seperis | tea. yes, tea.

I always get faintly panicky when faced with unfamiliar tea. Back in the day--and by the day, I mean, college--my grandmother and aunt somehow managed to independently buy me these huge tea collections. I was already a junkie at that point, but the sheer variety was overwhelming. Darjeeling, breakfast, mint breakfast, whipped. Okay, not whipped, but seriously, I had sixteen kinds of tea at one point in my life.

Today, I realized, as I tried to add Scottish Breakfast Tea to my collection of Twinnings English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast, Tazo Awake, Twinnings Black Currant, Tazo Earl Grey, some Celestial Seasons of various disturbing types, and plain old Lipton, that I need stop. I didn't, of course.

Not since the dark days of experimentation with white pear tea (God help me, I will never forget that first sip) and hearing in horror about red tea--seriously, what? Red tea?--I thought to myself, don't be afraid. Face your fears and these strange labels. Also, avoid any kind of tea that states it was hand picked by trained monkeys.

Hand picked by trained monkeys. Is there a union for that?

Anyway.

One Taylors of Harrogate Darjeeling (if I am spelling that wrong, honestly, I can't even pronouce it), Barnes and Watson apricot, and Numi Golden Chai Organic ~ Spiced Assume (I don't even know what that means) later, and I realize, I'm a impulse tea buyer. This is why I avoid this section of Central Market, where the handpicked monkey tea lingers and tea can run two hundred a pound. The sheer mindboggling of the moment I calculated that out (yes, sometimes, I do sit around and convert dollar per ounce), and thought, huh, I wonder if monkey-picked tea tastes better, I knew I had a problem.

(for the record, I am planning to buy monkey-picked tea so I can report on whether the tea is, in fact, more awesome due to being, well, picked by monkeys. At fifteen dollars an ounce, I'm just saying, it sure as hell had better be.)

I miss Bencheley, though.

So. Tea.

I sometimes mull the fact that the highlights of my life include tea shopping. It's almost sad.

That is because tea rules.

Also, I believe red tea is actually rooibos, a South African shrub that isn't caffeinated. I've got rooibos chai and like it. Also caramel rooibos.

Dratted Teavana isn't carrying vanilla tea anymore, though. I am bereft.

Huh. I need to look it up. I literallhy whipped around at the tv when they mentioned red tea, but I didn't get the full story.

What is chai?

Chai from India is a spiced milk tea that has become increasingly popular through out the world. It is generally made up of: rich black tea, heavy milk, a combination of various spices, a sweetener (http://www.odie.org/chai/whatisit.html) (spelling corrected)

Torri Higginson and I both like soy chai lattes. She mentioned them on one of the SGA commentaries and my arms flew up in victory: \o/

(I call it my crunchy granola drink around work - they all drink coffee, black and strong enough to strip paint)

That is exactly what red tea is. Rooibos is also chock full of antioxidants, and supposed to be good for a variety of stomach and skin ailments.

I just checked your user info and realized that we probably shop at the same tea place. It's across from a Bebe, I think, near Nordstroms? On the weekends you have to knock over the people who are milling around with free samples in order to actually get inside?

*off to have tea*

*so easily influenced*

I just look at it and suddenly it's in my grocery cart and I have no clear idea how it happened.

Ditto.

Mm. Tea.

*snerk* Sixteen, pshaw. Last I counted, I had forty-someodd. It's a thing.

Red tea is quite good, though. Totally different than either black or green tea. Like, completely different. Very earthy. Lighter than black tea, sort of rounder than green tea. Doesn't get bitter like black and greens do.

Chai is tea with added spices. Usually done with black tea, but red is good, too. Usually you brew it, then sweeten heavily and add milk. Pretty yummy.

Wow.

Okay, now I'm curious about red. Green is okay but I never really got into it, and white is just--I have no idea, but eww. Hmm. Red sounds good.

White tea is actually pretty good. Very similar to green, only lighter. The problem is that it is really delicate. It should only be brewed for 30-60 seconds (seriously, 60 seconds max) or else it gets bitter and nasty.

Red is awesome. I often drink it at night for a nice, warm, decaffeinated beverage option. :) It's a very comforting type of tea.

If it makes you feel any better, I have the same reaction to lotions. Bath and Body Works lotions, no less. I have to be reminded that I already have 15 different scents and types of lotions in my bathroom and don't need anymore. However, I don't think I can compete with tea picked by monkeys. That's just... well, I'm sure there's a word for it somewhere.

IT has to be the force of collection or something. Like, must have *all* of them.

At least you smell very, very good.

I'm looking forward to learning your opinion on the monkey-picked tea.

Although I'm no connoisseur, I love tea. It's one of my comfort foods. When I'm feeling a bit down, I'll make myself a cup English Breakfast tea with milk and sweetener. Whenever I have a sore throat or cough, I make Earl Grey with honey. A few years ago, my husband bought me a tea chest, which I love.

It's not a problem if we don't admit to it.

Btw, if you'd like the benefits of green tea with the exquisite taste of black, try Pu-ehr Tuo Cha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea). I got the square brick for my roommate, but I prefer the compressed minis.

There is no downside to tea love. Old and new(!) varieties, with weird and enticing names, grown in exotic locales, to be served in whatever teacup/mug/shotglass suits your mood of the moment; plus no calories, good for you, and far, far less expensive than heading out to Starbucks--absolutely no sadness in any aspect of tea culture, so shop without shame.

Delurking to say:

Thank god someone else has an impulse tea-buying issue - and Central Market is the -worst- of enablers. The worst of it is that my current favorite is an oolong from Ministry of Tea, which means it costs ridiculous amounts. My college roommate and I had a stash of legendary proportions, which made us very, very popular around finals time. :)

There are ten billion varieties of chai out there -- it's all in the collection of spices that they decided to throw in with the black tea.

My favorite so far? Republic of Tea 500-Mile Chai. Reputedly because Indian truck drivers chug the stuff to stay awake for 500 miles. ;) Either way, it's really good, but I make it strong enough to melt the spoon. :D

Could the Numi be spiced Assam? Assam is black tea grown in the region of the same name in India, and since chai is spiced black tea, that would make sense.

My favorite way to cut down my tea stock when things are getting out of hand is to make pitchers of iced tea. I use six bags per pitcher, steep them in boiling water for fifteen minutes with a pinch of baking soda, cut the concentrate with four cups of water, and then pour in a box or two of raw sugar, since I'm a southerner. Playing with different combinations of tea bags is great fun, and you can make up your own house blend.

Would it make you feel better if you knew that at one point in my tea-drinking life, I had 40 different kinds of black tea? Not green, not herbal, no. All black.
I think I whiddled it down to 20 now, but I'm not sure.
So, hey. Tea!

*hides her cabinet and drawer full of tea*

I could never really get into more than a few types of black tea. What are your favorites?

16 varieties of tea seems very small to me. It means you're a tea drinker certainly (unlike those people who have a box of Lipton for company), but nowhere near obsessed.

Red tea/rooibos, as others have mentioned, is quite tasty. I drank it regularly for a while when I needed supplemental vitamin C - way nicer than taking a pill. :)

My tea habit isn't nearly what it used to be, but we still do have a very large drawerful. The next step for me was getting into herbs, and that's when it can really get scary. From Western herbs, I've moved to Chinese herbs, and I cannot find enough space to keep them all....

One of my favorite monkey picked tead is this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I4NFHS/ref=wl_it_dp/002-6548499-3663216?ie=UTF8&coliid=IO1NSX1AQKOA1&colid=3GSJY32XDT24Y) which I get from this little British tea place the next town over. I go in and they measure out some tea in a teeny tiny little paper bag and I feel like a druggie getting a fix.

White tea is not so bad, but I run from all varieties of containing ginger even though I LOVE ginger in other foods. I like Chai tea but the name pisses me off because Chai is the Russian word for tea so I get annoyed drinking Tea tea. I know, it makes no sense.

Twinnings Black Current is among my favorites. My new thing now is mixing lime juice instead of lemon juice in my black tea. It's very tasty if you like lime.

I used to work in a small coffee roasting company that also sold about 40 varieties of loose-leaf tea. It was so divine to just wander over and try something new (or combinations of teas) on my breaks. Though it did make me into a bit of a tea snob now.

Mmm, tea.

Because you do not mention Lapsang Souchong I know you are not a *true* tea junkie. *sniffs condescendingly*

I tried red tea and personally thought it *vile*. But then, I'm also a green tea fancier, and I like Lapsang (best is Hoo Kwa), so our tea-tastes are not very similar.

papersky (the pro sf novelist Jo Walton) puts up a writing count most days: what she was working on, number of words, reason she stopped -- and what tea she was drinking.

Oh my god. Lapsang! Heee. I've never tried it but all the comments I hear about it are that you either love it or hate it and that it tastes like cigarettes (or an ashtray) :D

Having smelled it, there was definitely a smoky aspect to it, so I've stayed away.

Better monkey picked tea than civet digested (read: pooped) coffee.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/k/kopiluwak.htm

I have an extensive tea collection. My current favorite, though, is from the Republic of Tea: Tea of Good Tidings. It's meant to be a wintertime tea, spiced and fruited and whatnot....anyway, to me, it smells just like a spiced tea ought to, and tastes LOVELY.

I used to go daily to the coffee shop down the block from our temporary offices, and tried a different tea almost every day. The one white tea I tried I didn't like, but the red teas were good. Good Hope Vanilla was a mellow flavor. I also like chai.

http://www.republicoftea.com/templates/detail.asp?navID=313

I sometimes mull the fact that the highlights of my life include tea shopping.

Hah. I said the same thing to my friend because I got really happy when I found a bunch of Celestial Seasonings tea on sale at the supermarket (here you usually have to go to an organic/health food shop to get them and they're quite expensive.)

I had just about given up on drinking tea, when a friend turned me on to a tea company called Dilmah. Their tea is AMAZING. They have a number of different varieties (English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Orange Pekoe, and I'm sure many more, but that's all I have on hand at the moment)and it's all single-sourced from Sri Lanka. A friend of ours was the son of tea planters in Sri Lanka and many years ago gave us a box of tea that was the cream of the crop, which he said never got to the commercial buyers because it was kept for the family's use. Dilmah is the closest we've ever got to that tea.

I'm not sure what it says about me that I'm not sure whether or not I believe you... tea picked by trained monkeys?!?

*eyes you suspiciously*

*eyes date of post*

*remembers my dad's story about truffle-sniffing pigs, which turned out to be true*

*eyes date of post again*

Barnes and Watson apricot

::perks right up::

You mean an apricot-scented black tea, not an herbal, right?

::googles::

Yes! I'm always on the lookout for an apricot black tea. My comfort pot is one Tetley, one Republic of Tea Mango Ceylon, one apricot (or peach, but apricot is better) black tea, and one Earl Grey (if I'm going to add lemon) or one Darjeeling (if adding milk). Also makes killer iced tea.

God, I miss Bencheley, too. I used to be able to find it all over; now I'm always peering around in strange shops hoping to spot some.

TEA!

I sometimes mull the fact that the highlights of my life include tea shopping.

You mean, you steep them..?

StashTea I blame

crevette for, with her link and rec for Holiday Chai. And a box of 30 bags tends to run something like $4-5, and they have some nice sampler sets, so I can browse and discover what I want big boxes of...

I love Numi's Golden Chai Spiced Assam. It's freakishly expensive, though. I'm also about the only person I know who likes their Smoky Tarry because it smells like woodsmoke. Stash's Double Bergamot is also lovely.

There is nothing sad about a tea obsession. Tea is obviously the drink of the gods.

I drink an orange flavored tea. Nice at night.

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