<p>A Brit here. Very few Brits nowadays use loose leaf tea - none that I know of actually. I would never leave the tea bag in my mug as it would get much too stewed. But our tea does tend to be considerably stronger than the American tea (doesn’t usually come with strings either). One of the hardest things for me when I moved here was finding decent tea but happily we discovered an English grocery store about 100 miles away - life saver even though they charged $18 for a box of about 240 tea bags even 20 years ago. Nowadays even the small town I live in has a little international section and sells my favorite PG tips triangular bags. It is a crazy price over here though so I still tend to stock up when I go home each year - if customs ever opens my bag they may wonder why I have 1000 tea bags in there - about a year’s worth for me. (and my dear SIL sends me care packages from England now and then).</p>
<p>If you want a strong cuppa try your International/ethnic aisle at the grocery store for my favorite, PG tips (in the triangle bags if they have it). I like my tea strong but if you leave it in there too long it will be really stewed and probably quite nasty.</p>
<p>This thread reminded me of my visit home this last summer - I was horrified when I ordered tea in a cafe in my Mum’s town this summer and they brought me hot water and a tea bag instead of brewed tea :eek: . Now that’s not British at all. First time that ever happened to me in an Engish cafe!</p>
<p>The Irish have gone over to tea bags as well but can still have strong opinions as to the ‘correct’ procedure for brewing and pouring tea. However, everyone will agree that hot water just off the boil is essential. I can’t get Irish tea locally so I use PG Tips and remove the bag with a pair of tongs. My daughter and i drink what the English call ‘builder’s tea’: very strong with milk and sugar.</p>
<p>^^^that’s how I drink it. I just scoop the teabag out with a teaspoon. Neither of my kids drink tea (or coffee) which my family find weird. Guess I was too mean to share my precious teabags with them!</p>
<p>You can order a huge variety of tea, including Irish and British style all the way to rare teas, from Upton Tea. I have a bunch of their teas, tend to order then in the 125g tin (so I have them in a tin). Online or they’ll send you a catalog. Any order is one shipping price. FYI, the catalog is about 50 pages so a lot of tea choices, arranged mostly by country or area of origin and with sections for flavored and blends. Highly recommend. </p>
<p>This is a cheaper way to get tea than, for example, to buy bags of Barry’s or Lyons on line.</p>
<p>When I met DH in college, he always brewed his tea from loose leaves. (Grandparents were British.) So I have a variety of stoneware teapots-including two Brown Bettys with and without infusers.</p>
<p>About 10-12 years ago he gave me a Bodum Assam teapot with a teapress. Love it! Still using it. I also have Bodum clear glass mugs with nylon infusers. And a MSR cup insert tea infuser.</p>
<p>I buy my tea loose at one of the several tea and coffee places in town that sell loose tea by the oz and custom roast coffee beans. I’ve also been known to buy loose tea from Republic of Tea.</p>
<p>I prefer oolong and black teas. D2 like herbal, chai and fruit teas, but I keep reminder those aren’t teas, they’re tisanes.</p>
<p>There are 2 lovely antique shops in Largo and Bradenton Florida that serve tea and scones. What I would give to bring my mother and her 3 sisters there. We have 2 Celtic gift shops near our home in SW CT and the local supermarkets carry Barry’s Irish tea bags as well. You can usually find a food vendor at a local Irish Feis or festival that will carry tea time items.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions, Lergmom and jym. I’m overwhelmed by the Upton product list, and Tea Forte looks great, too. I don’t know that much about tea, only that I love it. </p>
<p>WayOutWestMom, what is a tea press? Does it actually squeeze the tea leaves? I looked at them at the link but didn’t find an explanation.</p>
<p>When I first came to the US in '75 to go to grad school, I had only seen tea as loose leaves. When the flight attendant came for the beverage service, she poured out a cup of hot water and handed a tea bag. I clumsily tore it open and poured the contents in the cup, wondering how it was to filtered out afterwards. She was obviously quite upset, took back the cup, looking at me in a manner that you would do to a ■■■■■■■■ animal, poured out another cup and put the tea bag in it herself, and handed it over. </p>
<p>She then proceeded to give me some sugar. Till then I had only seen sugar scooped in spoons or in cubes. But fortunately I was one with good test scores and from a prestigious school (back home), and was a quick learner. </p>
<p>Boy, did her customer handling skills get tested; she didn’t do too well…</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, she now drinks lots of water to flush out her kidneys when she plans to have tea. Is also trying out white and green teas, though they are not the same… Poor girl had been in the US two weeks and had a kidney stone, got up close and personal with US insurance coverage, and then was told not to drink tea. Welcome to America! :eek:</p>
<p>Spinach she’ll give up. Tea and chocolate…not so much!</p>
<p>As some of you know, I am now working at an art school - grad only. One of our students is using used tea bags for her artwork (only tea bags whose contents were brewed for drinking purposes … she’s not brewing tea just to get more tea bags for her work). It’s a great way to recycle! :)</p>
<p>There is a plunger-type device that slides inside the infuser so it presses the liquid out of the leaves. Kinda like a French press coffee maker.</p>
<p>There is a non-perforated area at the bottom of the infuser so the tea leaves don’t continue to steep once you’ve put the press down.</p>