High Time for Tea in America

[The Old Foodie]

As I cannot get through the day without copious quanities of tea, I must join in this discussion.

Should we be pedantic in this thread, and distinguish between "real" tea (i.e from the bush Camellia sinensis) and "tisanes" or the multitude of herbal, fruit and other drinks? Most serious tea-lovers dont consider tisanes to be tea.

As for myself, I havent found a tea or tisane I havent liked, so the pedantry is simply to add another dimension to the discussion.

[H. du Bois]

I still think that in America, the best tea you can get is Twinings, loose, brewed properly and served from a pot.

Today there are so many different teas which have become popular and with which Americans have become familiar, surely Twinings is just another tea in this ever expanding market.

Just my humble opinion, from what I've tried and what I've been served (both here and in the UK). And I've tried many.

PS: I'm only referring to one class of tea - I'm not talking green teas, which are a whole nother thing, and which I love, too (anyone ever tried roasted rice tea from Japan?). Nor am I talking about herbal teas or tisanes, which I loathe.

[andiesenji]

Back in the '70s a friend I met here, before she returned to Australia, (Mt. Dandenong, Victoria) introduced me to ty-nee-tips tea and sent me a supply from Oz every few months for years afterwards. It stopped after a couple of postal strikes that caused the package to be delayed so long (and apparently kept in poor conditions) that the stuff wasn't worth brewing when I finally received it. And also a store had opened locally that carried.

And before anyone tries to correct me, there are no caps in the name. I still have one of the bright blue boxes in my collection of tea artifacts.

I can't recall a time that I didn't drink tea. I was given milky tea as a very young child at meals and any time I wasn't feeling well, my great-grandmother's usual advice was first a cup of tea before any other remedies were tried. I had toy tea sets when I was little but was given my first "real" teapot (which I still have) when I was 9.

As far as brewing tea is concerned, I have tried almost every method known to man. I have a couple of automatic tea makers made in England - I have had one converted to US electrical current.

I have a TeaMate that was available for only a couple of years here in the states, and I have yet to figure out why they stopped importing it. I think it is a terrific appliance. I tried the Mrs. Tea once and was not impressed.

I gave one of the new Sunbeam Teamakers to my daughter for her birthday and she loves it.