A friend asked me for tea recommendations, and I thought I'd post these up here so you can see them too. These are all for bagged caffeinated black teas, since he was looking for an alternative to coffee and disappointed with Twinings teas. I've enjoyed many of these and some are strong and bold enough to substitute for coffee, especially if you're trying to cut back on the caffeine but not ready to completely give it up.
Regular Black Tea
As these recommendations go, this is the lowest on the totem pole, but one I reach for when I am just looking for a simple black tea, is Tetley. The one you'd find most easily is British Blend (not classic blend), and actually, if you can get to an import store to buy the British version, it is even better (square box). The "British Blend" is the American version and not nearly as good as the one that is made for the U.K. consumer, but it is still far better than most of the stuff on the shelf here.
Earl Grey
I'm a huge fan of Earl Grey, but not just any Earl Grey. I recommend Revolution Tea's Earl Grey with Lavender. This is one of the best teas I've had and it is comparable to coffee in terms of the kick you get from a good hearty brew. You won't miss coffee when you drink this. Trust me.
Irish Breakfast
If you live near a Trader Joes, you can get your hands on some decent Irish Breakfast without paying too much for it. The Trader Joe's brand has a fine Irish Breakfast, which is reviewed in detail here.
Flavored tea
I don't generally go for much flavored tea at all. However, you simply must try Mighty Leaf's Vanilla Bean tea. I am partial to all of their teas, but as you'll see, they are on the pricey side. Revolution teas is a nice splurge, Mighty Leaf is like a kick in the wallet. So anyway, all of their teas are good, but the Vanilla bean tea comes close to being worth the price.
5 comments:
Ooooh, tea!! I recently went on a cleanse, which involved cutting out caffeine entirely for a month. The first week was pretty ugly, but I quickly came to love my morning rooibos as a substitute for coffee. No caffeine, but it has a great flavour and it keeps away the headaches. It's also an antioxidant, so good for all kinds of other things. I'm not on the cleanse any more, but I'm still drinking my rooibos every day!!
Nicole: I had no idea that rooibos helped with caffeine headaches. It's one of my favorite herbal teas also. Are you still off caffeine? Is that actually possible?
This is really helpful, Alice. Any chance you have some good black tea with good fruity notes? When we were in Paris, Mr. Bookbag got hooked on a black tea honey, lavender, blueberry, strawberry and rhubarb, and we can't find anything quite like it in the US.
Bookbag,
Glad its helpful. The Parisian tea flavors you mention sound amazing. Rhubarb!?! The best fruity flavored tea to my taste here is Bigelow Raspberry Royale. Yum. Thanks for reminding me about it. It has been years since I last had it, but I seem to recall drinking many cups of it with a generous spoon of honey and some fresh lemon. I don't think Mr. Bookbag will be disappointed.
The only other one I'm familiar with is also Bigelow, Constant Comment, which is orange and spice, but that is probably more of a spice taste with a hint of orange.
Thanks! I'll give these a try.
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