Green Tea Totaller (Sometimes)
Posted 25th November 2010
Category: Life But Maybe Not As We Know It Genres: N/A
1 Comment
Would you believe that in this day and age and with thousands of East Asians coming to our shores each year green tea is difficult to find in it’s usual form?
I am a fan of jasmine tea. When I was stranded by rain one day in Asia, a waiter made me a pot of jasmine-tinted green tea and as I sipped it I knew I’d found a little piece of heaven. It was just what I’d needed after running around all morning. So now I associate jasmine tea with peace, warmth and happiness – it’s no wonder that a few weeks later, after looking for authentic stock, I bought a pack for home.
Browsing my local supermarket, after a brief sojourn from the leaves, I could find no loose tea, nothing. Everything was bagged and I have a couple of problems with jasmine tea being bagged. One – it doesn’t taste any good. It’s likely more processed than the loose leaves and half the joy in Chinese tea, I find, is in the making of it. I love dipping the spoon into the leaves, measuring out the quantity I want for that particular time, and brewing it with a strainer. The aroma is exquisite and you just don’t get that with teabags, the bag and the processing get in the way. Two – I feel I’m being duped into paying more for less. With loose tea you get so many more servings, perhaps 70 or so versus the teabag limit of 20. You can choose how much or how little to use. Of course if you wanted to you could rip open teabags and use it loose but it isn’t the same.
I like green tea because I don’t “need” milk with it and it has numerous health benefits. It’s proven to dissuade cancer from advancing and lessen blood pressure and while “usual” tea may have benefits in adding milk I’m taking away from that.
Do you drink tea? What do you drink and do you prefer loose tea or bags?
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November 26, 2010, 3:45 pm
I’m drinking jasmine green tea right now! Mine is from a teabag, because I’m at my parents’ house and that’s all they have. At home I have some loose tea called Peachberry Jasmine, which has a mild fruity flavor and is delicious! I do prefer loose tea and have far too much of it. I drink tea all the time, though, so I guess it’s ok!