«No trouble, I’m going to have tea anyway. 4:40’s tea time.» As though by magic the door opened and a liveried houseboy brought in a silver tray with tea for two—with thin buttered toast and hot scones in a silver warmer. The man poured and left. The tea was dark brown and strong. «It’s Darjeeling, one of our House blends. We’ve been trading it since 1830,» he said sipping it gratefully, as always thanking the unknown genius Englishman who had invented afternoon tea, which, somehow, always seemed to settle the cares of the day and put the world into perspective.
«Noble House» by James Clavell
I already wrote about it over two years ago, but it’s something that cannot be recommended enough: Loose leaf tea rocks. 🙂
I mean, true, I do not know that much about tea, but I know what I like. And one thing I learned about drinking tea was what a difference tea bags vs loose leaf tea makes.
And yeah, while there are many nice flavors of tea made with tea bags, there is a whole universe when you enter a tea store and get some loose leaf tea. It’s not only the flavors, it’s the whole process. Somehow loose leaf tea just tastes on a whole different level.
Some loose leaf tea might sound expensive (depending on the type), but compared to tea bags, I do not think this is actually the case. After all, you can reused loose leaf tea, depending on the type at least 2-3 times. But I haven’t yet reused a tea bag, nor would I ever want to. After use, it looks like a wet sock. Consequently, loose leaf tea stretches pretty far. So, overall I think loose leaf tea is likely cheaper. And somewhat easier to store:
And yeah, you just need a tea sieve (e.g., a metal one with a handle to remove it), and a way to stop the time.
Might be worth a try. 🙂