Tea

[Doc Dan]

I have to admit, I have always loved tea. Don't get me wrong, if you get in the way of my morning coffee you are one step from a meeting with St. Peter. But, I love tea. Tea comes in all sorts of flavors and styles. Green tea and Black tea are the same, and have the same anti-oxidants. The only difference is the fermentation (oxidation) time.
My all time favorite may be Darjeeling. This is grown in that wonderful volcanic soil in the north of India and is very smooth. However, I found, and then lost again, a black (not Chinese) tea flavored with Jasmine. I think it came from Sri Lanka but my source has dried up. It was like drinking in a summer evening.
Lately, I have been given some tea from Sabah, on the Island of Borneo. It is flavored with Geranium flowers, of all things. It is delightfully drinkable and the scent is quite soothing. Tea is better than coffee for those late afternoon drags we all go through. It gives just the right lift, but not too much.
The best teas, with the exception of Darjeeling, are grown in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The USA used to grow a lot of tea and most plantations and large farms grew tea. Now, tea is grown in South Carolina and Washington. Alabama has a tea plantation and Hawaii also grows tea. This is a far cry from the cultured fields of the past.

[Jazz]

I love black tea. I've tried a few kinds and always go back to Red Rose and Tazo Awake. I can't drink green anymore - it kills my stomach, but used to love loose green tea. Coffee also upsets the innards, so I'm a tea granny, and proud of it.

[Doc Dan]

Unfortunately, since Americans only drink Orange Pekoe blends for iced tea, companies often get away with sending their poorer teas to us. But, there are some very good teas to be found, if you look.

As you pointed out, it is easier on your system. Tea has chemicals that protect our teeth and bones as we age, is easier on the stomach that coffee, boosts our immune systems, protects against heart attack and stroke, has a lot of anti-oxidants, and much more.

There is a brand of black tea from the Cameron Highlands called Boh that is very good. I am not a green tea fan, either. I do not hate it and will enjoy it, but given the choice, I prefer black. Dilmah tea from Sri Lanka is pretty good, too. Sri Lankan tea is also called Ceylon Tea (Ceylon is the old name of the country).

Another flavor that I love is Earl Grey with honey. It is flavored with a citrus fruit called Bergamot. Even Captain Piccard preferred it. Of course, he was just copying me

[kbuzbee]

I've gone through tea phases. Not in one now, but in the past I've enjoyed several varieties from green to black to white. Some were quite good. I also enjoy Tazo Awake, Passion and Ginseng.

But right now I'm all coffee all the time.

Ken

[Doc Dan]

I do love coffee, that is for certain (I wonder if there is coffee in heaven?). But tea can have a complexity of flavors, and flavor layering that coffee cannot attain. Some tea is like drinking in a lazy Sunday afternoon, such as Darjeeling. Some tea is like smooth jazz and others like a Bird Parker session.

Tea has been inspirational. I am reminded that an entire class of ships was purpose built for tea: Clipper Ships they were called. They were the fastest ships of the day. It was one of these tea ships that set the world speed record for sailing from New York to San Francisco, in a day before the canal, that stood from 1854-1989, well into the high speed motorized modern era.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I really like tea and hot chocolate.
I have been drinking Oolong, green tea, black tea at times, Earl Gray, and others.

[Doc Dan]

I really like tea and hot chocolate.
I have been drinking Oolong, green tea, black tea at times, Earl Gray, and others.

If there is any truth to the science, you will probably live longer than your friends who do not drink much tea. I was reading the other day that people who drink tea daily have less heart trouble and other health issues than those who only drink it occasionally.

[DeathBySnooSnoo]

I do like a good cup of tea and have about 5 or 6 different kinds around. I do like green tea quite a lot. And I find that my pallet tends to really notice the differences between them, especially if they are grown in different countries.
There is a little mom and pop tea place near me and I usually go in once a month or so to just get something new.
I like oolong quite a bit too.

And, don't ever get in the way when I am getting my morning coffee. People are maimed when that happens. :)

[kbuzbee]

But tea can have a complexity of flavors, and flavor layering that coffee cannot attain.

I have to disagree... Good coffee, properly roasted and well brewed is easily as complex as the best tea I've tried. I'll find citus, floral and berry layered over carmel, chocolate and oak. I find coffee to be fuller and bolder with a deeper level of flavors than any tea. IIRC science bears that out with coffee being one of the most complex "foods" on the planet, with something like 230 flavor components. While I don't claim to have THAT discerning of a palate, I do appreciate it's complex profile over that of tea.

Of course the vast majority of coffee consumed in the USA is horrible (as is the vast majority of tea) It's so old it's beyond "stale". I find coffee only holds it's flavor profile for a week to 10 days after roasting (and only 15 minutes after grinding!). Most coffee you'll find is closer to 7-10 MONTHS old. Ugh! And buying ground coffee from a grocery store... Just say NO!

Even "speciality" coffee tends to be 1-3 months old unless you get it directly from the roaster, and the vast majority of those are over roasted, cooking out all the subtle flavors trying for a slightly longer shelf life. There's a reason one well known roaster has come to be known as Charbucks

Of course it's just as easy to under roast coffee and fighting the "over roasted" label, some roasters have gone down that path. I find these coffees too lemony and "bright" with little bottom end to balance the high notes they are so proud of.

But if you can find a local roaster (or, ideally, roast your own) and get your coffee the day it's roasted', preferably (to me) to a nice City Roast, nothing compares.

Brewing matters, of course and here is where your preferences really kick in. I have 15 different methods to brew coffee (did I mention I really like coffee ?) For the first 1-3 days after roasting I'll typically make espresso in my La Pavoni. Nothing gets the flavors out of coffee like that gem. But it also accentuates the negatives, so if a coffee is over or under roasted, or is past it's peak the LP really points that out. After that I'll move on to something like a Brikka or an Aeropress (wonderful little device, by the way) to finish off the bag.

I'm sure tea suffers from many of the same problems that plague a truly great cup of coffee but you're not going to convince me the a great cup of tea will ever compare. It's "why" I can't seem to stick with tea for more than a couple days.

Ken

[The Deacon]

I enjoy both tea and coffee, but am not enough of a snob about either to go much beyond Twinings blacks for tea, or beyond 8 O'Clock Columbian whole bean, ground by the bagful in the store's grinder at the finest grind available, and brewed in a 4 cup Mr. Coffee, for coffee.

[bh49]

I drink coffee to keep me awake, but I enjoy a tea. No milk or sugar or anything added. I like few kinds of green tea, mostly from Yogi, but I love black tea. Mostly drink Ahmad "English Tea #1". I think that I need a cup now. :)

[Skidoosh]

Ahmad is awesome, can't drink Earl Gray but English #1 is great- available on amazon. I've never had anyone accuse me of having "tea breath." I think most Americans have never had a proper cup of tea. Tea bags with strings are evil.

[Doc Dan]

As I said earlier, I LOVE coffee and yes, it can have a myriad of flavors. I would never disparage coffee, trust me. But, tea has so many special ways to ferment that it can have many different flavors from the same plant and same batch. There is a lot of flavor complexity and this comes out even more by not sweetening, sweetening and with what it is sweetened, cream, milk, or no cream or milk, temperature it is brewed, whether steeped, brewed, boiled, dripped, and more. Some tea is so delicate in flavor it has to be concentrated on. Some have bold flavors. Today I drank some tea from Borneo, and yesterday from the Cameron Highlands. The other day I had some Chinese tea and after that some Ceylonese tea. Last week it was Darjeeling from India and Earl Grey from Sri Lanka.
I got interested in tea in the 1960's when Hickory Farms would sell teas of many kinds from around the world. I would buy a new tin every week and try it out. I was just a youngster but was fascinated by the differing flavors of just plain tea.
Many Americans do not remember that at one time, at least in the South, it was not Orange Pekoe that was common for iced tea, but some other black tea with a different flavor altogether. I actually prefer that over the Orange Pekoe and found a BBQ place in TN at the foot of the mountains that still served it.

[Doc Dan]

Ahmad is awesome, can't drink Earl Gray but English #1 is great- available on amazon. I've never had anyone accuse me of having "tea breath." I think most Americans have never had a proper cup of tea. Tea bags with strings are evil.

Well, tea bags were invented by Americans so they are not evil and they are less messy. The problem is in the brewing method. I do prefer loose tea, though, as often the bagged tea is stale. Also loose tea with hot water poured over it (black tea) and set to steep a bit, is wonderful. You need a strainer, of course.

[Skidoosh]

I would have a tough time choosing between Thai iced tea or coffee- it's good in Malaysia too. The Cameron Highlands are one of the most beautiful places I have visited.

[Doc Dan]

I have not yet visited the Cameron Highlands. I plan to do so, however. Yes, the iced tea is pretty good. One type of tea they serve in Southeast Asia and India is Teh Tarik, where they put lots of sugar and cream, then pour it from one pitcher to another until it becomes frothy.

[The Deacon]

Ahmad is awesome, can't drink Earl Gray but English #1 is great- available on amazon. I've never had anyone accuse me of having "tea breath." I think most Americans have never had a proper cup of tea. Tea bags with strings are evil.

Well, tea bags were invented by Americans so they are not evil and they are less messy. The problem is in the brewing method. I do prefer loose tea, though, as often the bagged tea is stale. Also loose tea with hot water poured over it (black tea) and set to steep a bit, is wonderful. You need a strainer, of course.

And tea bags are really just a replacement for the tea ball, which had been around for centuries, required cleaning, and was often made of metals that tended to impart a metallic flavor to the tea.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I saw an interesting invention: Triangular shaped tea bags. There is an ongoing debate as to which is better as far as getting the most tea into your water as possible, but for alot of people it comes down to cost, because the traditional tea bags are cheaper.

http://breweddaily.com/2008/12/are-tria ... gs-better/" target="_blank

From the article:

" The advantage to a pyramidal tea bag is in its structured shape. The bags are typically made of nylon (although other materials from silk to biodegradable fibers can also be used), which can be sewn shut instead of stapled or chemically heat-sealed in some way. Tea leaves are not compressed inside the bag and, when the bag is submerged in hot water, the leaves can swell, float freely and infuse maximum flavor into the water. There is less breakage of the tea leaves in these bags, reducing or eliminating the presence of tea “dust” in the bottom of the cup. To many, this also means that tea makers are not really given the option to use broken or sub-par tea leaves (whether they typically do or not) because there is no way to conceal them inside the pyramid as there is in the bag, where leaves can break easily."

[Doc Dan]

Short and to the point was the article. I have seen those triangle bags but thought it was a gimmick. This may need rethinking as the article shows some very positive outcomes of using them.

Here are 13 reasons tea is good for you from: http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/04/1 ... -love-tea/" target="_blank

1. Tea can boost exercise endurance. Scientists have found that the catechins (antioxidants) in green tea extract increase the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel, which accounts for improved muscle endurance.
2. Drinking tea could help reduce the risk of heart attack. Tea might also help protect against cardiovascular and degenerative diseases.
3. The antioxidants in tea might help protect against a boatload of cancers, including breast, colon, colorectal, skin, lung, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, ovarian, prostate and oral cancers. But don’t rely solely on tea to keep a healthy body — tea is not a miracle cure, after all. While more studies than not suggest that tea has cancer-fighting benefits, the current research is mixed.
4. Tea helps fight free radicals. Tea is high in oxygen radical absorbance capacity (“ORAC” to its friends), which is a fancy way of saying that it helps destroy free radicals (which can damage DNA) in the body. While our bodies are designed to fight free radicals on their own, they’re not 100 percent effective — and since damage from these radical oxygen ninjas has been linked to cancer, heart disease and neurological degeneration, we’ll take all the help we can get.
5. Tea is hydrating to the body (even despite the caffeine!).
6. Drinking tea is linked with a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease. When considered with other factors like smoking, physical activity, age and body mass index, regular tea drinking was associated with a lowered risk of Parkinson’s disease in both men and women.
7. Tea might provide protection from ultraviolet rays. We know it’s important to limit exposure to UV rays, and we all know what it’s like to feel the burn. The good news is that green tea may act as a back-up sunscreen.
8. Tea could keep waist circumference in check. In one study, participants who regularly consumed hot tea had lower waist circumference and lower BMI than non-consuming participants. Scientists speculate that regular tea drinking lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome (which increases the risk of diabetes, artery disease and stroke), although it’s important to remember that correlation does not equal causation.
9. Regular tea drinking might also counteract some of the negative effects of smoking and might even lessen the risk of lung cancer (good news, obviously, but not a justification for cigs).
10. Tea could be beneficial to people with Type 2 diabetes. Studies suggest that compounds in green tea could help diabetics better process sugars.
11. Tea can help the body recover from radiation. One study found that tea helped protect against cellular degeneration upon exposure to radiation, while another found that tea can help skin bounce back postexposure.
12. Green tea has been found to improve bone mineral density and strength.
13. Tea might be an effective agent in the prevention and treatment of neurological diseases, especially degenerative diseases (think Alzheimer’s). While many factors influence brain health, polyphenols in green tea may help maintain the parts of the brain that regulate learning and memory.

[Doc Dan]

Just bought some pure organic green tea (funny, I thought all tea was organic and not from man made materials). It is supposed to be good for my wife's bones. It seems research indicates that people who drink tea have better bone density than those that drink other things. They also have better mineral content in their bones. This is good news for aging people.
I also found a study that shows men who drink four or more cups per day have less likelihood of stroke or mental deterioration. Too late for me on the mental deterioration, according to my wife. :))