The six types of tea:
In THE BATTLE OF THE COFFEES, Americano coffee won, with Kentucky Coffee and cappuccino coffee coming next in the poll. However, strictly speaking, 'other' attracted the most votes in the poll but it's clear from the comments that 'other' either meant 'none of the above' or a brand and not a type of coffee. Like with the offal poll, and as Fat Controller, I'm interpreting the findings and declaring Americano the winner.
I was so confident with this poll that I included all the main options which is why I didn't consult with others and why I even widened the poll out to include liqueur coffees. My confidence was misplaced. It's tempting to delete the 'other' poll option as it just gives me grief but I will persist with that option as its inclusion is regarded as good practice in designing questionnaires.
It's now the turn of tea (or cha) to do battle! Sorry coffee and sorry coke, but tea is by far the most popular beverage in the world - I'm presuming here that water doesn't count as a beverage. There are six main types of teas - black, green, oolong, pu'erh/puer (purple), white and yellow tea, and there are seven types of tea if herbal tea is included.
Because of my coffee poll problem, I'm doing overlapping categories this time - this is a methodological sin! For example, there's a black tea option but also options for an Assam, Darjeeling, Earl Grey and English breakfast tea, all black teas. Also I'm including Ceylon/Sri Lankan and Chinese tea even though their tea may be black, green, oolong, white and/or yellow tea. Designing this poll wasn't easy.
However, desperately trying to get some methodological control, this poll is not about different brands of tea (eg Bigelow, Clipper, Lipton, PG Tips, Tazo, Tetley, Twinings, Typhoo, Whittard of Chelsea, Yorkshire Tea). But I'm including tea made from plants other than from the tea plant. How fair is that?!
I'm excluding beef tea (eg Bovril), a type of beef broth, and Long Island Iced Tea, a cocktail which only gets its name because of its colour. Also, like with coffee, I'm excluding organic and decaffeinated tea.
There are many teas I've not drunk such as bubble tea (tea with tapioca), cannabis tea, panda dung tea (a tea harvested from Chinese tea plants fertilised with panda dung) and rhubarb and custard tea, which all sound appealing to drink. My favourite teas are Assam tea, Ceylon tea, Chinese tea (only after a Chinese meal of course), and Darjeeling tea, with English breakfast tea being my best tea. I especially like strong and even stewed tea, so it's builder's tea (aka builder's brew or gaffer's tea) as an English breakfast tea for me. Given I like builder's tea, I think I would like chifir tea (a super-strong tea served in Russian prisons). The Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny, is so lucky being holed up in a Siberian prison drinking that tea!
There aren't many teas I don't like, but my least favourite teas are bush teas (the bush tea I drank in The Gambia was hardly drinkable), flower teas, fruit teas, herbal teas and iced/chilled/cold teas. But Earl Grey tea is my worst tea I've drunk- the United Nations needs to ban bergamot oil!
What is your most and least favourite types of tea?
If you are a tea drinker, how many cups or mugs of tea do you have a day? And, how do you make your tea - loose tea leaves, tea bags, tea granules, ready-made or whatever?
Do you have your tea with or without sugar and with or without milk?
If you drink your tea with milk, do you add your milk first or last?
Though I like tea, I don't drink much tea as coffee is my hot beverage of choice. I probably only drink a few cups of tea a year as opposed a few mugs of coffee a day. But when I drink tea, it will be from a teabag with milk but no sugar. Milk is the last ingredient added to my cup of tea. There's no other way, surely!
Below is a poll where you can anonymously select your most favourite tea. Unfortunately only one pick is allowed in the poll.
But a poll on this site can only have 20 answer options. There was no room for African tea, alcoholic tea (eg gin and Earl Grey tea, rum and green mint tea, whisky and oolong tea), burdock root tea, bush tea (eg attaya tea), cannabis tea, chifir tea, fermented tea (aka post-fermented tea), genmaicha tea (a Japanese green tea with brown rice), Indian tea, Irish breakfast tea, Japanese tea, Kenyan tea, nettle tea, panda dung tea (one of the world's most expensive teas), passionflower leaf tea, red raspberry leaf tea (aka woman's herb tea), rhubarb and custard tea, rooibos tea (aka red tea or redbush tea), sun tea (tea brewed in sunlight), and yellow tea.
I think English breakfast tea will win the poll. But black tea, Chinese tea, fruit tea, green tea, iced tea and especially herbal tea will also feature strongly.
A book, Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea, has just been published and is causing quite a stir here in Britain. The book is written by Michelle Francl, an American professor of chemistry living thousands of miles away. Given that about 100 million cups of tea are drunk each day in Britain (that's nearly 2 cups a day per person), many Brits have taken umbrage at her advice on how to make the perfect cuppa. For example, she advises that a tiny pinch of salt should be added to the brew to counter the tea's bitter taste.
The American Embassy in London has even intervened in the debate. It released this message on social media: "We want to ensure the good people of the UK that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States policy. And never will be." However, the American Embassy stated that it will stick to the "proper way" of making tea by microwaving it. The UK's Cabinet Office maintained that tea can only be made using a kettle. This dispute may soon dwarf the Boston Tea Party protests which partly triggered America's war of independence. Wars have been fought for less!
Please see the first comment below to see what has won each battle of the food and drinks so far.
Physical Graffitea, a Led Zeppelin-loving New York tea shop:
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47 comments
I probably drink equal amounts of chai and herbal tea. Like you I drink more coffee, but I do still have a few cups of tea a week...whenever I feel like a hot beverage and I've already drunk all the coffee I made in the morning! My favorite herbal tea is Harney's cinnamon tea. I also like hibiscus teas like Red Zinger.
Earl Grey is definitely not for everybody. I've tried it a couple of times and found it "interesting" (veiled insult for a Midwesterner).
As a Southerner not much better than a tall glass of iced sweet tea with 🍋
@spunkycumfun usually warm here except winter
Hummm, I think I would have preferred the simpler choice between six options depicted in the first illustration.
Tea bags, and straight.
I love going to the "My cupTea" place here in the great northwest of Washington state.
A lot of tea's to try and scones and treat's too.
It's a real get away from the busy world outside of it.
For myself, it's not just the tea that calls for you, but also what you have with it that makes it the experience. I prefer Vanilla honey chamomile with eggnog and honey with a fresh snickerdoodle. Nothing heavy as it will ruin the experience.
@spunkycumfun Its a cookie
That's my cup of tea...
I can't pick just one. I enjoy English Breakfast, Earl Grey and some herbals, mint and lemon ooooo and another one, forgive my spelling, Rooibos, something like that, but it can be difficult to find. I usually drink it after meals, when sick or when I can't shake off the cold. I use bags, the loose stuff goes stale before I can use it and its a hassle. Sun tea in summer, hot tea in winter, no milk, no sugar.
@spunkycumfun I'm just bummed I missed the coffee poll! For the record, I've never even heard of the winner. I picked up the tea thing when I was in Australia and its never left me. Couldn't get a decent cup of coffee to save my life down unda but that was ages ago.
@spunkycumfun I know, I read that at the top of the post. I've never heard of a coffee called "Americano". Sounds like a SB fantasy coffee made up so they can charge more.
@spunkycumfun Interesting. Although, I'm not the type that frequents coffee houses and their overpriced coffee, I guess it could be a thing here in the states. I just haven't heard of it.
@spunkycumfun Well hell, I guess I have to turn in my Italian card too!! Now I'm curious, I wonder if any of my family has heard of that. You're ruining my rep here Spunk!! Hahahahahaha!
@spunkycumfun Well, any self-respecting Italian doesn't dilute espresso! That's just criminal so, I'm guessing that's why I've never heard of this blasphemous bastardization of a classic. The horror!! Hahahaha!
I like the boldness of strong black tea, even over coffee which usually tastes like some form of soil. I still drink my dirt water. however, I prefer a couple cups of black tea a day.
Rooibos tea.
Imma green tea woman...flavoured or not. My next fave is chai. Havent met tea ( yet ) that i don't like...and ive had bubble too, its interesting...for sure, but so is tapioca when u think of it ~
2 /3 cups a day.....if home..i use the kettle with loose leaves and a tea ball. If at work i use the keurig with a tea bag placed in the basket and then the cup.
....sometimes agave....sometimes native honey..sometimes lemon....depending on mood.
again....depending on mood...evap milk put in before the water. If its after the water , it cools the tea down....and i like a hot cuppa.....
I don't know much about teas, but I do love a strong black tea with can milk and sugar with 2 tea bags to the cup.
@spunkycumfun Keep your wake when you're moving oil rigs around off of Great
Yarmouth.
I drink tea round the clock. It is a mix of black tea, green tea and it is chilled. The poll won't allow me to click 3 options. I chose iced to be able to vote
My fav is my tea mix. I drink probably 6 cups a day. Maybe more. I make it using tea bags with a little stevia.
What is your most and least favourite types of tea?
If you are a tea drinker, how many cups or mugs of tea do you have a day?
I drink a pot- ten cups- of black tea every day, unsweetened, no milk. I like English breakfast tea but I don't drink a lot of it. I do enjoy changing it up a bit with black currant tea now and then. If I'm dining out I have black coffee.
And, how do you make your tea - loose tea leaves, tea bags, tea granules, ready-made or whatever?
Hell, I'm an American. I use tea bags. But never granules or ready made.
Do you have your tea with or without sugar and with or without milk?
Actually I have one flat and very spare teaspoon of sugar in my first cup in the morning and the rest unsweetened.
If you drink your tea with milk, do you add your milk first or last?
Now and then Pam and I make strong black coffee with whole cream. Cream added last.
@spunkycumfun @hippiechick1967 I use a Mr. Coffee. And I don't use the microwave to heat water. Electric kettles don't work as well here because they're 120 volts ac. Your kettles are 220 volt and handle the task better. So electric kettles never really caught on here.
No room for rooibos??? Fiiiiiiine. I guess I'll have to go with spiced tea. Grudgingly.
@spunkycumfun chai is a very close second so it wasn't thaaat hard.
In Egypt here I drink tea with 🥛..sometimes too normal tea with 2 spoons of sugar
@spunkycumfun in Egypt we're drinking like this...but certainly it's healthy to no sugar
@spunkycumfun certainly
My Great Grandma and Grandma, were tea drinkers. My Great Grandma was from England last name Miller. We called them teatotalers, my other side of the family was coffee drinkers.
I like Orange Pekoe, so I suppose it falls under the black tea category.
I drink my tea black or with some milk, but never any sugar. I don't like sugar in my coffee or tea. I use loose leaf tea for the most part.
I read the article about the salt in tea. The response by the US Embassy was so stereotypical LOL
When I visited my sister, I brought some genmaicha (Japanese tea with toasted brown rice) and she fell in love with it.
While I am more a coffee drinker, having traveled the world, tea can have way more cultural connection than just boiling some water. Some places make it a ritual.
I didn't vote or comment on your coffee poll because I don't drink coffee. I don't drink tea, either.
I was wanting to ask your opinion about the salt thing, I read about it in the paper this morning.
Personally I had to give up all caffeine numerous years ago. Growing up in the southern US, I really miss ice tea.
@spunkycumfun There was a story in the Wall Street Journal today about the stir. I think it amusing that people would get that upset about tea.
I do not drink coffee, however I could drink tea by the potful. Earl Grey is my first choice which I take black. Second is Chai which I like hot or cold. Occasionally, I will treat myself to an iced chai tea latte.
@spunkycumfun Yes, I have tried it but prefer Earl Grey. Have you heard of the Blueberry Tea cocktail? It is a warm cocktail made with freshly brewed orange pekoe tea, Grand Marnier & Amaretto served in a warmed brandy snifter.
I have to pass on this one as I can't drink tea just
like I can't drink coffee.
I hope your Friday is a great start to a wonderful
weekend..