Leah's Tea Recommendations: Loose Leaf and Bagged Tea

Today I decided to make a little list of teas that I recommend to the readers of the UK and US. On the first image, you'll find the best places to acquire loose leaf tea, which is the highest quality of tea. The second graphic depicts the best bagged tea you can find in The UK or the US. Many people on Twitter have asked me recommendations on what brands they can trust, well here they are.

A couple exceptions should be noted. Lipton is on my graphic, but only for bagged tea. Their loose leaf tea is not good at all. Tiny tiny pieces and not a very good taste. However, their bagged tea here in the UK is quite nice and in the US if you're looking for something as simple as black tea gets, it's a great option. I hope you enjoy these graphics as much as I did making them. If you see a brand and want further recommendations on what kind of tea you'd like in that certain brand, comment below or tweet me (click the bird on the side bar) and I'll happily help you find a delicious tea.

Current tea I'm drinking: Twinings' (bagged) vanilla black tea. Oh so good! Below the graphics see the little note I've left for people interested in a tea exchange.

If anyone is interested in exchanging tea, I'm looking to do that. I think it would be fun to trade tea from anywhere in the world. If you're interested, click whichever contact link best suits you on the right. I'm in the UK, but I would be willing to ship to other countries!

PS- many tea companies I have listed are on my Amazon store. I have one for the UK and one for the US. Check them out!

Go to Leah's Tea Store US

Go To Leah's Tea Store UK

Leah

Mixing Tea: Arnold Palmer Style!

Today I decided to do something a little bit experimental. I wanted caffeine, but at the same time I wanted something sweet. So I steeped some of Teavana's Strawberry Lemonade tea for about 5 minutes. The longer you steep the sweet tea, the sweeter it will be. Then, after removing the Strawberry Lemonade tea I added some Adagio's Irish Breakfast to my infuser and let that steep about 3 minutes. I then had made my own Arnold Palmer. If you're not familiar with an Arnold Palmer, it's a drink in the United States where you mix 1 part lemonade and one part Iced (black) tea. It's enjoyed mostly in the summertime because it's refreshing with a little bit of sweetness added. Or, if you love tea all year round like I do, you can enjoy this beverage in the winter. In the U.S. Arnold Palmers are sold locally in cans, you don't even have to lift a finger.

Here's the result. Adding milk is optional, of course!

I love this drink because it's sweet and it still has caffeine. Stay tuned for an upcoming guest post by artist Carne Griffiths, innovative artist that uses tea as one of his mediums for painting! Tweet me if you have any questions for him! The twitter link is on the right. 

Leah

Breakfast Tea

Typically in the morning is when you want your stronger, more robust tea. My first cup of tea for the day is always black tea, mainly because it has a lot of caffeine and it wakes me up a bit like coffee would do. When I was younger I would always go for English Breakfast in the morning. English Breakfast tea is also found in most of the lower-end teabag market in stores. For example Tetley, or Lipton are variants of English Breakfast, but it is important to note that these are lower quality and are much weaker teas.

What exactly is English Breakfast tea anyways? I would describe it as a full bodied, rich tea that is typically a blend of several different teas. These teas are usually from India and Africa. Most English Breakfast tea, including the kind found in teabags, is usually a blend of Assam, Ceylon and Kenyan tea. As seen above in the photo, if you're looking for a good blend of English Breakfast, I would suggest Twinings. It's a good price for great tea. Buy in the US or the UK. The only issue with the Twinings tea is that it has small leaves, so if you're a teabag user it isn't a problem, however if you drink loose tea then you will need a relatively fine strainer.

There are also variants of English Breakfast teas, such as Irish Breakfast and Scottish breakfast. Since trying Irish Breakfast recently last year, it has been my go to cup of morning tea. It is stronger than English Breakfast because it has more Assam in it and can be described as malty. With any breakfast tea you have to be careful, because if you brew it for longer than 5 minutes, it can be too strong to drink and neither milk nor sugar can save it. As seen above, Adagio make my favorite kind of Irish Breakfast tea. It's delicious. You can find it here for the UK or here for the US. 

Also a choice to bear in mind is Scottish Breakfast, although I've never had it myself. It's the strongest of the three breakfast teas, because it was made back when Scotland's water was soft, which means the water lacks the natural elements typically found in water after it goes through the ground, such as magnesium and calcium. In some Scottish Breakfast teas, you can detect a hint of smokiness. I have yet to find any true reason as to why the Scottish Breakfast tastes stronger, but if I had to guess I would say more Assam and less Ceylon, since Assam tea is very strong and caffeinated and Ceylon is a very weak black tea.

My boyfriend got me this for Valentine's Day. Thought you might enjoy it too!

Leah