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Restaurants seldom provide a decent cup of tea over here. I was raised on tea (probably why I had insomnia pretty bad since preschool) and while I like coffee in the morning for its quickness (the bf puts on a pot when he gets up) nothing satisfies the soul like tea. Even the words "Put the kettle on" seem comforting. I've given up on fruit teas as they all give me wicked heartburn; so does green tea but I've started taking supplements. My mother used to try to feed me peppermint tea when I was feeling ill but just the smell of it makes me nauseous. Have just discovered roobois (spelling?!) tea from South Africa which is wonderful on a cold evening (i.e. every evening since September). :evil:
 
Restaurants usually don't do a good job of it here. And I still haven't found a good place in London (of all places). Not counting really expensive places for high tea. (Where was it Fallen and I had tea? One of the London department stores.)

On the other hand, this weekend I found another place that does it pretty well, and it's just around the corner from my place. Still, I could just stay in and make it myself...

(I think it's Rooibos, Leaferne. Not sure, haven't tried it myself.)
 
Play Dead said:
GiantRobot said:
How popular is tea in the US? You lot seem to be more into coffee.

i'm a big tea drinker, hot and cold, and in many areas of the United States, you can't get tea. i've gotten in the habit of bringing along my own tea because i hate to be without it. many restaurants have tea on the menu, but it is undrinkable. iced tea is often made from powder, with the mixed crap being left sitting around for a week. gag!

What areas? :sceptic: I have never heard of anyone here being entirely unable to get tea. The grocery stores and walmarts and such here have huge amounts of tea and people I know scattered round the country drink tea.
The instant iced tea tends to be pretty gross, but I wouldn't say it's used the majority of the time. Now, perhaps at a restaraunt, is that what you meant?
 
GreenJeanz said:
Play Dead said:
GiantRobot said:
How popular is tea in the US? You lot seem to be more into coffee.

i'm a big tea drinker, hot and cold, and in many areas of the United States, you can't get tea. i've gotten in the habit of bringing along my own tea because i hate to be without it. many restaurants have tea on the menu, but it is undrinkable. iced tea is often made from powder, with the mixed crap being left sitting around for a week. gag!

What areas? :sceptic: I have never heard of anyone here being entirely unable to get tea. The grocery stores and walmarts and such here have huge amounts of tea and people I know scattered round the country drink tea.
The instant iced tea tends to be pretty gross, but I wouldn't say it's used the majority of the time. Now, perhaps at a restaraunt, is that what you meant?

i'm speaking from a travelers POV. I'm often unable to get tea in restaurants, cafes, hotels, coffee shops, some airports. i can't understand coffee shops that don't have tea. how can that be a problem for them? georgia is a great tea area. you never have to worry in georgia about getting some godawful stale tea. but go to oklahoma and try to order hot tea anywhere. the question is usually answered with blank annoyance. they can't even figure out why a person would want something like that. in oklahoma, i've been offered lipton powdered tea for hot tea. some places might actually say they have tea, then they'll bring out a few tea bags and there won't be a single black tea in the whole thing.

those fruity teas give me heartburn, too, leaferne. i'm glad to hear somebody else say that! i'm not a picky person in any way, but this makes me sound picky as hell! :D
 
What really steams me about the whole cafe selling tea thing is that there are all these boutique coffee places, and major chains, who go on about the care they take with making their coffee, only using the best grounds, and getting their baristas properly trained, and they have absolutely no concern about how they make anything else, especially tea.

If I get another pot of Irish Breakfast tea with hot steamed milk, I cannot be held responsible for my actions.
 
I had trouble getting tea in Hungary as it's easy to buy herbal tea by accident, which is OK if you like herbal tea but no good if you really want Co-Op 99.

I had 2 flatmates whose relationship was at time less than friendly. It all got a bit claustrophobic, with diaries read and clothes 'borrowed.' :roll:

They fell out big time over food, for various complicated reasons, and tried to drag me into their quarrels too.

A packet of PG Tips teabags, which I had been invited to share but which I knew had been counted and was not 'allowed' to share with Flatmate X, sat invitingly on the top shelf.
I knew better than to cause a row by taking any. ;)

Those teabags mocked me for about 8 weeks, and when we left they went in the bin. :cry:
 
What's Irish Breakfast Tea? :shock: And why would any-one serve hot milk with it? :?
 
anome said:
What really steams me about the whole cafe selling tea thing is that there are all these boutique coffee places, and major chains, who go on about the care they take with making their coffee, only using the best grounds, and getting their baristas properly trained, and they have absolutely no concern about how they make anything else, especially tea.

thank you.

you really hit on why a lack of tea is so damn annoying. and it is those boutique coffee places that really bug me. :headbutt:

one thing i failed to mention earlier: in my entire life, i've only known a few people who regularly drink or offer hot tea in their homes -- although it has become more of a fad in recent years.
 
escargot said:
I had trouble getting tea in Hungary as it's easy to buy herbal tea by accident, which is OK if you like herbal tea but no good if you really want Co-Op 99.

I had 2 flatmates whose relationship was at time less than friendly. It all got a bit claustrophobic, with diaries read and clothes 'borrowed.' :roll:

They fell out big time over food, for various complicated reasons, and tried to drag me into their quarrels too.

A packet of PG Tips teabags, which I had been invited to share but which I knew had been counted and was not 'allowed' to share with Flatmate X, sat invitingly on the top shelf.
I knew better than to cause a row by taking any. ;)

Those teabags mocked me for about 8 weeks, and when we left they went in the bin. :cry:


great story! :laughing:
 
I am Scottish but will own up to loving English Breakfast Tea.

I used to live in Dallas where the concept of tea really was beyond them. Once in a mall I had to explain to a woman at the counter that she could put an Iced-Tea tea bag into a large coffee cup and add hot water. She then asked if wanted a cup of ice with it ?!?.

I was able to get English Breakfast in New Orleans (a civilised part of the US) where you can also smoke in the restaurants, drink in the street and eat food that isn’t Pizza or burgers.

I drink Camomile and Spiced Apple fruit tea but do find that fruit tea always smells better than they taste…even the ginger ones.

In Glasgow there is a Tea shop to rival any designer coffee shop it is called Tchaiovnahttp://www.tchaiovna.com/. It’s a bit studenty but basically very good with an excellent range of teas and home baking. You can also sit on the terrace and smoke your own tobacco from one of the café hookahs.
 
tzb57r said:
I drink Camomile and Spiced Apple fruit tea but do find that fruit tea always smells better than they taste…even the ginger ones.

I think the only way to deal with the 'fruit tea problem' is to let it stew for a long time. Eventually it dos begin to taste nice after you've extracted all the flavour out of the bits in the tea bag.
 
GiantRobot said:
tzb57r said:
I drink Camomile and Spiced Apple fruit tea but do find that fruit tea always smells better than they taste…even the ginger ones.

I think the only way to deal with the 'fruit tea problem' is to let it stew for a long time. Eventually it dos begin to taste nice after you've extracted all the flavour out of the bits in the tea bag.

I prescribe long brewing with very hot but not boiling water then either lemon or, better honey, as they are often very 'dry' in taste. Lemon nd ginger with local honey every evening: tastes good, aids digestion , helps my hayfever.
 
Tea industry turns to pill popping pills solution
Indian tea scientists have produced a tea-flavoured pill that can be chewed or quickly dissolved in hot or cold water.

The brownish tablet weighs 0.3 grams and consists of 80 per cent tea and 20 per cent other flavours - a combination the inventors at the Tocklai tea research centre in India's north-eastern Assam state say peps you up just like a traditional cuppa.

"You can suck it, chew it or dissolve it in water the way you like to have it and still feel the taste of a real cup of tea," the centre's director, Mridul Hazarika, said.

"As the liquid tea refreshes, this tea pill will also refresh the people because it contains pure tea ingredients."

He says the centre had applied for a patent and the pill, with a bit more fine tuning, should hit the market in six months.

Indians drink a lot of tea but in recent years its tea business, the world's largest, has faced growing competition from soft drinks.

-Reuters

Last Update: Wednesday, March 23, 2005. 9:14pm (AEDT)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200503/s1330444.htm

I'll stick to leaves, a pot and water thanks...
:(
 
:shock: by jove! tiffin will never be the same again :cry:
 
It certainly doesn't bring about the warm, cozy, grounding feeling that the thought of an actual cup of tea brings, but on second glance it seems like it would help in the way that eating coffee beans (preferrably coated with chocolate) does in a pinch.
 
I don't understand. How do you dunk your biccies in a tablet? :confused:
 
These tablets will come in very useful during my forthcoming flight to Mars. :lol:
 
Make sure you go first class, the tea tablets are better quality and started out organic, apparently...
 
I like a good cuppa as much as the next man, but I imagine eating this tablet would be like chewing a tea-bag. Not very appealing.
 
Wrong: morally.

Tea is not merely a hot caffeinated beverage but a social ritual around which the day may be arranged.

Any attempt to deprive us of this occasion is a ploy to rob us of our history and identity in order to lengthen the working day.

TO THE BARRICADES!
 
I smell a conspiracy.

First we have the obnoxious alarm clock that screws up your day from the start, then you get up and instead of a nice cuppa there's this.

Wonder what's next :roll:
 
I'm with Yith.

If we let them do this to our cuppa, what's next?

And BRF: You should see the new alarm clock that, when you hit the snooze alarm, runs and hides.

It was in New Scientist.
 
Back in the 70's you could buy instant tea. Can't remember what it was like but I guess it just as bad as instant coffee.

I bet the tea pill is just the dust left over from making normal tea compressed.
 
Mike P said:
Back in the 70's you could buy instant tea. Can't remember what it was like but I guess it just as bad as instant coffee.
It was shite.
ibid
I bet the tea pill is just the dust left over from making normal tea compressed.
Funny, that's what they said about instant tea.

It is still available, by the way. Don't know why.
 
anome said:
Mike P said:
Back in the 70's you could buy instant tea. Can't remember what it was like but I guess it just as bad as instant coffee.
It was shite.
ibid
I bet the tea pill is just the dust left over from making normal tea compressed.
Funny, that's what they said about instant tea.

It is still available, by the way. Don't know why.

due to the americans? ;) :D
 
Doesn't explain why it's still for sale in supermarkets in Australia.
 
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