An important topic! :)
So...regular readers will know that I'm a Brit and of course with that goes an innate love of tea. For years after moving to the U.S., I would find a British store wherever we were living (or, online) and obtain my Tetley tea bags. A few years ago I succumbed and tried the Earl Grey tea they sell at Starbucks (made by Tazo), and it has served me well. Recently, though, I noticed that it tastes better in the paper cups from Starbucks than it does in a regular cup at home! Why is that? Is it just the Starbucks cups?
At Safeway yesterday I saw a pack of "to go" paper cups and decided to try them out. I came home, made my tea and drank it from the paper cup. It tasted better! Iain went into the kitchen this morning to make my tea and his latte (our little morning routine!), and I told him to use the cups I'd bought yesterday. I don't think I can express how much he rolled his eyes :) We started wondering what could be affecting the taste of the tea in the regular cups: could it be our dishwasher detergent or rinse aid? Or are there some unnatural "things" in the paper cups that seep into the tea and make it taste better? The mystery continues......
6 comments:
I love Earl Grey tea! They are actually clearing out the Tetley Earl Grey from the Safeway since it is not selling well...hmmm! I am a Twinings fan...Tazo is OK but not a fav (I guess in Canada we have more available to us esp. with some new tea houses that have just opened!). If you ever want to indulge, you should try and order this French tea online: Mariage Frères Earl Grey French Blue Tea...yummy! (I bought it in Vancouver at a chi-chi shop and they had huge jars of each kind of tea stacked to the ceiling. They actually had a rolling ladder to get the stuff at the top...so neat! And you could buy a biscuit for about five dollars each to eat with it and it was so worth it!)
I dunno, but I definitely like certain things for drinking. I have a metal coffee mug that I think makes things taste funny & I don't really like to drink from a can.
And the unsolved mystery continues..... I think it is probably a combination. Something seeping into the tea from the "to go cups" and the residue left by dishwasher. Did you try a cup that you hand washed and rinsed???? Maybe that will work. Good luck
I'm not Brit but I sure LOVE my tea! I have no clue why your Earl grey tastes different. How do they serve your tea at starbucks? Some places offer tea already steeped and depending on how long it's been sitting, it takes a little bitter. The only other thing that I can think of is the kind of water they use, distilled, filtered or tap? Very intriguing...
Anyhow, if you figure it out, keep us posted until then, you and I should have a virtual Tea Party ;)
I had no idea you were British! Anyway, my grocery store makes an Earl Grey blend, I'll have to send you some.
Those of us from the Pacific NW know that Starbucks makes everything taste better -- tee hee! My father would only drink his coffee from a glass mug and his tea from only one certain ceramic mug. Go figure....
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