Tea Confessions

I started drinking tea because my parents are avid tea drinkers and believe it or not it was pushed on me a bit. Until recently have I been able to start drinking some select chai’s. Since they drank traditional Indian Chai multiple times on a daily basis I wanted to be defiant and started finding other loose leaf teas to experiment with and “bam” a tea lover was born.

I used to try coffee a lot, mostly mochas. Then I ordered something called chai, and I’ve been into it ever since. Now it’s one of my favourite teas, which I make on the stove.

I have made bagged chai in coffee, with hot chocolate. It was delicious.

I use to leave the bag in the cup and I’m glad I did. Otherwise, I would not have developed a burning gut from the tea that led me to switch to green tea. That led to Steepster and the world of loose leaf. Now I occasionally leave the bag in the tea just for old time’s sake.

My confession: I don’t own a gaiwan, and I don’t have the patience to do multiple steeps of small amounts. When I brew a tea, I brew at least 12-16 oz. of it at a time, because that’s how big my mugs are, and that’s how much of it I want to drink. This is true of even green teas, or teas that traditionally are brewed in gaiwans.

I want to find a nice kyusu, but most of them are too small for my preference. I wish I could find a kyusu that brewed 16 oz. at a time.

My confessions: I am considering a second order of flavored matcha. I have used my travel tumbler to drink matcha.

As a kid, I put about eight teaspoons of white sugar in my cups of Tetley. No, my teeth aren’t in the greatest shape, why do you ask?

I’ve cut the server off in restaurants as soon as I recognized the names of the blends they were listing to name the brand and state which one is least offensive, could they bring me one of those, please. Much to the humiliation of my fellow patrons, who think I’m just unbearably snobby.

I have re discovered a repressed curiosity regarding Milk Tea…

I’ve drain poured quite a few of the top rated teas. (shrugs) That and I’m usually to lazy look for my infuser, so I french press.

I used to think that honeybush was just another term for rooibos.

OK- here is my confession. Please do not laugh. I am a connoisseur of local (mostly fast-food) sweet teas. I am from the south, but we never had sweet tea in my house growing up (too much sugar). But when I went off to college, well, that is another story.

Surprisingly, McDonald’s uses Lipton, and occasionally you can get very good sweet tea there. I say occasionally, because most of the time they use entirely too little tea and too much sugar, and it just tastes like sugar water. But when it is brewed correctly, it is very smooth & mild. Not bitter or astringent at all.

The absolute worst is the rising popularity of the tea concentrates (similar to soda) being sold instead of restaurants brewing it themselves. I cannot stand the taste of the concentrates. And some of the dispensers are made just to fool you! They look like the regular stainless steel tea dispensers, but they are fake! Inside are the innards of regular soda dispensers, and there is a line hooking up the box of syrup under the counter! It should be illegal, that’s all I have to say….