I'm not a fan of smoky teas either, but I like most of the others.

I generally drink one cup of tea in the morning (never coffee), and that is about it. I used to drink more tea when I was in my 20s and would always have an afternoon tea, but I stopped doing that long ago.

My favorite black tea for breakfast is Fancy Keemun, and I wish I could get it in tea bags instead of loose, as I find bags much more convenient. I also like Japanese roasted green tea, and sometimes have that at breakfast instead of black tea.

I generally do not brew loose tea unless I am going to be sharing it with someone. I drank iced tea when I lived in Texas, but not so much anymore.

I drink ginger tea when I have an upset stomach.

This company is a great way to go down a tea rabbit hole.

https://www.uptontea.com/search.aspx?ss=Keemun

I spent a very cold Winter abroad, in my youth. The only decent tea was large (3” cubes?) tins of loose Twinings. I acquired a few different tea balls for making single cups. They all work, but the quickest as well as easiest to clean looks like this one from Amazon. If you like to keep soaking your tea while sipping, there's a similar mesh ball on a chain, more like a metal tea bag. Avoid tea infusers with sharp corners. Those are a big bother to clean. Using an infuser also lets you adjust the amount of tea, and easily make your own blends on the fly. Harder to find but also useful is a tea strainer that sits on top of a standard coffee mug. It's slightly dished to contain the tea and not slide off, but shallow enough not to sit in the water (if you don't over pour). Point being to only pass the water through the tea, rather than steeping, which is better for some teas.

Lars, don't let the lack of a tea ball keep you from enjoying better tea! And avoiding that brewed paper taste.

That's a use for a tea strainer I've never heard of. Here it's used solely as a sieve when you make tea in a pot using loose leaf. It prevents the leaves from getting into the cup. They're cheap and easily available here but they're not used to actually make tea.

i drink coffee in the a.m. and teas the rest of the day.

I have one of those mesh infusers in pillog's post - and I also have a set of small strainers that fit perfectly over the top of cups - I think from Aldi. I like having the tea leaves float freely when steeping, and then straining into my cup. I often use canning jars for steeping and drinking teas.

I have several cast iron tea pots with screen baskets that fit into them to hold the tea leaves. I find them to work better than the little infuser although I do use it to make my evening herbal teas.

I love tea and I have many differnt kinds and enjoy them each for differnt tastes. I like the conviennce of the bags, buy also have many kinds of strainers for the loose leaves, and many pots to brew the loose ones too. My favorite brand is from Smith Teas from Portland. (https://www.smithtea.com). Upton is also OK, but I"ve found it to be the Scottish Breakfast one to be inconsistance too. I just one in Malabu called French Breakfast with definite back flavor of chocolate. (The Mariage Freres). I bought a box of loose leaves for a rediculous cost from a local store there. (I'm a sucker for good teas that I like/want.)

I don't really especially like herbal "teas". I especislly dislike anything with Chamomile in it. Tulsey Teas I like in the late evening, but not the Sleepy Time one. My herbs are mostly used for cooking.

(I'm getting better, but please excuse my spelling and instax in my threads. )

Nice to see you commenting here, Kate 🙂

And since my grandpa and great aunts were from London, they left us many tea accoutrements, like this type of tea strainer, which comes with a little cup to set it in:

And a number of infusers like these as well:

These days, I only drink tea in the afternoon, made in a pot and served in a particular cup. I swear it changes the flavour LOL.

Traditionally, tea is made in a pot (I'm talking about Britain here!). You warm the pot and throw away the water. Add one teaspoon of tea per person AND one for the pot. Pour on freshly boiled water. Allow to steep. Milk forst in the cup. Most people use teabags today and make it in a mug. Sigh.

Proper English tea is a meal of total delights. Flora will understand what I mean! Scones and cream in the summer, toasted tea cakes in the winter, and crumpets all dripping with melted butter and lovely, hot tea.

In France, it's awful. If you go to a café and ask for tea, they bring you a pot of tepid water and a teabag and you make your own. If you ask for milk, they bring you hot milk unless you remember to ask them for cold milk. Aarrgggh.

A tea strainer can be mesh or perforated, with a handle or not, with a little bowl for drips or not. They're all tea strainers and are used by pouring the brewed tea through them into the cup. Infusers and strainers are not the same thing.

Regarding being served cold tea. If it happens in the UK ask for a fresh cup. It should be hot.

In mainland Europe I don't even attempt to order traditional tea with milk. As Islay says, you'll get a cup of warm water and a tea bag that tastes like dust. I just drink it with lemon there. No chance of getting a decent cup of tea with milk.

Exactly what you'll get in most American restaurants. Dreadful. You can get cold milk at most places, but your server might be confused about it being for your tea, rather than a glass of milk. Your water might arrive hot (or scorched), and they might even give you a lemon wedge, but it's most likely a not so fresh Liptons teabag (meh black tea). Recently, more places have a small variety, but it's all pretty vile. The exception is high end hotels which serve Afternoon Tea. Sometimes. The coffee isn't much better unless they're actively trying to keep up with the coffee specialists. I stick with water.

Floral, thanks for the clarifications. My little gizmo was definitely meant to be an infuser (adjacent) for those never let them soak teas, but I understand now why you'd think it was a strainer, and it's possible that they found the right one from a maker who'd originally designed it to be a strainer. The strainer designs I saw online look much better for that purpose, however.

0nce upon a time some"ONE" commented that tea in bags (Lipton) was no more then the

sweepings left behind. I think tea in some bags are quite good made with real tea leaves and far superior from Lipton. ( i cringe when i am served a cheap tea bag dispite the high cost. AND, i've been known to carry my own in case.).

I pack my own teas when traveling - in bags, since loose would be a bit much.