[M2lobaz]

Black tea all the way, especially after a good breakfast, really enjoyable.

[GoLLuM13]

Herbal tea twice a day every day 👀

I also used to drink mint tea or a mix of mint tea + milk, but since I can't drink milk anymore, I stopped drinking this mix

PS: I always drink with sugar

[Saka]

@GoLLuM13 Any specific herbal tea?

I sometimes have Moroccan mint, it's nice for mild indigestion. Or just for soothing too!

I also developed a milk problem, but luckily for me it is just lactose intolerance. Lactose free I can drink almost by buckets without an issue.

[GoLLuM13]

@Saka it depends on the mood and the period, but I mainly consume 3 herbs, fennel seeds, verbena and thyme.

I guess we have the same milk problem, I also have a lactose intolerance.

[DracoTarot]

@Saka Yea, most are vintage blends passed down through generations. Maybe it all started in an old house. 😊

I'm looking forward to winter. The heat is really becoming unbearable. I'd rather wear a few layers of clothing to keep warm.

[Saka]

Originally Posted by DracoTarot

I'm looking forward to winter. The heat is really becoming unbearable. I'd rather wear a few layers of clothing to keep warm.

What sorts of blends do you drink to warm up in cold weather?

[DracoTarot]

@Saka Herbal blends do fit me in wintertime, and I would buy more of a variety than usual. One of my faves is a Chai tea mix. When I'm at the supermarket I'll also make sure I grab a box of ginger and sage tea. Another would be peppermint tea.

[Saka]

@DracoTarot Ooh, chai tea is really nice. I have a jar of the spice in my kitchen too. 😁

[DracoTarot]

@Saka I got some spicy soya Chai tea and the vegan Latte Chai. 😊

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka Ah, it took me some time to formulate my thoughts on the matter. Indeed, tea is no laughing matter and deserves proper reflection. And thank you for mentioning Boston Tea Party. You can even join it personally in Assassin's Creed 3, remember that bit?

Personally, same as @DracoTarot, I prefer rooibos tea. The lack of caffeine agrees with me, but herein lies one of the issues I have in my tea-drinking habits.

You see, I always thought that there are two ways of consuming tea: drinking and savouring. By drinking I mean that you drink tea like you would juice or water, something to drink when you're thirsty or to clean your palate between meals. When it comes to it, I do that frequently and rooibos fits so well here for me because there is no caffeine there, you can drink a lot and frequently. For this reason, too, I usually drink rooibos in a teabag form, and always punch myself for compromising tea integrity for the sake of convenience.

However, tea can also be savoured, like you'd savour expensive wine or whiskey in a bar. Where you drink not because you're thirsty, but because you want to enjoy it, appreciate the nuances of the bouquet, the aroma. Tea like that can't be achieved with teabag and can only be grasped with actual high-quality tea leaves, and here come into play various methods and accessories that can help to get this effect, like Japanese Kyusu:



Or Russian Samovar:



And from that then grow the actual complex tea ceremonies, where drinking tea evolves into a cultural experience.

And my problem here is that I could never quite grasp that "enjoying tea" feeling. Always wanted to, but, same as with cooking, preparing proper tea seems long and unnecessarily complex to me when compared to the convenience of a teabag. And another problem is, to fully appreciate the blends you need to spend some time noting the nuanced differences between them, but it is hard to buy small quantities of blends if you're just one person. Even the smallest package of 100g lasts me over a month, and I can't get enough practice of different tea drinking to develop my palate.

Maybe you or anyone who is a tea connoisseur would be able to give me advice on how best to start?

And to wrap it up, I think no reflection about tea would be complete without a humorous account of the British tea tradition from the book "How to be an Alien" written by Hungarian immigrant George Mikes noting his observations about life in Britain. @GoLLuM13, your country is only a Channel away from Britain, do you think these observations are accurate?