I'm a beginner in making tea and have recently gotten into it. I started with some flavored strawberry teas since my roommate's friend left me some, and I enjoyed it plain. Later, I added honey and then milk. I love my tea with milk as it adds to its complexity. I also tried milk with jasmine, mint, and green tea, and I enjoyed every single cup. However, when I read that milk goes well with black tea, I was really excited to try it. But when I actually tasted it, it was horrible. The flavors didn't mix well. Why do I hate having milk with the tea that everyone else enjoys?

David's Tea has been steadily dying since they shut down all 250 US stores in like 2021. Their costs are rising and quality is falling and my stash of fruity tisanes is running low. Over the years, I've found MANY other places to get black/green/rooibos teas but David's was the only place other than Teavana I'd found those "teas" that are basically just mixed chunks of freeze dried fruits and flavoring for summery iced tisanes. Does anyone have any suggested brands to look into?

Sri Lanka etc. Hand picked leaves etc. Picked at just the right time, individually etc.

Are these the real reasons?

Mainstream in terms of availability, people’s knowledge about it, prominence of drinking it, and how ingrained it is in our culture.

Got me some Jasmine green tea and it also came with silver needle green tea(I think that's what it's called) opened the bag up of the Jasmine and it smelled like chemicals, I thought that's what jasmine smelled like so I thought nothing of it but it tasted like straight CHEMICALS, I opened the bag of the silver needle and it smelled a lot better, I made me a cup and it tasted like that but less bad, it could be because of me making the other batch without cleaning, don't know why it tasted like that, maybe that's just how green tea tastes (no offense if it doesn't) but if you guys have some answers that would be nice, thanks!

My beautiful kettle is dead and I’m desperately trying to replace it. I have a British kettle, which was a gift and I cannot find the same one here in the us. Basically all I want is a kettle with a digital display were you can see the water temperature, preferably in Celsius but I wouldn’t mind if there a Fahrenheit option . This is crucial. No preset buttons or stuff like that.

I brew a good amount of kombucha and looking to up my loose leaf tea game. Looking for Assam, gunpowder green, and probably something like an English breakfast. Looking for the best tasting tea and quality I can get in this price range and can order a few lbs of each. Thanks.

I've been told I can't drink black teas for the next few months (side note: exclusion diets suck) and wanted to take the opportunity to experiment with white teas. There was a memorable plum tea I had a few years ago and really enjoyed but I can't recall the brand and nothing online looks similar to what I remember.

Does anyone have recommendations on white tea varieties? The only teas I tend to avoid are those with star anise.

Been looking online and I see a bunch but not sure what’s decent for an affordable price.

Would like a clay built in filter system.

Hey all, first time trying puer, got this from H Mart. After following this for a few months and seeing everyone say you can just use google lens to translate, I tried that and it didn't give me any helpful info. Can anyone tell me of this is shen or shu? I tried the gold wrapped one it was ok, I did feel a nice euphoria from it though

I was inspired by the “What’s a tea you cannot stand?” thread tbh.

Hey everyone, so before I start I will be reaching out to YS as well, but I received the bag on the left and it’s not in my order anywhere. Feels to be about 10 or 25 grams at most but I’m not sure where it came from. I ordered a bunch of different teas and a gaiwan as well using their bogo deals. Either way, has anyone tried it and how does it taste lol

Just a PSA in case people are curious. I ordered a couple sampler sets from YS on March 2, 2024 and it arrived today, March 25, 2024 in Canada. No taxes or duties. Signature required. Well packaged.

I want to say it's chamomile, but I'm unsure on whether there's anything else in there.

I have a few questions…

1. Most teas say to steep for 2-3 minutes and remove the tea bag, but I tend to leave mine in all while drinking. Is this okay and does it change anything?

2. I try to drink green tea every day, but sometimes miss the flavor of other teas so I will sometimes brew more than one tea bag in my large mug. Does this change the effectiveness of the green tea by adding a second tea bag of a different flavor? Every time I make a cup I always throw in a green tea bag and then whatever other flavor I fancy at the time. Please advise as I really do not want to jeopardize the health benefits of the green.

Thanks in advance. I am an almost every day tea drinker, but new to this sub. Cheers 🫖

When I was 15 and again at 16 I left the US and travelled to Nepal. While in Nepal I was either sick or full of anxiety because I started every day with terrible nausea and often vomited in the morning before I was able to eat anything later in the day.

I quickly found that there was one thing that really helped my stomach consistently. It was Masala Chai tea. The Nepali people were always so kind and would gladly offer chai tea. It wasn't long before I was completely in love with chai and drinking it every chance I got.

When I returned home to the US I quickly found the nearest coffee house that served Chai tea and went to try it out. What I was served was disgusting. It lacked the full flavor of the Chai and was a syrupy cinnamon drink. At the time I could not find how to make the real Chai tea and eventually I gave up hope.

Fast forward 25 years, I'm on a date with the love of my life and we are eating at an Indian restaurant. I notice they serve Masala Chai, order a cup and tell the story about how wonderful my memories of Chai tea in Nepal were. The restaurant chai was good but was still not what I remembered. My wonderful partner listened to me and took it upon themselves to find real chai that we could make at home.

They found a blend of masala chai that was great and provided instructions on how to make it (which I also didn't know at all). I am completely in love with masala chai tea and now have to have a cup every day.

I have now graduated from buying a pre-mixed bag to buying ingredients and blending them together to make chai at home.

My current recipe is below. If you got this far thanks for reading. I just wanted to share my tea story.

Ingredients:

1Tbsp Assam Black tea CTC
1/2 tsp crushed green cardamom pods
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (crush with mortar and pestle)
3 cloves ( crush with mortar and p)
Pieces of cinnamon bark

Instructions:

• Boil 1 cup water
• Add ginger let boil for 1 min
• Add rest of spices reduce heat to simmer 2-3 min.
• Add 1 cup whole milk
• Bring to boil and watch carefully, reduce heat as soon as milk bubbles start to rise.
• Let milk simmer up to 1 min then turn off heat.
• Cover and let steep for 5 min.
• add desired amount of honey to mug
• Strain tea into mug, stir and enjoy

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https://preview.redd.it/sz8irpr2gjqc1.png?width=715&format=png&auto=webp&s=1a6da461cab3f5080a6a46d8f4b799328ffa6c32

What tea is your current favourite? I’m trying to branch out but it’s super overwhelming with how many there are so I figured I would ask here to see what you all think

Any recommendations for a tea brand with (tasteful and good) rooibos tea flavor? ☺️ I have heard something about an African or Australian rooibos tea but not sure. Preferably in bags but I‘ll take any recommendations!