Barry's tea (black tea). I got hooked on it during a trip to Ireland. Intensely rich and flavorful. Not washed out like American teas. (Their decaf is awful, though.)

OutsidePlaying, Steven Smith was the founder of Tazo and the co-founder of Stash.

My Mom used to give me milky tea in my baby bottle, that is how long I have been drinking tea. Red Rose Tea is my preferred brand, especially Red Rose Canadian Breakfast black tea when I can find it at the store or Red Rose Orange Pekoe. I like Oolong as well. I have a selection of David's Teas that I will brew once in a while but ordinary black tea is what I usually drink. Just a drop of milk to colour it a bit and no sugar. I drink a pot of tea every day, 3 tea bags in the pot gives me 2 1/2 mugs of tea. Growing up we had tea with our meals at the dinner table and there was a pot always going. I use a vintage glass Pyrex tea pot to brew my tea. I like King Cole tea too. Whenever I have pizza at home I have to drink tea with it, tea also goes well with a salmon salad sandwich.

Mayflowers, I didn’t know that! Interesting. And he must have a load of experience with tea. I always like Tazo and Stash but didn’t really drink a lot of hot teas until the last 10 years or so.

Homechef, I completely agree with you about Luzianne for iced tea. Nothing better. I drink mine plain, no sugar or anything, and love an occasional glass of real fresh home brewed iced tea.

Pizza and tea........interesting combination that I would never have considered :-) I am more the old school beer or soda drinker with my pizza. But tea and salmon sandwiches are made for each other!!

I’ve always loved Red Rose orange pekoe.

I drink an organic lemon honey tea (Davidson's) year-'round that I love. The price fluctuates depending on the season. :)

IIRC, Smith sold Tazo to Starbucks and then started Steven Smith Teas.

I would love to find a green tea that doesn't taste like seaweed to me. do any of the Steven Smith teas fit the bill? I have tried Stash and Tazo.

I'm a British commoner tea drinker....

I have found that tea depends on the water you have (nope...not bothering with bottled)...so over the years I've had to change brands to go with the water. What works now is PG Tips. What worked in the past and that I loved was Red Rose because it came with a Wade Whimsey in every box...

Anyway...just hot tea with milk ( NO NO half and half or cream or anything in a small plastic cup) and one sugar.

I have a ton of other teas but those are to make iced tea.

And yes...my body knows when the time is nearing four o'clock :)

ETA if you serve me a cup of water and a tea bag that you have heated to tepid in the microwave then I guess that you don't like me much...

I drink decaf instant ice tea all day year round, don't drink any of the flavored ones.

I just bought the Harney & Sons Paris and Cinnamon Spice on Amazon. Loose leaf. Thanks for the recommendations!

I'll drink tea from a teabag if I'm traveling. (You know it's made from 'sweepings', right -- so it will 'make tea FAST'.)

DH and I have Teatime Matinee most afternoons: We watch something on the TV with a POT tea and a cookie. We use a teaball and steep the tea five minutes. I take sugar. He takes milk and sweetening.

We use three varieties of Twinnings loose tea: Lady Grey (my favorite), Jasmine, and Prince of Wales. I just packed four tins to take to Maui.

Well, we got hooked on Peet's Smoky Russian Caravan....then they bought Mighty Leaf and all their teas went to heck. I like Mighty Life but they are big on herbal and white teas, while our mainstay is and will always be black tea.

Peet's tried to respond to my and many others' requests to bring back the RC. When we tried the 'new' RC we almost spit it out. Wimpy, weak, barely smoked - ugh! I noticed on their website it has been dropped once again. They are "recommending" Yunnan Fancy, which is nothing like black Lapsang Souchong.

We now make up a custom blend of a little bit of imported Russian tea (very strong black tea flavored with bergamot oil, but NOT like Earl Grey) from a European deli nearby, and a very nice black Lapsang Souchong from Llasa Karnak, a Tibetan herb and trading store in Berkeley.

The Llasa Karnak tea doesn't quite have enough body, but with a small amount of the Russian tea to give it some 'ooomph' it's the closest we've come to the old Peet's blend. The LS has great smokiness in both aroma and flavor, however.

I was never able to find out who made the original for Peet's so I could go to the source. Amazon and a number of tea shops, both on-line and local, failed to have anything similar. Often the LS is green tea, not black; and when I did find the black LS it was almost as bad as the Mighty Leaf imitation, or unacceptably tannic (cheap quality, IOW).

Mayflowers, thanks for that note on Tazo being sold. I wondered why the packaging had changed! I liked their Awake tea very much, but the new version is not as strong - I thought I was imagining things, but maybe not [smile].

When it comes to teabags, I'm fine with Stash and Ambiance. Stash makes a good Irish Breakfast, and Ambiance a good Earl Grey and also English Breakfast.

When I get a sore throat, homemade lemon and honey tea is our favorite "go to". Ambiance makes a Honey Lemon Ginger Ginseng green tea which I carry for when we travel - it's a pretty good sub since every restaurant will give you a cup of hot water, and they're okay with it when I explain it's for a sore throat. I've only run into a couple of restaurants that offer this one, which is why I started carrying it in my "travel stash".

Wow -- thank you to everyone who has responded! It's interesting how several folks have mentioned the same brands/flavors as being favorites. Gives me some new ones to find and try. :-)

The tea is the Harney's sachets is loose tea, but "captured" in a large triangular shaped silken sachet. So you get the benefits of loose tea without having to also have a tea strainer. And, by the way, you can buy several different tea strainers on their site, as you can on any tea manufacturer's site.

For those who are looking at teas on the Harney & Sons website -- be sure to click on the link to view their (PDF) catalog online. I was stunned at how many different teas they have!

Jakkom -- Harney & Sons has a Lapsang Souchong black tea from China. The description says, "An ancient and much loved tea from China, large leaves are dried over smoky pine fires. As you might imagine, the tea develops a distinctive smoky flavor." It comes in loose tea as well as sachets. You can get a sample of the loose tea for $2.

I drink Typhoo tea, which is a strong British black tea, and Red Rose tea.

My generation is the first born in the US. My mothers family is all from England. I grew up drinking tea. My Aunts were strict with always being home at a certain time for tea but they used Red Rose. I have tea daily right after the boys get off the bus at 4. We mostly use Earl Grey (Bigelow) but lately have been using Earl Grey (LA Maison DE Tudor) Loose leaf is our preference. I take my tea with 1/4 teaspoon sugar and heavy cream (extra splash please) Never any flavored teas . My 10yo likes Chamomile when he's sick. I found a cheap box at Walmart for 97cents for 20 bags. Two bags per mug with honey. My grandfather used to eat a milk biscuit with his tea. Anyone ever hear of milk biscuits? I wish I could find some.

MamaPinky0, biscuits to the English are cookies to us. in the South our biscuits are made with milk...you can do a google for those and for English milk biscuits.

McVities Rich Tea biscuits are available through Amazon. And there are recipes online for you to make your own.

I grew up with Garibaldi biscuits at tea time........aka "squashed flies", due to their flat appearance and the dried fruit, usually currants, that bear a strong resemblance to.....what can I say.......flattened insects :-))

I am still very partial to them but also hard to find.

I love tea iced and hot. I do not like Earl Gray or Lady Gray at all. But my all time favorite is from the Tea Source out of Minnesota (order on line) their Albert Square Blend is the best English Breakfast tea ever! Tea Source

MamaPinky, there is a Norfolk Manor brand Clotted Cream biscuit on Amazon -- would that be it?

World Market usually has a variety of imported tea biscuits; and at my local groceries there are a variety of cookies that are very similar -- Marias in the Hispanic food section, Kedem tea biscuits in the kosher section (these most resemble the tea biscuits that were served with every cup I had in the Netherlands), for two examples.

I like tea biscuits because they are not so in your face sweet.

I did some looking around and I think this is what Grandfather ate with his tea. Probably couldn't find anything closer at the time to what he would have been used to in London.

Thanks for your responses I'll check into your recommendations.

Lynn, I'm not familiar with "Red and White tea." I did a Google search on those words and got several hits, one of which is Stash Tea, but when I clicked on the link it says it is out of stock and has been discontinued.

Isn't Red & White a store brand?

I love Bigelow's French Vanilla. I think they make a decaf version but I have always just used the regular kind. A coworker got me hooked on it.

Cannot find it in local grocery stores anymore, so I get it at (where else?) Amazon.

I drink hot and iced tea year round. I mostly stick to the black teas, but do like a few others. I am drinking a brand from Aldi right now, a hot tea but still good for iced if I want. I never ever drink coffee. Tea or water mostly for me. Do like some fruit juices. Have a lot of Red Rose tea bags on hand too. I always like the Wade figurines in them. Sometimes I like green tea, my Grandma always made her iced tea with green tea.

Sue

Lynn, you might want to check Harney & Sons. Although they don't offer it in tea bags, only loose tea, they do have Chinese Silver Needle white tea, which is described as "Chinese Silver Needle (Yin Zhen) is widely considered the best white tea in the world. It is a beauty to behold with all the fuzzy tea buds. The light brew is a subtle and slightly sweet delight." A sample is $2. They also have Organic Rooibos, loose as well as in sachets and tea bags, and it is described as "Rooibos, known as 'Red Bush' in its native South Africa, is a popular herbal beverage. It looks like tea and has healthy properties, yet contains no caffeine. This is a certified Organic herbal." A sample (loose tea) is normally $2 but is on sale now at $1.60. You could try blending your own...

"My every day tea is Tetley British (ignore the price, it's like $3 at the grocery "

Your Amazon link is to a 6-pack, 6 boxes each with 80 tea bags and each weighing 7 oz. It's described as a total of just under 3 pounds of tea (about right for 6 x 7 oz). 6 packages for $18.18 is $3 per package.

Mama, those are most likely a kind of digestive biscuit...basically a graham cracker base. You can get plain, but my favorite are those with chocolate on one side. McVities.

Perfect for dunking.

My very favorite: https://www.stashtea.com/products/organic-vanilla-honeybush-herbal-tea

I used to love Twinings but then I found out that most of the tea bags contain plastics. I avoid plastics + boiling water, so I seek out brands that don't use them.

Chi, thanks for posting this warning. I'd just purchased 4 boxes and immediately contacted my favorite tea company and was assured that their tea bags were safe.

I love Earl Grey, and I love green tea. I may also vary life up with Roobios.

One great tea I can get is Victorian Earl Grey, from Simpson & Vail. This one is a loose tea.

I never ever add sugar or milk/cream to my tea.

I love ConstAnt Comment but here in Canada I can't seem to get it anymore. So I ordered some from Amazon. I agree with the previous poster that it doesn't seem to have the same flavour as it used to. Not enough orange and spice. To be fair though, I have a nasty cold, so maybe my taste buds are off

Nannygoat, I'm so glad your favorite brand has safe bags. Do you mind sharing what it is?

I am not one for drinking herbal teas or tisanes but I was at Costco yesterday and they had Twinnings tisanes - 3 boxes for $10. I got 2 boxes of honeybush mandarin and orange and 1 box of lemon ginger teas. I thought they might be good to have on a cold night or they would also be good to drink iced. The mandarin orange was really good. I still can't find my Red Rose Canadian blend at the store so I just picked up a box of Red Rose Orange Pekoe. I don't mind running out of coffee but I don't like running out of tea.

Chi, it was Bigelow--here's their response

Thank you for contacting us to ask what the teabag paper is made of.

Our tea bag paper is made from natural abaca fibers and wood pulp.

Our oxygenated tea bag paper is free of chlorine, dioxin and epichlorohydrin, as well as being 100% compostable

Just wanted to bump this and say that I tried the Harney and Sons Paris Tea and it's lovely! I really like the flavors. I wish I could drink it more than a couple times a week but unfortunately I'm sensitive to oxalates. I also bought the Cinnamon Spice but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe this afternoon as it's dreary and rainy today.

I like Lady Grey and Cardamon teas by Ahmad Tea Company unless I have a cold then it is heavily sweetened regular Lipton. I used to drink much more than I do now. My eyes stopped being itchy all of the time. Doctor thought it was the molds/fungi/yeast left on the leaves from the fermentation process. Probably not high quality or maybe not even the real stuff but there is a coffee shop that makes a green tea latte that I love the taste of. They make it much too hot for the good stuff not to steam off.

Chi, I'm so glad that you like the Paris tea! Doesn't it smell wonderful?

For the folks who are most interested in loose tea (not sachets, although Harney's uses loose tea in their sachets; and not tea bags), Harney's has 15% off on their loose tea ordered by the pound.

I bought the loose leaf and a tea ball, and so far so good. I ordered mine from Amazon.

I tried the Cinnamon and it was nice but I like the Paris better.

I prefer Mariage Frères, and buy some when I visit Paris, and it is available on Amazon. I love their First Flush Darjeelings, Vert Provence, Blanc & Rose, Rose D'Himalaya, and The Vert au Tibet.

I also adore the Bath Breakfast Tea from theTea House of Bath. My go-tos are Twinings Darjeeling and Prince of Wales.

It's so easy to just dip a tea ball into the loose leaf tea, snap it shut and put it in a pre-warmed pot before you pour in the just-off-the-boil water. Let it steep 3 - 5 minutes. My tins from Twinnings are 3.5 oz. at $4.50 ea., delivered. I think this is not only better tasting, but more economical than tea bags. No strainer needed -- but no tea leaves to 'read'! Knock the wet leaves out of the tea ball, then let the ball dry to knock out the rest. Tea leaves can clog your sink drain.

Now we must re-watch "Indian Summers" while we savor the fruits of the tea plantation workers.

Dump your used tea leaves in the garden!

Lindsey_CA, thanks for the tip on the Haney sampler of Lapsang Souchong. I've sent for it and will look forward to trying it!

I wonder if I can buy stock in Harney & Sons! Just kidding. It's a family owned company, from what I understand.

But, I've always enjoyed tea, and I really got more "into" tea when I was at UCLA for my recent surgery, Since returning home, I bought a bunch of Stash tea as well as a lot of tea from Harney & Sons. The Harney & Sons company impresses me a great deal, not only for the great tea, but for their customer service. Orders are received very quickly, and samples are always included. My first order included two individually packaged tea bags but ever since then, all of my orders have included individually wrapped tea sachets. Since the tea sachets hold loose tea, I think they're great.

Anyway, I do recommend that folks click on the link on the Harney site to "request a catalog." When you do that, you are taken to a page where you can view a PDF of their catalog. I am still stunned at how many different teas this company offers.

Lynn and Jakkom - please let me know how you like the tea when you get it.

I just got some Barry's Tea because of this thread and really like it. Thanks.

Can anyone explain to me why tea made from water boiled in a cup in the microwave just does not taste the same as made with water boiled in a kettle or pot? I use my electric kettle. The microwave version just tastes flat to me and I don't understand why.

norar, my first thought was that there are no air bubbles (a rolling boil) in the microwave. I'm sure there is another term for "air bubbles" but you know what I mean? Someone else please help explain.

Boiling water in a microwave can be very dangerous and lead to serious burns. It should be avoided. Maybe you've heard stories of water "exploding" when the cup or container was lifted or moved?

The phenomenon is called "super-heating". You can look it up. There are no bubbles because the surface tension of the water keeps the bubbles in, that's why a movement serves to break what acts as if it were a tight lid and all the pressure is released. Sometimes putting a toothpick or stir rod into the water helps avoid the problem but still, it's not a good idea to take a chance.