TeaChat

Hi

For most of my life I believed that black tea was nasty (I had only been exposed to tea bags--yuck). Since I've started using loose tea, I've found it is wonderful. As of right now, I've only tried the flavored black teas (which I love). I would really like to try some good black teas without added flavoring, and just don't know where too begin. Can anyone make some suggestions?

Thanks and best wishes,
Stephenie

Stephenie Sasse

Stephenie--

In Zen Buddhism, there is a phrase called "satori." That is what they refer to as sudden enlightenment. Glad to hear you've experienced this with the acknowledgement that good tea really does taste great!

Anyway, my best suggestion would be the black starter set. We specifically chose these for beginners so help their tastebuds easily adapt to the taste of black tea. It comes with 4 samples of these teas as well as the amazing 16 oz ingenuiTEA teapot. Here is the link:

http://www.adagio.com/misc/no_risk.html

Enjoy,

Chris
Adagio Maestro

here are my tea prefs:

morning: irish breakfast blend or straight assams with a splash of milk

afternoon: a leafy darjeeling

night is ALL about rooibos. i look forward to trying some of the blends from adagio.

John

Stephanie,

I second John's tea picks, especially the Darjeeling. Keep in mind too that there are different types of Darjeeling; a first flush will be more delicate than an Autumnal. I don't know if you have problems with caffeine, but if you do be careful about breakfast teas. Irish has the most caffeine, followed by Scottish, with English having the least of the three.

Another black you might want to try is Ceylon. Ceylon teas are often used as the base of a lot of blends and flavored teas.

Good luck, and enjoy your tea!

I'd say some good starter black teas would be the two most standard ones: English Breakfast and Earl Grey.

Sarai wrote:I'd say some good starter black teas would be the two most standard ones: English Breakfast and Earl Grey.

Don't both of those have flavorings, tho? I know Earl Grey has bergamot. Not sure what English Breakfast has, but if you're looking for 'straight' black teas, I'm not sure I'd recommend either one of those....

hopeofdawn wrote:

Sarai wrote:I'd say some good starter black teas would be the two most standard ones: English Breakfast and Earl Grey.

Don't both of those have flavorings, tho? I know Earl Grey has bergamot. Not sure what English Breakfast has, but if you're looking for 'straight' black teas, I'm not sure I'd recommend either one of those....

I'm of the same mind as Hopeofdawn. In fact, I am asking myself what IS a starter tea? No such thing, IMO.

If you want to experience whole leaf black tea and not a blend, in order to see what the taste is all about, every tea-producing country has several to choose from. All have different flavor profiles. The only way to experience is to buy some and try. Chinese black tea (called red tea in China) is the most plentiful and varied. The Yunnanese black teas are quite sweet and malty. They might be a good 'starting' point. Inexpensive, too.

hopeofdawn wrote:

Sarai wrote:I'd say some good starter black teas would be the two most standard ones: English Breakfast and Earl Grey.

Don't both of those have flavorings, tho? I know Earl Grey has bergamot. Not sure what English Breakfast has, but if you're looking for 'straight' black teas, I'm not sure I'd recommend either one of those....

English Breakfast is straight, Earl Grey is not. This fact doesn't make Earl Grey any less of a great starter black tea, however.

Perhaps--though I've never enjoyed Earl Grey, personally--but given that the OP was specifically asking for black tea recommendations without flavoring:

teachat wrote:I would really like to try some good black teas without added flavoring, and just don't know where too begin.

I don't think Earl Grey would be a good beginning point for them. I would point them at some nice first flush Darjeelings or a good quality Dian Hong first.

holy **** this thread is almost 10 years old