I've only had high tea once, and I've...forgotten the price tag. Probably in the 30's.

There are a bunch of different types but I forget what tells them apart: high tea, low tea, afternoon tea, etc. As long as there is tea and tiny sandwiches, I'm happy.

wait no, then, afternoon tea.

...man, I don't care about specifics. To me, it's just TEA and CAKE and SWEETS and that's all I care about :|

Heh. True. Going into the city at the end of next week so my sister in law and I are grabbing a couple friends for expensive tea! (We're not doing gifts this year and I'm holding to that so I have a bit of money to splurge on such indulgences. It probably won't happen again until next year.)

Does anyone know of any good, strong orange pekoe tea? My sister and I are on the lookout. We've already tried:

Red Rose (current staple)
Red Rose Bold
Red Rose Canadian
Typhoo
Alokozay (good but we can't seem to find it again)
Overwaitea
Tetley
PG Tips (sister says good. I haven't tried)
Yorkshire

Always seem to drift back to red rose. The steeped tea at Tim Horton's is really good but it's never the same at home.

I wish I could help with that.

It's sort of a thing we're doing. I'm fine with most (besides Tetley) but my older sister is trying to find one that's reliable. Overwaitea was really good the first couple times when I brought home sample packs, but the box was less so. She's even tried buying the Tim Hortons steeped tea K-cups and cutting them open since we don't have the machine, but it's not the same. Never is. (I heard people saying that all the time about the coffee when I worked there. We figure it's the 10% cream).

I have no idea. ;u;

In other news, peppermint cinnamon tea is really good. :3

I have re-discovered my old pu'erh tea pucks that I got ages ago. They're good! David's keeps discontinuing the teas I like and I'm getting annoyed at them. Still looking for tasty pu-erhs for my stomach.

Aw no. :C Bad David's!

I need to get more cider tea. ;u;

What's cider tea? A flavour?

I also recently discovered the the tea store I've only been to once has moved to just behind an inlaw I visit from time to time. Next time I'm by, I'll have to see what he's got.

Yes, not entirely sure if it's seasonal or not. ;u; I've had some for a while and am just now running out. XD

I looove coffee. I usually go for an Americano at coffee shops since it is nice and strong but lasts a long time. Whenever I hit an area in the city that has a dense grouping of coffee shops, I'll do my version of "coffee hopping".

I also brew a couple of cups everyday at home mostly using an Aeropress and enjoy experimenting with beans from different regions and roast profiles. I would eventually like to expand my setup, but that is too expensive at the moment.

Also, I do drink lots of tea. Not as many kinds as I used to since some started triggering headaches for some odd reason. Matcha is awesome and also flavored white teas. Sometimes oolong, but it can depend on the variety. Not a fan of anything remotely floral or herbal. Right now I actually have a mango coffee leaf tea which is surprisingly good.

My sister just gave me a little travel mug with a French press in it. I'll have to try it one day.

I rarely drink coffee, so I have some of those instant tubes from Starbucks on hand that I got from my niece who didn't want them. I've found I like the Italian one, (the one with the moped on the wrapper).

I've re-discovered my fondness for peppermint tea, I was getting concerned with my black tea intake in the cold weather so I've been fishing for other things. A coffee actually sounds like a good idea right now.

I could really go for some coffee OR tea... either a good cold brew (coz my acid reflux) or a green tea... or earl grey...

*sleepy dreams of teas*

What does a cold brew do?

I'm thinking about that tea I bought that has coffee beans in it. I should make a cup now. Haven't touched it since I bought it.

Cold brew is strong stuff. But really good. ><

Cold brew is coffee made by substituting time for heat. (Sort of like the coffee equivalent of sun tea, in that sense.) It's less acidic because the cold water doesn't leach out as much of the harsher volatiles, and by contrast that also makes the flavor a little bit sweeter. It's a serious pain in the butt to actually make because it takes special equipment (you can buy a kit but it's kinda expensive and the yield is slow) but it's the best iced coffee you could ask for.

Huh. I wonder if I could actually handle that, then.

There are also some simple methods to making cold brew. I used random vessels to soak the grinds and a filter/strainer that wasn't too fine where the water couldn't drain.

I've been trying a coffee berry tea this time. So far I don't like it as much as the coffee leaf tea. But I'm not sure if that's more due to the flavors they added to them.

I wasn't a fan of coffee leaf tea myself. Can't remember too much of it except I found that it was underwhelming. I will likely remain a black tea person (sits here with a cup of Assam Banaspaty).

Tried this pistachio ice cream tea today at David's, where I went to replace my (completely unnecessary) tea leaf spoon, since my regular one has waggled off somewhere. Not bad, but surprisingly mild for a black tea. I have a bad habit of buying teas that look good. This time I just bought the cup, which is probably a little easier on the pocket book. They still keep ejecting my favourite teas though, and not bringing them back! I'm going to take the wrapper I saved for one of them and see if the guy at the nursery that blends teas can replicate it. This matters!

Anyone know a place that makes a good ginger pu'ehr? Or has any good pu'ehr? The other tea store that I would get my tea from appears to have gone out of business. I am having no luck with this.

I honestly just dump some coarse coffee grounds in a jar with cold water and leave it in the fridge for a few days for the cold brew XD I just have a little tiny mesh strainer that fits in my coffee cup that I put cheesecloth into to filter out the tinier particles as I pour. Super damn good. I used to get Starbucks' cold brew until the one time they just gave me cold coffee and I got VIOLENT heartburn. F*ck thaaaaaaaat...

I encountered a thing called "Tea Runners" that send monthly tea boxes on subscription (Canada and USA), or just boxes that you order. Seems pricey though. Has anyone tried them?

Picked up some oolong tea to try. It's from Nepal, and tastes kinda refreshing like green tea. Apparently the Taiwanese stuff is more on the earthy side, and a little more like black tea.

I started drinking Detox tea again. It's supposed to be cleansing so I hope it does some good. x_X

I never really do those detox things. I just avoid crummy food for a couple of days and that seems to handle things if I start to feel icky. Plus, most of the stuff marked "detox" involves things I can't have.

Frankly that's actually a better idea than any product marketed as "detox", because the entire concept of detox is pseudoscientific hogwash. The body does not carry around toxins that can be purged through spa treatments or special foods. Of note, few people peddling detox products can even tell you what those toxins actually are supposed to be, and those who do have an answer to the question can't produce a biologically-sound explanation for why those toxins are a risk and why the treatments in question are able to do anything about it.

"But Coda," I hear a hypothetical person say, "it really works. I used it and I felt better!"

Well yes, of course you did. Spa treatments feel good even if they don't have any actual health benefits, and monitoring what you eat is good for you in general. And feeling like you're taking charge of your own health is a very satisfying thing, which again can make you feel better even if you haven't actually done anything that would make a difference just because of the stress relief it provides.

Tea in particular is soothing, and drinking warm clear fluids can relieve a number of unpleasant symptoms. So if a detox tea makes you feel better, then by all means drink it! But don't let the snake oil peddlers trick you into paying a premium for a special "detox" variety that doesn't do anything more than the normal stuff.

My theory on detox and cleansing stuff in general is pretty much that by restricting your intake, you stop eating whatever things are bothering you and your body has time to process them out.

Because I need to watch how I feel for health reasons all the time, I've gotten pretty decent at reading what issues might be caused by what. Pu'ehr tea seems to help with my dodgy gut, and coffee at other times. I figure those teas marked with things like detox or weight loss are probably doing something. If they were totally innocuous, my pills wouldn't have gripes with some of the ingredients. David's "the Skinny" pu-ehr tea is meant for metabolism boosting, but it contains a root that my pills don't like.

That reminds me, I need to find that old back of the chai tea I liked that wa discontinued so I can go the to local tea guy and see if he can make something similar. Stupid discontinued teas!

Also, in an effort to reduce my tea intake, I've started making little pots instead of one cup at a time. Not sure if it really helps, but my theory is that I get fewer tannins because I'm using fewer tea bags.

Yeah, this is what I was saying too -- watching what you eat by itself will improve your health.

The only time I had to do an actual detox was when I was on kidney dialysis, given my kidneys weren't alive enough to handle it themselves. I had a couple days where I couldn't get it done because (medical explanation) and had to take a nasty cocktail to reduce my potassium. I'd have sooner tried any manner of strange detox things (recalls mom's yeast-thing growing in the cupboard) than take that crud again.

That... sounds like quite the adventure.

Went to visit my mom and then my aunt, and we ran out of 2% milk! Three days without a civilized cup of tea! It was horrid!

Decided to switch things around a bit and got a box of Typhoo instead of Red Rose. It's tea, but gets crazy bitter if left steeping for too long. Since I routinely oversteep my black tea, that does say something.