I've a budding interest in tea.
I would greatly appreciate any tea suggestions and/or recommended reading.
What kind of teas have you enjoyed thus far?
I’ve very much enjoyed two tea books—The Story of Tea by Heiss and Heiss; and The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea. Those gave me a good grounding in tea, and both are now available as kindle editions—handy if you have a device/reader you can bring with you to the tea shop for reference.
I love James Norwood Pratt’s New Tea Lovers Treasury. Lots of great information and one of my favorite resources!
I have a few, but my favourite is Tea: Aromas and Flavours Around the World (Lydia Gaultier). It is great for the history of tea and the traditions that surround it in different countries.
Please give us at least some vague direction. Asking for suggestions on tea is like sitting in a room with a million puppies trying to pick just one to take home.
I can’t very well give you a sense of direction if I don’t know much about tea, can I? The only teas I’ve had are black teas. Specifically, the cheap Bigelow brand teas they sell in supermarkets. I recently bought several different flavors including Constant Comment, Lemon Lift (which I enjoyed just this morning), Peppermint, Green Tea with Lemon, Earl Gery, English Tea Time, Chamomile and Sleepy Time. Of which, I’ve only made, thus far, the lemon and chamomile.
I hope I didn’t aggravate you with my vagueness…I was simply wondering if anyone could list a few good teas to start off with.
If you’re just starting out, I’d recommend one or both of the two books I mentioned above, and samples of several different oolong teas—some darker/traditional roast types as well as some green/new style teas, because that gives you a hint of the spectrum of flavors that can be coaxed from a leaf, and they’re generally very forgiving teas regarding water temps, brewing times, and quantity of leaf, and let reading about the other types of teas help you decide where to go next.
Adagio sells a nice range of different tea sample sets—oolong sets, green sets, etc.
“The Tea Drinkers Handbook” is an interesting general tea book and has a comprehensive explanation of the amazing world of tea. It is by 3 authors: Francois-Xavier Delmas, Mathais Minet, and Christine Barbaste.
Enjoy!
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