crochetmania.myfastforum.org :: Anyone interested in a tea swap?

Serena · MANIA MOD

I have Typhoo and PG Tips tea bags and would like to swap with someone for Bewleys.

Any other English/Irish tea lovers here?

PhoenixTears62 · MANIA MOD

I love tea but the only one I know about is Earl Grey.

Serena · MANIA MOD

Peggy, Earl Grey is a black tea with bergamot oil added.

There are lots of brands and mixes of it on the market.

PG Tips, Typhoo and Bewleys are brand names. Their main offerings of tea are blends of black teas, with no added oils or flavorings. I'm one of those who likes plain black tea.

Here's an introduction to tea:

http://www.mygourmetconnection.co...food-cooking-101/a-tea-primer.php

A very informative site about tea:

http://www.teatalk.com/index1.htm#Gen%20Info

PhoenixTears62 · MANIA MOD

Thanks Serena. What is your favorite tea?

Serena · MANIA MOD

I like the breakfast mixtures popular in England, Ireland, and Scotland. They are strong, black teas--a mixture of primarily orange pekoe.

I usually drink PG Tips, but have discovered Bewleys.

It's not easy to find around here, and would love to swap someone some Typhoo or PG Tips for Bewleys. I buy my tea at one of the East Indian groceries which so plentiful here in Atlanta.

Bewleys is from Ireland. I can't drink most brands of tea, due to some additives or ???. Don't know whether it's pesticides, or tannins, or what. I've even tried organic teas in several varieties, and from different sources. They, too, have the very unpleasant effects.

PG Tips and Bewleys are the only teas I've found that I can drink. I've tried hundreds, from Twining to Taylor to Harrogate to Lipton, in many varieties. My sister says the same thing. I come from a tea-drinking family. My parents used to try many different teas.

Bewleys is a different blend. It's not sold in the East Indian stores here. PG Tips is now at Publix, but in small boxes, and priced too high. I drink it every day, sometimes use loose tea, sometimes tea bags. I prefer the loose tea, as the tea bags always make the tea taste a bit like paper.

TX CrochetLover · MANIA MOD

Serena, I will look at a couple of stores around here to see if they have it. There is an organic store called Sprouts in Plano. Maybe they carry it. I'll check Market Street too. Kroger probably wouldn't carry it, ya think?

Serena · MANIA MOD

TXCL, I've never seen Bewley's tea in any store, except a specialty shop which imports things from Ireland. And they charge a pretty penny.

I've looked in all the major grocery stores, and all the import shops here. I can't afford tea which costs what the specialty import gift shops charge.

I pay around $20 for 160 PG Tips teabags. That's $5 for 40. Less expensive than Celestial Seasonings.

Unless someone has found a source online for a really good price on Bewleys, I'll just wait till I find one.

Maybe the British shop here will put a tin of outdated Bewleys on clearance.

Here's an example of the prices for Bewleys online:

http://www.javacity.com/store/black_tea.php

$4 plus shipping for 25 tea bags is outrageous.

PG Tips is a good, if not too special, tea of the English Breakfast variety.

Just thought I'd ask here, on the long shot that someone here might be "in the know" about Bewleys resources.

I'm afraid it's in the same category as size 5 crochet thread: expensive and can only find it online.

Finding it locally would be a bit of a wild goose chase.

It's kind of you to offer, though!

TX CrochetLover · MANIA MOD

Serena, I checked while I was out. I did find the PG Tips for 4.29 for 40 bags and for 80 it was 7.69 at Market Street. I didn't realize the Bewleys was not sold in stores. Anywho, I did see teas I that were in neat tins and such! Never really studied the teas at the store! Good gried they are proud of the Bewleys on the website aren't they?!

Serena · MANIA MOD

TXCL, I've heard that groceries are higher in Atlanta than others places.

Some of the tea tins are quite attractive, and they do keep the tea fresh. Cardboard boxes expose the tea to the air, which is like leaving the cap off of a bottle of real perfume. Pretty soon, it smells like nothing. In the case of tea, it tastes, not like tea, but like whatever is in the air.

TX CrochetLover · MANIA MOD

That is really interesting, I didn't know that. So, even my Liptons I should store in something other than the box it came in?

Serena · MANIA MOD

Yes, in a glass jar with a metal lid, in a cool, dry place.

Teas contain what are called "volatile oils", just as perfume does. Real perfume, made from flower extracts, not the fake kind made from petroleum derivatives.

Just as a flower bloom loses its scent after being exposed to the air, so do the scents in the tea.

Good tea will always come packaged in something which does not allow these oils/scents/tastes to be exposed to air or moisture.

Most people would not think of leaving their coffee exposed to the air, yet tea is often left to soak up anything in the room and to lose its taste. Even the way lesser teas are packaged makes them lose their taste. Bleach in the tea bags, open in a cardboard box, with a mere cellophane wrapper around the box.

Also, using filtered water greatly improves the taste of the tea.

TX CrochetLover · MANIA MOD

Bleach in the tea bags?!?! Yuck! I have a lot to learn about this. Oh, this is fun learning something new! I'm going back to the links you gave us.

Serena · MANIA MOD

Yep, the paper the tea bags is made from is bleached. So are paper towels, toilet papers, and tissues, and other personal hygiene paper products. Some of the recycled paper products are unbleached.

I prefer to use loose tea and strain it. Loose tea usually costs less in the long run. And it comes in those nifty tins.