I've been drinking tea basically my whole life, but I always needed it sweet... really sweet... because it was always so bitter. And I couldn't stand green tea...
Until a couple years ago, when some friends were basically like "you don't like it because you're doing it wrong". "Wrong", in this case, meant bagged tea, including... *gulp*... Lipton... and boiling water.
So they got me a variable temperature electric kettle and some green teas from David's Tea (hey! We all have to start somewhere! Don't judge me...). My first looseleaf tea was their Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls. That was my favorite for the longest time... until I was introduced to Teavana's Gyokuro (again... we all have to start somewhere). I became obsessed with that and started searching out other Gyokuro's.
At the moment, O-Cha's my favorite Gyokuro supply place (also for Sencha), though I'm curious about other places I may not already have bookmarked (I have more online tea stores bookmarked than I probably have the space to list here).
That basically means that my world of tea is largely Japanese greens, which admittedly isn't too shabby. But I want to branch out. I went to Tea Drunk in New York City last month and tried a real Tie Guan Ying for the first time in my life... it was a revelation. I need to get more of that. I am rather curious what is considered China's highest-grade, most premium green tea (so equivalent to Japan's Gyokuro in terms of grade/quality... I already know about En Shi Yu Lu, and that's probably my next purchase). (And yes, I realize Tie Guan Yin is an oolong.)
I drink white, yellow, green, and light oolongs pure.
I still have trouble with pure black tea without sugar, and I haven't dipped into the world of pu-erh's, yet, really, but I do want to.
And I definitely prefer cold-brew to brewing hot then pouring over ice.
Also, a disclaimer: I currently work for Teavana as a Barrista. I am not here as a representative of them in any way, shape, or form. In fact, outside of this little disclaimer, I'll be avoiding Teavana discussions all together, because that's just easier. I'm here for tea, to continue my journey into tea, and to learn more. And that's it. So... yeah...
Hello!
P.S. - Ooh! Does anyone else follow the Serious Eats site and read Max Falkowitz's posts on tea? I follow those. They're amazing, IMO.