Decaffeinated loose tea
Found my insomnia was due to my tea habit. I had a cupboard at work full of tea tins, and it was duplicated at home plus more. Since then, I’ve tried rooibos teas (meh), herbal and fruit teas (not really the same as Tea tea), and decaffeinated teas (tasteless or cardboard-in-water flavor).
Best luck has been with David’s Tea of Canada (I’m in California). I avoid the ones mixed with all sorts of non-tea things, and stick with the traditionals.
Has anyone found a decaffeinated black, oolong, green – ANY loose tea – that tastes like TEA?? Please help. I’d even settle for the watery stuff with strong, decent Bergamot or Jasmine. Can’t have more than 2-3 mg. caffeine per cup.
Thanks for the help. I’m heart broken.
Vanilla Decaf Black from Simple Loose Leaf is really good. A favorite among a lot of Steepsterites is Vanilla Comoro from Harney & Sons.
Second Vanilla Comoro from H&S, and I also enjoy Organic Decaf Korakundah from Butiki.
All I taste (and smell) in the Comoro is the overpowering Vanilla. Harney’s Ceylon Decaf is closer to what the OP is looking for, albeit, still not what I call “tea”. I’ve never found a decent decaf tea.
Thank you. If you know of a good unflavored decaf tea, please tell! Also if you have a choice for decaf Earl or Lady Grey.
I’m getting the uncomfortable feeling that there are no good loose, decaffeinated teas out there. This would be what I’ve found as well, but with all of you here, I was hoping someone had turned up one under a leaf somewhere….
Acquired Taste Tea Co. sells a Lady Grey Decaf that I enjoy, I don’t really drink many other decaf teas though so I don’t have much to compare it to. I think they ship to Canada and the US it looks like from their site, they are local to me in Alberta, but I’d send them an email and see if you can get a few samples maybe, and see what shipping is like! They also have a few other decaf teas I haven’t tried on their site as well. Hope this helps!
I would second the vanilla comoro recommendation. Upton has a decaf China Green tea that I really enjoy. In general, though, I think my favorite decafs are flavored, with the quality coming from the flavor and not the tea itself.
I think decaf tea is like non-alcoholic beer. They can be pretty good, but still pale in comparison to the real thing.
To be quite honest I’ve never tried these, but _Capital Tea Ltd has a decaf earl grey and a heavier breakfast tea.
www.capitaltea.com
http://www.capitaltea.com/shop/home.php?cat=28
I’ve had several of their straight teas and one of their flavoured teas and enjoy them. They offer 20g samples.
In a similar manner to yyz’s recommendations, I haven’t actually tried these teas myself, but I’ve really liked the three caffeinated teas I’ve ordered from this company, so they might be worth a try.
http://www.arborteas.com/categories/organic-tea/organic-decaf-tea/
EDIT: And it’s worth nothing their teas are decaffeinated through CO2 decaffeination, which eliminates the possibility of gross chemical flavors leftover from the decaffeinating process, which in my experience is a big problem with the majority of decaf teas.
Simpson & Vail (http://www.svtea.com/Decaffeinated-Teas/departments/148/) has a decent decaf selection, as does Harney & Sons (definitely try Vanilla Comoro).
Upton’s (http://uptontea.com/shopcart/catalog.asp?begin=0&categoryID=47) sampling is also excellent with a tremendous selection. Tea Gschwendner (http://shop.tgtea.com/Caffeine-Free-Black-Decaf/) has an AMAZING herbal called Bamboo-Pomelo which I give my highest possible recommendation to. They also have a good selection of decaf teas.
If you’re open to trying new things, I’d also recommend testing out any of 52 Teas’ (http://www.zoomdweebies.com/Available-NOW_c_32.html) honeybush blends – but only if you’re okay with teas that are more dessert-oriented.
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