Cup of Tea

[Wayout]

  Being a long time coffee drinker I have switched to tea.  I prefer a strong Earl Gray but I'm having problems making a 'good' cup every time. Since it took me 20 years to figure out how to make the perfect cup of coffee I don't want to wait that long for the perfect cup of tea.  If anyone is willing to share their secrets I would be forever grateful.  I know I could google this but I'm sure the advice I get here will be much, much better.   

Thanks...

[Angus]

Try a lot of sorts, and try some mixes. Earl Grey has a special aroma, - as a different one, try redbush tea. (Roibos).
Try Ceylon, China, Melroses, and then try the mixtures, - Ceylon actually makes a strong mix with earl Grey etc. Some don't mix at all, and quality is different between brands.
Ceylon is really my sort, but redbush with vanilla flavour is also quite nice.
And you're not yet into green tea or ice tea....lots of exploring to do.

[RTHolmes]

making a cup using a teabag:

put bag in cup,
fill with just boiled water,
stir it briefly,
let it brew for a minute or 2 (how long you leave it depends on how strong you like it,)
remove bag.

then add sugar/honey/milk/lemon/whatever you like,
enjoy!

[Dragon]

I stay away from bagged teas now.  I use either a cup top strainer or the drop in ball infuser.  The ball works well with finer cut tea, but I like the strainer with coarse cut tea.

[xbrit]

About the only tea I can tolerate over here is "Tetleys British Blend", it's available in WalMart and not expensive at all. Earl Grey to me seems like drinking perfume, just never been able to enjoy it. As for the other popular one here"Liptons" I wouldn't cross the road to pee on it if it was on fire, when we moved here originally I called it "fortnight" tea because it's to weak.

[ABDCWOT]

Teavana.com.       They even have a cool iphone app

-AB

[TinmanX]

Earl Grey tastes like old dishwater - watery with a hint of soap. For a decent cuppa try, as XBrit says, Tetley's or PG Tips if you can find it. Avoid anything that claims to be "English Breakfast".

There is only one way to make a true cuppa and that is to buy a tea-pot. Place 3 bags - or teaspoons if the tea is loose - in the pot, add boiling water, let brew then pour (through a strainer if you used loose leaves). Be careful though. It is possible to over-steep or "stew" tea.

Supermarkets will get stuff in for you if you ask. My local now stocks PG Tips, Weetabix, Branston Pickle, Marmite and Pickled Onions because I asked with the first two becoming it's most popular items in their respective categories - Teas and Organic Cereals.

[shiv]

Prefer Barry's Irish Gold tea myself, but two bags of Lipton will do in a pinch.  Make sure you boil the water first, or hot enough so it's almost boiling.  Ideal is just under boiling, but boiling and waiting a few seconds works just as well.  Then let the tea steep  a few minutes first, adding milk only after it's brewed.  I boil the water in a microwave at work in a paper cup, then make the tea in a mug.

You can make good tea in a mug or cup but a teapot goes a long way.  A teapot gets nice and tea-ey after repeated use so the tea gets better and better every pot you make.  And don't clean it with soap or anything, you just rinse it.  You also want to rinse it out a little with hot water to get the pot warm right before you make tea.  You just let the old tea sit in the pot until you get around to rinsing it, or even until you make the next pot.

Mmmmmmm, tea.