"magnulus" > wrote in message >...
> "Dieter Folz" > wrote in message
> om...
> > With milk of course. If it tastes nice, I do it. So, always with
> > Assam, sometimes with Keemun ... and with all those grocery store
> > stuff (PG Tips, which I kinda like from time to time, don't know why),
> > as well as all barely drinkable teas.
> >
>
> What is Assam and Keemum- I assume you live in Germany?

Yes, I live in Germay.

Assam is a Valley in India, near the Brahmaputra River. The Assam
Valley is the largest tea growing area in the world with over 600 tea
estates. It is very Rich, strong and full-bodied with a distinctive
malty taste.

Keemun is a Chinese black tea, produced in Keemun county, Anhui
province. It's taste is very smooth, toasty, even sometimes a bit
smokey, and everytime
with a light natural sweetness.

There are diffrent brands which sell those teas, but the better way
would be to buy those at a good local teashop.

But esp. Assam is very often a basis for Blends of all kind, like
English Blends, Breakfast-Teas or traditional Eastfresean Blends.

> Here in the US tea is often "black pekoe". Some of it is drinkable-
> Lipton hot is not bad stuff, but Red Rose is not a good hot tea brand (it
> tastes sourish and stale), although it's popular in the South US for iced
> tea with sugar and lemon.

Yeah, I think it's the same like German tea brands. Most more cheap
teas are a blend of Sumatra and African teas, maybe with some Ceylon.
The same with English bands like OG Tips, Tetley and so on. But thode
English ones give a really decent brew, the German teas don't (despite
some *really* good traditional Eastfresean teas like Bünting, Thiele
and Onno Behrends), esp. those in tea bags. Also the Assam, Ceylon or
even Darjeeling teas of German brands, sold in the supermarket, are
mostly not very good and much too expensive. For the same amount of
money, you can gat a real good tea at nearly every local teashop.

> Twinings and Bigalo English teas are sometimes
> available too. I have found Jackson English tea to be good and it is
> available at some stores.

Twinings and Fortnum and Mason are also available in Germany. I don't
like them very much. Meanwhile, I tasted nearly all of them. They are
ok, Fortnum and Mason much more than Twinings, but in quality only
between German brands (sometimes as bad as, esp. the Darjeeling and
the Earl Grey of Twinings, which tastes artificial, maybe 'cause it
is) and the cheaper qualities you can get at teashops around. There
are far too expensive, esp. for that kind of quality.

So, if you want a decent cup, you have to buy at a local teashop, for
better qualities you should got to www.teeladen.de for specialities to
www.paul-schrader.de, and for absolute delicate teas, esp.
Darjeelings, to www.betty-darling.de. But there, as everywhere in
Germany, the Darjeelings are more like an Oolong than a black tea.

Maybe I should give the teas of the Bramah Museum a try sometime ...
therefore I didn't understnd this traditional English procedure for
making tea yet.

> For black tea I like Earl Grey and Irish
> Breakfast, occasionally I like Lapsong Soochong.
>
> And also green tea is becomming more popular. You can buy it in stores,
> but the quality is not as great as what one can get from specialty stores or
> online. I usually preffer Longjing or a cheap Ceylon green. Most of my tea
> drinking is green tea.

Green tea is also very popular in Germany and there is a large variety
at all qualities. Here a very good way is to buy them at a local asian
shop. For the delicate ones, see addresses above.

> Whole leaf tea is the best way to make the stuff, but hasn't caught on in
> supermarkets in the US yet. We have more whole bean coffees, but the same
> hasn't happened for tea yet.

Also in Germany, most of the sold supermarket tea is in bags. But it
also depends on the region. Esp. in the north of Germany, there is
much more of a loose tea tradition (as far as I know, there are no
Onno Behrends tea bags for example, maybe, because the Eastfreseans
would burn down the firm ...).


So long

Dieter