Milk and/or sugar with which tea?

[Ansel]

Which teas is it acceptable to add milk and/or sugar to?

eg. milk with oolong is okay? But sugar, no?

Thank you.

[debunix]

Acceptable? That's up to you.

Personally, if I have to disguise the taste of a tea with added milk or sugar, I won't bother drinking it. But that's just me, and if you want to add milk or sugar to your tea to be happy, go for it.

[Herb_Master]

I would not add milk or sugar to Oolong, or any tea other than fully fermented tea.

The tea called Black Tea in the west, or Red Tea in China can be taken with milk and sugar. If you have a cheap commercial Black Tea, and YOU like it with Milk and/or Sugar that is great. The finer (and more expensive) your tea becomes then, less and less will it be a suitable vehicle for milk and sugar for they will both overpower the fine drinking qualities of the leaf that you are paying for.

Just a little step up from your cheap commercial Black Tea and I would advise cutting down on your Milk and Sugar. Add Milk and Sugar to a First Flush Single Estate Darjeeling and I suspect there will be a Lynch mob of Teachatters heading your way

If you add spices to your tea, either Green or Black, then it becomes Masala Chai and then it IS a suitable vehicle for Milk and Sugar, if that enhances your drinking enjoyment.

[Amaikokonut]

As others have said, it's up to you. Drink what you like, etc.; while many here enjoy finer teas straight up, more "budget-friendly" teas can be enhanced with a bit of milk or sweetener to taste. Personally I have enjoyed both black teas and darker oolongs with a bit of milk and sugar-- lighter teas are likely to get completely lost in milk. Experiment to your taste!

[Ansel]

Thanks a lot all of you.

[teaisme]

Though I have not done this for myself in a long time, milk is actually pretty tasty in some oolongs brewed strong
Come to think of it...it's pretty good with greens too

Whatever you decide to add milk to, add to taste, I try to find that balance where you can still taste the tea but now taste milk too Then of course some honey with my milk...basically make sure the milk and honey don't override the teas unique taste. Then you have something very hearty and comforting for winter time.

I wonder.........milky lapsang with honey....you have inspired me to give this a whirl....tried it out today, nice mix indeed, very good winter drink

[FlyedPiper]

The English blood in me forces me to add milk and sugar to my black tea (which I rarely drink).

I make a killer Adrak Chai in the cooler months (I learned from my best friend's mom who is Indian). Lots of whole milk, sugar and cheap black lipton teabags added along with fresh ginger and cinnamon sticks.

Here she is on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxLMU3M0E3o

[Dresden]

The only time I will drink tea with milk is if I am making up a batch of masala chai.

Otherwise, I like to experience the tea in it's natural state.

YMMV,
Mike

[needaTEAcher]

Puerh! I know, I know, but cheaper puerh with a strong earth flavor that are so-so alone become GREAT with milk and sugar.

Also, red teas, particularly Assam and Ceylon, and maybe, like others, a darker oolong, though I like my oolongs neat. Yay tea!!!!!

I like the rule: "Tea should make you smile." Many paths, y'all!

[Akuma37]

Black teas that come in a bag are usually what I reserve for murder by milk and (rarely) sugar.

[Dinahsaur]

I've never added milk or sugar to an Oolong or Pu-erh, but I have added a dipped spoon of honey to each in the past. I'm actually very particular about my honey. I don't enjoy the standard clover honey and prefer to get local honey as well (my step father recently harvested his first round of honey from the bees he's been keeping the past couple of years).

As far as adding milk and sugar, I'm with the camp of those who add to the fully oxidized teas. Black teas can be very tasty with milk and sugar added, a habit I developed while studying in the UK (I'm right there with you, FlyedPiper!). However, I've never tried milk or sugar in with a Chinese Red, so now I'm curious to try that out when I get home later today. No harm in trying, right?

[Chip]

I've never added milk or sugar to an Oolong or Pu-erh, but I have added a dipped spoon of honey to each in the past. I'm actually very particular about my honey. I don't enjoy the standard clover honey and prefer to get local honey as well (my step father recently harvested his first round of honey from the bees he's been keeping the past couple of years).

Relatively recently I began adding honey to hot brewed 4th, 5th, etc. steeps of sencha which I then put in the fridge. Honey seems to act as a natural preservative. I don't add much, just enough to make it interesting.

I have found I really like honey and have a beginning collection of honey. I never realized how different they can be based upon not only the flower, but the producer and even the time of year of collecting.

A great site for honey ...
http://www.honeylocator.com/locator/home/

[debunix]

Since my brother got far enough along in his beekeeping to have honey to share, I've been utterly spoiled by his honey--spicy and complex and delicious (and photogenic).





He lives in the San Francisco Bay area, in a suburban neighborhood where his bees would have to go several miles to the nearest open fields, so we figure his honey is excellent precisely because the bees are drawing on such a wide variety of plantings in his neighbors' yards. A couple of years ago I went to my favorite gourmet international grocery store and got the most interesting honeys I could find (monukka, leatherwood, several other famous/exotic honeys). I was pleased to find that his was the most interesting of the bunch!

I don't use it in tea, but I often enjoy honey with toast, teff, or muffins as I drink my morning sencha.

[Dinahsaur]

That honey is definitely photogenic, Debunix! First off, kudos to you for producing such beautiful shots!

My step dad is north of San Francisco, so we're getting a nice Northern California honey ourselves. He's fortunate to live amongst a large array of native wildflowers, so it also produces a similar eclectic flavor. It would be interesting to compare how various wildflower honey tastes compared with a honey of various more cultivated/garden flowers. All honeys vary so much, it's fantastic!