Need help with proselytization

Probably one or more of the following:

1. Generic Ceylon teas, mostly high altitude, very finely cut.
2. Generic Assams, again very finely ground
3. Argentinian tea.

But it may be so mixed it's hard to say there is any one "base tea" in some of the bag blends. A lot of the bag blend taste comes from the very fine cut that is required due to the poor fluid flow through the bag.

You might try a CTC Assam. If he likes Lipton's in a bag, try the Yellow Label Lipton's, which is a cheap CTC tea that you'll find in Indian markets. It's a huge step up from the stuff in the bag, but a big step down from a high grade tea. It might be about the right size step he'd be willing to take.

--scott

I'm not going to answer exactly the question you posed. But, considering what he drinks now, you might consider proselytizing this guy from a different angle: loose tea is much cheaper than bagged tea of comparable quality. These days my weekday breakfast tea is usually some Caykur I got at a Turkish store in Sunnyside, Queens for $2.99 the 500g package.

/Lew

Thanks. From memory (I haven't had Lipton's since high school), I was guessing Assam and Yunnan and didn't want to rely on a memory from that long ago.

Thanks. I tried the financial angle, but I wasn't able to go lower than a penny per cup because I don't know enough about what's out there. He's got this routine that has him spending 2/3 of a cent for 12 oz mug of beverage and I don't know how to beat that with a black tea of unknown taste. I was thinking it's going to take improved flavor to convert him to loose tea.

He drives a hard bargain. My breakfast mug runs an exorbitant 2.4 cents. Haven't tried Hy-Vee bags, though...

/Lew

I've got my work cut out for me.

I suggest CTC Assam before trying any Chinese black (red) teas. I grew up drinking Red Rose, Tetley, and Lipton in tea bags and find that the Chinese black teas have a different flavor that I can't quite put my finger on. The CTC Assams are a closer match to these blends and would be a good first step for a devout teabag user. You might also want to consider something like Twining's English Breakfast. Growing up I felt that making a REAL pot of tea (English style) with loose tea from a pretty tin was a treat when compared to just dunking a teabag in a mug. Once your friends sees that using loose tea is easy, he'll be more likely to move on to try other teas.

Alan

Thanks, I didn't want to try to figure out the base by tasting it myself because I prefer the Chinese black and not Assam.

I've gotten more info and he has tried loose in teaballs and with a strainer, but the tea's been in boxes, paper-lined, not tins as I would have expected gift teas to be. I don't know at this point how it was brewed, if by time or by color.

Nooo, I don't think ease will get him, either. He sticks a teabag in a mug with cold water and nukes it. That's why I'm convinced flavor's got to do the trick.

Well, then, the bar's pretty low, isn't it? ;-)

If tasting a good loose tea made with non-nuked boiling water doesn't convince him, I suggest you resign yourself to the fact that he is beyond help.

Good luck and tell us how it turns out.

Alan

A friend will *only* drink teabag tea, ideally Lipton. I keep Red Rose loose tea for him - he'll drink that, and likes it. According to the box, it is "Pure Ceylon Tea" - "Premium Blended Mountain Estate Black Tea" - it does taste like basic tea bag tea, but a bit better.

LOL! I'm positive the taste will be so amazing, he'll "Wow!" for days.

One step at a time. Right now, I'd be happy if he quits nuking his poor teabag and starts the steep with water that reached 212 degrees, nuked or not, BEFORE steeping. Then, on to loose tea.

It would be more of a contrast, though, wouldn't it, if I let him compare his nuked teabag tea to properly brewed loose tea instead of having him modify his nuking the teabag, first?

Thanks! Will do.

Okay, thanks. I'll do that.

He drinks it for the flavor and because it's inexpensive. He nukes it because he's lazy and doesn't believe that there's a good reason for preparing tea properly; he claims that there isn't such a thing as properly prepared tea. He's well-aware of the directions on the box, but says since his method works for him and so many other microwave-brewers, it's the proper method. He doesn't want to try another tea or fresh, loose leaf tea because he's happy with what he has. He said that boiling water on the stove uses more electricity and dirties a pan unnecessarily (yes, I asked how bad is his water, anyway, if boiling water dirties the pan).

He says that he's tried many teas in the past, many of which were exotic teas from friends, and he doesn't like anything that isn't a regular tea. "Exotic" is anything that doesn't taste like Lipton. "Regular" tea is what restaurants serve, like Lipton. Tea made for him by friends in their homes tasted like limp cardboard - I told him that's what stale tea tastes like - he wasn't moved.

Comparing loose leaf and teabags to fresh vegetables and canned, he said that canned vegetables taste good, too.

You can lead a horse to water, but if he don't wanna, he won't.

Just out of curiousity, if he's happy with what he has, why try to change him? I'm not trying to be difficult, just wondering. He sounds like my father, whom I could never convince to try one of my many recommendations, he is set in his ways.

Well, I'm not trying anymore - that's over and done with because you can't make a horse drink the water to which you've led him.

It started because he's interested in buying a filtering water pitcher and mentioned he's curious about how it will affect the taste of his tea. Along with my positive attitude about the pitcher, I asked if he's ever had fresh, loose tea. When I posted my OP, I thought I needed only to find a comparable loose tea for him. At that point, I had been told only what kind of tea he liked and how he prepared it; it was the same that others I had converted to loose tea had told me.

Over this past weekend, I learned the rest. In his favor, he boiled water on the stove, complaining about dirtying the pan he used to boil the water and the saucer used to cover his mug during steeping. He steeped the teabag for only 3 minutes because of a communication glitch instead of continuing to taste-test the brew at 30 second intervals until he liked the strength or 5 minutes whichever came first as I had instructed. After steeping, he added his usual amount of sugar and tasted it, complaining that it was too weak. He said that his experiment proved that the proper method of brewing tea wasn't any good because the tea came out weak, therefore his method is the proper one because his tea comes out better. I LOL'd and said it proved only that he couldn't follow directions, but it's his choice and he's free to continue brewing as he wants.

Now that I know more about his history with tea, I wish he had told me all that up front so I could have saved myself and the members of this ng the time. I kind of feel like he was stringing me along because he was also trying to get me to try his tea although I told him from the get-go that I never did like Lipton.

My reply to MarshalN was the outcome report that some had requested and this post adds more. There's a lot more that went on that doesn't need to get posted, but I drilled into him that good tea + good water + temperature + time yield the best beverage and compromising on all points = less than the best he could get. With a filtering pitcher, he should get better tea even if he doesn't change anything else.

Interesting to me that he's so curious about how filtering the water will change the taste of the tea, but isn't open to the idea of letting the tea itself or his method of brewing change the taste. Maybe he's worried that the filtered water will make it taste worse?

Anyway, if he's happy with it, then it's the right way for him.

Alan

Well, plenty of folks are happy with Bud and Pabst Blue Ribbon, but personally, I don't consider that stuff beer, so it carries over to all foods I guess :)

That didn't occur to me because he's hoping the pitcher will get him to drink more plain water. When I told him nobody I know prefers plain tap water to filtered, he didn't comment. He has to try the water himself, anyway.

I told him at the beginning that if he didn't want to try, it was his choice and I meant it. I'm just surprised we went as far as we did only to hit the wall. Usually, when I encounter microwave-brewers who don't want to try anything else, I know from the beginning to leave them alone.

LOL.

Thanks, everyone, for your responses.