loose tea

isaiah53

isaiah53

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british west hartlepool
i know theres a lot of coffee fans on here, but has anyone got any recommendations for loose tea? ive always been a big tea drinker, and i want to go old school with teapot, tea leaves and a tea strainer. ive bought some nice tea from teapigs over the years and ill more than likely buy some loose tea from them, but thought id just ask about on here and see if anyone can suggest something. cheers :)
 
I'm a massive fan of loose tea and i'm quite sure betchet is as well, he put me towards the rare tea company, very good but a tad expensive. I now buy from Imperial teas in lincoln, huge range and a local shop I can call in on.

My fave teas would be white jasmine tea, fantastic! and for a normal cuppa a russain caraven or breakfast blend, rare tea company do an RAF tea thats a very good breakfast blend, they even sent it to be with an army sticker on the tub so I wasn't 'shamed' having RAF tea on my desk!
 
I'm a Ringtons customer and can highly recommend their Northumbrian Blend loose leaf. Its the best loose leaf blend out there for the money IMO and every bit as good as the excellent Betty's Tea Room Blend but half the price. It makes an excellent every day tea that doesn't disappoint. Should you want to try it, I could always send you a pack?

An absolute corker if you're ever in Dublin, is Bewley's Irish Breakfast. An interesting blend of Assam and Darleeling, it has bags of flavour and really works - I wish I could get my hands on some more. I don't like plain Darjeeling no matter whether it is considered the champagne of teas or not but this blend with Assam is fabulous. I don't have the budget that some on here will have so must tailor my cloth accordingly but I really enjoy my tea (with cake!).

An honourable mention should go to Twining's Rose Garden in tagged bags which is a Turkish Delight flavoured, light Chinese black tea. You can clearly see the rose petals which give it the characteristic flavour.

Enjoy!
 
As there are more teas and tissanes than you can shake a stick at, you'd best give us a clue about what you like.

Whittard's have simplified their range since take-over but still sell some good teas.
 
I had a recommendation on here a while back for the Jing Tea website, I've ordered from them a couple of times, never disappointed. They have a really broad range of teas and loads of advice as well.
 
Gairdner said:
I'm a Ringtons customer and can highly recommend their Northumbrian Blend loose leaf. Its the best loose leaf blend out there for the money IMO and every bit as good as the excellent Betty's Tea Room Blend but half the price. It makes an excellent every day tea that doesn't disappoint. Should you want to try it, I could always send you a pack?
Click to expand...

thank you very much for your offer :) when im out and about delivering at work i often see a ringtons van, ill get some next time i see it, but i do appreciate your offer and recommendation :)


Bechet45 said:
As there are more teas and tissanes than you can shake a stick at, you'd best give us a clue about what you like.

Whittard's have simplified their range since take-over but still sell some good teas.
Click to expand...

at the moment im just looking at black teas. ive tried a few different teas that i really like, oolong teas i enjoyed and im partial to a good green tea and white tea. im not overly bothered about smoky teas, ive enjoyed lapsang souchong and gunpowder tea before but its not what im looking for.
 
"Royaume de thè - the vert de chine - special gunpowder".
That's what it says on the label - green box - from any Halal grocer.
Bin drinking it for years.
 
I can just feel it in my water! What you are after is a single estate orange pekoe - Ceylon, the teas are still known as - and out of lots, I recommend Pettiagalla Estate - available all over. Takes milk very nicely. What teas used to be about!
 
I tried premium loose tea once, not really knowing what I was buying. I bought a single estate assam from Whittardsofchelsea.com and in all honesty I far preferred both Asda and Twinning's Assam teabags. I've not dipped my toe in again, other than to buy a tin of Fortnum and Mason Assam tea which was going cheap on eBay.

I drink a reasonable range of tea... Assam tea, Chai, Earl Grey (sometimes Sunshine Grey) and instead of tea in the evening I have redbush and vanilla.

In all honesty I've not chased after anything better because I don't have the faintest idea how to find better tea, and I suspect that the supermarket stuff I'm getting is a pretty good blend anyway.
 
Another vote for Russian Caravan - a very pleasant drink which I've not found a truly bad blend of. I am very fond of a good Assam and I think Keemun and Kenyan are vastly under-rated, the former goes very well with Lapsang and the latter I prefer to most Ceylon's.
Mostly these days I drink bog standard Morrisons Strong tea bags and save the loose for an occasional treat.
 
thanks everyone for the suggestions. ive ordered a few to try... an organic assam, on bechets advice a ceylon single estate orange pekoe, and an indian blend of darjeeling/assam/nilgiri. on top of that gairdner has very kindly promised me some ringtons loose leaf which im looking forward to trying :)
now if anyone has any brewing advice concerning how many spoons per cup and how long to steep i would be very grateful, cheers :)
 
One for the pot, and one for each person - don't overdo it.

I put boiling water in the pot first to warm it up, pour that out and then make the tea. That avoids the initial cool down when you add water + tea. I let it brew for about 3-5 minutes.

There's no right or wrong way.. however I think mine is on the hardcore side of things, so you may wish to skip heating the pot and brew for around 2.5 to 3 minutes, I think that's moderate and you can decide which direction you want to go from there.
 
A big fan of White & Green tea's from China, but also aged tea's like Puerh "Pu Erh.

Must try's; Long Jing "Dragon Well"
Mao Feng
Bao Mao Hou "Monkey Paw"
Pai Mu Tan "White Peony"
Doke "Silver Needle" Oolong (India)
Dong Ding Oolong
Sticky Rice Ooolong
Silver Needle Spring harvest (China)

four (4) of these are among the top ten tea's of China.

One of my firm favourites is Puerh "Pu Erh" aged tea from China it is mainly sold as a cake, but a few sell as Loose leaf. The one I am drinking at present is called: 1995 Imperial Puerh, obtained from The Tea House.

White & Green tea from: Driftwood Tea. other outlet's are: The Essence of Tea mainly Puerh.

Enjoy.

Charles U.K
 
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