Tea: Ew, Meh, Yum!

[chibi-master]

Okay, I just started thinking about this. Tea. Yes, tea. Personally, I hate the stuff. It's smelly and tastes icky to me. I want to know what other people think of tea. If you like it, why? What are your favorite flavors? Who else hates tea? Maybe you think it's "meh.", y'know, don't hate, don't love. Go nuts on your opinions of tea!:animesmil

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]The kind of tea you found icky and smelly may have very well been just badly brewed, but saying "I hate tea because it's smelly" is like saying "I hate people because they're smelly."

Not all tea is smelly.

For example: Chrysanthemum tea. As sweet and delicate as our very own Indi and with a beautiful pattern of flowers floating in the bottom of your drink. Jasmine tea, in the same vein, with a slightly stronger flavor.

Contrast that with Ooloong tea. Literally the Black Dragon tea. Full of caffeine and strong enough to bring back the dead if properly brewed. A full strong and slightly bitter flavor.

Then there's ceylon tea, the most common variety seen in Lipton teas. It's not so bad if you like it brewed in the sun. Or hot with milk and sugar like the English do. But I am Chinese. And putting milk in your tea is like kissing your sister.

There are some things you just [i]don't[/i] do.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I wouldn't say I'm a huge tea fan, which means that the tea I actually do like is pretty boring.

If I drink tea, I will usually drink English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Irish Breakfast or Russian Caravan. I pretty much consider all of these to be relatively safe forms of tea.

Also I tend to only drink tea with breakfast for some reason. If I have breakfast at a restaurant, I will usually order a pot of tea to go along with it. That or orange juice (or both).

I've had green tea before and it [i]can[/i] be nice, but I don't enjoy it when it's too strong.

I would say that I drink coffee more than tea, overall. But tea can really hit the spot at times.

And I've found that tea has many different scents, depending on which one you choose. So, you may find that there are some types of tea that you really like the smell of.

And Raiha, I [i]always[/i] put milk in my tea (except for green tea). You can't tell me that you would drink English Breakfast tea without milk - that's such a large insult that Gordon Brown should fly out there and slap you with his notepad for even considering it. Of course, if you use that horribly low-quality American milk (with the skin and all), I can't blame you.

Oddly enough, if I make my own coffee I have it [i]almost[/i] black. Over time I've found that I put in less and less milk. Now I just put a little drop in. I wonder what that's all about.[/font]

[Rachmaninoff]

I think the smell depends on the tea. Most of what I've had hasn't had an unpleasant aroma. Some have been a little sweet smelling. Most have just been pretty mild really.

I'm not a big fan of tea, but I do like to have raspberry tea every now and then.

[chibi-master]

I hated tea when I first tried it. I was 4 years old...I'm not even sure what flavor it was. It may have been just regular iced tea. But because I couldn't remember what tea it was, I have never drunk tea since then. And I think all tea smells the same...intoxicatingly strong.

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]Unsweetened orange pekoe (generally called 'iced tea') is rather startling, and still makes me cough and shudder when I drink it by accident. Adding about two cups of sugar per gallon makes it easier on the pallete, I think.

I have yet to be introduced to any other kinds, unfortunately.

Unless you count Green Tea, which I think is okay in shot glass servings.[/FONT]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Unsweetened green tea from Starbucks is very good, but I understand it's commonly sweetened for the feeble American palate.

The teas I listed past my original opening line are Chinese and Japanese, commonly found in any restaurant of that persuasion. You can find them usually in the international section of most food stores. Or just an international food store. Orange Pekoe and Ceylon teas are found EVERYWHERE.

And iced tea dispensed from most fast food joints are sweetened to the point of coma inducing for the diabetic. Then again, my palate is convinced that all tea should be savory and unsweetened. My mother is currently favoring a browned rice tea that tastes just like browned rice. It has a slightly burned flavor that she tries to mix with the regular sun tea. This usually causes some mother/daughter tensions...[/FONT][/COLOR]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]English/European teas are generally sweetened, however, I agree that tea can not be over-sweetened.

Green tea shouldn't need sugar, because it is naturally sweet. I had some recently and it really didn't need anything added to it. I kind of can't imagine adding heaps of sugar to something like that. o_O[/font]

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR="#004a6f"]I love tea, but I haven't had the opportunity to try many kinds. My family drinks mostly orange pekoe. When we lived in Saudi, we always had Lipton, but we prefer Tetley's now. We drink so much tea. We have at least one pot every day, but usually 2 or 3 (or even 4 or 5!).

I'm the main teamaker in my house, which gets kind of annoying with my mom and my brother always asking me to make tea. Apparently my hands are "blessed" and the tea only tastes good when I make it (yeah right, they're just too lazy to make it themselves!).

In the summer we always add mint leaves to the pot, and in the winter we add dried sage. None of us like it with milk, except for my little brother. But I like to add lots of sugar. I already add 2-3 tablespoons to the pot, and the others like it that way, but I add an extra teaspoon to my mug (yes we drink it in mugs, ha ha ha).

I enjoy other teas as well, but in the end, good old Tetley's Orange Pekoe really hits the spot. And it goes really well with our spicy arabic food. Especially falafels.[/COLOR]

[Ikillion]

[COLOR=#6d527f][SIZE="1"][FONT="Trebuchet MS"][quote name='Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Unsweetened green tea from Starbucks is very good, but I understand it's commonly sweetened for the feeble American palate.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

You really think so? It may be where I live but the green tea I get from Starbucks is hard enough to keep down. Then again, they did have to close down some of them for a day for "Re Training". Now, I'm a big fan of unsweetened tea, but man is it horrible. If anything, I'll take a chai tea from them and be on my way.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Raiha]

[quote name='Ikillion'][COLOR=#6d527f][SIZE="1"][FONT="Trebuchet MS"]
I'll take a chai tea from them and be on my way.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Oh gawd I can't resist!

Chai tea is a redundancy. You're literally saying 'tea tea.'[/FONT][/COLOR]

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]
Chai tea is a redundancy. You're literally saying 'tea tea.'[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Sorta like people saying "shiba inu dog" are saying "shiba dog dog"?

Yeah, but...my sister loves that stuff. The only reason she'll come to Barnes&Nobles with me and my dad is because there's a Starbucks inside of it. Then she'll beg for "tea tea".

[Kitchen Sink]

I don't drink tea very often and when I do, it's a plain Earl Grey with a hint of milk and sugar.

I do want to try some exotic teas, such as the flavour infused ones. In time, I guess.

[Axel]

Tea, for me, is one of those things I go on and off with. My main drink being coffee (Not for any uplifting effects, since it doesn't do anything for me. But, for the taste), its usually left a while (Until I get sick of drinking coffee every single day) before I drink tea. I, of course, have my favorites.

[B]Yorkshire[/B], [B]PG[/B], [B]Tetley[/B] and [B]Sainsburys Red label[/B] being the basic household drink here. Nice, normal teas.

[B]Earl Grey[/B] - For when I'm in the mood for something sweet and tastey. I have a habit of overloading this one with milk and 3 sugars for a boost. xD (Naughty me.)

[B]Lady Grey[/B] - For when I feel up for a more fruity taste. Usually on summer days. (If I get any. =/ )

[B]Lapsang Souchong+[/B] - Gorgeous and smokey. It used to be one that I drank all the time in place of regular tea. Its an aquired taste, but I find it soothing.

[B]Rose Pouchong*[/B] - If you imagine normal tea, but with a beautiful hint of rose, then you have this one. Its nice for relaxing in the afternoon. One of those teas you drink when you fancy something slightly different to the normal flavours of regular tea.

[B]Honeybush and Lavender*+[/B] - Wonderful and relaxing. A lot of people I mention it to, who aren't avid drinkers, wonder why on earth anyone would drink lavender. Lol. But, to tell you the truth, I've always been a big fan of flower tastes. I adore rose and violet and I used to use Lavender sugar all the time, so I'm used to it. This is PERFECT for destressing. I have it sweetened without milk.

[B]Nettle and Sweet Fennel*[/B] - One of my other favorites. This one is soothing, cleansing and yet somehow invigorating. Its flavour is a smooth, yet also sharp. What a contradiction, eh? I love this tea both hot with no milk and some sugar and also cold. I recommend brewing some up, cooling it and putting it in a pitcher with slices of lemon and crushed ice.

[B]Blackberry and Nettle*[/B] - As you can see, I'm a big nettle fan. But, with the blackberry added, it gives that sharp edge a bit of an extra zing. This is another you could have in a pitcher for those hot summer days. (Perhaps throw in some cranberry juice too!)

[B]*[/B][I]Recommended for people who are not fond of the run of the mill teas.

+Recommended for people who are not fond of the run of the mill teas, but who are also up for something new and unusual.[/I]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Given that the Irish are apparently the "biggest per-capita consumers of tea in the world" according to Wikipedia with an average of four to six cups a day, I suppose I would classify myself as an average tea drinker, as I fall within that range.

I'm rather dull when it comes to tea, generally sticking to the brand-name black that?s bought for home. I?ve almost never been able to drink tea without milk and sugar, the only exception being Turkish Apple tea, which I absolutely adore during the summer, unfortunately it's been a while since I've been able to get my hands on some. While I was in Australia I had the chance to sample a lot of other types of teas, as my aunt and uncle owned a café and insisted I expand my palette.[/SIZE]

[Neptune]

[FONT="Garamond"][SIZE="1"][COLOR="Navy"]I'm not much of a tea drinker I suppose, but when it comes down to it I'll usually settle with some green tea. It tastes pretty good to me, I just never got into the habit of drinknig it all the time. I usually drink tea maybe once a month, sometimes even longer than that. I always usally have some tea when I have a sore throat though, it feels nice. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[Vicky]

[SIZE=1]I'm British. Of course I like tea.

I normally drink Tetley's tea, which is like... normal tea I guess. With two cubes (yes cubes) of sugar and one of those posh little cups and saucers. I'm not being sarcastic either - me and a friend do it for kicks by making tea time a very, very important time of our weekend routine whenever we can.[/size]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR="DarkGreen"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]I don't really drink tea. I don't even remember what kinds I've tried, I only know that I didn't like any of them. I don't think it smells bad though. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[Claire]

[FONT="Arial"]I haven't tried a whole lot of tea, but the only kind I really like is sweet iced tea. Maybe it's a southern thing, but both sets of my grandparents make the best sweet tea. Since I don't see them very often, I could probably down a gallon of Publix's sweet tea in not a lot of time. Oh geez.

My friends love green tea, but I just can't bring myself to enjoy it. I've also tried peppermint tea several times, but when I make it myself I can never taste the peppermint. I've always done it in a single serving, which, when sugar is added, will not taste nearly as good as tea that gets sweetened as it's brewing. Sigh. [/FONT]

[Boo]

[size=1]You kids who think that tea stinks have noooo idea whatsoever what tea is, because it just so happens to be that tea smells darn good.

I drink teas as often as I can, varying incredibly much. At the moment we have some "Tropical Fruits" and "Peach... 'n' stuff" from Lipton that I like a lot. Though, normally I go for orange tea, or liquorice tea, or "winter tea", or "goodnight tea", or ordinary Earl Grey tea, or green tea sometimes, or rooibos when I'm at my girlfriend's - where I also have "Früh dich tee" occasionally and and... Well, basically I drink a lot of teas.

Nowadays only sugar gets into my cup (two lumps/cubes of sugar, most of the time), but I used to add milk to it. However, as nice as it is to add milk, often it covers some of the taste. :(

People, drink more tea. Not just Starbucks tea, but actual 'ordinary' tea. I'd send teabags to you if necessary.[/size]

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]I drink raspberry and lemon tea. It's an herbal type that boosts energy and is healthy for you. I've tried other teas but so far I haven't really found any that I like other than the two I currently have from time to time. Oh and neither one of them has a strong smell, stuff like coffee is much easier to smell than the stuff I drink is.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE="1"]I totally prefer coffee, but I really only drink it on sundays after church because its convenient. I do like tea aswell though, but my tea taste buds arn't very exotic. I like the generic Lipton tea(orange pekoe), and green tea. I also love Arizona Green Tea.

I used to use milk in my tea when I was little, but haven't in sometime now because it seems to taste like watered down milk with sugar. XD Green tea I never sweeten, but I don't like it strong either. When I was in Japan they had an odd contrast with their tea and other drinks. The tea was all [i]extremely[/i] strong, and the fruity drinks were all [i]extremely[/i] sweet. There was one a revolving sushi restraunt in Koshigaya that had really good tea. ^_^

I googled these images of the tea I was referring too. >.<
> [URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/SaiyanPrincessX/KOSHAN.jpg"]Tea in Japan[/URL] <
> [URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/SaiyanPrincessX/GreenTea.jpg"]Another[/URL] <

I've tryed other kinds of teas, like Rasberry, and some other fruity flavors. I'm not too big into those atall. My friend took me to this teahouse once where they had a massive selection of flavored teas. I had some chocolate rasberry tea or something. It was diffrent..it did taste some like chocolate and some rasberry, but I'd still go for the generic stuff.[/SIZE]

[Lunar]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I'm not really fond of tea-except for when it's cold. however, my mom loves tea. she drinks it at least twice a day. tea is very healthy for you! what's really good is coffee.:catgirl:[/COLOR]

[Aaryanna_Mom]

Usually when I have tea, it's a form of iced tea that I grew up on. It's made with orange pekoe. I have to really watch my sugar intake though so I don't have it anywhere as often as I use to, which is a shame, it's good stuff.

[Roxie Faye]

[color=#9933ff]Tea is my preffered drink (over coffee, which I can't stand). I've always loved tea ever since I was little.

However, the caffeine has no effect on me at all, and sometimes it actually makes me soporific. XD

I also can't understand how anyone can put [i]milk[/i] in their tea. Ewwwwey. ><;

I usually add two packets of sugar, although sometimes I don't -- it depends on my mood.

Properply made green tea (the real kind) is pretty good, but other than that, I'm not a big green tea person. I know James said he thinks it's kind of sweet - personally, I find it bitter. (Especially the chilled kind.)

I drink black a lot, but my favorite is Oolong. I love the smell and the taste.

Other favored (black) tea types: Chrystanthamum, Lemon, Earl Grey, Ceylon. I've had barley iced tea (not really tea at all).

And I went to some fancy shmancy Chinese restaurant while in Thailand and ordered a pot called Tieguanyin [铁观音/ 鐵觀音] (Pron. "Tee Kwan Ihm") that was very very good. [/color]