Tea Recommendations?

[bugfeli]

i recently started drinking a lot of tea which has led me down a rabbit hole of wanting to try as many different teas as possible, totally not because a friend of mine gave me a pound of his hive's honey and i have nothing to use it with other than toast. although, any kind of tea would be nice to try, not just ones that pair well with honey.

i got a little tired of the tried and true southern sweet tea that i grew up on and made a switch to herbal tea just to reset my taste buds. i started off with chamomile since ive heard good things about it, and its really helped improve my mood and im not wasting money on energy drinks!

if anyone also happens to garden, i'd love to know some plants that go well with tea or could be used to make some delicious tea. thanks!

[BlazingCobaltX]

Welcome to the world of teas. It's a wonderfully relaxing drink. Even the ones with caffeine I find to have a relaxing effect on me. Couldn't get that from coffee!

Good choice to switch to herbal teas. There's a place for sweet tea but to me it takes away from what teas really are. Just experiment with all sorts of blends - weak/strong, fruity/herbal - to get a sense of what you like. I always recommend to work with leaves over pre-bought teabags; it just helps with identifying what exactly you are tasting/smelling. There's 'paper' teabags that you can buy to put the leaves in so they don't spread all over. Another important tip I have is to brew tea by the pot; a teabag filled to the brim is made to sit in a pot and simmer for a while (even if the packaging says otherwise!). If you do it by the glass, be careful not to add too much leaves; you really don't need a lot to reach peak flavour.

My personal preference is light teas with zero bitterness, like a gentle caress to the mouth... Ahem. My absolute favourite is green tea with cardamom. The sweet hints from the cardamom balance out the natural bitterness of the leaves perfectly. I can literally drink this forever. Add 2 spoons of green tea leaves and a pinch of ground cardamom to a teabag, and let that simmer in a teapot (around 1L) for a few minutes. Should you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[malice]

Oh this is right up my alley!

For a nice Autumn-y vibe, I'd go with apple cinnamon (honey goes really well with this). Peppermint is a classic and it's wonderful for soothing an upset stomach! One of my personal favorites is this raspberry and rose hip tea that I had a few years ago and have yet to find again maybe you'll have better luck than me. Lavender is really nice, I drink it before bed to help me sleep. Don't be put off by floral teas, they're quite subtle and don't taste like you just ate a flower (that was my main concern with them before I gave them a shot). Berry teas are also wonderful, especially over ice!

[Alys]

Ooh! Definitely gonna follow along with this topic!    I too just finally started enjoying tea! I've made vanilla chai with a lil bit of milk and some cinnamon sprinkled on top. Its so so warm and comforting, the first time I made it I wanted to nuzzle my face on it like a cat lol I also had some apple-cinnamon chamomile blend a while back, which was also pretty good!

Does anyone have any good orange-ish (haha) flavored recommendations? More sweet than sour. I just really love the smell of a nice sweet juicy orange LOL

[Dibs]

I'm from the UK so tea is my default drink and my default tea is something like English Breakfast -- specifically I drink Yorkshire Tea and their newer flavour 'biscuit brew' which is like the original but with a warm maltiness that smoothes out the bitterness even when you leave it brewing for ages. My mum got given a box of chai made by the parent company, Taylor's of Harrogate (which mostly does coffee, but they seem to put teas that dont use the Yorkshire Tea blend there too), and I've been enjoying that a lot too. It's got the strength of black tea and can be made with milk and sugar (a must for me) while also having a different, spiced flavour!

It might be a bit similar to your southern sweet tea, but at the most general level, I recommed hot black teas with milk and some form of sweetener -- a warm milky drink can't be beaten 

My flatmate has a cupboard full of teas; the ones I can remember are rooibos, green tea, and peppermint green tea -- rooibos especially intrigues me!

May not be the kind of recommendations you're after, but I thought I'd pitch in anyway!

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

I can highly recommend Green Rooibos (its fermented Rooibos). I prefer Green Tea over Black, and Chinese Green Tea over Japanese :).

My favorite green tea is sold here under the name "Nebeltee" (Fog-Tea); they say it comes from the Huangshan-Region, but I can't find out the english name. If you are interested, I can look up a few good teas that have Chinese names - should be easier to find internationally.

Also, I add Cardamon to my tea from time to time since I once drank it at an indian restaurant under the name "Kawa". It goes really well!

[villain]

Not sure if you can get this outside the UK but I've been drinking Yorkshire Tea Malty Biscuit Brew lately - its biscuit flavoured and smells amazing. Something about the tiny addition of malt makes it feel a lot more warming and hearty, I was surprised a novelty flavour worked so well (though of course tea and biscuits is a match made in heaven!)

[Dibs]

Not sure if you can get this outside the UK but I've been drinking Yorkshire Tea Malty Biscuit Brew lately - its biscuit flavoured and smells amazing. Something about the tiny addition of malt makes it feel a lot more warming and hearty, I was surprised a novelty flavour worked so well (though of course tea and biscuits is a match made in heaven!)

Yessss, someone who gets it! They recently came out with a caramelised biscuit version which was also good -- you can definitely taste that extra element. I tell my friends about biscuitea and they are never convinced but it is wonderful.

[TheFrugalGamer]

So many different types I haven't heard of being mentioned in here! My favorite is probably Jasmine Green tea, which can be made by many different manufacturers. Lately I've been drinking Twining's version, which is lovely.

I also like PG Tips, which finally made it over to the city I'm in. It's your standard English Breakfast tea, but it's got a great full flavor that I enjoy.

[Misanthropic Monster™]

There's so many teas I could recommend...

Chocolate Digestives Tea, Pudina Chai, Rose & Cardamom Chai, Bonfire Toffee Tea, Dark Choc Chilli Chai, London Fog Tea, lebkuchen salted caramel tea, spicy masala chai, pumpkin spiced chai... those are some of my faves.

[CableCat]

Hi, tea drinker here! And gardener! Boy do I have recommendations for you! 

You said sweet tea, so I'm going to assume you're in the American South (like meeeeeeee). Did you know that the United States has a native plant that makes AWESOME tea? It's called Yaupon Holly. You should check out Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co. to get it commercially. They even sell Yaupon Holly bushes you can grow at home and make tea from yourself! They sell their tea in World Market. And the best part about Yaupon Holly Tea is that you can use the same bag multiple times without ending up with the dry tannin-y flavor that a regular Camellia sinensis tea produces after only 3-5 minutes of steeping. I used to get a box of their tea and put a baggie in my thermos with hot water before work. Then I would take my thermos and just refill it with hot water at the cafeteria hot water dispenser and leave the tea bag in ALL DAY. I used to get like three to five thermoses full of that tea off one bag. Obviously it becomes more dilute, but it was still relatively flavorful and comforting. 10/10 worth the money for a box of Yaupon Brothers Tea.

Another cool thing is that tea refers to the drink made from the Camellia sinensis plant, so technically "herbal teas" that don't contain the actual tea plant are "herbal infusions". You can make so many herbal infusions just by mixing and matching herbs and spices and putting them in a metal tea ball. Here are a few of my favorite combinations:

In a 1 tbsp tea ball, fill with 1/2 tbsp crushed rosehips, 1/4 tbsp Dandelion Root, 1/4 tbsp dried dandelion leaves. Steep in a pint mason jar filled with water overnight in the fridge. Drink the next day. It makes a nice sweet chilled iced tea because the rosehips are sweet and tart.

In a mortar and pestle, gently crush 5 cloves, 2 or 3 tbsp cacao nibs, and a whole cinnamon stick. Place this mixture in a glass jar. Add and equivalent (or larger) amount of Spice & Tea Exchange Hazelnut Cookie Tea to the jar with the spice mixture. Shake to evenly mix, then scoop some into a 1 tbsp tea ball to make yourself a cup. It's like a holiday spiced Nutella tea.

Citrus teas are easy to make. When you get lemons and oranges, save the peels and dry in the oven at lowest possible temp for and hour or so until completely dry (usually 170 to 200 degrees, lower and slower is better). Crush the dried peels in a mortar and pestle and then mix with lemongrass and lemon verbena!

If you have a pet cat that likes catnip, it is worth growing a catnip plant in your garden. A plain catnip infusion can be drank and enjoyed by both the human and the cat! For you, dear human, it can also be blended with other herbs.

In the United States, there are some Buddhist temples. If you have a Chinese Buddhist Temple somewhat in your area, you should check if they do Gung Fu Tea Ceremony, which is typically done with Oolong. If you ever have the opportunity to participate in tea ceremony (Chinese Gung Fu, Japanese Tea Ceremony with Matcha, etc...) take the opportunity! It is meditative and the Tea Master will guide you in fully appreciating the taste, smell mouth feel, and color of the tea.

Herbal infusions should be made with boiling hot water, but the Camellia sinensis teas require more temperature control. Green and White teas should especially NOT be made with fully boiling piping hot water since this can damage the tea leave and lead to unwanted dry and tannin-y flavors. As a rule of thumb, I cut the heat on my pot for my green tea right before the water starts barely boiling, but when it is just hot enough to steam a little. Spice & Tea Exchange has a guide on the proper temperatures for the different types of teas!

Welcome to the world of tea! It's a great place to be!   

[TheFrugalGamer]

You said sweet tea, so I'm going to assume you're in the American South (like meeeeeeee). Did you know that the United States has a native plant that makes AWESOME tea? It's called Yaupon Holly. You should check out Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co. to get it commercially. They even sell Yaupon Holly bushes you can grow at home and make tea from yourself! They sell their tea in World Market. And the best part about Yaupon Holly Tea is that you can use the same bag multiple times without ending up with the dry tannin-y flavor that a regular Camellia sinensis tea produces after only 3-5 minutes of steeping. I used to get a box of their tea and put a baggie in my thermos with hot water before work. Then I would take my thermos and just refill it with hot water at the cafeteria hot water dispenser and leave the tea bag in ALL DAY. I used to get like three to five thermoses full of that tea off one bag. Obviously it becomes more dilute, but it was still relatively flavorful and comforting. 10/10 worth the money for a box of Yaupon Brothers Tea.

Ok, I got about halfway through this paragraph before I realized that I actually GREW UP with Youpon trees in my front yard, but I did not recognize that because I always thought it was spelled with a J like "Japon"

Thank you for the link! I'm all about trying new things, and I love native plants! I will be ordering some of this to try out!

[Melooon]

These are the two tea's I enjoy, Barry's and Campbell's! Both are what you'd call english breakfast teas. Barry's is a little nicer, but Campbell's comes in a lovely big traditional tin! I'm not sure about Campbell's but I have seen Barry's for sale in the import section of some supermarkets in the US, particularity if there is a large Irish diaspora.

I highly recommenced giving them a try if you enjoy that sort of tea; I consider milk essential for both ~ if you don't drink milk, oat milk works, but its just not as good in this tea! I also like to make my tea quite strong; it should turn a kind of golden coffeeish colour when the milk is added!

[sisterdiecut]

I second mint/ginger teas! I feel like you can never go wrong w/ a mint tea, regardless of the brand or if it's homemade :)

one that may be an acquired taste (but which I really enjoy) is barley tea! it has a cozy, slightly toasted flavor that's comforting in colder weather, but also really nice iced in summer months. be warned, though, that some people think it tastes like Bread Water, lol