Supermarket teas

[mckenderson]

This will probably show I am a total noob at tea but...anyone like the tea that is sold at the grocery store, like Twinings, Bigelow, Celestial Seasons, Tazo, or Stash? That's pretty much been my introduction to tea, stuff that I can get at the grocery store.

I like Twinings' Irish Breakfast, English Breakfast, and Chai tea. I like Bigelow's Earl Grey. And Tazo's Awake tea. I usually keep those in stock at home and at the office. I've gone from drinking Diet Coke in the morning to drinking tea. I don't miss the Diet Coke, although I still have one occasionally...like maybe once or twice a week, instead of one every morning.

I know there are better teas available, but the supermarket varieties are convenient for now. I've looked online and found a whole world of tea that's just waiting for me to explore.

[debunix]

If you like those, there's nothing wrong with that. It does suggest that you have wonderful discoveries in store. I've had some decent teas from Tazo (a friend has shared them with me from time to time), have built a collection of dried herbs etc that I use to make herbal teas on the ingredient labels on the back of some of celestial seasonings packages. Do you have Rishi available in your shops? I've had some quite decent puerh, Wuyi oolong, yunnan black tea, and jasmine from them' that I used to drink before I discovered my local tea shops and online tea resources.

[mckenderson]

No, none of those that you mentioned. My local grocery store only carries the Twinings, Tazo, Bigelow, Stash, and Celestial Seasonings. Which is fine for me right now. I plan to look up some tea shops in the area to get something different. I also plan to look online as well.

[debunix]

You've got a lot of good stuff in store, then.

I'd suggest picking a couple of online vendors, and trying a whole lot of samples to see what you like. Avoid buying any more than 2 oz/50g of any one tea at first, until you have a very good idea of what you like. I've gotten lots of samples from Norbu, Yunnan Sourcing, Jing Tea Shop, and Den's Tea, and have ordered multiple times from each of those shops; and I've seen some very thoughtfully put together sample packs from Adagio, though I've not ordered through them, as their stock runs more towards the flavored teas which are not my thing.

[BioHorn]

You are in for a lot of fun. Keep us posted as to your experiences! There is a ton of great information on the forum.

I'd suggest buying smaller amounts of different varieties.

[ethan]

Adding to the good advice you've received:
I'm 60 & only started to seriously appreciate the difference in quality after I decided (2 yrs. ago) to look for tea that I could drink w/o milk or sweeteners. I've also learned that some black teas can be used for > one infusion. I've found I can enjoy better tea for the same $ I used to spend on supermarket tea, now that I drink it straight & sometimes use the same leaves more than once.

[mckenderson]

It's really interesting to see the types of teas available, much more than your typical Chai tea, etc. There are so many combos, it's mind boggling. Yet, that's part of the fun, trying all the different types of tea.

I've got a few places I'm going to get started. Adagio, Republic of Tea, and I've seen a few on Amazon I plan to try. Until then, I'm going to keep my Twinings and Tazo, I seem to like those for some reason.

My wife is a coffee drinker and is excited that I am into tea now. She says she understands the fascination with tea. Likewise, I tell her I understand how it is to have that first cup in the morning!

[gingkoseto]

I'm ok with a Twining's Ceylon black tea that I got from supermarket. I got a teacup set from tea forte that's quite convenient to make milk tea and found I would generally prefer Indian and Ceylon black to Chinese black in terms of milk tea. But I was too stingy to try any of the expensive Chinese or Indian tea for milk tea. I guess I don't need to get the best of everything

I like Twining's tea tin very much. It seems more handy than a lot of better looking tins. But I feel supermarket teas are not cheap at all, compared with online sources of fine tea. Otherwise I would have got more Twining's tea just for their tins.

[mckenderson]

I've found that I like Chai and Earl Grey for sure. I suppose I like the flavored teas in that regard. Irish Breakfast is good with splenda or truvia.

I'm taking those three with me on a camping trip next week. In the past, everyone else is always huddled around the morning campfire with a cup of coffee. I'll be joining them with my cup of tea!