What has happened to our tea?

There is a big difference in teas especially bags and leaves.
I like Early Grey and this various in taste from supplier, if you find something you like stay with that supplier.
Shop around.

Agree Ginny as to method, except we have Rington's.
I strain the leaves and put them on the compost heap.

This year I've developed a taste for fruit teas and it hasn't worn off as quickly as it has done in the past. That means I have worked my way through the old boxes of various kinds of fruit tea bags in the cupboard. After using a fair number of them I looked at the Best Before dates on the boxes and found a range from 2008 back to 2001. Still here, and they all tasted fine!

The best cup of (real) tea we ever had was Assam in Exeter when we fulfilled an ambition to have a cream tea. Great experience!

Loose Yorkshire tea in a china teapot. Water must be boiling and the pot warmed. Can't stand fruit or herbal teas although they might make good cologne to dab behind my ears. Also don't like de-caffeinated tea but always have de-caffeinated coffee. It does make a difference dependent on the water in any particular area.

Before we fitted a water softener our tea was awful. I eventually found Yorkshire Tea for hard water and it was a revelation! The tea was drinkable with no horrible scum on the surface. Since the water softener I have started buying Twinings Teabags because Aldi always have them on offer. Really couldn't be doing with the faff of tealeaves - I have far too much of that with my coffee fetish.

I've recently bought some Redbush tea [as mentioned on another thread]. At first I thought it tasted like TCP but I really like it now. But not first thing in the morning. It has become part of my [worrying]daily ritual of strong tea with caffeine first thing, then coffee and Redbush third. The rest of the day I can have what I like [hurrah].

Yorkshire teabags on offer in sainsburys this morning. Also saw tea pigs, my, what a price. May buy some when DH is not with me.
Also found the tin of very old loose tea at the back of the cupboard - Harvey Nicks 'Afternoon delight'-still sealed up. Will try it, can't poison us surely?

Yorkshire tea in the morning tea bag in a mug. I like Earl Grey as well but do use teabags mostly as. I like my tea fairly weak. I have milk with the Yorkshire and milk or black/lemon with the Earl Grey according to my mood. Occasionally if I fancy something different I will drink Green tea or Orange Pekoe which has a very distinctive taste. I like coffee as well but can,t start the day without a cup of tea preferably one that has been brought to me in bed!

I like Teapiggs, it's sort of round and mellow, Marty, but it works out at about 4 times more expensive that PG Tips so I think we'll try others first.

it has to be yorshire tea for me i find most other brands very bitter...

My sister travelled some distance to Winsdor to buy her tea as she said it was the best. She then used long life milk with it.

The nicest tea I ever tasted was from Tea Pigs. But alas very expensive. I drink Five Roses Chai Spice tea. It is divine. I put the bag in a cup, fill with hot water and a bit of milk. Then leave the teabag in and keep refilling my cup from the kettle. I just LOVE it.

M&S gold teabags, no fuss, good strong taste for me and hubby. No expense spared when you have worked hard and have no other expensive vices in your retirement!! ��

Galen, I only drink coffee when I'm NOT pregnant.

Memories....misty water colored memories.....

I only drink tea when I'm pregnant!

I drink Waitrose tea or Twinings Earl/Lady Grey and occasionally a fruit tea. My husband often drinks redbush (yuck) or a very special green tea which my 'son' sends him from Taiwan. The last time he was home my son went to great lengths to explain how special this tea is and demonstrated how to prepare and drink it (he has bought us the correct hand made teapot and cups). I confess that I didn't really appreciate what he was telling me and so this thread has just prompted me to check online about why this tea is so special and I'm flabbergasted. This is what Wiki says about it:

Dayuling (大禹嶺) oolong
Grown at altitudes above 2,500 meters. Some people name it as The King of Taiwan High Mountain Tea. Because the quantity is limited due to the geographical condition, the prices per 500 grams is often at the range of $200 US dollars up to $500. Because of its popularity, there are unscrupulous businessmen selling fake/unqualified tea using Dayuling's brand name.
Will pay more attention in future.

I've got to have a cup of tea right NOW!

If I have to have tea without milk I can cope with Earl Grey or Orange Picot but not my basic Tesco teabag. Although in the morning a huge cup of Tesco tea with milk is essential. I love coffee during the day but cannot start the day with it. I do like a nice fruit tea now and again - Aldi have a nice one. I always take a couple on holiday in case there is no milk.

Do you think that it may not be the tea taste that has changed, but our [considerably older] taste buds?

Just had a look, can't find it, DH must have emptied it into the compost bin. However, a cupboard full of all DD2's peculiar "teas", which must have been there for ages. Must de-clutter.

oh, go on, tell

Margaret try it and see. We use leaf tea because I find the sight of tea bags revolting they remind me of.......no, I won't say do not want to put you off drinking tea.

I remember that my Mum used to buy a tea called "Indian Prince" from the Co-op when I was young. Don't know if they still do it

We never use tea bags either. We used to buy M&S Gold tea leaves and gradually noticed the flavour had changed. We now stock up on large leaf Ceylon orange pekoe grade tea from an independent grocers in Colchester - £1.99 125g. We drink it black and use filtered water from a jug.

Having said that, for some reason I don't think any tea tastes as nice as it used to do years ago. But then I notice that with a lot of products - it's either something physiological or psychological to do with getting older, or else the quality isn't what it used to be.