Drink all the Tea in 2024!

[RetiredAt63]

Umm, late to the party.

Isn't herbal tea a tisane in England?  Or only in France?

I have been drinking chamomile tea before bed, it really does help with sleep.  More important, it helps me get back to sleep in the middle of the night.  I had some Twinings and it tasted old (it wasn't) so ordered the loose chamomile from David's Tea.  Much much better.  Actual intact dried flower buds instead of powder.

I wanted to start drinking more green tea with jasmine flowers.  Twinings has green tea with jasmine artificial flavouring.  Really?  Ick.  I found some real jasmine tea from China at a local Asian grocery store (not T&T).

I have to admit I like some of the David's teas that are all fancy - but hot chocolate tea is a lot better for me than real hot chocolate, way less sugar and I get the black tea (and caffeine!) first thing in the morning.  The fruity ones are great in summer.

[eyesonthehorizon]

Umm, late to the party.

Isn't herbal tea a tisane in England?  Or only in France? ...

I've been biting my tongue (actually, writing & deleting that suggestion) since it came up but SINCE YOU ASKED!! Tisane is the proper generic term for the liquor resulting from steeping plants in liquid, traditionally medicinal, coming from a reference to steeped barley (delicious.) A tisane of leaves, flowers, or small stems in hot water, usually for a short period, are an infusion, which refers to both the process & the result. Decoction is the process & result of making a tisane by actively boiling & allowing ingredients to then simmer for an extended period, usually woody or root parts.

Thus tea is a tisane, prepared by infusion, specifically of the leaves of C. sinensis. </nerd>

[RetiredAt63]

Umm, late to the party.

Isn't herbal tea a tisane in England?  Or only in France? ...

I've been biting my tongue (actually, writing & deleting that suggestion) since it came up but SINCE YOU ASKED!! Tisane is the proper generic term for the liquor resulting from steeping plants in liquid, traditionally medicinal, coming from a reference to steeped barley (delicious.) A tisane of leaves, flowers, or small stems in hot water, usually for a short period, are an infusion, which refers to both the process & the result. Decoction is the process & result of making a tisane by actively boiling & allowing ingredients to then simmer for an extended period, usually woody or root parts.

Thus tea is a tisane, prepared by infusion, specifically of the leaves of C. sinensis. </nerd>

And decoction is the term I needed to know for making plant-based dyes.  ;-)

Because most get simmered or boiled (depends on the plant) for at least an hour before being strained for dyeing.  And yes, strained just like a tisane, because who wants to be picking out bits of leaves and stems and chunks of roots from their wool or linen yarns?

[eyesonthehorizon]

Umm, late to the party.

Isn't herbal tea a tisane in England?  Or only in France? ...

I've been biting my tongue (actually, writing & deleting that suggestion) since it came up but SINCE YOU ASKED!! Tisane is the proper generic term for the liquor resulting from steeping plants in liquid, traditionally medicinal, coming from a reference to steeped barley (delicious.) A tisane of leaves, flowers, or small stems in hot water, usually for a short period, are an infusion, which refers to both the process & the result. Decoction is the process & result of making a tisane by actively boiling & allowing ingredients to then simmer for an extended period, usually woody or root parts.

Thus tea is a tisane, prepared by infusion, specifically of the leaves of C. sinensis. </nerd>

And decoction is the term I needed to know for making plant-based dyes.  ;-)

Because most get simmered or boiled (depends on the plant) for at least an hour before being strained for dyeing.  And yes, strained just like a tisane, because who wants to be picking out bits of leaves and stems and chunks of roots from their wool or linen yarns?

YES! Most dyes are decoctions. Hibiscus/ jamaica flowers produce a tisane by infusion for a delicious beverage, hot or cold (regularly agua fresca), or by decoction, as a dye, so there's a whole ton of overlap. Our attraction to these colors as dyes isn't unrelated to why we like the teas tisanes, either, most the colors signify something about the nutrition involved, like the anthocyanins which give hibiscus its color.

I'm about to boot myself thoroughly from the spirit of this group by ordering more tea, though. I'm low on my preferred yunnan.

[Green_Tea]

Update:

- 122 / 100  bags of black tea - switch to loose afterwards

Teas that are post, nearing or without best before date:
- Chai 10/9/8/8
- Ginger curcuma basil 7/6/2/1
- green tea mint 18/17/15/15
- green tea mint 1
- rose (2)

Black tea is progressing well at one to two bags a day. Decided to now drink some tea AND some coffee after a short review of literature pseudo-scientific online articles.
Kind of stuck with the green tea mint (also why I won't switch to probably even healthier green tea instead of black) and the chai...
 DIDN'T buy more loose black tea yesterday 🥳🤪

[meadow lark]

Herbal:
Revolution Southern Mint 202
Tazo Glazed Lemon Loaf  289
Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice 2
Hayley’s Lemon & Ginger 2
Twinnings Heartea 5
Tazo Passion 7
C.S. Sleepy Time 12 7
Spice & Tea Exchange Gingerbread Cookie 2 oz
S&T Bourbon Chestnut 2 oz


I’m down to 18 tea bags, of the tisanes 🙂 at least.  Of course, I have been gifted like 37 bags of a tea I thought I would enjoy but… not really.  I am very excited to finish.  I’m not sure if I will buy a variety straight away, or if I will try to just buy the kind I like for ice tea as our weather is due to change and become hot in the next 1-2 months.

I’ve made very little progress on the caffeinated teas.  But it’s good to have goals!

[Metalcat]

Thanks to this thread popping up, I'm gonna make herbal tea today!!

The habit fell off again, but I have a long day of back to back clients, and I like the comfort of my tea.

Today will be a nice, bitter Tulsi.

[lhamo]

I haven't done an inventory, but we also have WAAAAY too many teas.  More now that I inherited a bunch from my auntie when cleaning out her house. 

I did finally try a Trader Joe's Rooibos that I got many years ago.  It was meh.  The rest of that box will go to Buy nothing. 

[Serendip]

Steeped a pile of herbs overnight so that I have something besides water to take to work...sage, nettle, chamomile & mint

[StarBright]

Joining!

I don't have a ton, but I have enough that I should finish it off before I buy more.

ETA the teas (don't know how much of each I have, but it is a lot of loose leaf):

Caffeinated:
Bird and Blend Great British Cuppa
Bird and Blend Toffee Bonfire
Bird and Blend Apple Strudel
Bird and Blend Enchanted Narnia
August Uncommon Violet Metallic
August Uncommon Southern Sugar Bourbon (or something like that)
Good Earth Sweet and Spicy (I finished but then my mom gifted me a couple of boxes!)
Bird and Blend Builders Brew
Tazo Earl Grey


Herbal:
David's Tea Mother's Little Helper
David's Tea Valerian Nights - 1 box down, 1 to go!
Bird and Blend Fruit Salad
Bird and Blend Mistletoe and Wine (My favorite! and it was discontinued last year and I'm almost out)
Vermont Artisan Coffee Hibiscus
Vermont Artisan Coffee ginger lemongrass
David's Tea Chamomile Dreamland
David's Tea 911
Celestial Seasonings Apple Cinnamon
Traditional Medicinal Throat Coat
Traditional Medicinal Turmeric Ginger
some sort of mushroom chai mix from Davids'

I was doing so well and then my mom gave me three boxes of teas that she doesn't like :)

My favorite seasonal teas and herbals are on sale at Bird and Blend right now. I'm waffling on whether or not I should order before they disappear. They are only available during Lent and it usually takes me about three weeks to receive my order, so I could conceivably make a huge dent in my existing supply before the tea actually arrived.

[Green_Tea]

Yeah, why not?

I like drinking tea and I like offering some to visitors. That's why in this challenge I'm only using up the teas that are getting old or that I don't like (because those I don't offer to visitors neither). I'm keeping the others and would absolutely buy the ones you are talking about if there weren't other reasons against it.

[meadow lark]

Exactly.  The point of this challenge is really twofold.  Firstly to use up the old so I have reason to buy fresh and new, and secondly, more importantly, to get enjoyment from what I already own.  And it has worked that way for me, at least.  I’ve had 2 cups today - a mint and a tropical white tea.  Without this challenge I might not have had either.

[Sibley]

Had 2 cups of tea yesterday, and my usual morning cup today. :)

I forget who posted re the insulated mugs. I know, and have some, but they are used to take milk to work for lunch. I have 1 insulated mug that is used for tea if I have an asthma flare up and am coughing uncontrollably, because sipping hot liquid near constantly will put a massive lid on the cough while the meds take effect. Other than that, I don't use that mug (guests use it sometimes). Tea is drunk from regular mugs, which I have several sizes of and I am extremely picky about. Basically, elements of my daily life are loosely governed by weird rules that cause no harm, make me happy, and not following them doesn't make me unhappy, so I just go with it.

[lhamo]

I also had two cups yesterday!  A darjeeling from bags I got from my Auntie -- they are technically expired but taste fine to me -- and some kind of orange spicy thing that I should have passed on but at least now I know I don't like it so much.  It was also on the old side, but the perfumey scent was almost overpowering when I took it out of the bag, and didn't really dissipate much even after I put extra half and half in the cup.  There are still a few of those and they are going on the Buy Nothing giveaway pile. 

[meadow lark]

I’ve turned the corner.  My non-caffeinated is down to
5 Sleepy Time
9 Glazed Lemon Loaf
And some Caramel Apple I don’t love and may give away.  It is also getting hot so I will start drinking more ice tea.

I ordered a decaf Earl Gray and Tazo Passion.  Woohoo!  Yay, time to buy the tea!

[Metalcat]

I have totally dropped the ball again on getting through my herbal tea collection

:(

The rate-limiting step is that I need to clean the teapot to make a new pot of tea and it has an infuser and I hate cleaning the tea leaf bits out of it. DH cleans it and makes my morning tea for me, so if I never have herbal tea, I never need to fuss with the teapot.

Now that I'm working a lot more, fussing with the teapot during the day just doesn't appeal to me.

[PMG]

Could you use some of the disposable bags just for those mid work rush times?  I know they aren’t ideal but I understand the struggle of loose tea being too much to tackle in a busy work day.

[Metalcat]

Could you use some of the disposable bags just for those mid work rush times?  I know they aren’t ideal but I understand the struggle of loose tea being too much to tackle in a busy work day.

That would require me to buy *more* tea. My goal isn't to drink more tea, it's to get through the pile of high end herbal tea (sorry, infusions) that I have in the cupboard.

[StarBright]

I made it through a ton of tea! So I ordered more tea :)
New teas in red.


Caffeinated:
Bird and Blend Great British Cuppa
Bird and Blend Toffee Bonfire
Bird and Blend Apple Strudel
Bird and Blend Enchanted Narnia
August Uncommon Violet Metallic
August Uncommon Southern Sugar Bourbon (or something like that)
Good Earth Sweet and Spicy (I finished but then my mom gifted me a couple of boxes!)
Bird and Blend Builders Brew
Tazo Earl Grey
Bird and Blend Creamy Mint Oolong
Bird and Blend Campfires and Vampires (this is green tea, rose and cinnamon and it is one of my favorites!)
Bird and Blend Cream Egg (a black tea with vanilla and cocoa bean)
Bird and Blend Hot Cross Bun (a tea blend w/ sultana, vanilla and cinnamon) my other favorite from this shop and only offered seasonally


Herbal:
David's Tea Mother's Little Helper
David's Tea Valerian Nights - 1 box down, 1 to go!
Bird and Blend Fruit Salad
Bird and Blend Mistletoe and Wine (My favorite! and it was discontinued last year and I'm almost out)
Vermont Artisan Coffee Hibiscus
Vermont Artisan Coffee ginger lemongrass
David's Tea Chamomile Dreamland
David's Tea 911
Celestial Seasonings Apple Cinnamon
Traditional Medicinal Throat Coat
Traditional Medicinal Turmeric Ginger
some sort of mushroom chai mix from Davids'
Bird and Blend Gingerbread Chai (this is for DH)
Bird and Blend Moondrop Dreams (lavender, lemon and chamomile)
Unknown Brand -Ginger pineapple mango - gift from friend when I caught covid again

[PMG]

Could you use some of the disposable bags just for those mid work rush times?  I know they aren’t ideal but I understand the struggle of loose tea being too much to tackle in a busy work day.

That would require me to buy *more* tea. My goal isn't to drink more tea, it's to get through the pile of high end herbal tea (sorry, infusions) that I have in the cupboard.

Oh, I meant the empty bags that you fill yourself. It would still mean an additional purchase but not more tea!

[Metalcat]

Could you use some of the disposable bags just for those mid work rush times?  I know they aren’t ideal but I understand the struggle of loose tea being too much to tackle in a busy work day.

That would require me to buy *more* tea. My goal isn't to drink more tea, it's to get through the pile of high end herbal tea (sorry, infusions) that I have in the cupboard.

Oh, I meant the empty bags that you fill yourself. It would still mean an additional purchase but not more tea!

Ah...no, not willing to buy disposable items to drink more tea. I could buy a teaball, but that's still buying more stuff when I have a system that works perfectly well if I'm not being lazy.

[Sibley]

Metalcat, you realize that you are being slightly silly, right? It's ok, I am frequently silly. Just ask your DH to use herbal teas for your morning tea for a while. Same routine, different tea.

I had a lovely cup of my favorite Countess Grey tea this morning. It was a wonderful counterpoint to the latest poor decision made by the cat, who went down in a crash along with the phone and lamp. (All ok except the lampshade.) I am now at work, which is sad because I would love another cup.

[Metalcat]

Metalcat, you realize that you are being slightly silly, right? It's ok, I am frequently silly. Just ask your DH to use herbal teas for your morning tea for a while. Same routine, different tea.

I had a lovely cup of my favorite Countess Grey tea this morning. It was a wonderful counterpoint to the latest poor decision made by the cat, who went down in a crash along with the phone and lamp. (All ok except the lampshade.) I am now at work, which is sad because I would love another cup.

I don't drink caffeinated tea for fun though, I started drinking it because I was having mild narcolepsy-ish symptoms and my MD wanted to put me on stimulants. I was like "n'ah, I'll just start with small doses of caffeine" and I've been fine since.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Also late to this, but I'm definitely trying to work through my tea stash. Like similar commenters, I've been having chamomile before bed, and it's lovely. I just finished a box of lemon ginger, so that's now out of the way. I probably have 8 boxes of tea in the pantry, and maybe 30 loose individual bags of tea to work through.

[eyesonthehorizon]

I have totally dropped the ball again on getting through my herbal tea collection

:(

The rate-limiting step is that I need to clean the teapot to make a new pot of tea and it has an infuser and I hate cleaning the tea leaf bits out of it. DH cleans it and makes my morning tea for me, so if I never have herbal tea, I never need to fuss with the teapot.

Now that I'm working a lot more, fussing with the teapot during the day just doesn't appeal to me.

Not in a million years would I have paid for one of those plastic tea infuser things which drains out the bottom. Then a friend gave theirs to me. I resent how convenient it is to rinse leaves out of by comparison to any of my many tea baskets for my teapots, because it feels like a silly thing to own & much less aesthetically pleasing than said teapots, but it’s also very helpful for dissolving other solids into hot liquid, like sugar for flavored syrups, & technically it could easily do double duty as a gravy separator if I were willing to wash oil out of it. I do use it more than any of my other infusers whenever it’s above 70 degrees.

While that would represent buying more stuff, someone else might be as resentfully pleased to get it secondhand from you when you’re back to a normal amount of time pressure.

Tea balls are almost always too small & too fiddly in my opinion but if I were local I’d offer you at least two of the better ones, I inherited … several.

[Metalcat]

I have totally dropped the ball again on getting through my herbal tea collection

:(

The rate-limiting step is that I need to clean the teapot to make a new pot of tea and it has an infuser and I hate cleaning the tea leaf bits out of it. DH cleans it and makes my morning tea for me, so if I never have herbal tea, I never need to fuss with the teapot.

Now that I'm working a lot more, fussing with the teapot during the day just doesn't appeal to me.

Not in a million years would I have paid for one of those plastic tea infuser things which drains out the bottom. Then a friend gave theirs to me. I resent how convenient it is to rinse leaves out of by comparison to any of my many tea baskets for my teapots, because it feels like a silly thing to own & much less aesthetically pleasing than said teapots, but it’s also very helpful for dissolving other solids into hot liquid, like sugar for flavored syrups, & technically it could easily do double duty as a gravy separator if I were willing to wash oil out of it. I do use it more than any of my other infusers whenever it’s above 70 degrees.

While that would represent buying more stuff, someone else might be as resentfully pleased to get it secondhand from you when you’re back to a normal amount of time pressure.

Tea balls are almost always too small & too fiddly in my opinion but if I were local I’d offer you at least two of the better ones, I inherited … several.

What is this thing of which you speak...??

[eyesonthehorizon]

I have totally dropped the ball again on getting through my herbal tea collection

:(

The rate-limiting step is that I need to clean the teapot to make a new pot of tea and it has an infuser and I hate cleaning the tea leaf bits out of it. DH cleans it and makes my morning tea for me, so if I never have herbal tea, I never need to fuss with the teapot.

Now that I'm working a lot more, fussing with the teapot during the day just doesn't appeal to me.

Not in a million years would I have paid for one of those plastic tea infuser things which drains out the bottom. Then a friend gave theirs to me. I resent how convenient it is to rinse leaves out of by comparison to any of my many tea baskets for my teapots, because it feels like a silly thing to own & much less aesthetically pleasing than said teapots, but it’s also very helpful for dissolving other solids into hot liquid, like sugar for flavored syrups, & technically it could easily do double duty as a gravy separator if I were willing to wash oil out of it. I do use it more than any of my other infusers whenever it’s above 70 degrees.

While that would represent buying more stuff, someone else might be as resentfully pleased to get it secondhand from you when you’re back to a normal amount of time pressure.

Tea balls are almost always too small & too fiddly in my opinion but if I were local I’d offer you at least two of the better ones, I inherited … several.

What is this thing of which you speak...??

They all work about the same way: by sealing at a funnel below a filter at the bottom, using a pressure plate hanging by its “cork,” which lifts the sealing “cork” (silicone/ rubber stopper) & dispenses straight down when set on a cup that reaches said plate under its solid foot/ feet. I’m not certain brands are relevant. I just image-searched three of the popular ones - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tea+dripper+handybrew+perfectea&t=ffip&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

Since the meshes are unusually protected they tend to be very fine & thus less tea matter sticks to them. You just rinse like you would a mug.

[Metalcat]

Ah, I see, yes, that would be easier to clean.

Hmm...I think that's what I'll get when my bodum dies, which it's in its way to doing. The old bodum teapots had metal infusers, but the new ones are plastic and they wear over time and start getting loose in the pot, which can be messy when pouring.

I also don't have anything that works well at the Newfoundland house, just tea balls, so I could definitely get something like that for the other house.

[eyesonthehorizon]

I usually like the punched steel sort of brewing basket for ease of rinsing; the two makes of these I’ve seen close up use ultrafine mesh which is arguably even easier, but only lasts because it’s at low risk of puncture in that vessel (I want to say mine is probably ten years old from when I received it.) The one downside is you probably want to drain it fully at once but you can always drain into a sensibly sized teapot for serving too.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Also late to this, but I'm definitely trying to work through my tea stash. Like similar commenters, I've been having chamomile before bed, and it's lovely. I just finished a box of lemon ginger, so that's now out of the way. I probably have 8 boxes of tea in the pantry, and maybe 30 loose individual bags of tea to work through.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm less likely to drink tea throughout the day. I remembered that i have iced tea bags as well, so I've been adding one of those to my water bottles. Adds a nice subtle flavor, and is helping me work through a new box of tea bags.

[englishteacheralex]

I bought some loose leaf lemon-ginger herbal tea from Lupica back in January. It was on sale because it was set to expire in February. I bought it thinking that I'd start drinking herbal tea at bedtime, but turns out that when I do that I wind up waking up at 4 am desperately needing to pee. Hot herbal tea is not appealing to me during the day because I don't have time to wait for something to brew if it doesn't have caffeine.

SO I dumped a bunch of the loose leaf tea into my big pitcher, filled it with cold water and a little honey, and let it steep in the fridge for 48 hours. Strained it last night and now am drinking it. Delightful! A few weeks ago, I tried making that loose leaf iced tea with boiling water and then putting it in the fridge, but it was bitter and overly concentrated. We still drank it, but doing cold brew is better, I think.

Anyway I have resolved that this cold brew tea method is also going to get us through the giant box of cinnamon herbal tea that Mr ETA bought from Costco two years ago.

[meadow lark]

Currently have cold brew Tazo Passion and regular Ice tea in the fridge.

This morning I announced success.  I got down to Sleepy Time on the herbal side and on the Tea side Jasmine and Earl Gray and Decaf Luzianne Ice Tea bags.  (Plus the 3 new boxes of tea I’ve bought).

Please note, there is some creative accounting going on.  This morning I looked at my tea and said, ‘just admit you don’t like this one and this one and this one.’

The ones that are individually packaged I’m going to drop off at the food box.  Oh wait.  That’s near my MIL’s house and I really don’t want to see her.  I’m going to have to weigh my choices…

[MaybeBabyMustache]

I've used up a box of chamomile tea, and I'm making good progress on the iced tea packets (I add them to my water bottle in the afternoon, for some additional flavor). I'm also have 1-2 cups of hibiscus tea in the evenings. I have a box of lemon ginger I just opened & is definitely stronger than I'm used to. I need to steep it for less time.

[Linea_Norway]

I used a smallish empty ice cream box to store my remaining herbal teas. After I finished the types that I didn't like, and bought one box with a new taste, all bags fit into this relatively small box. My new favorite is Sweet Chili. The newest type is called Nighttime and containes chamomile. The third is some licorice tea.

I heard recently on a podcast that licorice root is really unhealthy and we should really only consume it in small quantities. It affects blood pressure in a bad way.

After searching all Asian grocery shops in the wide region where I live now, and ending up disappointed each time,, I finally found a shop that sells my favorite Ceylon tea. It is at 90 kms one direction. But we had to be there anyway. I bought 3 kilo bags and told the shop owner I was very grateful that they sold it, as their competitors don't.

[englishteacheralex]

Earl Gray with Hazelnut Creamer

Is it healthy? Nope. But it's amazing. This is my new favorite hot drink. It tastes like boba tea (which I also LOVE) without the boba.

That is all.