wrote:
> It is basically a bunch of B.S. This same comment has been being made
> for years, and it is just silly. Lipton, who is actually the company
> who most claim to use "dust" actually cultivates their own leaves...
> yet they just started to get into the loose tea market. So all these
> years what were they doing with the "real" leaves? They powder it to be
> able to make more money. It takes less tea per serving and the tea
> releases its flavor quicker.


---------> I agree. Lipton has actually sold loose tea for many, many
years BTW but the vast majority of the tea they sell is bagged.
Fannings and "dust" are used because they infuse more quickly, and
because anything larger does not have sufficient room to expand in a
standard tea bag.

Many commercial blends that are sold as loose tea are CTC and some are
only about a notch above being dust. Again, these teas were designed
to infuse more quickly than whole leaves, and to be more affordable to
the masses. They are not bad teas, per se. Personally, I don't like
using loose tea that is too dusty because it is too fine for the
strainer to catch it all. But I have also had very expensive loose tea
made from whole leaves that I did not feel was worth the price. In
some cases I actually preferred the CTC or even the bagged teas.


>
> I consider myself to be a tea purist and while I really enjoy a high
> quality tea, I am not on such a high horse that I can't enjoy a cup of
> Lipton when the mood strikes me.

I also like high-quality tea but could not possibly afford to drink it
exclusively, given the large quantities of tea that I consume every
day. I like Taylors and Twinings, which some look down upon, but there
is a limit to how much I can afford to spend on tea. I also like the
fact that these teas are blended for consistency. It's a great comfort
knowing exactly what to expect from a particular tea. Besides, the
Queen drinks Twinings and if it is good enough for her, it is good
enough for me.

I also like what many would deem to be "lower quality" teas sold in
supermarkets. I don't like Lipton (there's nothing wrong with it, I
just don't happen to care for it), but at work I drink Tetley British
Blend all day long. And at home I drink more PG Tips than anything
else. My main complaint about teas sold in the supermarket is not
their quality, but that I can't brew them as strong as I would like. I
cannot get enough flavor out of any 2-gram string & tag tea bag, which
is why I stick with Tetley British Blend and teas imported from the UK
that have more tea per bag.


Pat

Pat wrote:
> Many commercial blends that are sold as loose tea are CTC and some are
> only about a notch above being dust.

I fully agree with everything you've said. I hope someday people will
finally lay this "floor sweeping" notion to rest. I find it funny when
folks try to talk down on certain teas, like kukicha, "twig tea", seen
as a peasant drink not worth a cent and now highly regarded.

> I also like high-quality tea but could not possibly afford to drink it
> exclusively, given the large quantities of tea that I consume every
> day.

By no means am I rich, but I manage to drink almost exclusively
higher-quality teas. In PA we have stores called 'Wegmans" which has
one of the most amazing tea selections of anywhere I know plus a great
variety of asian stores. Wegmans allows purchase of any quantity of
loose tea, and while some may be $39.99 lb., $10 worth of Jasmine Green
Pearls will last a nice length of time. I drink between 4-8 cups a day
of tea and rarely drop into a lower grade tea unless I actually want
it. I also tend to get two brewings from my tea if I want to stretch
it.

> I also like what many would deem to be "lower quality" teas sold in
> supermarkets.

PG tips, Twinnings, Tazo, Republic of Tea, etc. I don't see as that low
of quality... although I'm not a Twinnings fan at all. I also tend to
shop in small Asian markets where I get an incredible value for my
money and most of the time can get world class teas at supermarket
prices.

I'm new 'round here, but can appreciate anyones personal tastes and
life is WAY too short to get up in a bunch over someones tea
preferences over the internet I really just hope to share some of my
personal knowledge of the subject and I rarely find others to talk tea
with, even being a IT guy by trade it never "clicked" to turn to the
internet to have some discussion about tea.

I don't have a quality problem with supermarket tea at all. In fact, My
notion of iced tea is lipton. Just what I grew up with. I've tried
using other teas for iced tea and it just isn't right. My only gripe is
that in the end, it is often no cheaper gram for gram than something
better.

I like Lipton's Green Label Darjeeling tea, sold lose (not bagged) in cans
in local Indian groceries.
--
Aloke
----
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wrote:
> personal knowledge of the subject and I rarely find others to talk tea
> with, even being a IT guy by trade it never "clicked" to turn to the
> internet to have some discussion about tea.

I think the existence of good conversation on Usenet these days is
nothing short of a miracle.

For me, I don't mind Lipton's iced. I've not really tried much else,
although I've been meaning to try a higher-grade tea in iced tea. As
for hot, I don't like it as much. This sweeping thing seems to be
largely a myth. Maybe its grounded in something that used to be true
and over time it has been exaggerated. Smaller leaf being faster and
possibly more efficient is consistent with what happens if coffee is
ground more quickly. I do wonder if tea dust can easily become bitter
without shortening the extraction time. I've found that many people let
their tea bags sit around in the cup far too long...

Steve

I've never had the problem with bitter iced tea (I usually use the sun
tea method, 4 bags to a gallon of cold water, stick it in the sun until
it looks like tea...) but can imagine problems with hot water. I have a
decent CTC assam that I drink, and it is about perfect in 45 seconds.
If you let it go more than about 2, it gets pretty bitter. OTOH, those
lipton bags don't have much tea in them, so I'm not sure how far wrong
you could really go. Sub par, yes, but I don't know if you could make
the cup all that bitter with the little bit in them.

Steve Hay wrote:
> I think the existence of good conversation on Usenet these days is
> nothing short of a miracle.

Well, I do my part to raise the bar a tiny bit. It really shouldn't be
such a rarity to actually have meaningful discussions.

> For me, I don't mind Lipton's iced. I've not really tried much else,
> although I've been meaning to try a higher-grade tea in iced tea.

My personal favorite higher end iced tea is jasmine green tea wth a
natural sugar (raw sugar, chinese rock sugar, or honey) I use Jasmine
Green Tea "pearls", but a mid-grade jasmine green from the asian market
works well too.

Darjeerling and Assam do OK as iced teas too. I have a strawberry
sencha tea that is great its filled with dehydrated real strawberries.

Steve Hay wrote:
> wrote:
>
> For me, I don't mind Lipton's iced. I've not really tried much else,
> although I've been meaning to try a higher-grade tea in iced tea. As
> for hot, I don't like it as much. This sweeping thing seems to be
> largely a myth. Maybe its grounded in something that used to be true
> and over time it has been exaggerated. Smaller leaf being faster and
> possibly more efficient is consistent with what happens if coffee is
> ground more quickly. I do wonder if tea dust can easily become bitter
> without shortening the extraction time. I've found that many people let
> their tea bags sit around in the cup far too long...
>
> Steve


I agree. I often wonder how people can leave a tea bag in the mug for
the entire time it takes to drink the tea. At home, I remove my tea
bags from the pot after four or five minutes - and try to do the same
at work, although I sometimes get busy and leave it in a few minutes
too long. I don't know how anyone can drink such a bitter brew, even
with a lot of sugar.

As for iced tea, I like almost any tea iced. I drink mostly hot tea,
but if I get tired of a certain kind or just don't like it very much, I
use it for iced tea. I brew my iced tea in the refrigerator overnight
and it seems to come out the same way regardless of the type of tea
used.

wrote:
> By no means am I rich, but I manage to drink almost exclusively
> higher-quality teas. In PA we have stores called 'Wegmans" which has
> one of the most amazing tea selections of anywhere I know plus a great
> variety of asian stores. Wegmans allows purchase of any quantity of
> loose tea, and while some may be $39.99 lb., $10 worth of Jasmine Green
> Pearls will last a nice length of time. I drink between 4-8 cups a day
> of tea and rarely drop into a lower grade tea unless I actually want
> it. I also tend to get two brewings from my tea if I want to stretch
> it.

----------> We are gettting a Wegmans around here soon. I'll have to
check it out. Thanks for the tip.


> PG tips, Twinnings, Tazo, Republic of Tea, etc. I don't see as that low
> of quality... although I'm not a Twinnings fan at all. I also tend to
> shop in small Asian markets where I get an incredible value for my
> money and most of the time can get world class teas at supermarket
> prices.


----------> I have also started visiting local Indian markets for tea.
I like the Brooke Bond Taj Mahal brand, which tastes just like PG Tips
at a fraction of the cost. I want to try some other kinds once my
current stock runs out.

As for Twinings, I don't know if you've ever tried any of their teas
blended for the UK market, but they are MUCH better than their export
blends. You can buy them online. That is how I get all of my Twinings.
I can't drink their US blends anymore.




>
> I'm new 'round here, but can appreciate anyones personal tastes and
> life is WAY too short to get up in a bunch over someones tea
> preferences over the internet I really just hope to share some of my
> personal knowledge of the subject and I rarely find others to talk tea
> with, even being a IT guy by trade it never "clicked" to turn to the
> internet to have some discussion about tea.

Justin Holmes wrote:
OTOH, those
lipton bags don't have much tea in them, so I'm not sure how far wrong
you could really go. Sub par, yes, but I don't know if you could make
the cup all that bitter with the little bit in them.

Oh if you squeeze them you can get all the Bitter you ever wanted. or
if you let them sit for half an hour. LOL My mom and dad used to
squeeze all the life out of their Liptons tea bags and drink it with
milk and sugar. Grandpa, (Ever the englishman) used to love loose tea
but used bags the most often, I guess for convenience. I can't
remember whether he squoze his or not. LOL

My sister and brother told me about 20 years ago that if we didn't
squeeze the bags the tea wouldn't be bitter. My first step to gormet
tea. LOL

Kitty in PA

"Aloke Prasad" > wrote in message
. ..
>I like Lipton's Green Label Darjeeling tea, sold lose (not bagged) in cans
>in local Indian groceries.


Yes as I mentioned below someplace I drink the Lipton red label (Is that
right? I get it mixed up...maybe yellow label) CTC assam from my local
Indian grocer as well. It's not so much cheaper than what I can get from,
say, Uptons, but it is local so at least I know I won't run out of my basic
Assam mainstay. That's saying a lot when in other communities I have only
been able to find the usual Lipton teabags, or Red Rose, or Luzziane (sp?)
or even National Cup. I look at it this way though, when I was a kid, my
folks drank coffee almost exclusively. I was lucky to get any tea at all,
even if it was Liptons decaf (what I called "green tea" at the time, due to
the color of the box I guess) with milk and sugar. So...there are worse
things than Lipton, like say having no tea at all. In a pinch you can brew
two bags I suppose.

Having said that, bag-wise when I do drink teabags (which isn't really very
often anymore) it's Tetley's or PG Tips too. Typhoo is interesting, it
definitely tastes different to me than the PG Tips.

Aloke, is the Green Label Darjeeling that comes in the box (loose but in a
plastic bag in the box) also reasonably good? The store near me carries that
too, but I haven't bought it because I was wary after recently buying some
cheaper darjeeling (a store brand) and seeing what can pass as darjeeling
these days...

I also agree with the comment about fannings being harder to brew because of
them falling through the strainer, I have that problem too. Right now I just
ignore it...if I get really annoyed I'll probably buy a nylon strainer (like
a Chatsford) to steep it in.

Melinda

"Melinda" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Aloke Prasad" > wrote in message
> . ..
>>I like Lipton's Green Label Darjeeling tea, sold lose (not bagged) in cans
>>in local Indian groceries.
>
> Aloke, is the Green Label Darjeeling that comes in the box (loose but in a
> plastic bag in the box) also reasonably good? The store near me carries
> that too, but I haven't bought it because I was wary after recently buying
> some cheaper darjeeling (a store brand) and seeing what can pass as
> darjeeling these days...

If you buy the can, it will be sealed under the lid. They also sell
"refills" that are in sealed paper packaging with aliminium lining.

As far as I know, the real Lipton Green label is very consistent and good
Darjeeling. It's like some single plantation 2nd flush tea. They blend
different flushes and plantation products to create a very repeatable
consistent product.

Having said all that, I have switched over to Makaibari 1st flush at 3x the
price. But I still think the Green Label is a good price point for getting
used to Darjeelings.
--
Aloke
----
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