“Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.” – George Orwell
Darjeeling is the tea that inspired me to begin my beautiful journey through the wide world of tea and will always reign supreme in my tea pantry! My first tea love, so to speak. I positively adore a truly great Darjeeling – Especially a good muscatel second flush! Autumn flush Darjeelings, I believe, have been under appreciated. I quite love them as well.
Indian tea is my overall preference, and second only to Darjeeling comes my next great tea love – Assam. Assam tea, especially a great second flush, single estate Assam can be exquisite. A malty, fruity and sweet, high quality, tippy Assam with subtle notes of cocoa sends me into tea ecstasy!
Apart from Indian tea, I cannot resist an excellent Keemun or Yunnan Dianhong tea. I must also admit to an appreciation of fine Ceylon teas – Especially high-grown Ceylons and top drawer low grown Ceylons. Ceylon teas make superb iced tea, I think.
As far as scented teas go I particularly love Earl Grey tea blends as well as vanilla, caramel, almond and floral flavored teas. That being said, I seldom drink flavored blends on a regular basis.
I tend to enjoy rich and robust breakfast blends too – Love a nice English Breakfast tea. Though I generally stay away from most bagged teas, I think that Yorkshire Gold is a delicious British brew!
I’m quite fond of various herbal teas too – Crazy about rooibos!
Organic tea is my preference whenever possible.
Richmond, Virginia, USA