I drink a lot of tea. When I moved last summer, it took more than one box (small-ish boxes, but still) to pack up all my tea to bring to my new apartment. From time to time, people ask me about tea, and how to get into tea, and where the best place to get it is. So! Here is a super post aimed at demistifying tea and getting you to drink a cup. Maybe you want to cut down on caffeine (that's how I started dabbling with herbal teas). Maybe you just want to expand the types of beverages you drink (a perfect goal). I welcome you with open arms into my metaphorical tea cabinet.
Types of Tea, Generally
Black
Black tea is the classic. If you've ever had a cup of Lipton, you've had black tea. Chai tea is black tea with spices (fun fact: chai actually means tea, so when Americans say "chai tea" we're just saying "tea tea"). Earl grey is black tea with bergamot. Black tea has the most caffeine (though still less than coffee), and it's the kind you are most likely to put milk and/or sugar in. In general, I'm kind of all about shirking tea "rules" — if you like the way you make your tea, that's what really matters! Personally, I only drink black tea in the morning, and usually with a splash of soy milk, which is already a little sweet, so I don't typically add any extra sweetener. If you wanted to get fancy, you could froth your milk to make something more like a tea latte.
Green
Green has less caffeine than black, but isn't caffeine free. Jasmine green tea is very popular (and delicious). Tastes great with a bit of honey. Personally I think green tea makes delicious iced tea. You typically would not put any milk, unless you're making matcha, which is a powdered form of green tea.
Oolong
Also has caffeine. If you've ever ordered Chinese food and gotten free bags of tea with your order, that's oolong. The taste can vary wildly depending on how it's produced. This is definitely the tea I have the least experience in but I've been branching out a bit.
White
The least caffeine! I remember learning about white tea from a Snapple commercial: It's just regular black tea that's been picked before it's fully mature. Has a much lighter taste, and sometimes is mixed with other teas (especially herbals). Trader Joe's has a really good pomegranate white tea, which Hayley considers "god tier" (she's right).
Herbal
Also called tisanes. Absolutely no caffeine because it doesn't actually have any tea leaves. Can be literally anything! Chamomile is herbal, sleep time tea is herbal, peppermint tea is herbal. Many of these are also excellent iced.
How do I figure out what type I like?
The only real answer is to try it out. A lot of brands make sampler boxes with lots of different flavors that will really let you try the gamut. If you are a total newbie, I really recommend Bigelow Tea, which is pretty affordable. When I decided I wanted to try out herbal teas, I got a small sampler box of Bigelow from the grocery store (you can also get this extremely thorough sampler on Amazon). Tazo Tea (this is what they sell at Starbucks) also has a sampler. For an upgrade pick, you can get a sampler from Harney & Sons (currently having a 20 percent off sale!). If you live in New York, H&S also has a lovely store and cafe in Soho. If you're feeling rich, you can get a sampler from David's Teas (which makes delicious tea but usually I only let myself buy any if they're having a sale, since it's pricier than I personally want to spend). If you already know you like tea and just want to explore more options, a friend got me the Simple Loose Leaf tea subscription for my birthday, and it's really nice!
Now that we have our sampler, we are going to try the tea. When we like a cup, we are going to go back to the packaging, and see what the ingredients are. That will give us a clue as to what ingredients to look for in other teas that we might also like. Personally, I know that I really like hibiscus teas, teas with apple and orange, and teas with cinnamon.
How do I make a cup of tea? Do I need fancy equipment?
To make a cup of hot tea, boil 8 ounces (one cup) of water on the stove. Put the tea bag in your cup. Add sweeteners, if using. Pour the water over the tea bag. Wait the time given on the packaging (Usually this is between three and five minutes. If making sure you don't mess up the timing stresses you out, set a timer on your phone. If you're making herbal tea, you usually can't over steep the tea, but if you're making the other types, this is the one part you might mess up). Remove the tea bag. Add milk, if using. If the water is too hot for you, add a splash of cold water or an ice cube (Don't add anything cold before the tea is done steeping, because it will fuck up the taste). Enjoy your tea. If, like me, you like a large mug, you might have to play around to figure out how many tea bags you want to put in your cup. Sometimes I double up, and sometimes one is fine.
Some teas will tell you a specific temperature to heat the water to. I am giving you permission to ignore that, unless you have one of those electric kettles that has temperature controls on them. But since you're probably American, you probably don't have one of those. Please do not heat your water in the microwave. Do not use the hot water setting on a Keurig, because the water will still have a weird coffee flavor to it (for the same reason, don't buy tea k-cups). If you work in an office with one of those coffee machines that has a hot water spout, that's perfect, use that guy. If there is old water in your stove top kettle, dump it and use fresh water for your cup.
As you continue your journey into the world of tea, you will realize that loose leaf tea is way cheaper per cup. At first, it will seem extremely intimidating to fill your own tea bags or filters, but I promise as long as you have a teaspoon, you can do it. These guys are far and away my favorite tea steepers. They have small enough holes that your tea will not escape them and float around in your cup, they're dishwasher safe, and they come with a little petal to place them on when you take them out of your cup. If you decided you never want to go on a loose leaf journey, I respect you. Some people who drink loose leaf tea are kind of smug about it, and I encourage you to ignore them. Again, it's cheaper, but if you really just want to stick to bags, that's fine too.
My Favorite Teas
In the morning I am usually reaching for my baggies of PG Tipps. I bought a box of this because it's what Lisa Vanderpump drinks, and I think it tastes great!
My favorite Bigelow Tea flavors are lemon ginger, orange and spice, and chamomile. Lemon ginger is allegedly good for your tummy, which is maybe fake, but at least has the placebo effect on me.
Tazo passion tea is my favorite iced tea at Starbucks and it's just as good at home.
When I am sick, I drink a ton of echinacea tea (with or without honey). Allegedly it helps your immune system. Is that true? No clue, but it doesn't make it worse.
Whittard makes an afternoon tea that's a delicious mix of black and green tea.
My favorite Harney & Sons flavors:
Winter White Earl Grey, an earl grey made with white tea instead of black (I still put milk). Because it's a white tea, it's perfect for the afternoon.
Chai (Tazo also make a pretty good chai)
Indigo Punch (I only make this iced)
Raspberry Herbal (I will drink this hot or iced). To me this is a late afternoon treat.
Many of my friends love their Paris tea.
My favorite David's Tea flavors:
Serenity Now is my favorite. While writing this newsletter I went to make a cup and realized, tragically, that I'd run out. It's very soothing but still super flavorful. This is my number one "Oh my god I am so anxious I think I'm going to die" tea.
Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait is delicious hot or iced.
Just Peachy is a perfect fruit tea! I never realized how much I like fruit teas until I sat down to write this.
I actually do not like Forever Nuts, which I think smells wonderful and tastes like nothing, but it's my mom and brother's favorite so maybe you will like it too! They always put honey.
David's Tea also has a lot of rooibos tea options, and I really recommend trying those out. Rooibos is a tea that comes from Africa and is also caffeine free! Their cinnamon rooibos chai is a great chai alternative. This birthday cake tea is also really festive and fun.
Victoria's Perfect Method For Making One Glass of Iced Tea
If you start clicking around the tea websites, you'll see a lot of them sell iced tea baggies. Those are for making big pitchers full, and if that's something you want to do, grab some of those. But! Sometimes you just want one glass of iced tea. This is how I make one, and you can easily double this (or cut it in half) to make a bigger cup:
Boil 8 oz. of water (you can eye ball this or use a measuring cup, whatever).
Pour the boiling water over the amount of tea you would use for 16 oz. (so two tea bags, or two scoops of loose leaf tea in a steeper). Let it steep for the normal amount of time. It will be darker than normal. Remove the tea. If you want to add sugar or honey or milk, now is your chance (if you add brown sugar and milk to breakfast tea, you will make delicious milk tea).
Take another, larger glass. Fill it to the rim with ice. Just tons of ice.
Pour the hot tea over it. Most of the ice will melt. Ideally, there will be enough left to make a delicious cold cup of tea. If not, add more ice.
Enjoy. Personally I always need a straw. If the tea isn't sweet enough, throw an artificial sweetener in there (sugar and honey won't melt!). If you only have sugar or honey, mix the amount you want with a tiny bit of hot water until it dissolves and then you can throw it in.
I asked people on Twitter if they had questions about tea and I've answered almost all of them already, but here are two more, which i think go hand in hand:
I feel like I need a lot of honey to make tea taste good but I see people all the time saying they use no sweeteners. Is it because I have no couth or are their teas that taste good without sweeteners and I’m drinking the wrong ones?
and
it never seems like tea has any flavor. It smells delicious but just tastes like hot water in my mouth. Is there any tea that will change my mind? Or is this a feature-not-a-bug thing?
I think there's an idea that there's a "right" way to drink tea, and I reject it. At the end of the day, if you like the way it tastes, that's all that matters. If you put honey or sugar or Equal in your tea, that's great. Drown your tea in milk, or leave the bag in for too long. Queen Elizabeth is not coming to yell at you.
Different teas definitely taste different, and taste differently to different people. Like I said above, there are teas my family loves that I think don't taste like anything. It's possible you've just tried teas that are super fragrant but ultimately kind of flavorless. I would just keep mixing it up until you find something you do like.
Why do I like tea? It tastes good. It's inexpensive per cup. It's a nice little ritual to do for myself — to take six minutes to make myself a cup of tea, just for me. I like suggesting flavors for my friends, and I like making them a cup when they come over. When I feel anxious and terrible, a cup almost always makes me feel better. Is that because tea has mystical healing powers? I don't think so! I think I've just Pavlov's dog-ed myself into being calmed down by a cup of tea by constantly drinking one when I'm feeling bad, which kind of rules. Is this bio-hacking?