Physio a couple days ago so went to a new coffee shop and they had tea I haven't tried before!

They brand they stock is Harney & Sons, which I've never tried before, but from their "scent bar" they have some good stuff. I tried the chocolate mint, but I'm also curious about their Indian Spice (black tea with cardamom and such, and they have a hot cinnamon that smells quite similar to the Cinnamon Heart tea that was my favourite! (I still need to write that letter to David's to see what became of it.)

Alas, the tins sold at the coffee shop were out of my price range, even for my tea.

Hi there. :)

I do drink both coffee and tea. Percolated coffee made in a percolator at least as old as myself, no bad aromas later. And either evaporated milk or plain non-dairy creamer. I like to reserve the milk or sometimes half & half for special occasions.

I've sampled many sorts of tea. My favorite was to make a brew mixed of black chai, eleuthero, green tea and ginseng. I like it both iced or hot with a tad of milk and less of sugar. I found that mixture of great help with concentrating and other issues. Like my weak immune system. I'm debating online ordering, seeing as its getting harder and harder to find them localy.

Oh wow, Earl Grey. Just reading eveyone's comments is making me crave bergamot! I wish i could remember the brand i got several years ago, but was by far the best one i've tried yet.

As for reducing the tanic acids in dark tea, i have done the following for the past 22 or 23 years. (One of my 80+ year old home health clients taught me her grand mother's tea recipe in the mid 1990's, this is it).

First of all, the results: Acid reduction. The tea is iced tea, will be crystal clear and very clean in taste. Little to no after taste. Very refreshing!

She had me place a family sized tea bag in a small pot of cold water, slowly bring it up to hot. Just before it boils, remove the pot from the heat, (remove the tea bag), and add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. It will foam as the baking soda reacts with the tanic acids in the hot tea. Stir until all the foam is gone. Don't rush this step. It will take about 30 seconds to two minutes, depending upon how much tanic acid the baking soda must neutralize.

She then had me sweeten it with Sweet-n-Low, as she was diabetic. At home, i added 3/4 cup of sugar, stirred until the sugar was dissolved, then dilluted with ice cubes or cold water in the pitcher.

It *can* come to a boil. But not for more than a handful of seconds. Boiling releases far more tanic acid than stopping the brewing process before it boils. Beyond this, it's all just basic chemical reactions. The baking soda neutralizes the tanic acid.

I find this is easily utilized with most dark teas. I've not tried it with herbal teas recently, so i cannot remember the results. I've been making iced tea with her grandmother's method since 1993 or '95, somewhere in there. Gotten plenty of compliments and requests for it.

And i know for a fact i used to have stomach upset from many dark teas, until i made it this way. I'm sure it had to be the tanic acids that tore my stomach up back then, it gave me horrible heartburn until i began making it this way.

As near as we can determine (or guess!), her grandmother's tea method dates from approximately middle to early 1800's. Pioneer and settler days. I have no clue its actual origin. But it does work.

Just don't try what my ex-in-law did and ruin it attempting to make it in a Mr. Coffee machine. That was just nasty! x.x

Hi Spider. I'll certainly give that a shot. The doctors aren't actually sure why strong black tea appears to cause bone issues, but tanic acid is the prevailing suspicion. I rarely have iced tea. Does the mix microwave well? Or I suppose I could just stove heat it. Does the baking soda affect the taste much?

Eleuthero I can't have, which is what's annoying me about the fact that my favourite tea place got rid of their other digestive Pu'erh tea.

Bubble Tea
 

I tried bubble tea with my mother in a Vietnamese restraunt to try it out. I found it pretty enjoyable, but my mother didn't like it. :S We hade to look up on Google to find out what the bubbles of the tea are made out of.

I have to admit, it amuses me to see people trying bubble tea for the first time, especially if they aren't aware of the "bubbles."

Tried some tumeric tea that came with my mixed tea parcel I got the other day (because I can't walk into a tea store and not come out with something I didn't plan for). Not sure tumeric is my thing, really, though I suppose I'm getting some good out of it. It appears to be one of those new health craze things, though perhaps not a craze yet. Didn't make my stomach angry so that's a plus. The tea had beetroot in it, so once I put the milk in it resembled strawberry milk.

Mango tea is wonderful! But I personally like it with just mango and most often I find it in a mix with other fruits. I know one place that has a plain mango black tea and I got a good stack of it last time I was there.

oh i love both letelay i just had my first coffee today =) whats your favorite tea flavours quiet man?? =)

Oh, it varies, but I think it would be chai, particularly if it's heavy on the cloves, cinnamon, and maybe black pepper. There are different varieties and I'm not always sure what the ones I like best have in them.

Probably just regular black teas, or a black tea with a single flavour like vanilla or mango. Smoked is good too. That reminds me, I'm out of my lapsang souchong.

well sounds really you like heavy tea flavours =) i like more the light ones like fruit or marrakesh mint
its so awesome ^^ my dad also bough some guarana tea i cant describe how it taste but its awesome =))

I used to drink more herbal teas and lighter ones like green or white more often, but yeah, I'm a strong tea person. I forget that I have a number of those around still. If I feel like something other than tea, I'll often add hot water to juice if I'm still after something warm. It's been cold enough of late for me to stick to hot drinks. Mint tea I still have fairly regularly. I do like the herbal varieties that come off as refreshing.

0o sounds wierd you add hot water to juice!
i just cant imagine it!

Really just makes hot juice. The type does make a bit of a difference. Since I have apple cinnamon tea on hand, hot apple is not all that hard to think of. I have pear around now because it sits okay in my stomach. Curiously, we actually have to go to the baby foods to find pear juice.

oh this sounds plausible
pear juice is a baby juice though
mh we never have juice on hand and my dad forgets my nuts *gloom*
i would buy them myself but i have a bad flu