What tea are you Drinking?

At the moment a generic China Lapsang Souchong brought from a small whole seller. A bit blunt and I can't help the feeling it's partly artificially flavoured as the smoke profile has a slight cardboardy edge to it.

Having said that, with a splash of milk it's perfectly do-able...

Cheers!

Michel

[Zanaspus]

Originally Posted by Groucho

At the moment a generic China Lapsang Souchong brought from a small whole seller. A bit blunt and I can't help the feeling it's partly artificially flavoured as the smoke profile has a slight cardboardy edge to it.

Having said that, with a splash of milk it's perfectly do-able...

Cheers!

Michel

Good old pine smoke tea. If I want that taste, I pull out my pipe and smoke latakia.

Originally Posted by Zanaspus

Good old pine smoke tea. If I want that taste, I pull out my pipe and smoke latakia.

good one

Still, some Lapsangs have a marvelous smoke profile where the smoke adds up in stead of overwhelm. Clearly the one I had yesterday was not in that class.

ow.. forgot..

A nice cup of Earl Grey. Supplied by the Dutch coffee and Tea broker 'Simon Lévelt'. One of my favorites, completely certified as 'Organic' - which is more about the bergamot oil used. Subtle and quite intense.

Cheers!

Michel

[Blindjimme]

Got a question for you tea guys. I've been drinking Stash Green Tea for a couple months. It's a grocery store brand and I really like it. My question is are the loose teas from tea merchants a better quality than tea bags from the store? Are they fresher, have more antioxidents, better flavor etc.

Difficult question... really...

I'd rather go for a merchants product. 'Bagged' tea from larger companies seem to be more or less processed to ensure long term freshness and as less as possible batch variation.

Yet... if buying mrechant tea (or any other product) from a smaller shop with a low outturn freshness of the product can be an issue. So it's best to try a few shops and stick to the one you like best based on quality/service/pricing etc.

Cheers!

Michel

[Zanaspus]

Originally Posted by Blindjimme

Got a question for you tea guys. I've been drinking Stash Green Tea for a couple months. It's a grocery store brand and I really like it. My question is are the loose teas from tea merchants a better quality than tea bags from the store? Are they fresher, have more antioxidents, better flavor etc.

Drink what you like, like what you drink. Better quality? Objectively yes, but it's all a matter of taste. You will find that loose teas are generally whole leaf or at least broken leaf whereas bags are generally fannings. That being said, whole leaf is a different ballgame. Tastes will be much more subtle which you may like or you may not. Fresher? Unless you're paying top dollar for current harvests from abroad (which I do and pay the price ) no one can really say for sure. More antioxidants? Nope.

I guess it all comes down to; if you like it drink it. Maybe try a little whole leaf at some point, but don't go overboard until you're sure.

[Blindjimme]

Thanks Michel and Tony. I was going to try something different just to experience the difference, if any. Thanks for the input.