags, too, which are usually my go-to for my morning tea (or for sun tea/iced tea, especially fruity herbal blends). oh, and i really like chai, especially when i have the time to get my looseleaf chai out and make it properly on the stove. i'd like to get into coffee more - i've poked at it a bit, but it's pricier than tea and also you tend to get larger quantities of it. my next bag of beans is a Colombian blend, i think (i'd previously been trying light vs dark roast with a general blend) - i want to try some Kenyan or other African beans next.
@emythos http://www.crunchybetty.com/the-epic-guide-to-making-your-own-chai-tea -- http://www.thekitchn.com/the-5-spices-you-need-for-homemade-chai-200440 -- http://www.chai-tea.org/recipes.html The base is a black tea which most people seem to agree Darjeeling is the best, but unfortunately most people ALSO agree that getting a good, authentic Darjeeling is next near to impossible if you haven't got connections because demand outstrips supply, so there are a lot of knock-offs. If you aren't picky just about any black tea will work though. Here's a nice primer on picking a good one http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/08/types-of-black-tea-where-to-buy.html
