Keith my wallet will never forgive you ;-)

Yes, but your tongue owes me big time.

I'm avoiding the links entirely. Far too dangerous.

Me, I'm an amateur (but enthusiastic) tea drinker: I go down the aisle in Vons and see what sort of odd concoctions Stash or Celestial Seasonings has on sale for $2. I have a 4-tier wall shelf full of different types of teas and herbal whatnots. Yeah, yeah, most of them are in bags. So sue me. At least I've got a few teapots and an infuser.

My favorite is a Jaipur Jasmine loose-leaf that came as part of a gift set -- I have no idea what brand it is. I want to make a huge vat of the stuff and pour it all over my body. It's amazing, in a floral sort of way. Unlike you, I truly enjoy Earl Grey (I have 5 or 6 different types), especially with cream and sugar -- it's a meal in and of itself. I've got an odd Fortnum & Mason blend of Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong which, if you think of it as EG, is terrible, but if you accept it for what it is, it has a rich, smoky flavor that's wonderful for cold, lazy mornings.

(Exclamation from my brother, tongue firmly in cheek, upon reading that Earl Grey was flavored with Oil of Bergamot: "Do you know how many bergamots died to make this tea?!?")

Sorry about blathering on. I think tea (and its varients) is a wondrous thing. But I'm broke.

$2 sample page, eh?

Mmmm... I might have to give those suggestions a try.
I'm usually more of a coffee drinker, but for the past few months I've been drinking that Lipton's green tea (I know, I know). That's the only brand of loose tea the supermarkets seem to carry, too.

Um, I actually like Lipton's Green Tea with orange, passionfruit and jasmine.

But I'm a plebe.

Maybe the Lipton's green is better.

I know their black tea is better in other parts of the world, where people know what tea is supposed to taste like. Lipton's in England is apparently pretty good.

I'm still trying to get my brain around an Earl Grey Lapsang Souchong. It just seems so wrong.

I find this highly ironic coming on the heals of my finishing one of the tea shop mysteries this weekend. :)

I drink water. Don't drink coffee, hardly ever drink soda, have juice for breakfast.

Boring, aren't I?

Yeah, the EG/LS is pretty interesting.

RE: Lipton -- I also like their French Vanilla, but that's probably more due to the added flavors rather than any inherent quality of the tea itself. For me, the different between regular Lipton and, say, Tetley (sorry -- still sticking with the bagged stuff) is the difference between cooking with old, dried herbs and fresh basil and oregano from the garden.

I'm also mostly a water person for regular drinking, but I consider tea a comforting (and occasionally decadent, if you do it right) indulgence.

You realize I have no choice but to make some sort of "Tetley? Gah!" comment? You've left me no alternative.

Mark, as long as you shoot up a little crack once in a while, you can still hang with the cool kids.

Elitest.

But we knew that.

Well, I just placed my order... I went with your recommendations, adding the Valentine's Blend and these samples: Hao Ya A, Earl Grey Supreme, Darjeeling Blend, Big Red Sun, and Irish Breakfast. While I was there I picked up a teapot, too (all we have is one of those ball infusers).
The Lapsang Souchong sounded intriguing, but that'll have to wait for another time.

btw any thoughts on Twinings? I used to drink that every once in awhile when I lived in Australia, and thought their Earl Grey, English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast were pretty good.

No crack either, sorry.

I guess this means I won't be coming back ever again. :)

Andrew, I like Lapsang Souchong a lot (though not that perversion of nature that Rachel drinks), but the Harney's isn't my favorite. I like Hu Kwa a lot. I've only tried three or four brands, but that's the one I like best.

So of course, now I hope you love everything you ordered, but either way, please let me know!

Mark, you have your whole life ahead of you. Plenty of time to develop a crack habit.

Hey, what's life without a few perversions?

Keith - Thoughts on my tea order are now up on my journal. That's quite a nice bunch of tea!

Howdy, I'm a total stranger - I stumbled across your blog while searching for the real moroccan saying about mint tea. I'm a big tea fan, live in the US, currently in the UK where I was disappointed to realize that tea culture is on the outs. They sell crap bag tea in boxes of 100 in stores but finding decent loose-leaf is a huge challenge. Anyways, I had trouble buying a green tea I liked but I would have some in Japanese restaurants and finally asked: I recommend trying GenMaiCha (words sometimes spaced differently). It has toasted brown rice which gives it a nice tang and overcomes the "flat" alkaline taste most green teas have to me. Sounds like you're on the right track trying lotsa teas, enjoy! I only tried Lapsang Souchong recently for the first time when a local said it was a classic teatime tea.

Thanks a lot, Keith. Now I have to decide whether to be cool, or continue liking what I like. I'm not good at the cool thing. I was perfectly happy with Hershey's, until I met Godiva. And I had a happy relationship with Safeway ice cream, until some trouble-maker introduced me to Ben and Jerry. Do I really want to make two cabinets full of flavors, brands, and styles of teas unusable? Can I resist trying teas that sound so good?

Argh.

Wow, how cool! New comments months later. Shaula, I like genmaicha, but I don't know which ones are good. And Lorie... what can I say? Addiction craves company.

Thanks for the notes. As you can tell, I'm re-reading my old entries.

No, I do not have a good reason.

Stumbled on your blog when trying to find an alternate source to order Harney's Paris after happening upon it over the weekend. Up to this point have been drinking fairly good tea as an alternate to my normal coffee drip. But... am converting over to a tea drip with an occasional foray into Starbucks for the coffee experience lest not forget my roots. The question I'm pondering is whether or not I'm to squeeze that little silk sachet when I remove from the cup... after using the timer... the one you mentioned... I solumnly swear. And since I can respect your opinion on what's good I shall pose it to you Keith. Should I or should I not squeeze that little paris bag of all it's flavor or will that boost somehow taint my brew?

Hey, another one! Sorry it's taken me so long. I don't find out about new comments unless I go look in the comments area.

Since it's a sachet, you can't stir while it's steeping, so I vote for squeezing.

Let me know how it works out. These things are important.

Hi Keith,

Repeatedly, I am finding myself coming to read your blogs after discovering your site. These are great reads with...my bitter coffee.

In recent months, my tastes have realized I no longer relish the usual coffees and am experimenting with teas of all sorts. Though my shoestring budget does not allow for expensive indulging, I found your blog here very informative and exciting. I may just have to test some new avenues of satisfying my palate.

thanks for the great information