Was once primarily a coffee drinker, but it always made my heart race when I drank as much as I wanted. My impression of tea was that it was herbal and boring. Then I somehow got hooked onto Earl Grey. Think I liked the Bergamot oil more than the actual tea, but like it I did. I was told that once I got accustomed to good black teas, I wouldn’t be able to stomach Earl Grey anymore. I guess that’s true. I see Earl Grey as a “gateway tea”. What one drinks until he gets a taste for tea.
I drank so much black tea, and slowly eased into green tea. But what really got me excited about tea after the early days was Oolong, which is also called Wu Long. Some describe it as tea halfway between green and black. Green tea is unprocessed, while black tea is entirely oxidized. Oolong falls somewhere in the middle. It can be almost not oxidized, or so far along to be almost like black tea. It’s also called brown tea. That seems accurate.
Love the taste of it. Can drink pot after pot. Easily. If black tea is too strong for you or you just can’t get used to the taste of green tea, try Oolong.
How about PG Tips? It is everyday workingmans tea in the UK.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's the next level up: Pu Erh tea!!! Liquid earth, and very healthy. Takes a little taste-bud-cultivation, however!
ReplyDeleteJeff, PG Tips is "the" brand in Britain and I know many people who drink it. Also popular is Yorkshire Gold. Both reliable brands.
ReplyDeleteCaroline, I have enjoyed the Pu Erh I've tried and it seems like those who are "into it" are another breed of tea drinker. do you have al the gear to drink it?
What kind of tea is PG Tips? How does it rank on the tea corner-sewers list?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Oolong, yet it's a bit earthy for me. I think I will always be loyal to Earl Gray, or some sort of black tea with milk and honey, since it's what I was raised on and how I feel connected to my grandmother, and my childhood. At the same time I'm enjoying trying newbies - like Rooibus. I believe being able to sit and enjoy tea is the mark of civilized people.
ReplyDeleteCorrecting my misspelling - Earl Grey :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Sara. I thought, as I wrote about Earl Grey, that it might sound condescending. Am glad you didn't take it that way. And I wasn't going to say anything about spelling, but I know people who would.
ReplyDeleteI have never been a coffee drinker, except when I was a kid, and was forced to drink coffee to get the free cookies they offered at the food market.
ReplyDeleteI was born into tea, more or less. Both my grandparents served tea in the morning and afternoons. And I have spent countless evenings drinking tea, I now believe different Ceylon blends, wolfing down pastry and listening to stories.
But as a teenager I was an Earl Gray man, partly because it taste good, but also because it was one of the very few teas that were available. Oolong, green etc was unheard of. But I think you are absolutely right that Earl Gray serves as a "kick off". It was as a teenager I started to steep my own tea, and it was Bergamot all the way.
I have now slowly and gradual moved on to other teas, but can still enjoy a Bergamot brew.
@manx
I can't spell, Earl Grey, dammit!
ReplyDelete@manx