TEA

Dilmah Ceylon Black Tea

This is the stuff I knock back on the daily. Nice and strong-ish, and great with a tiny amount of milk. I tend to over-podge it because I hate waiting, which can render it slightly bitter. Given the choice, I would rather get the earl grey than the regular version, but my flatmates aren't a huge fan.

T2 Earl Grey

Man, this stuff is good. Strong and good without milk to really let the bitterness shine. The entire T2 brand is pretty good, but they tend to focus on herbal teas and fruit teas, which I'm not a huge fan of.

Turkish Apple Tea

I had this for the first time recently. It tastes a lot like hot apple juice - but that tastes surprisingly REALLY good. You can't have too much of it at once, though. Definitely good in small amounts, had piping hot with a meal.

Oolong Tea

What I like about green teas is their immense smoothness, and oolong pairs that texture with the robust flavour of black tea. Just a delight all around, to be honest.

Tie Guan Yin

Now, I would LOVE to try the variants of tie guan yin that go for like two thousand dollars. Unfortunately I don't have that kind of money kicking around, so I have to be satisfied with the fifteen dollar version at my local asian grocery. This is some really good tea, smooth and flavourful. It's quite distinct compared to normal oolong so definitely worth a try.

Gunpowder green tea

Okay. So. I really don't like gunpowder green tea. There's something about the flavour of it that just has this (heh) smokiness which I find really unappealing. It doesn't mix well with the smoothness of green tea, so I've been taking a long time to get through my box of the stuff.

Sencha

Where smooth texture is the main focus, nothing else compares. While it lacks some of the punch I like from black tea, sencha's velvety feeling completely makes up for it.

White tea

To clarify, I'm not completely sure what kind of white tea I've had - I believe there are five varieties, but unfortunately I get this from an asian grocery so I can't read any of the product information beyond the name. White tea is even weaker than green tea, but for some reason I like it more. It has this immensely alluring subtlety in it, like it's chasing after the robustness of black tea, that makes it a very rewarding drink to experience slowly.

Fruit tea

Blech. I'm sorry to all the lovers of fruit tea out there, but it's just not for me. I don't like the experience of hot fruit except under specific circumstances (see above apple tea) and I just don't drink tea cold unless I'm indulging in a cheeky iced tea. The only fruit tea I've somewhat enjoyed is blood orange, but I would always choose a regular cup of black tea over this.

Jasmine tea

I only have jasmine tea when I'm out eating at restaurants, so it may be a fault with them and not the tea itself, but I'm not the biggest fan. I find it doesn't have a very strong presence and I don't have a very good sense of smell (I have a slightly deviated septum so usually my nose is a bit blocked) so I can't appreciate the aroma of jasmine very much.

Rosebud tea

While this is a slightly understated drink, the smell is heavenly and the colour is an immensely pleasant coral. I like rosebud tea because it makes me feel fancy, and I like watching the colour bleed out of the petals.

African Chai

This is a lovely blend of Kenyan black tea and spices I got from a local seller. The tea smells and tastes lovely with just enough cinnamon to leave a nice aftertaste. It's full bodied and very easy to drink but more flavourful than my usual black tea so it's a nice change in routine.