"David M. Harris" > wrote in message >...
[...]
> Although my father always drank Russian tea (that is, tea with lemon), I
> did my formative tea drinking in England and now always take black teas
> with milk. Earl Grey, Assam, Lapsang Souchong, whatever, all with milk.
> I rather like the taste. I gather you don't. Fortunately, I am not
> bound by your taste.

Hm, yes, maybe ... I can't imagine drinking my Darjeeling with milk,
because it's flavour is too fragile. Maybe your blends are more
strongly (esp. according to the remarks of Ripon). So, e.g. also Earl
Grey here on the continent is mostly a blend of fine Darjeeling or a
blend of fine Ceylon and Darjeeling teas, all from leaf teas (TGFOP or
FTGFOP). The only tea strong enough to drink with milk I know is
Ostfriesentee (East Friesian Tea), that is mostly a mixture of Assam &
Darjeeling TGFOP teas or (the stronger variety) a blend of Assam and
Java or Assam and Ceylon BOP teas. In East Friesia the latter is an
every day tea, the fist is a tea for sundays and special occasions
(Sonntagstee). Sometime you can find the Sonntagstee flavoured with
pieces of bourbon vanilla. But these teas are drunk with real cream,
not with milk (and you don't stir the tea after adding the cream! ...
well, see by yourself, if you like:
<http://ostfriesland.ostfriesland-vier.de/index.php?pageId=419&contentmodule_id=1411&listPag e=256>
btw, the two "rocks" in the cup in the first picture is sugar, called
Kluntje).
So, maybe it's a question of the "right" blend, to drink tea the
English way?! So, the question has to be, what are typical English
blends for Darjeeling, Earl Grey etc. and which ones are the
preferred?

Dieter