Caffeinated Tea

[Lilija]

Are there any decent quality loose (or a good quality bagged) tea with added caffeine? I'm a fan of (should I admit this here? I'm new to this section of eGullet...) Celestial Seasons Fast Lane and Morning Thunder black teas. I like tea better than coffee, and I like the more subtle energy boost.

I like the Fast Lane, but I'd like something better quality, something I can get loose, or just other options in general. Are there any good ones? What would you recommend?

[Yajna Patni]

Never heard of caffeine added tea, but drinking two or more cups doubles or more your caffeine intake!

[Richard Kilgore]

I am not sure if you are looking just for more caffeine, or mean higher quality in the usual sense. If you tell us more about what you are interested in, we may be able to be of more help.

In the meantime, here are a few topic that may be of interest to you.

Tea 101 (actually more than just the basics).

A topic on Indian teas (mostly black teas).

Three Tea Tasting Discussions focusing on fine black teas:

A hnadmade Nilgeri fro Tea Source

A fine Assam from Tea source.

An Imperial Dian Hong from Norbutea.com.

Hope that helps.

[Lilija]

I meant high quality tea, with a little extra added caffeine. Two cups sounds like it might be a better answer, haha. After posting this, I poked around and did some more research on my own, and I'm starting to believe that sort of tea is akin to processed food.

Thanks very much for the links, teas are something I've been meaning to learn about for a long time now. I love all manner of brewed teas, especially strong black tea and smoked teas... but I'm uneducated

Edited July 25, 2009 by Lilija (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

Fermented teas would be pu-erh, so you may also be interested in these discussions:

The Pu-erh tea topic.

Tasting Discussion of a Menhai Shu Pu-erh from Norbutea.com.

[Lilija]

Thanks again! I edited out fermented, because upon reading the Tea 101 thread, I noticed that many teas are fermented. I was thinking of one that I really like from the Asian market, called Yunnan Bo-Nay that's funky, salty and twangy.

Again, thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[Richard Kilgore]

Actually Pu-erh is the only intentionally fermented tea, with a very, very few exceptions. You may be referring to oxidation. The two are commonly confused.