i was just lying awake last night thinking about tea (don't ask me why, i have no idea, and i'd rather stay awake thinking of tea than scary boogie monsters anyway)-
my question to pretty much everyone, although initially directed to the uk folks:
how do you take your tea? what kind is your favorite? are teabags an american invention to aid us in our never-ending quest to be lazy?

i know it probably sounds odd, but i was curious, so i thought i'd ask.

thanks in advance for humoring me!

jenn aka neliamne

I'm an American (hence the name) but I like mine brewed loose and with milk and sugar. Teabags are evil!

I'm a Brit, and life's too bloody short for leaves. Teabags suit me just fine. Milk and no sugar in mine, please.

Slightly relevant story: I once worked in a bus depot, where as junior bug I was on tea-brewing duty. The drivers kept complaining that the tea was too weak, even though I thought it quite strong, by normal standards. Fed up with the carping (and in an attempt to get sacked from brewing up) I tipped a whole box of PG Tips bags into the urn .... and the drivers said it was lovely and it was about time I'd got it right. I realised at this point that winning was not an option.



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

I'm all for tea bags. Saves cleaning out the tea-pot.

Fortnum & Mason do the best tea, imho. Their 'breakfast' blend is spot on. Damn expensive though, but I try and pick up a box whenever I find myself in London. Other than that, I drink whatever's in the cupboard.

I prefer coffee though (shame my stomach ulcer doesn't...)

My mother drinks her tea incredibly weak. You wave a tea bag in the general direction of the cup and it's too strong. My family all drink it with vast quantities of milk too (apart from me, I've developed a taste for it less milky).

Yorkshire tea for Yorkshire water. Has to be.

Milk, no sugar. Thanks.
(Strong but with lots of milk. Strange I know.)

I generally use tea-bags. Mash it straight in the mug rather than using the pot unless there's lots of guests round. (Mash = Brew for those not in the know - outside the People's Republic of Yorkshire)

Earl Grey - slice of lemon, no milk - ideal on a sunny afternoon in the garden with a plate, no make that a packet of Rich Tea Biscuits!

Otherwise it's Tetley bags in a mug in the office.

Don't drink coffee, makes me irritable when I do although some would say they can't tell the difference.....................

nah, got to be ginger nuts for dunking.

Even eddie has taken to dunking his biscuits in tea.

He's got past licking the cows off malted milks then.

I assume he still spreads the mucky goo round the sofa, carpet etc.

that's just your house. Do you think we'd let him do it in ours?

and he's still fond of malted milks...

apparently, tea is good for you:

[www.cnn.com]

I have a question. Yorkshire Tea.

In which part of the county, exactly, are the tea plantations? The monsoon-swept sub-tropical hillsides of Batley? The sun-baked arid plains of Holderness? Are they in amongst the rice-paddies of the Don Valley, or mayhap the upland teak forests near Skipton? Is it transported by elephants across the inaccessible peaks of the Pennines, to carried off in junks down the Leeds & Liverpool Canal?

No? Well, why the bloody hell is it called Yorkshire Tea, then?



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

I think Rob has a small tea plantation in his back garden (it's big enough...)

I prefer assam, or if I'm feeling particularly daring, darjeeling.

Dave's correct. I do have a small tea plantation at the far end of my estate. (Nettle tea mainly !)

I think the site you're after is

[www.yorkshiretea.co.uk]

Order your own free sample...

I didn't realise they were the same firm that runs that snobby tea-room in Harrogate .... £5 a slice of Battenberg, park your own Jag.

I like PG Tips. It brings out my inner chimp.



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

I got a toy PG Tips chimp from an offer once. His arms are just long enough to go round a cuppa.

He has no name as yet. Any suggestions from the floor?

I only started drinking tea when i moved to England, I think it was because my parents never had tea with milk (that was so very british). and i discovered i actually like tea with milk.

But i don't like iced tea or herbal teas or fruit teas and those yukky ones.

Re Dave's chimp;

Teahugger.



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

I like to brew my tea leaves in a coffee press of sorts...single serving size. I brew it double strength. I heat my milk in the microwave while the tea brews. Then I mix it all together with a bit of sugar and I'm good to go.

I prefer black tea, usually Ceylon from the Courtlodge Estate (very fine indeed!) but I also like vanilla chai and a tea company here has a bang-up black tea called "German Chocolate cake" that is fantastic. We also have a local tea shop that does their own blends that are very good. They have this one Summer Berry tea that's to die for. Has hibiscus and raspberries along with some other fruity flavors...all mixed with black tea. Absolutely delicious! And it's great iced (something I know you Brits don't do). I also like Jackson's of Picadilly's Lady Londonderry, but it's next to impossible to get here. (HINT HINT)

I've been on the lookout for the Lady Londonderry tea. Rest assured, you'll be the first to know when I find it. I'm sure we can come to some mutually convenient arrangement, given that I can't get my cinnamon tic-tacs over here in Blighty.

hehehe, I'm sure we can make that deal!