What was the first tea you ever tried?

One year for my mother’s birthday we ordered her a variety of loose leaf green teas; I had no idea what I was picking. She really liked the Temple of Heaven Gunpowder, so it was a successful experiment. I think I liked some of the teas, too, but didn’t quite care yet.

The first tea I really drank frequently was a bagged white tea; most day I would have a mug at work. May have been Prince of Peace. At any rate the second infusion was often better than the first.

I drank bagged Red Rose and PG Tips growing up, as well as chamomile with honey when I had a cold.

The first tea that made me appreciate camellia sinensis as more than a caffeine delivery system was a vanilla chai from Stash. Then a Teavana opened near me and I discovered masala chai, jasmine silver needles, gyokuro, and my favourite, Monkey Picked Oolong, which they sold for something like $25 for two ounces. That last one got me hooked, although I’ve found much better Tie Guan Yins since then. It’s a shame that so many physical tea retailers are closing, as that’s what sparked my explorations.

My university’s cafeteria used to carry it and I’d often grab several bags to take home. (Yes, someone probably hated me.) I don’t drink chai that much any more, mostly because it messes up my infusers.

I grew up drinking bagged herbal teas like ginger, mint, and licorice, and I always considered myself a tea fan. Then one day I tried Teavana’s white chocolate mint, and I had to have it, and I’ve been hoarding loose leaf tea ever since.

For me, drinking tea wasn’t optional when I was growing up in the UK. I can’t remember the first cup I had, I must have been pretty young. Everyone I know drinks tea, family and friends, it’s just the thing we do. You can’t say “we need to talk” without following it with “I’ll put the kettle on”. Except all anyone ever drinks is the same supermarket tea bags. My parents drank Twinings Earl Grey 3 times a day, every day, sometimes delving into the jasmine green tea pot when we get Chinese takeaway. Most of my friends drink PG Tips. Those that don’t, drink Yorkshire tea. We drink it like it’s water.

Literally no one is interested in trying anything different and it drives me insane. I started exploring with some simple loose leaf teas from the high-street tea shops, namely Whittard of Chelsea. It was a Russian Caravan blend that made me go “wow”, in hindsight it wasn’t that great but I only had crappy tea to compare it to at that point. That must have been 5 years ago now? I was hooked, but couldn’t find anyone who would even entertain the idea of trying these new teas with me. Then I started blogging, partially to try and educate some of my friends into the idea of trying something new, starting with easy tea bag options. Shortly after that I found Steepster, just a month and a bit ago.

So yeah, I haven’t been here long but I’ve been overwhelmed by the passion people have for tea. I’m not a very social person, I don’t like to get involved with discussions much, but I wanted to just say that. Reading all the tasting notes everyone posts is often the highlight of my days.

My first tea growing up was likely Red Rose. My family had an automatic iced tea maker and we used to go through Red Rose by the box. I still have a bunch of the little figurines! In high school, I “learned” to drink coffee. Cream and a crapton of sugar. That’s still how I tend to prefer it. I’ve never fully appreciated coffee and to be honest, I wasn’t big on tea either. Lots of sugar there too. No wonder I ended up with diabetes!

It really wasn’t until after I graduate college ten years ago that I really began to explore tea. Granted, it was all grocery store bagged tea, but I do remember back in the day longingly staring at Adagio.com and wishing I had funds to make an order. The grocery store bagged tea still didn’t really do it for me, but it was marginally better than coffee. If I would have to pinpoint my first WOW tea, it was probably after the first time I did break down and make an Adagio order. Golden Monkey it was. I tasted that, without any sugar or sweetener mind you, and my mind just exploded. I had no clue tea could taste like that. That was back in December. I still have a tendency to add sweetener to tea (old habits die hard) but I really appreciate true tea for what it is these days, and loving every minute of it.

My first tea experiences were with Red Rose orange pekoe. My grandmother would have tea with me when she baked cookies. <3 I still love that tea (nostalgia, mostly) and my grandmother and I still drink tea together sometimes.

Does Lipton even count? It’s not that it’s so bad that it’s not tea, although some think that, but it’s kind of common, and it would seem odd for someone to make it out of childhood without ever tasting that. I first tried slightly better tea in the form of Tazo blends back in the 90s.

One of the first plain teas I remember trying I bought on a visit to a small farm in Laos, around 9 years ago now. It’s crazy that one of the first plain, loose teas I ever tried I also saw growing, in person. It took years before that really meant more to me; I was mostly there to buy coffee, and grabbed some tea as an afterthought. That farmer nearly poisoned me with caffeine from tasting coffee versions there; it’s much stronger fresh, and I tried both Aribaca and Robusta bean types, and those are stronger too. I kept trying different and better teas, and kept visiting different countries (we live in Bangkok now), and eventually I just stopped drinking coffee altogether, and started a blog about tea.

My first tea was Constant Comment. I remember where I tried it as well. I was in a Long John Silvers restaurant and it was freezing outside. Got it to go with dinner.

My grandmother preferred Typhoo as her fancy tea for tea-party lunches when we visited. Sometimes we drank Bigelow Raspberry Royale instead. At home we had the Twinings and Bigelow assortments. I recall being specifically fond of the orange-wrapper Ceylon and purple-wrapper Darjeeling.