>I came home and made a cup and let it steep for about 4 minutes. It
>still had a light color to it, but actually was very good to this tea
>newbie. And as I have said before, if I like this cheap stuff, what am
>I going to experience when I get the good loose leaf tea from Uptons
>or another online store? Delicious anticipation...

Best way to start in tea in my view is from the bottom where you have
nowhere to go but up in tea! Too often I have seen people jump right
into tea at the deep end of the pool and were left with too many
disappointments. Part of the joy of tea is the anticipation from year
to year of the new harvest! So you rightly already understand "tea
anticipation"!

>As with anything you'd get tired of drinking nothing but 40 year old
>bordeaux every day, and sometimes you just want some plain old grape
>kool-aid... same with tea.

- Dominic

Must respectfully disagree here on this point Dominic! Decade upon
decade of harsh bidding, clawing and fighting to get the best spring
harvest of West Lake Long Jing from a speficic grower and consuming
same said year after year has left me only wanting more and with this
years price over $1,000USD a kg it's become a terribly expensive habit
but one I have yet to grow tired of drinking! I have a similar pu'erh
addiction and believe me that is another area that after decades I have
yet to even feel a tinge of boredom!

Now as to the question in this string about Lipton's green tea.

> isn't so much that there is anything *wrong* with the Liptons, and
>in fact it is very consistent which is a feat in itself..

Dominic is quite correct! It is a major feat to produce consistent tea
in such a vast tonnage as Lipton does. This is what mass manufacturers
like Lipton are famous for, blending tea to produce the same consistent
taste. May not be the best taste and may not be to everyone's liking
but nonetheless it is a constant in the market of tea.

As for the health benefits of Lipton's green tea versus others I point
to several studies by the AMA, Johns Hopkins and others. These mass
studies were done using similar "lowly" green teas such as Lipton's
uses and not the "premium" green teas preferred by the likes of me.
These studies indicate that green tea health benefits can be derived
not just from green tea but equally from red (black) teas. It is my
limited opinion that even Lipton's green will provide similar health
benefits as mentioned in these studies. And perhaps because of Lipton's
consistency the health benefits would be as consistent?

But the question here should be do I drink it because of the health
benefits or because I like it? The tea I drink is the tea I like and I
drink it for the enjoyment. If it has health benefits that is a bonus
but certainly not why I drink tea!

Castor Oil has been proven to have great health benefits but trust me
not since I was little and forced to drink it every Saturday morning by
grandmom has castor oil passed my lips!

Allen Miller