Japanese Light Novel Book Club discussion

Do you drink tea? What's your favorite kind? Where do you buy your tea?

Talk tea here!

I recently tried a white peony tea. It was really tasty. Had a nice, light floral taste and smelled reeeeeaaaalllllyyyyy good.

I adore tea and drink it all the time. The white peony sounds great. My favorite to buy is a strawberry black from a bubble tea place called St. Alps. For home brewing I love so many it's tough, but I'll go with an oolong a friend brought me from China.

Oolong tea is super tasty! I love it when I need caffeine.

I love green tea. I like to make it with some of mango or peach tea. :)

I still tend to slightly prefer black teas, but greens are great too. I've had a jasmine green tea that was amazing.

I like more robust flavors but lean towards black with a bit of mango or peach. I also like red tea with vanilla. Yum.

Interesting fact. Red tea actually isn't "tea" in the same sense as white, green and black. It doesn't come from the same plant. :)

I love jasmine green tea, too. I used to have a bunch, but I used it up so I have to get up to the Asian grocery store near me to get more. Last time they were all out and it made me sad. D:

I'll be honest, I usually just drink green tea. I know that's rather plain. Sometimes when I'm feeling adventurous I'll drink black tea or English breakfast tea...which I think is the same thing.

I drink a lot of tea, but it's hard to whittle it down to just one that I like! I do drink a lot of green tea- the office I work at has some green ginger that's really good, and I do also like green jasmine. I really used to like the orange blossom green tea that Tazo made, but I can't find it anymore! When it gets late, though, I switch to herbal tea, to cut the caffine, and then, there are so many flavors that it's hard to say what I drink most often. I really like the Celestial Seasonings gingerbread one, though, and at home for Thanksgiving, I kept drinking a cranberry vanilla one my mom had bought.

@ Brandon: Nothing wrong with green tea. :) I love green tea.

@ Allison: Oooh... Cranberry Vanilla sounds like a really tasty tea. Who makes that one?

@Selena: I think it's another of the Celestial Seasonings holiday teas. It tastes nice, but it smells even better.

I'm quite a fan of chai, iced or hot. Green is my 2nd favorite.

Chai tea is so good. <3 Especially with whipped cream and cinnamon on top.

@Selena: Lol. Who doesn't love green tea? I just don't drink much else. You could say I'm a plane Jane when it comes to my tea.

@Allison: sounds like you've got some variety. I've never tried any holiday teas before.

I pretty much drink Chai or White I prefer fresh leaves gotta be hella careful as I'm alergic to treenuts, but Tazo is pretty good for cheap bags and I can just throw in it a microwave and it's good. For sweetener in hot tea I normally pour in honey, and to cool it off I often pour in a ton of milk.

For iced tea normally I just use 3 Tazo Darks for a 1/2 gallon, I got a little machine that makes it, then put in liberal amounts of sugar because I live in the south and I'm pretty sure not making your iced tea sweet results in a lynching down here.

Now if you want to talk good coffee you guys gotta try some stuff from the arab nations, I'm not sure if it's the beans or the way they cooked it I should of found out but it makes the western stuff taste like cheap swill.

I can't get by without Lapsang Souchong. It's like drinking a liquid bushfire.

H. wrote: "I can't get by without Lapsang Souchong. It's like drinking a liquid bushfire."

What's Lapsang Souchong? I don't think I've heard of that one before.

Selena wrote: "H. wrote: "I can't get by without Lapsang Souchong. It's like drinking a liquid bushfire."

What's Lapsang Souchong? I don't think I've heard of that one before."

Oh, please do give it a try if you get the chance. It's a strong black tea that has been smoked over pinewood fires. I've become addicted to the taste. Do you go in for the stronger teas or do you prefer the more delicate floral flavours?

H. wrote: "Do you go in for the stronger teas or do you prefer the more delicate floral flavours? "
I prefer more floral teas and mild flavors. :) Oolong's about as dark as I go tea-wise. I'm not as big on black tea, but if ever I see them tasting Lapsang Souchong somewhere, I'll definitely give it a shot.

My favorite, though, is a jasmine green tea I can get at my local Chinese grocery store. It's so light and has different tastes if you reuse the tea leaves. It's got a really strong grassy taste like green the first time, but it gets a more subtle floral note the second time. Plus, it's super quick to brew, with a suggested brew time of one minute which is always good for before I have to run to school.

It's hard to find Lapsang Souchong by me. If I want it, I have to go online or if I'm lucky one of the shi shi grocery stores might carry it.

You may want to try Russian Caravan first. It's a blend of oolong, Lapsang Souchong and other teas if you are not accustomed to very robust smoky teas. Unfortunately, it is as hard to get as Lapsang Souchong.

I love both. Very robust. That smoky flavor does it for me.

Selena wrote: "My favorite, though, is a jasmine green tea I can get at my local Chinese grocery store."

I want to try blending my own jasmine tea but I can't seem to find the correct jasmine plant. A good light tea like jasmine always settles my stomach if I'm unwell.

H. wrote: "I want to try blending my own jasmine tea but I can't seem to find the correct jasmine plant. A good light tea like jasmine always settles my stomach if I'm unwell."

You could always try buying plain jasmine tea leaves. You could also try this website: http://www.adagio.com/index.html

They let you create your own combinations of tea.

Jean wrote: "You may want to try Russian Caravan first."

That's what I started with too and then when I mentioned to the shop assistant what I specifically loved about the tea (the smokiness)she recommended that I just buy the lapsang souchong.

I'm currently trying a white tea. It has a nice light earthiness to it.

H. wrote: "I'm currently trying a white tea. It has a nice light earthiness to it."

I love white teas. I like the light earthiness and subtle flavors. Just gotta be careful when making it you don't scorch the tea leaves with too hot water or steep it too long. ;)

Selena wrote: "H. wrote: "I want to try blending my own jasmine tea but I can't seem to find the correct jasmine plant. A good light tea like jasmine always settles my stomach if I'm unwell."

You could always tr..."

Thanks for the link :-) I haven't visited that website before. I'll have fun exploring all their tea now.

Selena wrote: "
Just gotta be careful when making it you don't scorch the tea leaves with too hot water or steep it too long. ;) "

Yes, I've done that before. I made the mistake of thinking some teas were too bitter for me until I worked that one out.

So what do people think of fruit teas? I have a manga strawberry tea that I absolutely love~ Can't wait for it to warm up so I can try it iced. :)

I like strawberry very much and if I had strawberry, I wouldn't make strawberry tea but eat strawberry itself. :)
I drink barley tea and hojicha. I've never drunk fruit teas ... perhaps.

When I say "fruit teas" I mean ones that are flavored like fruit. You see a lot of citrus ones flavored with orange or lemon peel.

I'm not sure how the mango strawberry one's flavored, but it tastes so good lol

I've had barley tea. It's an interesting flavor. I'm still not sure if I like or dislike it.

Love fruit teas. Strawberry black teas and orange green teas tend to be my favorites.

Mike wrote: "Love fruit teas. Strawberry black teas and orange green teas tend to be my favorites."

Yum, strawberry black tea sounds great! I might go have a hunt around for some next time I'm shopping.

I've been drinking a lot of coffee lately, and I'm absolutely certain I need to cut back. I love tea and it makes a great alternative.

I think my most favorite tea to drink is Jasmine Yin Hao from Stash. I prefer their loose leaf instead of the tea bags, but either is good.

Stash also makes an amazing Pumpkin Spice Black Tea, and I try to buy a couple bags every year when fall hits. They have freeze dried chips of pumpkin gourd and cloves in the mix, and it's reeeally good~

surprisingly, costco has a really good green tea and my sister gave me a Chinese black and persimmon tea which has a really heavenly aroma.

I’m open to all the Asian varieties (oolong, jasmine, green) but I particularly prefer a good sencha. There was this one chain in Japan that sold some high quality stuff and every time I was in Japan, I’d bring a can of it home with me

I go through phases were I am obsessed with tea and can't stand coffee, then this phase will reverse to where I love coffee, but can't drink tea. I go through this rotation maybe every two months.
When I am in my "tea phase" I usually drink: Organic White Tea by Prince of Peace or, Green Tea with Pomegranate. They are the best!

So nice to see all the tea recommendations, I need to try some . As for me my favorite Tea is White Lychee Tea. I love Lychee taste in everything ^^

My favorite tea is Phoenix Mountain (Dan Cong) oolong. Next comes Assam black tea. For you tea connoisseurs, Upton Tea Imports is a very cool site with hundreds of teas if you want to see just how big the world of tea is.