Any loose leaf tea drinkers here?

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SteelyJ

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Coffee was always my preferred hot beverage, but this past year I've switched to drinking mostly tea. When I drink it Gong Fu style it reminds me very much of smoking a pipe - an informal ritual of preparation and enjoying. The way the tea changes with each steeping much like how some blends change through the bowl. Sometimes I brew it this way, and sometimes I just brew Western style, larger mugs and only 2-3 steepings. This summer I started doing iced teas with the Taiwanese teas, and when I go to drink some I pour the tea in a cocktail shaker with ice first and give it a vigorous thirty-second shake - this gives the tea a nice foamy head like you'd get on a good mug of beer.


I mostly order from Eco-Cha, a Taiwanese tea company run by an expat American. Their oolongs are delicious, their BiLuoChun Green Tea is tasty, but their black teas I prefer to make iced. Also - Crimson Lotus makes some delicious puerh tea - and some of those teas have a good age on them. I used to think the term "tea drunk" was absurd but long Gong Fu sessions with some of their teas have definitely changed my mind.


Anyone else here into tea like this?
 
I am mostly a coffee guy, But I have been drinking Red Rooibos fairly often. I drink it straight. It seems to be boosting my immune system too. I like that it`s also caffeine free so I can drink it anytime.
 
Don’t like smoky teas. It’s like drinking Latakia. Gak!

I drink all my teas straight, without additives (very anti UK style). Irish, Scottish & Welsh pretty much always add milk. English too. But not for me. I’m a rebel.

But for iced teas I’ll add sweetener…sugar, honey or that other stuff.

It’s not unusual for me to drink 1/3 - 1/2 a mug and let it eventually go cold, sitting. So I add sweetener and a buncha ice and BINGO…primo iced tea.
 
I might need to give Lapsang Souchong another try, I thought it tasted like an old well used sock last time I tried it but that was back when I was a kid. I now love Latakia and a good peaty whisky these days so my tastes have expanded and it might just fit right in now.

Been loving a loose leaf Earl Gray in the afternoons and good strong Yorkshire black tea of a morn. No milk or sugar here too.
 
One of a variety of loose leaf Earl Grey blends mixed 50/50 with one of several Estate Assam teas. Some of these one to one mixes are stellar and some are just pretty good. I have 6 Earl Grey’s and 4 Estate Assam teas so there are, what…144 possible mixtures? Math majors out there?

Trying to keep things interesting.

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I might need to give Lapsang Souchong another try, I thought it tasted like an old well used sock last time I tried it but that was back when I was a kid. I now love Latakia and a good peaty whisky these days so my tastes have expanded and it might just fit right in now.

Been loving a loose leaf Earl Gray in the afternoons and good strong Yorkshire black tea of a morn. No milk or sugar here too.
I have a pound of Stash Lapsang Souchong that I've been working through and it has had really nice smoky flavor without being over the top (although I do love smoke!). Much like Latakia, the smoke has faded a bit as the tea has aged. It takes me awhile to get through an entire pound since I do like to switch it up often, just like tobacco or beer!
 
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