loose tea?
 

As I'm sitting here have a tea party with my 6yr old, I realized I haven't put any tea into my prep plans. Of course I can buy a few boxes of tea from any store....but I'd rather have loose tea in my preps. Why, you ask, well because we use the good loose tea for tea parties since we went to the tea room with Grandma one year. BAg tea is normal everyday use. We bought a few ounces of teas at a crazy price....but it's a memory. Tea parties are a treat....and if we are living off our preps something has happened and we will may need a mental pick me up.....so loose tea could be our "splurge item".

So, does anyone buy loose tea?? I could go back to the tea store and get it for $4-5 an ounce...but I'd rather not. Anyone have a good source online?? I'm sure I can pick some up at a store, and I will check next time I'm in the US, but we are a bit partial to the Chocolate Mint....betting the box stores won't carry that.

My MIL still uses loose leaf tea. I think the name brand is Tetly and is sold in our Wal-Mart. Sorry tho I've never seen the loose leaf in a flavored brand. tyusclan momma

Here (English Tea Store) is where I buy from. Their own brand of tea is pretty good. The "english breakfast tea" isn't quite as hearty as I like for breakfast...but I'm a fan of Irish Breakfast and even Scottish on cold cold mornings. Anyway..they have a good variety of types and flavors if you like the flavors.

Another place might be SanFransico Herb and spice.... They also have food grade spices and flowers so you can mix your own flavors if you like.

The local grocery store had 3 oz refills of loose tea on clearance for $3 so I stocked up. The Republic of Tea has a variety but is often expensive unless you find a sale

http://www.republicoftea.com/index.asp

I have some special jasmine flower loose tea that is my "special" tea. The rest is teabags, vac sealed and stored away, and on the shelf in the kitchen for daily use. We like regular Lipton's for iced tea, and various herbal teas and Earl Grey for hot drinks.

i have 2 cups of earl grey tea every morning, and i'm somewhat particular about the brand. i've started using loose leaf tea (about 4 months ago) because if you buy in bulk (1 lb at a time) it's much cheaper than in the pre-made bags.

i buy "taylors of harrowgate" brand earl grey tea. i ordered 2 tins from amazon, so that i'd have the tins available in the future (this order i didn't save any money). after i've emptied the tins, the next order will be for a 1 lb bag, which is when the savings kick in. (i've vac seal in mason jars, except for a small daily supply that i'll put in the tins.)

--sgl

This is my friend Monica's website... she has some really good teas!

http://www.mycupoftea.net/

I got my loose tea from Amazon. I love the twinings english breakfast and lady grey.

I prefer my tea fresh, and find that older tea does not taste very good to me. So I grow a lot of my own, which is fairly easy as mint tea is my favorite. There are many other things you can make tea out of, rose hips and chamomile are fairly common, but you can also make tea out of chrysanthemum, hibiscus, jasmine, lemon balm, camelia, raspberry leaves and probably many more. I just pick the leaves (or hips or flowers) and put them in my dehydrator for a few hours, but have also air dried them.

If you grow a lot of your own, you don't really have to 'prep' for them.

If you don't want to grow your own, local tea houses and health food stores usually carry them.

Dawn

Can someone please instruct me on how to use loose tea. I buy it from bulkherbs.com but have NO idea how to use it. I am not a tea drinker so I have never made it.

Why don't you try to find the local herbs to use for tea? I confess that we have several big boxes of tea in our preps... But we also make "tea" from our farm.

We have tried
Raspberry leaf, strawberry leaf, Dandelion root, mint, blueberry leaf. You can make acceptable beverages from various wild plants. Get a book and try them out.

You can also make fruit infusions by taking the fruit like for instance choke cherry and boiling a hand full with a pot of water. Strain and drink.. It's refreshing.

:bouncy: I just checked and this store carries Jasmine Dragon Tears, which has to be one of the best teas on the planet, if not the absolute best. It's not available locally anymore, but I still dream about this tea even though it's been years since I had any.

I had not thought about fancy teas in my preps, just ordinary tea for iced tea and Prince of Wales for my morning tea. Guess we need to make some adjustments to my prep shopping list.

Okay folks....;)the herb teas are NOT the same as real tea. Herbal teas are tisanes. it's like telling a coffee drinker to use burdock root or dandelion root. It's just NOT the same thing!

Now...if someone is into flavored teas..then the herbs/plants steeped in water might well be JUST THE THING!! But the taste of actual TEA is like the taste of actual COFFEE. It's just...well...it's tea! :D

Momof2, this is how I make tea: (more or less)
looseleaf is easy. You need a tea pot (preferably one that's round in body for the best movement of the leaves/water). Warm the teapot (I'll assume it's ceramic) with hot water while your water boils. Dump out the warm water, put in approx 1tsp tea leaves per cup into the pot. Pour in boiling water (if it's black tea, it likes boiling water. Green tea likes 190degreeish...so let the kettle settle a few moments before you pour over the leaves). Put on the cover of the teapot.

Let it steep for at least 2 minutes (about the time it takes to get it to the table, and for you to sit down and think a moment ;) ) Pour into cup thru a strainer. Even if your teapot has a strainer in it, you will probably need a teastrainer on the cup to catch little bits of leaves.

That's it. There's a saying about black tea vs green tea brewing: Take pot to kettle for black. Take kettle to pot for green.

You'll figure out how much tealeaf to use after a couple of pots of tea. It's VERY much to taste. I use more Assam tea in a pot, than I'll use Oolong, for instance. The oolong is very delicate in flavor...with the Assam (or an English Breakfast type) I can really enjoy the intense flavor.

You can also make your own teabags from broken teas (I wouldn't use full leaf teas in a bag, I don't think). Just tie some up in a muslin bag, like you might with herbs. Or buy the little teabag thingies.

There are also little (and not so little, for doing a larger quantity like a quart) tea strainers you can buy. I like the ones with the fine mesh rather than the ones that are a more solid type with holes in them.....too many little bits seem to make it into your cuppa compared to the mesh ones. And, with the mesh style ones, I have seen the two sizes of 2 piece balls on a chain.....and one that is about the same size ball as the small chain one, but it is a scissors-style mechanism that gives you a handle like a spoon.

My favorite is hibiscus with some peppermint in it. There are supposed health benefits that go along with my personal medical issues, so.......I like the taste AND its supposed to be good for me too!

http://www.nilevalleyherbs.com/HIBISCUS.pdf (its a page from internal medicine news, so ignore the other stuff on the page).

Thanks for the clarification - I just dunk whatever smells and tastes good into hot water and call it tea. Hubby's a die-hard black tea drinker with an occasional nod to green tea (is that tea or tisane?). I've got mint in my herb garden this year and look forward to drinking it this year.

I need to get a good herb book that explains the uses of various herbs for medicine or food. Any suggestions?

Thanks Ann I was getting ready to say the same thing, but you beat me to it

I'm looking for special black teas. I make/made herb teas as we grew mint and lemon balm in the yard. Raspbery leaves are a new one to me though...I have raspberries here - so we'll have to experiment with that ourselves in a few weeks. Any specific time in the season best for raspberry leaves (pre-bloom, during fruiting, after)?

Herb tea is our "normal" tea, flavored black is our special treat. I guess I could just buy black tea and add in the mint leaves - but I really wanted a flavored black (mostly the chocolate).....and have no clue how to flavor it myself - I'm sure it's not "natural". I'll check out the links you all gave me.

Is it a safe assumption that black tea is not grown in the US IE: it will have to be imported from somewhere?

DH got me (and I like it) Paterson's Field Guides: Medicinal Plants and Herbs. I have a few others, but this seems to be the one I keep going to....might be the color pictures that draw me. Just be sure to get the one for you region if you order online (local stores will likely only carry you regions) - I have Eastern/Central for our Ohio home.

Tea can be grown in the US. Needs a fairly warm climate tho. I think there are a couple of tea fields in Virginia?

Tea is a plant.Camellia sinensis a bush. They pick the leaves at a particular time to get the various teas. White tea is the very very youngest leaf. Black tea is the grown leaf, fermented and dried. Green tea is NOT fermented...just picked and dried. It's much more delicate in flavor, and it really doesn't stand up well to the boiling water. Being unfermented also is the reason it has the antioxidants still present.

Orange Pekoe (OP) is a GRADE of tea, not a flavor. Broken OP has bits and pieces of leaves. Flowery OP is full leaf, higher grade. Golden or Golden Flower OP has some of the golden tips of the leaves (means good maturity among other things)

The flavors of an Oolong, vs. a Keemun, vs. a Shan is dependent on the region they're grown in. Different soils, different seasons, arid vs wet...it all affects the taste/flavor of a tea leaf. Also the length of fermentation. Many of the Breakfast teas are a mix of Assam or Keemun with other teas. (hearty black teas)

To add the chocolate flavor...have you tried the chocolate mint plant? I have some in the garden and by god...it actually smells and tastes chocolatey! amazing. You can also try putting a chopped or ground cocoa bean in the pot. I havent' done it, but it should actually work. I know vanilla beans work well for coffee.

I also have loose tea in my preps. i've only bought it in smaller pks though and it is expensive. i only use it for my tea parties. for everyday i use bags because i have many cups a day. Ann is right about the chocolate mint. i only found it a few years ago.makes a marvelous tea. i also chop it and put in my choc.chip loaves. apple mint is another nice one for tea. i moved some of the apple mint to the city last year and put it on the edge of my flower bed while waiting for the right spot . now it's spreading so fast i have to get out and yank it out today. i should pot it and give it away. not sure anyone on this street would want it. no one else has a garden.~Georgia.

You gotta go to ethnic stores in big cities mostly - Oriental or Eastern European and get loose or granulated tea in .5 or 1 lb packages at 30-50% of the regular grocery store prices.

Chocolate mint plant!? I'll have to go in search of that one.

If I plant it with "regular" mint will overtake or be overtaken? Or should it be able to hold it's own....may just have to dedicate the entire bed the mint is in to "mints". I'm sure the mint ran everything else out in the 2 years we've been in the EU.

I'll have to look for the chocolate mint plant. My daughter loves the chocolate tea we get at a tea house that is in a town nearby, and to be able to grow some our own would be a great thing for our preps. We generally have about 2-3 cups of herbal teas a day, and then one of regular tea. I would have to give up the regular tea in an event, as that is one thing I only stock for about 3-6 months as I find the taste gets off after much longer storage. I wonder if refrigeration or freezing would help. I know I'm not the only one to feel this way about taste after storage as the lady I purchase teas from at the tea house and also one at a health food store also don't like teas stored for long periods.

As far as mint plants, I have a couple in hanging baskets, that way they don't mix with other plants, or take over an area. I also have one raised garden that is made out of cinderblocks, and I have a lot of my herbs and mints planted in the blocks, which helps prevent them from spreading.

Dawn

We are huge tea drinkers. Here's my favorite site (reasonable prices too and you can order samples). Also, you can create your favorite custom blend at no more than other prices: http://www.adagio.com/

It's mint. It spreads :D What I've done, if I want to keep various mints in the same area, is to put cement blocks in the ground, and then plant inside the holes in the blocks. Keeps the little boogers from spreading. This particular plant seems to be pretty tough. I managed to kill off the peppermint I'd planted, but this stuff just keeps coming back year after year. I always know it's back when I mow over it and get that sweet chocolatey/minty scent in the air :D

I've been using lemon mint for iced drinks in the summer. It's GREAT with bourbon! A sort of lemony version of the Mint Julep ;)

I drink 2 full pots of tea (that's 2 liters or so) every morning while doing whatever. Then in the afternoon I usually have a cup of oolong or a Jasmine Green tea as a 'relaxing moment". I figure I should get off the caffeine and just go to straight herbal teas...but it's like coffee..I just REALLY like the taste. (cant' have more than 1 cup coffee every couple days anymore...really tears my stomach up)

I truly think that in any preparation for even a big "this is it...we're going to the dark ages now" event...you NEED to keep some of the civilized things around you. I remember a story from WWII, where the british commanders insisted on keeping to a regimen of afternoon tea, even when they didn't have any tealeaves...as a morale thing. It worked. The men said afterwords that it was the only sane thing in the war.

Here's my favorite tea site -

http://www.uptontea.com

I was going to suggest Chinatown (anycity)...they have bulk tea for a couple bucks a can...My Fave is in a yellow can "The au jasmine"...its a favorite with the Vietnamese people. I have teapots, small and large, where there are holes near the spout, or I use a tea balll for just a cup

Good idea. If we every go on a vacation in a town with a "Chinatown" I'll have to do that. Last time I was near a city that I think had one was 5-6 years ago, and it was 3 or 4 states away. Even my "tea shop" is an hour and a half away. It's not that we live that rural....we don't. It's just those types of places have no draw to where we live. Although in the last 2 1/2 years a tea shop may have moved closer....I'll have to check.

My mint was originally planted in a sunken container. It worked great for years. Apparently, one winter my container cracked and I didn't catch it in time (I was too busy with tiny children to care). So it spread just at a slower rate then it normally takes over, I did work on taming it for a few years after that. I'm wondering what it might be like now after going "un-checked" for 3 growing seasons....hence I may just give that bed up to the mints of the world!

Now to find lemon mint.....I have lemon balm - are they similar?