The FastDay Forum

@lizardline, Can you tell me what brand the maple vanilla and almond teas were? I am always looking for new and interesting flavors of non-caffeinated teas. Caffeine pushes my blood pressure way up, so I can't drink it any more.

I have been drinking lots of herbal teas, my current favorites being Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger and Rooibos Madagascar Vanilla. I also like all the Twinnings herbal teas but they aren't stocking as many of them at Stop & Shop as they were last year at this time.

Like @rawkaren, I have never been able to enjoy black teas. The tannins taste awful to me. Green teas taste like something you drink because it is supposed to be good for you, but I have seen the research debunked, so thank goodness I can stop drinking it.

I drink a cup or two of decaf coffee on non-fast days, usually from Dean's Beans which we have been mail ordering for years and occasionally Shelburne Falls Coffee roasters who are local.

And no day is complete without a cup of cocoa, summer or winter. I only put about 20 calories worth of half and half in it, so it isn't a diet buster, but I do enjoy it.

[quote="peebles"]@lizardline, Can you tell me what brand the maple vanilla and almond teas were? I am always looking for new and interesting flavors of non-caffeinated teas. Caffeine pushes my blood pressure way up, so I can't drink it any more.

I have been drinking lots of herbal teas, my current favorites being Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger and Rooibos Madagascar Vanilla. I also like all the Twinnings herbal teas but they aren't stocking as many of them at Stop & Shop as they were last year at this time.

I don't know what brand they are - I bought them at a small (non-chain) store in Philly during the holidays. They are loose-leaf black tea. Have you tried flavored black tea with milk? I find it makes it gentler. I won't drink green or white because they're too bitter for me. I love loose-leaf tea but think Teavana is a rip off with lousy flavors. There are lots of options online.

[Tracieknits]

I'm not a big fan of flavored teas myself. I like organic chamomile. But a friend of mine who loves flavored teas drinks a lot of adagio teas.

I always think that "a nice cup of tea or coffee" sounds nicer than it is. I love things frothy, so milky coffee or hot chocolate is delish but not something I have very often. I love my green tea first thing in the morning. It's never as tasty during the rest of the day though, weirdly. And why does tea taste better in a big brown pot?! Any other colour is not as good...is it psychological?!

We have milk coffee for breakfast on non-fast days, milk frothed with the Bamix and coffee very strong. Then the rest of the day we drink tea. Last Christmas I bought my OH a antique willow pattern tea pot and we stopped using tea bags and started making pots of tea. I never knew! It is so much better. Now we like to visit specialist tea shops and stock up on many kinds of tea: lapsong, Russian Caravan, Earl Grey, French Earl Grey, English Breakfast; these we have in the cupboard today. I always like to buy a new tea as well, so that I can learn more about tea. We both have it black. On the subject of tea, we have started making kombucha which is fermented tea and you drink it cold. It's meant to be good for you, providing Good Bacteria to the gut, a bit like yoghurt does. It's yummy and just the thing for summer days.

[Tracieknits]

]

I always think that "a nice cup of tea or coffee" sounds nicer than it is. I love things frothy, so milky coffee or hot chocolate is delish but not something I have very often. I love my green tea first thing in the morning. It's never as tasty during the rest of the day though, weirdly. And why does tea taste better in a big brown pot?! Any other colour is not as good...is it psychological?!

Must be psychological, because I find my herbal tisanes taste better in my blue pot, preferably with my fancy tea cosy

@Tracieknits Did you knit that? I want one!

Thank you Penny.
My mother is from the early 1900's English era of taking tea. Tea is served at 11am and 3pm in fine china service, silver teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl. Still happens today in her home, exactly on time. There is something rather special about this, grand children and great grand children adore the ceremony. It's very comforting - it brings us together. Oh it's builders or earl grey.
Otherwise, at home and work, I drink builders tea with a dash of milk.
I gave up coffee when I started 52 a year ago as it made me hungry. But for a treat I have a double expresso. Spent lots of dosh on a quality coffee machine for colleagues at work last year - they are happy. Colleagues bring back teas from around the world -great to try, but I still love my cup of builders.

[Tracieknits]

Oh how lovely @lizbean! My grandmother had a silver tea service, but when she died, I let my sister have it.

Thanks @Sallyo!! I crocheted it. Here's the rough pattern, but you have to customize it to fit whatever pot you make it for. http://www.whydidntanyonetellme.blogspo ... -love.html

[janeg]

Cups...coffee at home in a little green men (from Toy Story) mug that I got free in Hong Kong. Well, I had to buy a 16 portion cake to get it, but someone has to do such filthy jobs.
Those of a sensitive disposition may want to stop reading now...
At work, the massive amounts of water I drink is in a mug gaily emblazoned with "Queen of F***ing Everything" with a picture of a reclining lady in a beautiful purple gown. I was given one as a thank you after a touring production and loved it - says so much...but left it when I moved to the sandpit. Another one turned up and I was a happy person again.

I don't drink coffee at all, never started as a child and never learned to as an adult but I do drink eight or ten large mugs of black, unsweetened, decaffeinated tea every day! I'm not keen on any tea, other than standard supermarket tea, and the only reason for the decaffeinated type is because it's doctor's orders for an irritable bladder and recurring UTIs. (TMI?) I have a lovely insulated teapot from Lakeland, which keeps tea hot for ages, and one teabag makes two mugs of tea, so you can tell that I don't like my tea strong! I couldn't get through a fast day without my tea!

[Debs]

Are there really people in the world who don't like tea? Who'd a thunk it?!
A nice big steaming mug of Assam Bold for me at camp. At home we will only drink loose English Breakfast from our Brown Derby teapot wich has been well tempered. We have about 15,500 tea cosies as we can never find one big enough and people keep on sending them to us! And yes, at 11 and 3. When I'm home , we stop every day for a pot of tea! Not so many cakes and biccies these days though.

I'm afraid I'm a coffee snob and will only drink decent barista coffee from pretentious little boutique coffee shops brewed by impossibly trendy but well trained young men. Otherwise I will have the odd bullet proof.

I have seriously attempted to like other teas, and will drink pomegranate at a push on a fast day, but however many I try it always comes back to a steaming cuppa!!

Thanks PFT for the thread!!

@lizbean how lovely! Afternoon tea ceremony is lovely. I used to take in Japanese students and put on English afternoon teas for them.they loved it!
@StowgateResident have you tried taking cranberry ? UTIs are one of the joys of getting older,but i've found that after taking cranberry capsules daily i no longer suffer them. I don't drink cranberry juice as i don't want the calories x Holland & Barrett do the capsules - often buy one get one half price,or buy one get one just for a penny! X

Black coffee (not decaff or instant) without sugar for me during the daytime and evening, but first thing in the morning I drink a cup of very weak Darjeeling tea, no milk, no sugar.

I was always a coffee drinker but in the last 10 years or so have found myself drinking more tea - certainly first thing in the morning and usually mid afternoon. We drink clipper tea. I also drink decaf instant coffee both these with skimmed milk. I also have a LARGE collection of infusions and green and fruit teas for fast days. I call it a' cup of tea' or a 'cup of coffee'!