Source: https://mastodon.social/@Daojoan/111990672465208834
Edit: pu’er, black, green, white tea. Love it all and drink it more than I drink coffee. No need to start a culture war; taste is as individual as humour.
I didn’t understand why tea is so hated in America then I went there are it was by far the worst tea I have ever had. Like worse than I could make at home if I tried to make a shit tea. Worse than I thought possible.
I used to disagree with the death penatlity in America but if they dragged the Liptons board of directors out and shot them it wouldn’t be undeserved.
But how its brewed, how it’s served, what it’s served with, what the tea is it is all shit. I talked to a friend when I was there and he said “yea I know I brought a 50 pack with me from home. I’ve been here before” haha. The only place you can get a passable tea in America is on a BA flight out of the country. Even then it’s a shitty airline tea but it’s much better than any cafe, restaurant or pub in the country.
I don’t get me started in the fucking Guinness.
I tried tea in the UK and didn’t think it was very good either tho. I think I just don’t like tea that much.
Ironically the best coffee I ever had was a cappuccino in London. Which I paired with a full English. Still one of the best breakfasts in my life, that shit was dank
If you are in a cosmopolitan area there’s plenty of access to tea houses serving loose leaf Japanese and Chinese tea that would satisfy the most demanding tea enthusiast. That doesn’t begin to count the non-traditional items like boba, tisanes, etc.
The USA doesn’t have much of a British style tea tradition, but that’s mostly because it’s a diverse nation and British tea and food is mostly crap to begin with. Why would the US drink British tea when there are so many alternatives that are actually good?
Yorkshire tea is in my opinion the best. Nothing difficult needs to be done just follow the instructions add full fat milk, you can check colours online to see how much milk to add and add sugar if you wish.
PG tips and Tetley are also good. Weirdly tea I’ve had with “English breakfast” hardly ever tastes like British tea.
Green tea is super hit or miss. (No milk in this one) Sometimes it’s too weak and other times it’s a bit bitter. But I don’t really have a brand in mind for that.
A mid range Jasmine tea is probably the best for consistency, in terms of a no milk green tea.
Oolong is also good. Actually thinking about the best place to get green tea in America would be at a Chinese restaurant or Chinese store.
Oh and don’t microwave water. No idea why, it tastes weird. Also heat the water then add it to the cup, don’t heat cold water with tea in it.
Tea in America is fine. There are plenty of brands to buy and orange pekoe is perfectly okay, as long as it’s not Lipton. Bigelow and Celestial Seasonings are both America brands of tea that are perfectly fine and have large offerings.
I mean, if you’re that particular, just buy some PG Tips or Yorkshire Gold in the grocery store and brew it yourself.
It tastes like something a child would make and give to there mum on motherday and the mum would have to drink it because the kid is really proud that he used 10 spoonfuls of sugar.
That’s not a drink for adults. Why you guys so scared of water?
I do believe it all started with the Boston Tea Party. Drinking coffee as an alternative was hip and it just kinda stuck around.
Coffee in the US (outside of specialty shops) is always piss poor and IME thin cups of dark-ish water without much actual coffee flavour.
That’s the case everywhere. Starbucks is ubiquitous. You can either complain about it, or walk across the street and get some good coffee, which is also ubiquitous.