My Favourite 
️s:
1. Lipton Yellow Label:
Tried many brands over the years, but stuck to this as the preferred regular tea for almost two decades now.
My method: Boil water, at the end put teaspoonful tea, keep boiling for a minute more till you start getting the aroma. Stop the heat, allow to settle for a minute or so. Pour in cup, add room temperature milk - just a dash of it and have/serve. I don’t prefer boiling with milk - makes the taste too milky for me. I don’t take sugar in my tea. But add sugar while boiling water for guests who have tea with sugar. Sugar added later spoils the intended taste.
When: Morning breakfast and evening 4 pm.
2. White Tea (Silver Needles)
When the green tea fad came up in the early 2000s, I tried many brands, but never acquired the taste for it. I found green tea too bitter even when lightly infused. So, despite the claimed health benefits, I couldn’t get into the habit.
Until I came across
white tea some 6-7 years ago. And how perfectly it suited both my notion of minimally acidic tea with health benefits (will avoid going into that, but I find it helps me with colds and allergies) as well as my palate. White tea is made from tea leaves plucked before the buds open up, the tips are silver which turn white when dried. The taste is not at all bitter, but highly likeable mild aroma and flavour that invigorate. White tea is costlier, almost double the price of green tea. But being dried leaves you get a lot of volume and it lasts long enough to be affordable.
My method: I stick to the advised method. Heat water to about 80-90 deg, add some leaves in the closed strainer provided and leave the strainer inside the hot water for around a minute (more or less depending on how strong you like). Start sipping the tea immediately while also inhaling the vapours, especially if you have cold. The multi-sensory experience is wonderful!
When: Absolutely any time. It’s my first hot drink in the morning (after glasses full of water immediately after waking up). But I also have it around 11 am many a times. And it’s great even after dinner. Has never given an acidity effect. Almost every single guest we’ve offered it to likes it including many who never took to green tea.
3. Special mention: Lopchu Tea
I recently tried the Teabox version of this (their Lopchu Golden Orange Pekoe Black) and quite liked the Lopchu as a variant of tea. I loved its smoky/woody/earthy aroma and the taste that’s a blend of sweetness (berries) and wood. I’d say anyone who likes red wine should try this.
I want to know of some more authentic/older brands making Lopchu and where to procure it from.
