Been drinking a lot of tea...need help finding the best brand(Brits please help!)

I'm just a newbie American tea drinker trying to find my way. I started with mom's sleepytime vanilla tea. Have now been sipping on some Bigelow black tea w a tbsp of Honey per cup. I know this is rather subjective but I am open to try any suggestions. I know the English know their stuff! Thank you for your time.

Not from England, but I'm a tea drinker. Tetly Bold is a nice black tea. I like it with a bit of stevia and milk.
They have a flavoured black current black tea that's also tasty.

a reply to: snowspirit

ty. do you know where it is sold? what is stevia btw?

a reply to: kevinp2300

Not sure where it's sold in the US, but up here its everywhere. All the grocery stores.
Stevia is a natural concentrated sweetener, usually sold in health food stores. Comes in liquid or powder, I use 4 drops in tea, or 3 in coffee. That's equal to about a teaspoon of sugar. Lots of people say it leaves a weird taste, but I like it.

Make sure the water is really boiling before it hits the tea. Cant emphasise this enough... anything less give the tea a weird taste.

My favorite brand is Red Rose... plain black tea.

Do not buy tea bags if you want a good cuppa, choose the brand that suits your taste buds and buy a teapot.
nough said!

Oh! my choice is Dilmah www.dilmahtea.com...
unitybrandsgroup.com...

a reply to: kevinp2300

Hi from England and oh yes love tea - but - our general tea seems to be going through the mill at the mordent, but have moved from a soft water area to a hard and of course the water is a prime ingredient. For everyday we have Yorkshire Tea which comes from Rainforest Alliance. It is apparently sourced from Argentina, India, Sri Lanka and India - great in the soft but not nearly so good IMHO in a hard water area. Tetley and other brands have yet to be sourced by the tea from our local Audi Store in the yellow packaging is nicer.

The other favourite of ours is Earl Grey tea which you need to make and leave for a few minutes but its a fantastic tea especially in the afternoon. My memory says its from China but - as usual the box leaves one ignorant as to where its from.

The best tea I ever tasted came from a plantation in Zimbabwe from a friend's brothers place. It was unbelievable and excellent but I have never managed to find this tea anywhere so if you have a tea importers you can buy from its maybe worth while asking them for their advice.

If I mention what we have in the house this middle of the night also it may give you a few ideas:
Lemon and Ginger revitalising herbal tea great.
Liquorice which is a great and perhaps an acquired taste
Camomile which calms
Green tea (quite revolting on its own) for health and detox etc
my favourite Peppermint and nettle which is great for energising, settling the stomach especially if hitting the booze and just nice for something to drink that's not a soda etc.

I forgot to say also ordinary tea without milk and a good slice of lemon and a dash of sugar or stevia is great.

I did have a Russian tea which in my ignorance I added milk to. It was fabulous but the restaurant changed hands and I can't trace what it was but it also was a great tea and very different from all the others.

Hope that little lot gives you some ideas.

a reply to: kevinp2300

The only tea we should be drinking is green tea this is due to the polyphenols that don't allow the fungi to grow on the tea leaves, all other teas have aflatoxin growing on them, here's a link on the fungi and other foods it grows on. www.ansci.cornell.edu...
I had the link about the tea but someone has hacked into my account and deleted it and I can't find it on google No surprise there
and add in your own herbs if it doesn't taste good.

originally posted by: snowspirit
a reply to: kevinp2300

Not sure where it's sold in the US, but up here its everywhere. All the grocery stores.
Stevia is a natural concentrated sweetener, usually sold in health food stores. Comes in liquid or powder, I use 4 drops in tea, or 3 in coffee. That's equal to about a teaspoon of sugar. Lots of people say it leaves a weird taste, but I like it.

Natural if its in its green form not natural if its white

fooling your body into thinking its getting sugar is not a good idea though raw Honey is much safer

a reply to: jinni73

If you are allergic to honey do you have any other suggestions for sweetening things (maple syrup doesn't quite hit the spot)?

PG Tips pyramid bags bring a much more flavoured cup of tea than regular tea bags...

So I'd suggest PG Tips.

a reply to: igloo

I will look for it in my local tea store. I am going to probably invest in a green tea next but black tea will always be in my cabinet.

a reply to: Shiloh7

I live in a soft water area(well water) but have a reverse osmosis filter(should i use this type?) It seems as if the Yorkshire Tea is only black tea? I like the taste of black tea but it seems if I could make a cup of green tea taste better, it would be healthier. I ordered some of Yorkshire loose tea just now from a British website. I need a teapot as well. Pretty excited about the investment. I also want to find some Peppermint and nettle as well(I love peppermint anything). Thanks for the advice.

a reply to: jinni73

Do you have any good green teas that I should try?

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

I think I am gonna go with loose leaf tea. ty for the input though.

a reply to: kevinp2300

I'm not sure if you can buy these brands in the states but over here in Britain, clipper and fushi make really good quality bleach free tea bags if you don't want the hassle if loose leaf. You can order them on amazon.

As for green teas my personal favorite is green tea with jasmine. The natural floral sweetness of the jasmine counteracts the slight bitterness of green tea without the need for sugar or lemon.

Another tea worthy of note is lapsang souchong. It's a black tea from China that's been smoked over pine. Has a really nice campfire aroma and tastes great.

Peace

I like yerba mate steeped with a sprig of rosemary, sweetened with a little honey.
Good stuff.

We drink Yorkshire tea in this house. Just a drop of milk no sugar, don't really drink any herbal teas, just Yorkshire and maybe tetley brands. I occasionally have an Earl grey for a change. Get yourself some hob knobs or chocolate dIGestives for some dunking action

I drink a LOT of tea...Iced, plain with ice only, and hot with a little sugar.

For hot tea, I actually prefer Lipton's regular ol' black tea. I've tried a ton and this is what I like the best.

For iced tea I love Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's Pacific Coast Iced Tea and their Southern Iced Tea blends.

If I'm out of that, I use Lipton for iced as well. Sometimes I get a little wild and add a couple of Earl Gray tea bags into the pot of iced tea as well. Gives it a little citrusy tang from the bergamot.

Like someone said before, make sure you boil your water first then add your tea. Steep for a few minutes and enjoy.

You really don't have to spend a lot of money on tea, find one you like and stick with it. Experiment from time to time but there are so many different teas out there now a days you could go nuts with trying this tea or that tea.

a reply to: kevinp2300

PG Tipps Pyramid Bags, as CharliesSpears mentioned, are indeed smashing for creating a damned fine cup of tea with, but I would also recommend that rather than beating around the bush, you look up a company called Twinings.

Their English Breakfast Tea is the quintessential, and traditional flavour in British culture, and mixes several delicious leaves in order to create its wonderful flavour and aroma. In fact, if you look the company up, they do a really smashing tea, for virtually every palate. I have a small selection of their teas right next to my bed, so that I can choose one before I even get to the kitchen in the mornings!