Saturday 29 January 2022

What's Your Favourite Tea?


I know there's a lot of avid tea drinkers
out there in the Blogosphere!

So this post is for YOU!


I have three favourite kinds of tea,
each of which must be a specific brand.

My first choice for a nice cuppa
is Symphony Blend by one of 
Canada's oldest tea importers/blenders,
Murchie's of Victoria, British Columbia.

It is a black/green tea blend
with "prominent Darjeeling-muscatel notes."


My second choice is Tetley's Earl Grey.
It has just the right amount and flavour
of bergamot for me.

Other brands are too floral for my taste.


In the evenings when I cannot drink caffeine
(because it will keep me up at night), 
I will drink a nice satisfying cup of
herbal Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait
by DavidsTea.

Technically, this is a "fruit infusion" and
not a "tea" per se, but who's quibbling?


So, what's YOUR favourite tea?

Tell all in the comments!


64 comments:

jaz@octoberfarm said...

i like scottish breakfast tea. always with a bit of milk and honey.

roughterrain crane said...

I might be an avid tea drinker. I love lots of kind such as green tea, black tea, woolong tea and other Chinese teas. Have a nice Sunday with your favorite tea.

Martha said...

I'm not generally a tea drinker but I'll take a nice tall glass of southern sweet iced tea any time. Enjoy the weekend! :)

Boud said...

I suspect that top cup contains something a bit stronger than tea. In cold weather it's Enjoying Tea's English or Scottish breakfast tea, strong, in summer it's David's English breakfast as suntea.

It's never those weird scented bathwater types of "tea". No I'm not judgy, why?

baili said...

wow this cup of tea looks tempting to me dear Debra :)

well my taste of tea is not as amazing as yours but simple milk tea with slight touch of sweetness ,green tea and brown tea without milk once in a while and yes i like ginger ,lemon tea too :)
good be with you lots of love!!!

NanaDiana said...

Oh, darlin'! Just can't do it. Tea does not like me-the tannic acid does me in. I am a coffee drinker thru and thru. Can we still be friends? lol. xo Diana

Marcia LaRue said...

If I am going to have a cup of tea ... I prefer Earl Grey or chamomile. I would like to get some Lady Grey, but can't find it at the grocery store! Bigelow brand is as fancy as I can get!

Travel said...

Sadly, I am not a tea drinker. I enjoy the ritual, the slowness of the making of a cup of tea, hot liquids have never been my drink of choice. I put ice in my coffee.

Mistress Maddie said...

I drink tea from time to time too. I prefer three...Prince of Wales, Darjeeling, and celestials Sleepytime Lavender. I always take Arab of honey and milk in mine...and as Winston Churchill once said "My hour for tea is half past three, and it and my buttered toast wait for no one."

Tundra Bunny said...

My absolute favourite tea is Twinings' Darjeeling black tea, which sadly, is no longer available in Canada due to poor sales. I was given a box of Taylor's Afternoon Darjeeling tea bags this past Xmas, which is a perfect replacement when fresh liquid honey and lemon juice is added! Tetley strawberry tea bags also brew up into a soothing remedy for an upset stomach, though I rarely drink it anymore since leaving a high-stress job. Once in a while, I'll fall back on a cup of Murchie's English Afternoon tea if I'm out of coffee for my Keurig, LOL!

Rommy said...

This is Rommy bait, pure and simple. :D

OK, this is like asking me to choose a favorite book! There are just way too many I adore. I'm a fan of Rishi's puehr when I need to get things done. When I really need to get things done and feel fancy, White II Tea has a mini-puehr cake called Cocoa Smoove which is incredible. It's like all day rocket fuel and the taste is divine.

I'm very fond of several Adagio teas. You can get very good stuff reasonably priced. There are a couple of fandom blends I like, including one based on Kiki's Delivery Service. I also made my own blends when someone who created a line of them based on my favorite anime characters suddenly stopped making them available through Adagio. Those were a chocolate chai-lapsong souchong- orange black blend and a mint-decaf vanilla-green tea blend.

As far as green tea goes, I like sencha quite a bit and fancier versions of sencha get me swooning. Adagio has some decent simple greens, but Den's Tea cannot be overlooked. They put out a sakura sencha I faithfully buy every year. Chikitea has an amazing fukamushi sencha called Fushigi which is pricy with shipping costs, but I wait until I have a large enough order to make it work.

Then we get to macha, the powdered tea used in traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Pro tip - only use ceremonial grade for drinking. Culinary grade is fine for cakes and smoothies, but wretched on its own. I haven't had one I didn't like, but I love Seiju from Hoshi no En. Delightful stuff!

LOL, as you can see I take my tea seriously. I'll add your recommendations to my "to-try" list.

Anonymous said...

Yorkshire Red makes me happy.

Barb

Debra She Who Seeks said...

@ Rommy -- I bow to you, Mistress of Tea!

Marie Smith said...

I like King Cole, or a fruity tea. Yours looks like one I’d want to try.

Frank said...

Whatever happened to "orange pekoe" and "pekoe cut black" tea. I'm no connoisseur. Kroger's black tea in our house...once in great while Constant Comment.

Mike said...

My favorite tea is free refills tea.

pam nash said...

My favorite tea is Twinning's Lady Grey. For afternoons, I fall back on Celestial Seasonings Blueberry.

Deedles said...

My favorite tea is coffee.

Lady M said...

Currently drinking a lot of hibiscus tea as the level of pain I am in has my blood pressure elevated. I like chai tea and make my own chai blend.

Tasker Dunham said...

Wot - no picture of Yorkshire tea!

bobbie said...

I can't drink tea ~ for whatever reason, it hits bottom in my tummy!

Dunstan Skinner said...

I drink Barry's Master Blend Irish breakfast tea, with milk and a small amount of sugar. It's a lovely deep orange colour.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

@ Lady M -- Sorry to hear you are not feeling better yet! I hope the hibiscus tea helps!

Anonymous said...

First time commenter :) Perfect post for today.
Lately I have been consuming Bigelow's Constant Comment and sometimes add a bag of Bigelow Orange Spice in the large mug. Actually its an older 2 Cup measure that has been washed enough to remove the measure lines.

Some friends have given me some herbal teas with odd combinations, but I really prefer a simple black tea. So when I'm not certain I just combine a herbal with another tea bag of something. I also have some Twinings and Tetley teas about.

No Earl Grey for me. The oil flavoring does not agree. I will have to check the local stores and see if they carry some of the teas/brands that I don't normally shop. I suspect shortages are one issue and just trying to get the regular items on the shelves may squash any experimentation on the part of management.

M
(not a coffee drinker)

Debra She Who Seeks said...

@ Anonymous M -- Welcome! I hope you become a regular commenter!

CraveCute said...

Wonderful post, I love seeing other people favorites, as I might want to try them! So my favorites are good old Constant Comment and the delicious Yorkshire Gold.

Moving with Mitchell said...

The Republic of Tea, Ginger Peach! Haven’t had it in a long time. Not sold here. But oh how I love it. I’ve been surviving on Twinnings English Breakfast most mornings. I suppose I should browse the tea shops for another brand of ginger peach... or ginger anything.

Susan Kane said...

Earl Grey, decaf. I want to bake some scones.

Teacats said...

First time comments here too! :)

Love Ty-phoo and Tetleys and Barry's Gold Irish Tea.

With milk and two sugars.
Put those in the mug or cup first.
Heat the teapot.
Let tea steep (under the cozy) while toast is made, buttered and marmalade added.
Favorite teatime snack? Butter tarts or Eccles cakes.
Or runny egg with toast soldiers.
Cheers to All!!

Brightest blessings on your hearth and home!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

@ Teacats -- Welcome! I hope you also become a regular commenter! I love butter tarts and Eccles Cakes too! Haven't had an Eccles Cake since I can't remember when, though. Time to hunt down a few!

Parnassus said...

Hello Debra, I have some friends who sell leaf tea, so I have learned a lot about the different grades. The best teas are grown at high elevations. They are classified according to which mountain they are grown on, how large the leaves are and how far from the branch tip, what season they are picked, how they are processed, and many other criteria. I tend to like the aged teas (up to twenty years, sometimes even more) that develop a complex but clean flavor.
--Jim

Polly said...

I've tried a lot of teas but my favourite is Earl Grey. But the best tea I’ve had was darjeeling bought when I was in India in 2008, sealed in an air tight bag then packaged in a pretty embroidered bag. It was a couple of years before I remembered I had it! But it was still fresh and delicious. I love your image with the moving petals.

Bill Lisleman said...

Herbal tea with honey is great when the throat is scratchy

Adam said...

I'm not a tea drinker unfortunately

in kindergarten they took us to pizza Inn for a field trip and only served us sweet tea as a beverage.

I thought that the restaurant was just really weird and never asked my mom to go there. Not realizing it was the school that made the decision to give us that awful crap

Yes, it's been almost 30 years and I'm still salty 🧂😂

Onevikinggirl said...

As I eat most things (but may chose not to) I also drink most things (and will). I feel I probably should get myself some picky eating habits to be more interesting. But I like ginger, chamomile, green with lemon, sencha and most black teas that aren’t too sweet.

Breenlantern said...

Tea Dance in Provincetown. :-)

Sassybear
www.idleeyesandadormy.com

DB Stewart said...

Scotch. ;)

Quinley said...

My favorite type of tea is Pumpkin Spice and Blueberry tea. :)
-Quinley

Joanne Noragon said...

Tea puts an awful scum on my teeth. Therefore, I drink coffee, cold or iced, all day long.

Laura Morrigan said...

I like cold pomegranate tea from T2 for summer, I have been having it for absolutely years now! I hope it is always available! I love a hot leaf chai on soy also. The spicy, peppery kind! I get a great mix from the local cafe but I don't know the exact ingredients, I think it's similar to the maharajah chai mix.

peppylady (Dora) said...

I have to say I lean toward Red Teas.
Coffee is on and stay safe

Sue Bursztynski said...

I have a local place, Coffee Company, that sells a large variety of teas, including herbal. I love Buddha’s Tears, which is a green tea in pearl shapes which unroll when you pour the hot water. T2 is a favourite tea chain, if rather expensive, and I love to try anything. I got some T2 green teas for my birthday last year, with dried fruits or rose petals in them.

If I’m just going to the supermarket for ordinary English Breakfast tea, it’s Dilmah, a nice, pleasant-tasting brand, and the owner does lots of stuff for charity plus gives his workers decent pay and conditions.

River said...

I rarely drank tea, but am no longer allowed coffee because I put too much sugar in it and my doctor says to cut back on the sugar, plus I HATE those artificial sweeteners. So I have a daily hot chocolate instead, but also have herbal teabags, mostly lemon&ginger; spearmint&chamomile; and plain chamomile. I have these with a little honey. I also have boxed herbs from a health store, a box of sage, a box of chamomile and a box of "liver herbs" I put a bit of each in a teapot and add boiling water, then serve a cupful with honey. Hopefully this will help my fatty liver. Most Australians I know drink their tea with milk in it.

Fundy Blue said...

I will drink tea to be polite, but I'm not crazy about it. I have had tea at Murchie's in Victoria several times. I like lemon ginger tea when I don't feel well. Have a happy weekend!

G. B. Miller said...

For regular normal tea, my go-to's have usually Tetley (of any type) and Red Rose. My fall-back is Lipton, although that's usually out of my happy price range (usually $2-$3 more than the others) and my other fall-back is usually whatever supermarket I happen to be in (except WalMart, theirs is just nasty).

When I was a dedicated herbal tea drinker (not so much these days) my go-to was and is Bigelow Teas, followed by Celestial Seasonings. No one particular flavor for either brand but whatever happens to strike my fancy for a given day.

DVArtist said...

Coffee LOL

Rosemary said...

Perfumed teas are not for me, but the teas I prefer depend on the time of day. I like a more robust cup of tea in the morning such as Assam, but one taken in the afternoon would be a lighter refreshing tea grown at a high elevation. I particularly like one that we purchased whilst in the mountains of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka (Ceyon) when we visited a plantation there.

Linda said...

I believe he was downing brandy by the bucket but perhaps he slipped a cup of tea in on occasion.

I drink a lot of iced tea but I don't think that counts

Busy Bee Suz said...

Your nighttime tea sounds lovely!
I don't drink much tea, but if I do it's "sleepytime" tea before bed.
Like you, I can't do anything caffeine (after 2pm), or else I'll be up all night.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

I've always liked Good Earth teas. Chai is a favorite too. These days, I'm doing organic tumeric with ginger - not sure what brand. I just go for the cheap ones.

Great post. I'm a tea addict, and I'm inclined to find your favorites around here if I can.

Cheers.

Lovely said...

I have favorites, some of them rotate throughout the seasons, and some of them remain steadfast. Chai and herbal peach tea with ginger are few to name.
xoxo
Lovely
www.mynameislovey.coml

Richard said...

I am a barbarian and don't drink much tea. In the summer i like sweet tea, sometimes with mint and lemon.

I am curious to hear what people will say about this New Year. Tiger, according to that calendar. I approach it with caution.

Kirk said...

Dare I say Lipton's Iced?

Guillaume said...

David's Tea's Pumpkin Chai might be my favourite. Sadly I can't get it here, but thankfully there's other brands that have similar teas. Jollybrew made a few nice ones, but it disappeared back in 2019 or thereabout. Now I discovered Bird and Blend which also makes a great pumpkin tea. Hope these ones last. On a normal day, I like Yorkshire Tea and Everyday Twinnings.

Ol'Buzzard said...

My wife and I are both tea drinkers. I usually drink Red Rose black tea- sometimes two bags and no sugar, and who the hell puts milk in their tea - always straight. My wife prefers NUMI Jasmine Green.
the Ol'Buzzard

This N That said...

I used to be a tea drinker until someone got me hooked on coffee..I have tried to go back to tea several times..Can't get past it's lack of texture and it's after taste..I used to drink Earl Grey ....Have a good week..Stay warm!!

e said...

Mmm... tea! I'm having a cuppa right now!
My morning tea is Barry's Gold Irish tea. I'm also partial to Bewley's and Yorkshire Gold but can't reliably get those. I drink my black tea with honey and milk. I can't abide the taste or smell of bergamot (gives me a headache), so no English Breakfast for me.

Afternoon tea can be anything herbal but I tend to like chamomile, mint, lemon combinations, hibiscus, rose hip... etc!

I gave up coffee some years ago after a particularly bad migraine and I haven't gone back to it. Still addicted to caffeine, though!

yellowdoggranny said...

I do not like Earl Gray..tastes like gun metal...I drink Barry's Irish tea..decaf during the day...Barrys breakfast tea in morning..it keeps me from mayhem..

yellowdoggranny said...

ooh forgot I drink hibiscus tea which helps with blood pressure and blood sugar,

JM said...

I don't have a particular brand of favorite tea. I do like an Earl Grey and any sort of green tea.

Bea said...

I love a good Batmobile. The 'vintage' one tops the list of best Batmobiles, I must say. There's one in our neighborhood. It's made from a late model sedan & boasts bat symbols on its sides. The whole house where the car resides is sort of 'spaced out'. -mostly Star Wars bric-a-brac in the front window. I should get a photo...

Martha said...

These are look great! I enjoy some tea every evening. My favourite is green tea. Just plain green tea. I also like a cup of chamomile from time to time, earl grey, peppermint green tea and orange pekoe. But I'll try just about any type if it sounds interesting.

Karen said...

Regular Tetley is my regular. Probably ten cups a day. I quite like a spot of Tetley decaf. earl Gray on occasion too.

Magic Love Crow said...

I love, love, love tea! Green, mint, fruity. I'm going to have to look up Murchie's of Victoria! Thank you! Big Hugs!