So I've recently become addicted to tea thanks to you British people.
I need some good brands as well as blends to try. I really like English breakfast tea at the moment, as well as earl gray sometimes. I'm just drinking some EBT they sell at my school but I want to buy a tin of twinings loose leaf. Is twinings any good?
Hit me up with your suggestions!

Twinings is fine. Not the best, but but no means the worst.

When looking at tea, and which teas you'll like, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, ALL tea comes from one plant (camellia sinensis). So, all tea begins life as either green tea (the leaf of the plant), or as white tea (also known as silver skins, or the buds of the flowers). Black tea is simply green tea which has been cut, torn and curled in order to oxidise it, changing the way the tea reacts to being infused in water. Black tea tends to taste more bitter (in a similar way to dark roast coffee, and for similar reasons). An oxide layer on tea makes the solids which give the tea flavour more difficult to extract, meaning that you are more likely to extract undesirable flavours alongside the desirable ones. Green tea, on the other hand (and white tea even more so) is very sweet and grassy. Flavours tend towards lemon acidity, passion fruits, grapefruit, etc.

Aside from simple black teas there are additional processing methods such as seen in Lapsang Suchong where dark black tea is smoked (in the same way as smoked meats) in order to give it a muskey, smokey flavour.

Also, very important, brew temperature. Different teas infuse at different temperatures. Black tea needs to be straight off the boil, green tea needs to be no higher than 88 degrees, preferably around the early 80s, and white tea needs to be around 70-75 degrees.

I do hope that helps. There will be plenty of great tea places around you. If in doubt, drop a guy called Mark Prince an e-mail (he's also VERY well known as CoffeeGeek.com). He's a Canadian who knows where most of the really good tea and coffee places are. And experiment! Try different brew temperatures, steep ties, etc.

I would've said this ^^^ but instagram isnt a tea forum and I'm lazy
And he means steep times, not ties...I don't know what steep ties are.

If you're wanting to go with fruit teas/infusions, don't be fooled by things that say they are "blah blah flavoured tea". Chances are, they're merely black teas that have been flavoured with various different things, similar to "blah blah flavoured coffee".

I know that I said I don't really drink tea, but when I do, I either drink Lady Grey (similar to Earl Grey but with a more grapefruity aroma) or Peppermint Gunpowder (mainly because the way the tea leaves react in water is hilarious).

If you don't have a thermometer to hand, the easiest way to bring boiled water to the correct temperature (and correct me if I'm wrong Chris) is to pour it into a glass jug, like a Pyrex jug and wait around five seconds (this will bring it down to about 90 degrees C) - the greater surface area of the jug combined with the colder glass brings the water temperature down quicker than just waiting around.

I think saying "needs to be" sounds like there's going to be a major disaster if black tea isnt brewed with freshly boiled water - it wont combust, but it wont taste as good as you want it to.

The joys of working in the beverage industry (I can't say coffee industry as that excludes all our lovely tea drinkers).

Wow you guys really know your stuff I'll try emailing that Canadian guy. I was hoping you two would respond!

I like to think that we do considering that for Chris, it's his livelihood.

WOTS 4 TEA MOM?!

PG! Love it, and if you're lucky you get a free monkey, everyone loves a good monkey

Im really enjoying tazo wild sweet tea at the moment. haha. #walmarrrt!!

Yorkshire tea>

Boffey wrote:

Yorkshire tea>

I barely drink tea but yorkshire tea is the best

Celestial Seasonings teabags>

Just don't buy tetley ever, it's the worst tea in the world, tastes like dirt.
And listen to the guys above they have over 20 years of experience.

i think with tea, a major factor that comes into play is the water.

different areas water are all different. hard water/soft etc.

same tea will taste different depending on the water.

Yorkshire tea is good. pg for a change, even tetly when i get used to pg....never really been a fan of twinnings...only their english breakfast and assam, but i find with twinnings that they have to be brewed to perf3ection......(3.1/2 mins in etc)thats the thing...you shouldn't drink the same tea for more than a week or two, as you get too used to the flavor.

cant beat afghan tea though...although it leaves a bitter aftertaste. (although its not for minors)

how do you guys brew your tea? and what is the best sugar to use?