I’m an earl grey with honey man, but if I’m being honest, I’ve never really tried much else.
I love strong black teas. English Bteakfast is my go to, but I love a good PG tips now and again.
Lapsang souchong
Pu’er (fermented black tea sold in big solid disks or chunks) it’s nice and dark, reminds me of coffee. I also enjoy iron goddess(Tieguanyin) oolongs and white peony.
I like Earl Grey, but also drink a lot of Mate (although not sure if people consider this a tea)
High mountain oolong tea from Taiwan. Taste like sweet light leafy vegetable tea
2nd is dong ding oolong. Taste like literal boba balls
I used to pride myself on my tea snobbery, sampling green tea varieties from the farmers market and using a ceramic infuser.
Then one day I stopped having time for all that and found that Constant Comment was actually quite lovely and available everywhere.
Black tea with orange zest and spices. Simple, but everything I really want from a tea. Lady Grey is good too.
I buy from a local tea store that does fantastic blends.
For basics, I like green tea with honey and a squeezed lemon or chamomile with honey. Both are so soothing.
Celestial Seasoning Bengal Spice
I also really enjoy this one. However, it contains no tea leaves so not a ‘true’ tea. ‘Tisane’ or ‘herbal infusion’ are the more precise terms.
Scottish Breakfast is my new favorite I put just a touch of oat milk in it. (no dairy for me)
I enjoy a good Irish breakfast, not sure what specifically is the difference between that and a traditional english breakfast. Just tastes smoother to me.
Cutie
My go-to hot tea is Twining’s Irish Breakfast, stronger flavor than your typical English Breakfast. I prefer it with half-and-half and sugar, but can go with full cream or milk depending on what’s available.
As a southerner, I also like sweet iced tea (“sweet tea”) but was shocked to find what they serve at Chipotle is my favorite. It turns out the tea they use (S&D iced tea blend) comes from a provider in Concord, NC (just outside Charlotte) and they used to sell it for people to brew at home as well, but the company was bought out and don’t anymore. After some trial and error I discovered the secret was to put about half as much sugar in as I normally would. The tea blend itself is excellent, though, much better than you find in grocery stores.
coffee
Something almost, but not quite entirely unlike tea
TL;DR
- Green: Gyokuro
- Black: Darjeeling
- White: Pai Mu Tan (Bai Mu Dan)
- Yellow: Yinzhen
- Pu-Erh: Sheng over Shu
- Misc: Yerba Mate (Instead of Coffee)
I’ll just boldly split that answer into some categories :D
Black teas: As my personal favorite I prefer Darjeeling teas, because of their flowery and mild taste.
As for my daily driver I mostly find myself drinking stronger black teas, like english breakfast or ceylon teas.
Green teas: My personal favorite for green tea is the Japanese Gyokuro, because of its strongly present umami flavour and general taste. This green tea gets its flavour from being hidden from the sun by huge black tarps some months prior to harvest. This procedure stops bitter substances from forming within the flower.
But because Gyokuro is a very pricey tea I find myself buying a Chinese green tea called Pi Lo Chun. It’s nothing like the Gyokuro that I love, but it has a flowery flavour to it.
I also love drinking and preparing Matcha. You shouldn’t waste money on cheap Matcha, only if you like to drink Matcha Latte.
Whites: For white teas I love to drink a tea called Pai Mu Tan (sometimes called Bai Mu Dan). It tastes somewhat fruity sometimes.
I’ve also tried a more expensive white tea called Silver Needles but I couldn’t really make out a difference to other white teas I’ve tasted. But that might also just be an error of mine.
Oolong: I really like Da Hong Pao. I haven’t tasted many other oolongs.
Yellow teas: It’s been a while since I’ve had my last yellow tea, but I remember buying a Yinzhen. It had a malty taste, that I really enjoyed.
Pu-Erh: I like the earthy taste of a good Shu Pu-Erh. Riper Shu Pu-Erh might even taste like chocolate. But when first drinking a Shu you might connect the taste and the smell to fish or algae.
Sheng Pu-Erh is more like a conventional green tea. With time passing, this tea will ripen and unlock new flavours.
I prefer Shengs over Shus.
Misc.: When talking about other kinds of tea I like substituting coffee with yerba mate. It keeps you energized longer and when drinking it correctly you can also drink it for quite a long time. My longest session was about 4 hours long before the taste vanished.
I’m no huge herbal tea guy, but I do like my camomile tea in the evening to calm myself.
Earl Gray. Hot.
It’s Earl Grey, named after Charles Grey, the 2nd Earl Grey. I don’t think a colour can be an Earl.
I found two Earl Gray’s that I really enjoy. Earl Gray Cream and Lady Grey. Both good, savory flavors.
I love any and all earl greys. Can’t go wrong with ‘em.