Dec 5th, '08, 20:05
Posts: 995
Joined: Feb 8th, '08, 14:22
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
by auggy » Dec 5th, '08, 20:05
Love4TheLeaf wrote:I don't know what the deal is but here in the Midwest (US) the only bagged tea brands that seem to have any ambition at all are Stash and Twinings. There are actually a couple of more exotic bagged ones but they're kind of hard to find. You can't just buy them at any old store.
Same here in Texas (at the normal grocery stores at least). Though I did find some PG Tips at one chain. Mind you, it was 6 months past the "best by" date...
I haven't had Twinings or Stash in a while (though Stash teabags got me in to tea). Pretty much the only bagged tea we have anymore is for iced or for DH to make his own morning tea (which he can sometimes do successfully).
Dec 5th, '08, 21:39
Posts: 8065
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Location: Southern CA
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by Victoria » Dec 5th, '08, 21:39
Love4TheLeaf wrote:I don't know what the deal is but here in the Midwest (US) the only bagged tea brands that seem to have any ambition at all are Stash and Twinings. There are actually a couple of more exotic bagged ones but they're kind of hard to find. You can't just buy them at any old store.
Welcome to the internet.
Dec 5th, '08, 21:50
Posts: 36
Joined: Dec 5th, '08, 19:06
by Love4TheLeaf » Dec 5th, '08, 21:50
auggy wrote: Same here in Texas (at the normal grocery stores at least). Though I did find some PG Tips at one chain. Mind you, it was 6 months past the "best by" date...
I found some PG Tips here too. It wasn't in the main tea section though. It was in the "Asian Foods" section 10 isles down......for whatever reason. I hate it when stores have things that belong together scattered all over the place. There are probably stores around here that have better teas and I'm just not finding them because they're in totally unexpected places.
Dec 6th, '08, 11:52
Posts: 995
Joined: Feb 8th, '08, 14:22
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
by auggy » Dec 6th, '08, 11:52
Love4TheLeaf wrote:auggy wrote: Same here in Texas (at the normal grocery stores at least). Though I did find some PG Tips at one chain. Mind you, it was 6 months past the "best by" date...
I found some PG Tips here too. It wasn't in the main tea section though. It was in the "Asian Foods" section 10 isles down......for whatever reason. I hate it when stores have things that belong together scattered all over the place. There are probably stores around here that have better teas and I'm just not finding them because they're in totally unexpected places.
Ha! That makes me laugh. I've seen PG Tips with the "normal" teas before, but also in the British section (right next to the Indian then Asian sections). I don't think any of them I've seen at the chain have been in date though. Poor little PG Tips. So unloved in Texas.
Dec 10th, '08, 03:10
Posts: 19
Joined: Aug 15th, '08, 09:20
Location: Vanuatu in the Peace Corps
by Gu-Ao-Rui » Dec 10th, '08, 03:10
Tea in general seems to be a rarity here in Vanuatu... It's served at a few of the nakamals as a kava chaser, but not much other than that.. That's why it's so much of a relief when we get to go to Vila or any other touristy island: TEA!
Aside from the fact, there is actually some civilization, of course...
On the bright side, tea bags almost don't exist either.
Apr 10th, '10, 03:40
Posts: 1
Joined: Apr 10th, '10, 03:08
by Sibylle » Apr 10th, '10, 03:40
Oh Twinings. I really love them so. I love that they make drinking tea so easy. I started drinking tea two months ago and Twinings along with Whittard are the only ones I've tried (with the exception of the tea I have at my usual tea room). I kind of miss the innocent tea drinking I was doing back in January - it was so nice to enjoy something I enjoyed that my friends didn't as much (they do drink tea but I'm the one drinking it every day, purchasing new ones regularly, etc) and my parents didn't at all. Like a little secret. And then I found out about all this hierarchy imposed by tea drinkers, with unsweetened loose tea in a cup at the top and sweetened bagged in a mug at the bottom. It's so completely ridiculous, I don't believe tea should be any more elitist than any other beverage. I certainly don't treat it as such. I know what I like and I enjoy trying different flavours, just like fruit juice (I'm a fruit juice snob, though, I don't care what other people do but I can't stand anything other than pure, not concentrated, it's my one luxury wherever I go).
I love many different flavours and I buy them all in teabags (after I saw all the elitism surrounding teabags I tried loose both at home and I'm always having loose at my tea room - sorry to say I can find NO difference whatsoever so I'm going for most convenient). I have two sweetener tablets per mug.
Since I'm in the black tea section, my favourite is Whittard's spiced chai. What's great with Whittard is that I can go smell a bag in a shop before purchasing and that's how I find my tea. I'm very fond of Whittard's English Rose as well (sweet rose and mango flavoured black tea). Twinings' English Breakfast is great too.
I'm a huge fan of Twinings' green teas. They have many flavoured green ones and my favourites are jasmine and mint.
Apr 10th, '10, 11:44
Posts: 393
Joined: Apr 18th, '09, 22:56
Location: Louisiana Gulf Coast
by Dresden » Apr 10th, '10, 11:44
Twinnings opened my eyes to life beyond "sweet tea" so I can't really bag on them (pun intended). Even though I stick to mainly loose tea I will still have the occasional Lady Grey.
Also, there is something about Tazo Passion that I can't break free of.... I would love to try and make a custom blend to mimic the flavor profile.
Apr 10th, '10, 11:55
Posts: 226
Joined: Dec 14th, '09, 19:43
Location: Canada
by TubbyCow » Apr 10th, '10, 11:55
Dresden wrote:Also, there is something about Tazo Passion that I can't break free of.... I would love to try and make a custom blend to mimic the flavor profile.
I also really love Tazo Passion and try to have a few bags on hands at all times. Since it's just an herbal, I don't feel as concerned about leaf quality. It's still more expensive than if you could find the same thing in a loose-leaf version, but until the day we find that, I'll keep enjoying it guilt-free.
Apr 10th, '10, 13:57
Posts: 852
Joined: Mar 4th, '10, 22:07
Location: somewhere over the rainbow
by Poohblah » Apr 10th, '10, 13:57
TubbyCow wrote:Dresden wrote:Also, there is something about Tazo Passion that I can't break free of.... I would love to try and make a custom blend to mimic the flavor profile.
I also really love Tazo Passion and try to have a few bags on hands at all times. Since it's just an herbal, I don't feel as concerned about leaf quality. It's still more expensive than if you could find the same thing in a loose-leaf version, but until the day we find that, I'll keep enjoying it guilt-free.
Tazo Passion! The only bagged tea that I can stand (and love) to drink! Haha! I almost forgot about it since I haven't had it in a while... thanks for reminding me!
Apr 10th, '10, 22:35
Posts: 2000
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by entropyembrace » Apr 10th, '10, 22:35
Twinings was what got me into loose tea I was stocking up on English Breakfast and accidentally bought a tin of their loose leaf tea...I found it had a much richer flavour than the same bagged tea and I had gone to a specialty tea store to get an infuser and left with a little bag of strawberry ceylon that I was impressed with at the time. I don´t touch Twinings much anymore though, I´ve moved on to other things...sitting naked sipping oolongs with exotic names is so luxurious.
Apr 10th, '10, 23:12
Posts: 393
Joined: Apr 18th, '09, 22:56
Location: Louisiana Gulf Coast
by Dresden » Apr 10th, '10, 23:12
Apr 11th, '10, 13:17
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by Amaikokonut » Apr 11th, '10, 13:17
I don't drink Twinings anymore, but it had become my favorite bagged/supermarket tea up until I switched to loose-leaf. Twinings Irish breakfast was my morning tea for many, many of my college days.
Apr 11th, '10, 14:06
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Location: Columbus, Ohio
by brad4419 » Apr 11th, '10, 14:06
Twinings along with stash were very good starting points for my tea journey. At one time I drank twinings earl grey bags everyday and occasionally stashes green tea bags for several months but before that I had tried republic of teas loose leaf lapsang souchong. I always remembered how amazing the lapsang was compared to the supermarket bags and eventually this sent me online looking for loose leaf. It was a good experience and makes me appriciate how I brew tea now.
Apr 17th, '10, 19:33
Posts: 393
Joined: Apr 18th, '09, 22:56
Location: Louisiana Gulf Coast
by Dresden » Apr 17th, '10, 19:33
TubbyCow wrote:I also really love Tazo Passion and try to have a few bags on hands at all times. Since it's just an herbal, I don't feel as concerned about leaf quality. It's still more expensive than if you could find the same thing in a loose-leaf version, but until the day we find that, I'll keep enjoying it guilt-free.
I saw that Tazo is now offering this in whole leaf sachets... I would assume that it is some type of pyramid bag.
Apr 20th, '10, 22:46
Posts: 475
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Location: Albany, NY; New York City, NY; or Bath, ME
by Skippyandjif » Apr 20th, '10, 22:46
Twinings wasn't the absolute first tea I drank-- that was Salada, and it was when I was very, very little-- but it was definitely among the first. It was, as someone else said previously, my "gateway" to serious tea drinking, though. I don't drink it much anymore because I have found that my favorite teas are pu-erhs and various Asian greens, although I still drink their lapsang souchong a lot... It's really good!
The bagged teas I do drink are a couple of kinds of Numi, various herbal tisanes, and the aforementioned lapsang.
