If you are looking for a healthy drink, I strongly urge you to ditch the lipton tea bottles. They are full of sugar and preservatives, which are not good for you.
If you are looking for a tasty drink, I strongly urge you to ditch all lipton products. They produce some of the worst teas, IMO.
In fact, I would recommend that you ditch tea bags altogether, and give loose teas a try. There is even some speculation that loose teas may be more healthy than tea bags, because they are usually more fresh (and because some tea bags use bleach and/or glue).
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chantman wrote:Herbals sound nice, but I thought they didn't contain antioxidants.
All "real" teas come from the same plant (
Camellia sinensis) and, as such, have similar health benefits. Herbal teas aren't really teas at all, because they do not come from
Camellia sinensis. To avoid confusion, they are often referred to as tisanes.
Tisanes have their own sets of health benefits, most of them not studied/proven scientifically. That doesn't mean that they should be ignored, just taken with a grain of salt. If nothing else, they don't contain many of the things (including massive amounts of sugar) found in commercially-available drinks, so they are better for you than many of the other drinks "out there". So, while perhaps not as beneficial as "real" tea, they can make a good caffeine-free alternative to sodas and other popular drinks.
It should be noted that, while most tisanes do not contain caffeine, some do (yerba mate, for example). If you are sensitive to caffeine, check the label/description, or ask.
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Regarding loose tea,
Adagio is a good place to start, because they offer samples of every tea they sell. Of course, there are other companies out there that sell loose tea. Here are some companies that either sell samples, or sell tea by the ounce (so you can buy a one-ounce "sample"):
Culinary Teas: sells samples of all of their teas
Enjoying Tea: sells reasonably-priced samplers
Harney and Sons Fine Tea: offers $2 samples of their loose teas (up to 5 per order)
Holy Mountain Trading Company: sells tea by the ounce
Republic of Tea: offers samples of certain teas
Royal Dynasty: offers samples of certain teas
Stash: sells samples of a few select teas
Tao of Tea: sells tea by the ounce
Ten Tea: sells samples of all of their loose teas
The Tea Table: sells tea by the ounce, and allows you to choose up to 5 samples each time you order for free or very cheap
Upton Teas: sells samples of most of their teas
Finally, these two loose tea companies sell tea in 2-ounce denominations:
TeaSource: sells tea in 2-ounce denominations
TeaVana: sells tea in 2-ounce denominations
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Below are some tips on preparing teas.
Regardless of whether you are using tea bags or loose tea, you should always make sure:
1. That your water is the right temperature (you may want to invest in a kitchen thermometer). Most green teas do best at around 180º F, while most white teas do best at around 170º F. Blacks typically do best at boiling (212º F). Oolongs vary, depending on whether they are dark (212º F) or light (180º F).
2. That your water is of good quality. If you start with bad water, you will get bad tea. If your tap water isn't very good (like most), it is recommended that you use either spring water or filtered water (PUR sells a good 3-stage filter that attaches to your faucet).
If you are willing to switch to loose teas, you should also make sure that you have a large, non-steel infuser. A large filter is important, because it allows the leaves to fully expand, imparting a better flavor. As for steel, it can impart a metallic taste, which some people don't like (if you like it, then don't worry about it).
I use Bodum's
Yoyo, and I love it. You can buy it on-line, or at your local Target.
A lot of people use Adagio's
ingenuiTEA with very good results (it has an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5).
If you want a tea pot, you can either use one with a basket filter, or you can use one with a filter in the spout (this keeps the leaves out of your cup). I don't think it matters what the filter is made from, since the tea only touches it for an instant on it's way to the cup (it isn't brewed touching the filter, unless you overfill the pot).
There are also tea makers out there. Most of them are very expensive, and not particularly well-designed (because they don't allow you to adjust the temperature and/or steeping time). I'm hoping that the next version of Adagio's
triniTEA (due out at the beginning of the summer) will be worth the wait. We shall see.
And, finally, you can just do what I used to do: drop the tea leaves directly into the cup. When it is done, you just scoop out as many of the leaves as you can. Eating/drinking the remaining leaves won't harm you. The only problem with this method is that some teas are easily over-steeped, and the remaining leaves will cause the tea to turn bitter (although adding ice can help).
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That's all I can think of for now. Please let me know if you want another long-winded post.
~Yresim~