tea

The primitive Klix machine at my first workplace had teabags - with condensed milk inside them! I thought (and still do think) that this is especially gross.

I drink too much tea. I drink jasmine tea, chamomile tea, green tea, hibiscus tea, even the occasional yohimbe tea...that stuff...YOWZAH!

Thank you for the complements on my charity shop tea service.

I have lead a very fulfilled life.

i love N.

Cheese from Cow - udders like Primula Cheese Spread = abt to Vom.

how does that work? does it have a flap where the udders should be?

but what do I know, I loves me some herbal teas and have no qualms whatsoever about teabags

I just almost started a thread about tea til I saw this one. How come whenever anything is wrong wth you, people recommend you drink tea? Headache? Drink tea! Can't sleep? Drink tea! Eaten by wolves? Drink tea!

I have all this tea around. I should drink more of it.

Sometimes lemon is busy and doesn't have time to drink tea with you. Then you have to drink tea with sally or perhaps trevor.

x-post

i've been drinking a lot of constant comment and am looking for other recommendations - something with spice but not too much. or just anything. good teas?

SCARLETT JOHANNSEN

tea leoni

lol

i want a good tea dammit

I made a gallon of regular and a gallon of decaf iced teas. BUT then I got them mixed up and I don't know what's what so I am afraid to drink either at night and I just drink Diet Coke in the morning b/c I need the caffeine and don't know which one has it. My clever plan went wrong. :(

I think tomorrow morning I'll conduct a little experiment involving chugging 2 pints and seeing if I get a buzz.

Ah it has been too long since I made myself a nice plate of fresh scones, a big pot of tea, and a heaping of double cream and raspberry jam.

Might have the ex over for just that this week some time. Scones are so easy to whip up in 15 mins flat after all.

really? can u tell me how? scones are lovely

lol Jesse that's crazy

go hang a salami, i'm a lasagna hog

I love:

http://www.marktwendell.com/images/Hukwa2006_80.jpg

Only the loose tea, though. Teabags never have enough tea in them.

http://sfile.ydy.com/bbs/attachment/Mon_0610/78_233938_94124c292604516.jpg

Here's a good basic scone recipe:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/10710/basic+scones

The key thing is a good hot oven.

ooh thanks trayce

ryan has been making candied ginger scones lately

i'm trying irish breakfast tea for the 1st time today. it's sweet.

http://www.strandtea.com/shop/images/uploads/teatiger(1).jpg

The Tea Tiger. When I walk into a room, someone always asks where I got it. My girlfriend bought one for everyone in her family. We bought so many of them from the small, local tea store that the proprietress had to be like "could you please lay off buying out all of our Tea Tigers for a bit?"

Every sale benefits tiger conservation.

Sorry to be all street team, but I saw the revive and thought to share this cool thing with ilx.

whoa i need one of those, i drink like a quart of tea every day

12 oz is not really big enough for me thoug, they should have a mega size for americans

Hot Tea, Coffee May Increase Throat Cancer Risk
The Cancer Could Be Deadly, but a Simple Test Can Catch It Quickly

By LAUREN COX
March 27, 2009 —

Tea has been touted for its potential health benefits for millennia, but new research shows if you drink it too hot, you may end up increasing your risk for esophageal cancer.

Doctors have long wondered whether very hot beverages increase the risk for squamous cell esophageal cancer. Considering the many things people eat and drink, studies have come back mixed on the hot drink and cancer connection.

To vote on whether you'd change your coffee and tea habits, click here.

But in the Golestan Province in Iran, people tend to drink just two beverages: water and very hot tea. The people in the province also tend to have an abnormally high rate of esophageal cancer.

A research team traveled to Golestan and documented the smoking, alcohol use and tea habits of 871 people in the region, 300 of whom were recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer. According to the study published in the British Medical Journal, the researchers found a strong link between the temperature at which people preferred their tea and the likelihood that they developed cancer.

"We have found many factors and the hot tea is one of the factors," said Reza Malekzadeh, professor and director of the Digestive Disease Research Center at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

"Having a poor social economic status, not eating enough vegetables and fruit and not brushing their teeth are some [risk factors]. One of the main ones is the hot tea," he added.

So how hot is too hot for your throat? The scientists classified warm tea at anything below 149 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot tea, anything measured above 156 degrees Fahrenheit, doubled the risk of esophageal cancer. People who frequently had very hot tea, at 158 degrees Fahrenheit or above, had an eight-fold increased risk of esophageal cancer.

At the very hot temperature, Malekzadeh said, "it would even hurt your finger -- but they get used to it, you see."

"The temperature -- this is probably a cultural type of thing," he added.

Other Potential Culprits

Hot tea is not the only beverage linked to esophageal cancer. Drinking alcohol and using tobacco also ups the risk for cancer in the windpipe.

But unlike booze and cigarettes, Malekzadeh said evidence in his study showed it's not the chemicals in the tea that matters.

"It doesn't seem to be that," he said. "Especially this specific type of cancer -- the so called squamous cell cancer."

Past studies comparing adjacent tea drinking areas in Linxian, China and areas surrounding the Golestan province in Iran, showed temperature affects cancer rates, according to data cited in Malekzadeh's article. Esophageal cancer numbers rose in regions where people preferred their tea very hot, and dropped where tea was served at a cooler temperature.

But gastroenterologists aren't entirely convinced of hot tea's effects. Dr. Jennifer Christie, an assistant professor in the Division of Gastroenterology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said she's not making any new recommendations to her patients yet.

"I think it's an important study and it clearly adds to our knowledge about esophageal cancer," said Christie. "But I would not tell people to stop drinking hot tea at this point. Also there's diet, and you have to look at genetic factors that are involved, as well."

Christie said esophageal cancer, especially the squamous cell variety, is much more prevalent in Asian and South American countries than in the United States.

"So there's not a recommended screening for esophageal cancer in the U.S.," she said.

Instead, Christie said U.S. doctors perform esophageal testing based on symptoms.

ole news. this is why this type of cancer is more prevalent in japan

Did I mispost on the bullfighting thread or something?

12 oz is not really big enough for me thoug, they should have a mega size for americans

― (lbrah) (harbl), Tuesday, March 24, 2009 2:12 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

12 oz. ends up being plenty though, because you can reinfuse two or three times.

oh no,libcrypt, just aiming my silly anger at newspaper. SORRY

science needs to take a fuckin hike. i'ma drink my damn tea

I don't like my tea super-hot anyway, let it hit that magic temperature where I just chug it.

ew

me too, i let tea and coffee cool to the point where it's like soup temperature. i have a magic timer in my head that tells me when it's ready. no esophagus tumors for me

soup temperature should be hot too!

i get this from my aunt. she can't drink her coffee unless it's like scalding

Guardian blog post about 'artisanal' teas. Anyone here get seriously into that stuff? I'll drink peppermint or green in the evenings, but otherwise it's English Breakfast.

not really but these people have a shop in NY's chinatown where they sell some kinds of black tea for $250 a pound -

http://www.tenren.com

tea is taken way more seriously outside of the UK, which is interesting given how much we drink. i have mentioned elsewhere that i was told off by a barista in pasadena for not letting a cup brew for long enough. i must drink 30+ cups per week, but apparently i don't know what i'm doing. i can't even remember the last time i got loose leaf tea here outside of a restaurant.

haha yeah the only time I've been around Brits getting persnickety about steeping time it was that I let the teabag steep for too long (like, longer than three mintues).

that can taste kind of bitter so i understand

What is with the sudden popularity of white teas? I don't understand it at all.

Ten Ren has a shop in Chicago's Chinatown as well, and yeah, some of the prices are astounding.

As someone who can't abide caffeine most of the time but doesn't really like a lot of fruity herbal teas, my everyday tea is Roastaroma, made by Celestial Seasonings. If I go out to a cafe, I'll usually order a rooibos. My favorite is probably Octavia Tea's Winter Mint Rooibos.

now drinking: tulsi sweet rose

it is so lovely!!!

tea is delicious

Okakura Kakuzo to thread!

http://songoftea.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/okakura_kakuzo.jpg

Tza that sounds delicious. Still can't find any of the Aztec sweet chilli btw. Booooooo.

awww, i found it at whole foods!

I will keep looking. I'm on a mission. I realize I could just order online but I'm up for the challenge.

i got this bigelow lemon ginger tea and it tastes like oatmeal cookies to me?
maybe it's my sinus congestion masking flavors. still... weird!

making my friend drink kava kava tea to calm her down from her panicky stuff today

question, so I make tea at the office but sometimes I only have half the pot or only one pot. is it safe to leave the tea leaves in overnight and make more the next day? or will some kind of bacteria/mold start growing.

that's incredibly parsimonious

shdn't imagine that you will die tho, in any case you will be immersing the leaves in boiling water right?

lol not parsimonious! I'm a firm believer that tea tastes better on the second brewing

never heard that before, my only association w/ reusing tea is this story

However, he was very indignant that the police who searched his house said he was so mean he kept tea bags in order to re-use them. That is typical, he says, of the evil lies the police and media put about. The tea bags were on the draining board because the previous police made tea, but couldn't find the rubbish bin, and the reason they couldn't find it is because he doesn't have one - disgusting things, standing around breeding germs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2006/jan/15/features.magazine97/print

resteeping tea bags, now that's a practice of disgusting savages

new us politics thread title amirite

I did this until I got married, because my parents did it (and reused straws, and did a couple of other depression-baby type things) and I didn't know any better.

My (chinese-american) boss assures me that in China everyone discards the first steeping after a couple of minutes and only actually start drinking with the second pot.

that is true of the tea ceremony. I'm not sure how many bother with doing that if they're just casually drinking tea.

largely quit coffee a couple years back (still have a cup now and again, but just one, and even then it's like -- once in a few months) and got really into tea, there's this whole world of aged pu-erh & hei cha brick teas and methods of steeping -- like, there's the ceremony, but you don't need a ceremony to brew gong fu style, which you're gonna wanna do when you're drinking a pricier aged tea to get the most out of it -- and while this sounds like snobby terrain, which I avoid, the bottom line is that great Chinese tea is some of the most delicious stuff I've ever had in my life, like a huge daily joy to me, and it's like a never-ending world of goodness

I usually like to brew a cup in the afternoon (I still stick to coffee in the morning). Lately the teas I've been most into are Autumn Flush teas from India. There's a company online you can order and have shipped directly from Darjeeling. They even have an oolong which is made from a blend of autumn flush teas, I believe. It's most similar to the red, more-oxidized oolong style from China. I've never tried pu-ehr, but heard good things about it.

Is there a difference between what is sold in U.S. or U.K. markets as English tea and Irish tea? I've tried Bigelow English tea and Twinings Irish tea from tea bags and think the latter is slightly maltier and enjoyed both.

never really got this myself.

also weirdly, in Canada at least, what is sold as English breakfast tea is generally not what a British person would consider as standard tea, tea that is marked as "orange pekoe'', which I believe is a grade rather than a type of tea, is generally what I think of as "regular tea". I mainly just drink british tea like tetley or Yorkshire mind

Thanks! I'll look for Tetley. (To be honest, I think I preferred the Irish tea or at least I saved my one remaining tea bag until I was nearly out of the Bigelow.) But I have a strong feeling Tetley is just what I am looking for ... something to which you can add milk and drink hot during the winter.

I was curious about Irish/English tea as well and so made a cup of Barry's Gold and one of Yorkshire Gold to compare. Slightly preferred the Barry's and I guess maltier is as good a word as I could come up with to describe the difference. Mind you I'm a coffee drinker so I'm not very tea sensitive.

I've not tried Barry's but I've not seen it for sale in the South of England anywhere.

Barry’s Irish Breakfast is my current favorite tea (ahead of Barry’s Gold for sure) followed by Yorkshire Red. Barry’s Irish is like the fruition of what the usual Irish breakfast Twining’s etc only hint at

Barry’s is very easy to find in Brooklyn, surprising that’s not the case in the South of England

Yeah I saw Barry's way more in the US than in where I live in the UK
Same with Irish pubs.

This past year I've stopped having a cup of normal tea first thing in the morning and have a gentle fruit tea instead. Feel better for it. Still have loads of tea during the day/evening though.

Tetley British Blend turned out to be just what I was looking for. Thanks!

There should be a thé au lait; (certain kinds of) tea could be just as deserving. In a translation, presumably from French to English or written by a native speaker of French, I was amused to find a reference to pipper mint.

I think my favorite part of making tea
is the forced meditation of the steep

Loving the hojicha lately...
Roasted goodness... mmmm...

loving Constant Comment lately!

Prince’s favorite tea!

!! well he has great taste

lol my friends used to say that was my tea because I never shut up

😂 i mean, that's prob why i like it too 😂

I just ordered a pound of Russian Caravan tea

It's really good but I'm not sure why I ordered an entire pound

my favourite of the strong teas

this one is a little less smokey than blends I've had in the past, but still pretty kick ass

lol a pound! never heard of this tea

I just received about a pound of tea shipped from India. You have to buy that much to qualify for free shipping. It lasts me the better part of a year at the rate I drink it.

now what would you recommend as the best way to make iced tea

if you're lazy af

sun tea, probably?

the general steps i follow are

1. brew strong tea
1a. for sweet tea add sugar
2. mix with cold water
3. cool in fridge
4. serve over ice

it's getting harder to source but lapsang souchong really hits differently when autumn comes

I just happened to be doing an online shop and did a search and no lapsang souchong at Morrisons, not even the Twinnings brand one and that used to be available everywhere

twinings version is now called 'distinctively smoky' btw
slightly different but they had to replace without calling it lapsang souchong

I hate it when they do that shit

been drinking a lot of Barry's Tea. have never tried their Irish Breakfast. i need to start putting jugs of Barry's Tea in the fridge for iced tea. i think i could live on tea now. as my liquid.

that’s my wife’s jam, Barry’s Irish

currently sipping a custom blend of yerba-maté with Russian Caravan with some lemon juice... refreshing

Barry’s Irish is my #1. I can’t always find it here (nyc) so I also spend time with Yorkshire Red.
PG Tips shat the bed with their revamp, I’m done with them

is it true that 4-5 cups of green tea is that good for you because I can do that I just don't particularly enjoy it

think the green tea stories are exaggerated

5 cups of green tea daily would make my mouth feel so dry that i needed 15 glasses of water. might as well just drink the water.

After all that caffeine, I might need to take a laxative. I do a lot of sweetened herbal tea these days of the ginger/vanilla/camimole varieties. It helps deliver my sugar addiction now that I have been booze free for a while.

Anyone else get hopped up on supposedly caffeine-free herbal teas?

i buy Barry's Gold Blend and their Classic Blend but i don't know if i can really tell the difference between them. good to know that people dig their Irish Breakfast. will buy next time i am at Stop & Shop.

a friend of mine is into this strong Australian tea that has a bushranger on the front or something. Red and white packaging.

i make my own herbal blends

Anyone else get hopped up on supposedly caffeine-free herbal teas?

Chamomile can be an upper to some folks, I've noticed this a few times

I am sooooooo longing for it to get cold and rainy in NY so I can huddle under a blanket with tea. It's still hot!! This summer I've been obsessed with making pitchers of iced mint tea with a little citrus/ginger bag thrown in for emphasis. It's such an elixir. I drink a lot of seltzer too but the tea gets SO COLD and it's just, like, silken in texture. The other night I met up with two people who had been packing up for a long-distance move all day, and they apologized ahead of time bc they were so very very tired. I gave them iced mint tea and they were human again by the bottom of the glass! Awww.

What are your currently running herbal blend leaders, LL??

I like to mix chamomile, hibiscus, chrysanthemum, osmanthus flowers, plus mint to cut or sometimes just all flowers. I’m not huge on citrus.

Lol @ chamomile being a stimulant??

I make tea for the GED student I’m tutoring (she will be here any minute) and it always makes the vibe right.

I'm currently having a honey sweetened cup of camomile/vanilla/lavender with a slice of sticky Jamaican ginger pudding. Living the best sober life I can here!

sounds tasty! i went through a golden milk phase when i was trying to not drink before bed and it helped a lot.

(that's not tea exactly but it is sort of a plant-based infusion with hot liquid)

xxp I think it's more of an anxiety-inducer than a stimulant, at least for some folks

All of my sober sleep rituals require it to be cold outside: the hot shower, the tea, the fluffy duvet, etc. Hard to substitute in summer.

Indeed. Good thing we don’t need to sleep in summertime lol

I'm going to ruin this thread now by admitting to enjoying a cup of "toast and jam" tea of an odd afternoon

https://www.bettys.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/6916aab0bdbf69d5fe7ff0b530661c40/y/o/yorkshire-tea-toast-and-jam-brew-2004150.jpg

would try

would totally try. i love Yorkshire Tea in general.

when the balkan food market opened up across from my store i grabbed a huge box of Ukrainian tea and i had no idea that they liked their tea all spiced up and it was a blend of green & black also and i was all like what the????? and ALL the tea in the store is flavored. there is literally no straight black or green tea. but you know every once in a while i throw a few bags in a cup and i kinda dig it now. its different anyway.

i should look on the box and see if they have english ingredients. could tell you what the flavors are.

here you go. it has a bunch of stuff in it. cornflower petals for youth!

https://monomakh.com.ua/en/monomax-1001-noch-2/

https://ui.assets-asda.com/dm/asdagroceries/5016686003612_T1?defaultImage=asdagroceries/noImage&resMode=sharp2&id=0BYTl1&fmt=webp&dpr=off&fit=constrain,1&wid=864&hei=864

my first thought about this one was that cloves overpower the other flavours, then I changed my mind and realised it's a great blend and am drinking too much of it.

That one is the only chai I really like! used to only be able to get it in Sainsbury's.

someone gave me some turmeric chai teabags but I can never bring myself to make a cup

i have some fairly decent vanilla chai teabags from m&s
will be mainly using them in winter

masala chai sounds interesting! and yes deffo winter too

my partner got me lapsang chai from somewhere called 'bird & blend' for my birthday
it's pretty good too

i've never chai-ed. maybe some day.

Make karak chai or masala chai yourself - chuck a regular tea bag, some grated ginger, cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods and maybe a star anise segment into a saucepan with enough water for two cups of tea, and bring it all to the boil. Then add your milk preference and a teaspoon of Demerara sugar to the pot, bring it back to the boil, then pour into cups through a strainer.

i was offered a sample of karak chai recently and was warned it was strong. yes. yes it was.

when am i gonna graduate to the big leagues and start buying my tea in vintage cakes!? i feel like such a amateur.

"Our Wa Shan Shu Pu’er cake is crafted from spring buds and processed by pile-fermentation of Saiqing maocha over a period of 65 days before being pressed into cakes. Like a fine wine that is properly vintaged, Pu'er tea has the ability to age beautifully, developing new flavors over time."

https://rishi-tea.com/cdn/shop/files/Rishi-TeaCircle-WaShanShu2018_1500x.jpg?v=1709669893

https://rishi-tea.com/products/wa-shan-shu-puer-cake-vintage-2018?variant=44376703303930

never heard of that. i started my own kombucha brew today, fingers crossed!!

that's a... um.. suggestive image

I drink more tea in the winter anyway and currently doing a sort of modified dry January, so drinking even MORE tea in the evenings (herbal only after 4 p.m., don't worry). My afternoon treat is those pre-mixed powders from the local Indian market, got myself the variety pack.

https://www.zifiti.com/images/itemImgOrig/13754/13754_2354564.png

I noticed that some of this group's teas are at a local store and I will try some of the herbal options soon.

https://kazi-yetu.com/

I have a cake of puer like that, been working on it for years. My brother got it for me in China! I fear I lack the sophistication to treat it like it deserves and appreciate it properly but I still enjoy it. I'll have to try it again tomorrow and make tasting notes. I also don't do caffeine after mid-day.

Someone gave me a box of very bougie "Douglas fir & rosehip tea" and it was DEEEEELICIOUS. I might actually buy more.

@NedR, that group set up a tea station on my slow street a few weeks back and I was able to taste a few of their selections. They carry them at Rainbow/BiRite/Gus's as well.

Having been a "loose oolong, bagged black" tea drinker for the past fifteen years-- Twinings Irish Breakfast in the a.m. followed by five-to-six steeps of an oolong in the p.m.-- switching over to LOOSE BLACK TEA a few months ago has been unbelievable, unbelievable.

Yorkshire is my black-of-choice and just a 1/2 tsp in a metal tea lantern makes cup after perfect cup, I can't believe it. (One steep per cup obv). Reading about coffee prices going up and I'm just like "I think I can manage" as I swill down another perfect mug of tea

xpost to Steve S a few weeks back -- I've since scored a batch of their hibiscus tea and I really like it. Will likely be getting another batch tomorrow!

I lurve throwing a hibiscus flower bit into lots of other herb teas, as long as they're not already delicate blends or anything. I also wash and dry orange peels and random stuff to put in tea. Frozen chips of ginger, an orange peel, a peppermint tea bag, with honey is my current fave.

Yorkshire and Barry’s Irish are tied for my brain fuel of choice

Hi dere tealxors, a friend got me some tea as a gift but I don't drink the stuff, never even got into coffee. I figure I should make the most of it tho, so instead of me googling, can you tell me what to do with Pu'er Tuo Cha?

I guess it's the same as pu erh...
if you don't have a caddy of sorts just brew it with boiled water and drain off the bits and enjoy
(apologies if I've missed something here)

this morning, a custom blend of rinsed yerba maté & russian caravan black tea, with lemon juice
I could drink a gallon of this

I lurve throwing a hibiscus flower bit into lots of other herb teas, as long as they're not already delicate blends or anything. I also wash and dry orange peels and random stuff to put in tea. Frozen chips of ginger, an orange peel, a peppermint tea bag, with honey is my current fave.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit)

one time i was drinking a high grade dan cong mi lan oolong tea that wasn’t pulling its weight.
so i added some honey and a dash of cinnamon to the second cup. it felt sacrilegious but i figured i paid enough for it, i might as well enjoy it.
i’d been to a matcha tea ceremony where they added bean paste and other stuff to the second cup, so why not.

it was incredible!! made me feel like dancing. so i poured a cup for the Yijing, who said “don’t let reverence stand in the way of a good time”. sort of.
for the third cup, i put in a raspberry and muddled it. it changed me and i’ve been a prolific adder of random stuff to tea ever since.

Aw thanks for the kind assessment! I do have a nice grassy hojicha and the ginger & orange peel combo has been good with it.

that peppermint tea with orange peel, ginger and honey sounds so good that i wish i had peppermint tea so i could try it.

Last year this house was all perfume and coffee, this year it's incense and loose leaf black tea. My god. Black tea all day all night, I have never felt so enthralled to a single substance before.

Interestingly, I think I was put-off loose leaf black tea because of a not-great preteen experience, in England (or maybe Scotland), I made a "pot" of tea in a French press with PG Tips and likely over-leafed it and over-steeped it and was subjected to the most acidic, orange, pungent grossness, I haven't been able to enjoy PG Tips ever since and it took me until literally four months ago to realise the error of my ways

I've never tried, but if you are of a mind you can set up a homemade smoking contraption in a wok and smoke stuff with it, dan m.

Xxxpost

Picked up some nice, loose Irish Breakfast recently. Makes a lovely cuppa imo

PG Tips recently revised their blend anyway and is now garbage. Too bad, it’s been easy to find in the US for years and a reliable option for something strong. Idk what tf they were thinking

I guess no more ordering tea directly from India for me. What with the repeal of the de minimis exemption and the 50% tariff rate. Understandably the seller is now leaving the buyer responsible for clearing customs and paying duties.

Early on my wife got us into drinking herb tea after dinner so we've been drinking it nearly every night for 15-20 years. We take tea bags when we travel. The ritual is nice. We make tea out of mint from our yard, the leaves from coneflowers (Echinacea), and the fennel fronds from bulbs we buy.

That is hella lovely <3

That sounds amazing

wholesome

Recently: switched from Yorkshire to Barry’s for my “cups all day” and Taylor’s Assam when I want something fancier

Barry’s has continued to be my mainstay for my cups all day as well. Their Irish breakfast to be specific.

these days i drink guilin silvertip, vietnamese high mountain oolong (w/ and w/o added osmanthus), compressed liu bao, and a mint blend. i have a lot of gong fu equipment, but rarely the time to sit down and make a series of nice lil cups.

I miss drinking a bedtime hot tea but that's the stuff of winter weather. Right now I'm making huge pitchers of peppermint + chammomile + honey and then refrigerating it & having iced. It's a great non-water drink. Wish I were making it from mint from my own garden. :)

My day to day is Rooibos Earl Grey, I like the Dragonfly teas which is a brand in the UK or possibly elsewhere. I drink a lot of mint tea also. And occasionally I'll buy a fancier tea when in Paris or similar like Damann Freres.

I saw a video that mentioned some high end taiwanese shops blending tea and coffee -- has anyone tried this (beyond reusing a cup with some leftover decaf)?

never try cofftea

Hong Kong has that too. I'm a black tea and coffee guy but it's a great candy kinda treat (condensed milk).

you can get natural wine with jasmine tea blended into it in china, wild shit

I've been going into the tea shop in Oxford covered market for loose-leaf Earl Grey - on recommendation from a friend and it is genuinely lovely. Mostly drink either Yorkshire Tea or this Earl Grey now. But struck by how many other options there were that I hadn't thought about or explored before. Any recommendations? (Not fruit teas).