Tea and a Confession

by Maura

My preferred method of caffeine delivery (let's be real here) is coffee. Once I have my [20 oz] cup in the morning, I usually switch to water or iced tea. This week, though, I've been battling the Worst Cold of Ever while teaching six hours a day. I have NO voice. As a result, I have been sipping on hot tea all the live long day to try and restore my voice and my health. 

Here's where the confession part comes in: I don't taste very much difference in bagged teas. Yes, loose leaf tea is the best for flavor and freshness, but I'm not a daily tea drinker, so I am not going to bother buying loose tea and all its accoutrements. 

When it comes to bagged tea, I just don't see what all the fuss is about. I don't mind Lipton or Nestea tea bags. I received Tea Forte and Mighty Leaf teabags from my Birchbox shipment, and they were nice, but I wouldn't pay $12 for 15 tea bags. I can buy Celestial Seasonings on sale for $3.99 a box or a quadrillion (approximately) of Lipton teabags for a couple of dollars.

Am I missing something? Is there a life-changing tea experience I'm missing out on? Are my taste buds now dead to you?

If you are a tea aficionado, what mid-range tea would you recommend I try?

Comments

[Katie @ cakes, tea and dreams]

I love flavored tea, so I drink a lot of Republic of Tea (I like their fruit flavors, like Blackberry Sage and Ginger Peach) and Harney teas (they have wonderful Earl Grey, Cinnamon Spice and other flavors). For plain black tea I love Yorkshire (you can probably find it at the grocery store). If you only drink tea rarely, though, perhaps Lipton will suffice? (Oh - and for colds, I love lemon ginger tea with honey.)

[sarah]

I recently discovered Harney and Sons- they have a wonderful organic English Breakfast loose tea.So much flavor. Twinings is on the cheap side but still good- if you can find Lady Grey from Twinings - its wonderful. I am in love with art teas or blooming teas- recently bought Primula flowering teas- you can get several brews out of one tea blossom. I usually make several brews and use as cold tea throughout the day. Happy Tea drinking!

[Kristabella]

Oh man, get yourself to a Teavana, stat! The flavored teas are SO MUCH BETTER!

I don't like the plain, black teas. Those I feel like you can use tea bags for. But Teavana has so many flavors and combinations! And they make some excellent fruity ones for iced tea!

[Shanna]

Try the tea at an Aveda store! I don't even like tea and am a huge cheapskate, but I gladly shelled out $12 for a box of that magic elixir!

[Jesabes]

I like plain, black tea and the difference for me between the Lipton/Celestial Seasonings, etc and more expensive stuff is the strength. I just can't get really strong tea from cheap ones (I still use them, but I keep more expensive tea around in addition). My favorite is PG Tips, which, really, is pretty cheap, too. I order it in bulk from Amazon.

[CharlieSue]

Ok, so this is not QUITE what you're asking, but if you don't REALLY care about having the most fancy tea? I just discovered the Lipton Black Pearl Tea. It is made by Lipton and comes in the fancy triangle bags and is DELICIOUS, just a smooth step up from the regular old black tea bags and still inexpensive.

[Cheralee]

I don't drink coffee at all. I don't care about the fair trade and happy growers or whatevs.... Bleh. Give me a bit of tea, however, and I can tell you the side of the mountain it grew one, taste the sunshine from the day it was harvested and hear the laughter of the person plucking the leaves. I think Lipton is fine if you don't like plain water and want to increase your fluids. Otherwise, it's bland and tastes funny to me. I like strong black iced tea. I love Teavana, Aveda, Twinings, Harney & Sons and Tazo. There are so many incredible flavors-so much more variety than coffee. I even grew and dried my own peppermint leaves to make tea! (Btw, I found you via Pinterest. :) )

[Hailey]

I haven't caught on to any real difference in brands, but I'm not a regular tea drinker either. I usually end up adding a few spices or essential oils.