1. Home
  2. Tea Connoisseur's Forum
  3. Novice Decaf Tea Toteler Thirsty For More

Novice Decaf Tea Toteler Thirsty For More

I recently became a daily tea drinker after having it for many years at the occasional oriental restuarant visits. The standard Lipton Tea's caffiene affects me considerably leaving my gut feeling as if someone has punched me. So now I am limiting myself to decafs. I tried the standard Liption Decaf Tea and it seems good (to me) and has no kick. I then tried Lipton's Decaf Green Tea and find it a little unpleasant, astringent in taste. I tried some green tea from an unreadable package which my friend brought from Japan. It has a mild seaweed type taste and a 1/3 of Lipton's punch to the stomach. I've been scanning the various tea websites in search for other decafs but don't know which to try. I also found some on ebay (decaf green, assam, ceylon, earl grey, english, etc) at cheaper prices but the vendor could not specifically tell me if they used a CO process only that they used a water-based process. Is this OK? Could someone recommend their reasonably-priced, favorite decaf teas?

Reply to
jaym1212
Loading thread data ...

The only decaf teas I like are from specialteas.com, specifically the decaf earl grey and decaf sencha. they also carry herbal teas which are naturally caffeine free.

-ben

Reply to
Ben Snyder

From their website, I see they use a steam method which retains 20% of the original caffeine content. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Reply to
jaym1212

Reply to
juanon

I received a free-sample of Honeybush Vanilla (#691) with my order. Being the smallest packet, I tore into it first. The strong aroma that escaped reminded of a bag of potpourri from the local card shop. I was afriad the drink was going to be overpowering, but surprisingly it was mild and with a hint of sweetness. Definitely not astringent like Lipton's Decaf Green Tea also not as characterful as their Decaf Black Tea.

Reply to
jaym1212

Newer processes use CO2. I don't know if it's any better.

I tried rooibos, and it's not all that.

I picked up a box of bags of Ahmad of London "Evening" Tea at the local Asian megamart the other day, and it is.

What I'd like to find is a full-leaf loose decaf Darjeeling.

--Blair "And a no-work job."

Reply to
Blair P. Houghton

You'd think they could add tea flavor...

Expect it that way. Decaffeination adds cost to the business of selling tea, but decaf drinkers don't necessarily want to pay a penny more for the same amount of product, so the producers have to make up the cost differential by using inferior ingredients. Their best bet is to use dust, and the only reasonable way to sell dust is in bags.

What I often do with bags is cut across the top, dump the dust in my 1-cup teapot, add the water, and while it's steeping I slip one open end of the bag over the spout, fold the other end over, and secure the whole thing with a rubber band.

Et viola! Loose-tea physics and a filtered-clear cup.

Earlier I mentioned Ahmad of London Evening Blend or Evening Tea or whatever they call it. I think I paid like $3.95 at an Asian supermarket for a 25-bag box.

--Blair "And I'm getting way more mileage out of the story than I ever thought..."

Reply to
Blair P. Houghton

Wouldn't you though!

Since people are willing to spend money on premium teas versus just buy supermarket tea bags, you'd think there would also be a market for higher priced decafs if they were good.

I'll try this although since it's still an inferior product, I'm not expecting a miracle!

I've never seen this brand. I'll look for it. Thanks for the tip.

Agalena

Reply to
Agalena

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.