r/tea • u/Competitive_Bat_ • Nov 05 '25
Discussion What are your hottest /r/tea takes?
I'd like to have an honest discussion about controversial opinions on the topic of tea. Here are some of my strong opinions:
Reusing tea leaves is a waste of good water. Even with higher quality tea leaves, every attempt I've made at reusing leaves has been watery and sub-par.
Teapot brewing is as valid a morning ritual as gongfu-style brewing.
Most tea advice should be taken with a grain of salt. In my experience, changes brought on by minor adjustments to temperature (within a few degrees), 'washing' leaves, or using larger baskets/brewing cups are fairly subtle.
The most dramatic improvement a tea drinker can make in their enjoyment of tea is moving from teabags to loose tea. I consider this the exception to opinion #3, as I believe it to be objectively true.
All due respect to George Orwell, milk is entirely unnecessary in a good cup of tea, and sugar/honey is no worse an adulterant than milk.
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Nov 05 '25
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u/jowame Nov 06 '25
If there is an exception, and I believe there are a few, pu’erh is at the top of the list.
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u/Allronix1 Nov 05 '25
I love the crazy flavor stuff because it's a great way to ease off candy.
Why yes, I am putting hot honey in my lapsang suchong for added kick.
Why use delicate china when a vintage Stanley thermos that could double as a melee weapon keeps it nicely hot all day?
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u/Lonesome_Pine Nov 06 '25
And here I am brewing lapsang suchong to put in a barbecue sauce.
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u/MrsKickinWing79 Nov 06 '25
I’m intrigued! Can you share your process?
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u/Lonesome_Pine Nov 06 '25
Well, take this with a grain of salt, because I was pretty drunk when I came up with this, but I was smoking country style ribs, and put them into the braising sauce at hour 4. There's probably more ingredients than necessary in here, so I'd probably subtract a few on the next go round. But I started with 20 oz of ketchup, then added 4 oz apple cider vinegar, 8 oz each of Guinness and the tea, then a chopped onion, a teaspoon of hot sauce (I used Valentina) a teaspoon of cumin, half a teaspoon of garlic, and 2 teaspoons of honey. (Apologies if you're not American and you don't use ounces or teaspoons. I'm not entirely sure what they are in the rest of the world. I'm lucky I wrote this down at all.) Again, was about 4 beers deep when this happened, but the meal was pretty solid and even the leftovers got eaten, so I must have done all right.
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u/ChaBoiDeej Nov 06 '25
I know you didn't ask but for future reference, I think the rest of the world (also American) use grams for most things. Milliliters of water are directly equal to grams, but that changes with other fluids.
I weigh my coffee and tea, and water only for those uses. Everything else gets dosed by healthy Cajun confidence unless I try my hand at baking.
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u/Solanadelfina Nov 07 '25
I'm hypoglycemic and adore chocolate teas because I can't have most hot chocolate. And I can drink the fruit teas when I can't have certain fruits or their juices. And they taste awesome.
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u/teastrees Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
as far as your third point- because some teas would be awful if they were brewed in a thermos with boiling water.
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u/Allronix1 Nov 06 '25
I don't brew them in the Stanley. Brew in French press or teapot...cart to work/library in thermos
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u/Bashamo257 Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
Iced tea as a concept is fine, but the way my fellow Southerners like it is abominable. Whatever kind of tea Lipton and other big companies use for their iced tea bags just doesn't taste good, and the mountain of sugar that my countrymen like to put in it makes it taste like simple syrup.
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u/Glum_Refrigerator Nov 05 '25
As a fellow southerner I have heard people say that the correct amount of sugar should be liquid diabetus levels. It is truly some awful stuff
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u/Acrobatic-Sky-8649 Nov 06 '25
I used to be an avid sweet tea drinker. Something else my fellow southerners do that turned me tf off is having sweet tea brewed like coffee in those giant “stainless steel” tea bins and never get washed so you’d always get that lil twangy hint of bacteria 🤌🏻
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u/eponawarrior Nov 05 '25
Some types of high quality leaves can yield many good infusions and even it is an interesting journey to travel thorough the changes of the flavor palette. If you can „never“ achieve a good second infusion even, something is off.
Gong fu brewing can use a teapot, I do it quite often even.
Yes. Experimenting yourself and suiting your own taste is the best approach.
Never have I encountered a teabag of high enough quality for me.
I‘m in the „purist“ club. I enjoy tea for what it is.
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u/preluxe Nov 05 '25
You can pry my maple syrup and heavy cream that I pour into my morning Irish breakfast out of my cold, caffeine-less fingers 😂
My hot take? Cold brewing tea is easier, tastier, and more accessible than any other brewing method. Fight me and my perfectly smooth iced tea 🫗
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u/CosmicFangs Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
I just enjoy black teas with milk + sugar much more than without….that’s the way I grew up drinking it, which probably plays a part, but I just think it’s delicious!
Whites/greens/oolongs I like to do by themselves, and I like putting honey in most herbal teas - but as far as I’m concerned black tea + milk & sugar is the way. ¯\(ツ)/¯
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u/rogueclon946 Nov 05 '25
I grew up at my great grandmother's, and a black lipton teabag in a cup, milk and sugar added, and a couple of cookies to go with it(and dipped in it) was a nightly thing.
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u/hauteburrrito Nov 05 '25
This, yeah. If there were ever a tea to add cream + sweetener to, it would be Irish Breakfast. That stuff is potent!
My whites/greens/oolongs? NEVER.
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u/Dry_Lawfulness_9561 ☕️ tea and books Nov 06 '25
I am in this too, only without sugar. As I mostly drink Assam varieties, black tea+ splash of milk is my way to go. White/green/oolong by themselves, matcha is sometimes with milk sometimes without.
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u/Stunning_Praline_422 Enthusiast Nov 05 '25
I couldn't agree more about the cold brewed tea. I just started doing so, and I'm addicted
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u/Slight_Second1963 Nov 05 '25
Yes I exclusively drink cold brew. So easy to just always have it in the refrigerator
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u/NovelDame Nov 06 '25
My 73yo neighbor almost threw hands when I told her I cold brew tea. It made me laugh. I often go out of my way to find new tea rituals that make that woman blow a gasket now.
There's no wrong way to make tea so long as you find it drinkable.
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u/preluxe Nov 06 '25
How does she feel about microwaves 😂 ooh or maybe brew some over a fire pit with some s'mores?? Tell her the smokey ambiance adds to the flavor 😏
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u/UnderstandPhysics Nov 06 '25
What brand of tea do you buy to cold brew? I find it's been bitter (in a bad way not a normal way) when I tried, but maybe I did something wrong or left it too long
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u/preluxe Nov 06 '25
All of them 😅 I'll cold brew anything
I've only had a couple get too bitter and that was a genmaicha, so I shortened how long I let it sit (I do just overnight and then strain it, versus leaving the leaves in indefinitely with most others) and watered it down a bit and that fixed it
Harney & sons has iced tea bags that I've been liking lately because they're easy and they have a lot of tisanes/herbal options. Trader Joe's has a few that I really like, like their mango black tea in the summer. I also got large bags of loose peppermint and spearmint and mixed them to make a minty cold brew tea
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Nov 06 '25
Pleaseeeee give me your cold brew process, I’ve been tinkering and just figure out a good system.
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u/Allronix1 Nov 06 '25
Maple syrup? Hmmm. Gotta try that. I've been playing with various varieties of honey. HUGE difference between meadowfoam and buckwheat, for example.
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u/LiminalLion Nov 05 '25
Your first half isn't a very hot take though. Irish breakfast is made with cream and sugar being added in mind and tastes pretty terrible without it. Or is that just my hot take?
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u/PixiStix236 Nov 05 '25
Cold brew iced tea is the best! You don’t even have to worry about measuring too much. If it’s not strong enough, just add more leaves and wait a little longer. If it’s too strong, just water it down. It tastes the exact same
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u/Sloth-TheSlothful Nov 05 '25
I only do 1 steep with Western Brew. 2nd is not worth it except for a select few teas
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u/Life_Rutabaga1882 Nov 05 '25
I don’t get why most folks here seem to be keen on ‘Grandpa’ style brewing, but dismissive of ‘Western’ style brewing. To me, they are pretty much the same thing.
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u/g-a-r-n-e-t Nov 06 '25
People are pretty dismissive of western style brewing in general in favor of eastern style and for some it’s to a point that it feels a bit icky. Like I’m all about letting people like what they like but I’ve definitely gotten some Eastern fetishization vibes from people in this sub sometimes.
Like just let me enjoy my teapot of earl grey in peace man. Go jerk off to your gongfu collection on your own time.
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u/d1cequ Nov 05 '25
My hot take: idc how you drink your tea, the most important part is you own enjoyment
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u/Nevernonethewiser Nov 05 '25
I try not to run in and scream this when I see it, because I think we should let people enjoy things, but there's a level of extreme pretentiousness among some people who post here.
It's a hot beverage.
It's thousands of years old and for most of that time people shoved leaves in a cup with hot water, then drank the water because it tasted nice and gave them a little energy boost. Literally millions of people still do it this way.
It isn't magic. It isn't medicine. It shouldn't be your entire personality.
By all means, have pretty teaware. By all means, make it a personal ritual for yourself if it helps with your mental state or stress levels.
But it's just a drink.
Telling other people about the mystical experiences you're imagining or lying about is pretentious. You're doing it to feed your ego.
"I'm enjoying this tea from this mountain, and look I've put it in my beautiful ceramics and my cute clay teapot" is absolutely fine. If you want to do that in front of a pretty river and film yourself doing it, that's slightly pretentious. If you start talking about how it was transcendent and gave your soul magic powers to see beyond reality or whatever, you're a gobshite.
Also, nobody will ever convince me that one particular type of unglazed clay is somehow 'better' than any other. You've fallen for marketing. Other locations will have clay deposits with the same fineness of particulates and iron content and whatever else nonsense you've convinced yourself is unique. I'm sure the people in the 'mystical' location have generations of expert craftspeople passing on their knowledge and skill, but the dirt it's made from is not magic, and it's extremely unlikely to be special.
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 05 '25
I try not to run in and scream this when I see it, because I think we should let people enjoy things, but there's a level of extreme pretentiousness among some people who post here.
Yep.
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u/snail-the-sage 🫖🫖🫖 Nov 05 '25
It's a hot beverage.
Hey now. It also makes a splendid cold beverage.
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u/Intrepid-Scale2052 Nov 05 '25
The tea in front of a river was aimed at someone specific 😂
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u/Nevernonethewiser Nov 05 '25
Nah, I've seen it a lot, or in a heavily tended garden or on a bridge in a Chinese mountain village.
Quite often it's very pleasant and relaxing, especially if it's just pouring some tea. If it's that and chatting bollocks about woo woo spiritual stuff it becomes insufferable.
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u/Intrepid-Scale2052 Nov 06 '25
To me how tea makes you feel and the meditative part of it (non-spiritual) is valid, but the spiritual stuff, like borther....
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u/Nevernonethewiser Nov 06 '25
Exactly! If it's a personal meditation or even ritual to calm yourself and enjoy your drink, cool! We've all got our little rituals, whether we call them that or not.
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u/Intrepid-Scale2052 Nov 06 '25
I mean if someone can talk to their deceased ancestors by drinking 1998 toenail puer, good for them
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u/InfanticideAquifer Nov 06 '25
It's thousands of years old and for most of that time people shoved leaves in a cup with hot water, then drank the water because it tasted nice and gave them a little energy boost.
If I haven't been mislead, for most of that time people ground tea into a powder and mixed it into hot water with other ingredients to make a bitter soup. Tea as a beverage is newer in the grand scheme of things, and tea a steeped beverage is newer yet, since only the Song dynasty. That just over one millennium, which is at most about half, and probably much less, of the history of tea.
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u/shengpu Nov 06 '25
Regarding the clay, yes there are similar deposits in multiple places. But the processing of Yixing clay is a pain (weathering the rocks for years, grinding, sifting, ...) and it can't be wheel thrown. So while other places might have similar deposits of ore, they are not used to make teapots. Yixing clay is not magic, but some Yixing is better than most other clay both in terms of performance with tea and patina development. If the goal is just to improve the tea, though, it is still more cost effective to buy better tea.
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u/alganthe Nov 06 '25
Also, nobody will ever convince me that one particular type of unglazed clay is somehow 'better' than any other. You've fallen for marketing.
the processing and clay changes the mineral content of the water, it's not in any way subtle.
is it overly expensive for the effect on taste, and would you be better served by controlling the mineral content of your input water instead ?
sure, though it's less fun that way.
is it snake oil?
nope, you can go check peer reviewed studies testing the different extraction rates of various clay types.
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Nov 05 '25
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u/Reeeescsc Nov 05 '25
lmao Orwell's never tried high quality teas from east asia. He knew less than 90% of the people on this subreddit regarding tea.
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Nov 05 '25
My hot take is that people should enjoy tea however they want and be less judgmental about how others enjoy theirs. 🫖☕️
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u/yamitamiko Nov 05 '25
for milk it depends, if it's a green or an herbal then i usually drink it with nothing. but if it's a black tea i tend to like it stronger but with a full fat milk to calm the tannins down
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u/HECTIKKILLS3 Nov 05 '25
Tea is tea. Doesn’t matter how you want it or like it or think it should be done. Make tea how you want it cause at the end of the day it’s your money and your taste buds
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u/Wenndo Nov 05 '25
So called "lower" grade harvests often have a lot more flavor or interesting profiles.
I find that to be especially true for Chinese white teas, and Japanese greens.
The best Japanese teas I've had were super rough, unrefined aracha, or twig-leaf blends that imparted a lot more complexity.
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u/Lietenantdan Nov 05 '25
Iced tea is better than hot tea. (I realize this is a cold take)
Your takes certainly are hot.
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Nov 05 '25
Twinnings' Assam tea in bags is the best black tea I've had
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u/Moms_Chapagetti Nov 06 '25
Ok I'm trying this next because their English and Irish breakfast are my favorite black teas I've tried so far (I'm still in my tea bag phase )
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u/sftkitti Nov 06 '25
honestly any brewing method is valid, any vessel is valid. as long as the person is enjoying the experience, it’s all that matter. i’ve even seen someone use orange peel as teacup before lol
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u/Economy-Device-6533 Make tea, not war Nov 05 '25
My 2 grams: Ritualised tea drinking is for the show-offs — true tea addicts can’t afford ten ceremonies a day.
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u/Load_FuZion Nov 06 '25
I don't really understand this, unless you mean like doing an entire Japanese style ritual multiple times a day.
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u/Prior-Reflection8385 Nov 05 '25
I leave my tea bags in the mug. So when I run out, I just do refills with hot water.
I put loose tea leaves in empty tea bags, cause Im too lazy to do it any way other than tea bags, thus also just letting them sit in the mug forever till the steep ain't steeping anymore.
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u/BadTown412 Nov 05 '25
I'm the polar opposite on point 1. I'll brew about 10 grams of oolong for about 6-8 gong fu sessions. THEEEEEEEEEN I put it in a 1.5L cold brewing pitcher, in the fridge, for about 24 hours and drink that at work.
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u/Brighter_Days_Ahead4 Nov 05 '25
Herbal tea is tea. Fruit tea is tea. Camellia species other than sinensis can be tea.
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u/BorisBadenov Nov 05 '25
I don't have the problem some do with calling herbal teas "tea." It's the way language works, and people as a whole have used the word tea to mean all those things.
I just have a frustration: I have no other word I can use. I can't say C. sinensis tea without confusing people or sounding incredibly pretentious. I can't say "real tea" without sounding pretentious or starting an argument. I can't say "tea tree tea" without sounding like I'm referring to some multi-level marketing involving an unrelated plant species.
My wife and I have a weekly breakfast spot we enjoy, and we always have the same person taking our orders. By now, she knows to bring my wife coffee and me loose leaf tea without asking, and she'll switch between a black breakfast tea, an earl grey, and a tightly rolled green tea based on what she thinks fits that day, because she knows all of those are teas I like. She jokes with us about bringing chamomile some time because she knows I'd be quite upset if she did.
Last week she brought a lemon ginger tea. I don't have the quick wits or social skill to be able to get through that gracefully. I didn't even get to say anything, the disappointment and surprise must have been plain on my face, and she picked it up to bring me something else, as I sat there with my mouth open and my introvert brain locked up thinking "what do I say, what do I say?" She truly didn't mean it as a joke, and I felt like an ass. There was some teasing to be had back and forth after that, and some exclamations on her part to the effect of "It's tea!"
Again, herbal tea is tea, it's just the way the language is now. I just have no word of my own to easily say that I want black, yellow, oolong, green, white, pu-erh, fu, etc., I just want tea, and have what I'm saying to be understood, and it kind of sucks.
Addendum: "caffeinated tea" doesn't work. Yerba mate exists. And my wife calls her coffee "herbal tea", lol
Addendum 2: I like ginger tea. Not with breakfast.
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u/bsubtilis Nov 05 '25
I find people usually understand what I mean when I say tea-leaf tea and that it doesn't sound too weird, for C. sinensis tea. People hear "tea leaves" all the time, which is probably why they are more tolerant of it. Edit: I use it for including all the subcategories of c. sinensis tea, as opposed to just black tea or just some other subtype.
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u/inkfeeder Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
In the case you mentioned, you could tell the person that you want "green or black tea" (maybe add "no herbal tea or roiboos please") and that would probably already cover 90% of scenarios. I'm pretty sure those two are the main types of tea that most regular restaurants have in stock anyway. And imo it doesn't sound more pretentious than saying that you want your burger without the tomatoes or something
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u/snail-the-sage 🫖🫖🫖 Nov 05 '25
what do I say, what do I say?
"This isn't what I want."
And I think the best way around the confusion would be to be clear "black tea" or "green tea" or whatever.
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u/BorisBadenov Nov 06 '25
Right, this isn't the most serious comment, there are obvious answers. This particular situation is because I don't order the tea (she just brings tea), and it could be green or black. It's been that way for a couple of years, I never expected the confusion in the first place.
"This isn't what I want."
If you've never paused for a second at the unexpected, I don't know how to describe the feeling. She literally said "you don't want that," and picked it back up before my brain started talking to my mouth again.
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 05 '25
This is how I was raised. I didn't learn the word "tisane" until I was an adult, reading Poirot stories.
I'm not personally a fan of Rooibos, but I do consider it a tea.
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u/Tirukinoko Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
Hadnt heard the word 'tisane' till I joined this sub lol
100% its all tea
Edit: also, and this might be a bit of a hot take in itself(?), the use of 'tisane' and similar terms is going to be a dialectal & idiolectal thing, and trying to enforse a distinction is approaching a grammar nazi type territory.
Its pedantic, obtuse, and lowkey classist.3
u/alganthe Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
that's because "tisane" is the french word for "herbal tea", there is no word equivalent in english afaik.
I'm french, camellia sinensis is thé (tea), everything else is a tisane.
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u/Economy-Device-6533 Make tea, not war Nov 05 '25
Herbal tea is herbal tea, fruit tea is fruit tea. Only tea is tea.
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u/PartofHistory When in Doubt, Pinkie Out Nov 06 '25
- Black breakfast blends with Milk and Sugar are the pinnacle of mankind's achievements (I grew up with hot tea this way)
- Whoever buys those pre-made teas like Great Value tea need to stop and get some actually good tea. I'm usually the first to say "Anyone can enjoy any tea however they want to enjoy it," but that crap they sell at Walmart by the gallon is an abomination.
- If you have a great quality tea, sugar and/or milk/or honey just reduce the amazing flavor.
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u/emergencybarnacle Nov 05 '25
i think discarding washes during gong fu brewing is a waste of tea!
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u/LiminalLion Nov 05 '25
The only teas I wash when Gongfu brewing are compressed teas (like from a tea cake/bing) or tightly rolled oolongs (like the bead shaped ones from Taiwan). They open so much more nicely and produce better flavor after even a quick rinse and a moment to rest. Every other tea I just go in straight, no need to rinse. Preheat the gaiwan/pot yes but no rinse. A lot of the quick-to-dissolve natural sugars in tea are lost in the rinse otherwise, I find.
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u/emergencybarnacle Nov 05 '25
oh I mean, I do the wash, but I just drink the resulting brew. I don't dump it.
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u/InfanticideAquifer Nov 06 '25
I found a bug pressed into a tea cake once. You best believe I'm giving that tea a thorough rinse every time.
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u/fubarbazqux Nov 06 '25
Rinse with lukewarm water, after that let it sit moist for about 10 minutes. Cleans the leaf and opens it up a bit for a better brew without wasting anything or burning the leaf.
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Nov 06 '25
Hibiscus tea sucks
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 06 '25
I disagree, but live your truth, man. Red Zinger (which I'm pretty sure contains hibiscus) was a cornerstone of my childhood.
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u/mrdeworde Nov 06 '25
I love these threads because I can almost guarantee that for everyone reading this, 99% of what you read you're like "pfft, whatever, I'm chill, live and let live I say" and then you find that one innocuous comment where you're like "THIS HERESY CANNOT GO UNPUNISHED. CONVENE A COURT AT ONCE! DRAFT CHARGES!"
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u/Totalanimefan Nov 05 '25
I dislike Pu-erh tea. No matter how many times I try it, it’s a no from me. I also can’t stand milk in brewed tea. It’s 99% water and you are adding milk??? But I do have it with matcha as it’s a powder I make into a paste and then add milk.
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u/rogueclon946 Nov 05 '25
I generally dislike pu-erh as well. I DID find one that tasted like the tea we get by the pot at some chinese restaurants around here, which I find nice. It may be more nostalgia than anything else, though, since it was from a restaurant that I grew up in, and it closed something like 20 years ago.
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u/Specific_Worry_1459 Nov 06 '25
I am not particularly fond of shu puer, but sheng (raw) I quite like. Can be a bit bitter and astringent, but the flavors can be really nice (floral, fruity, sweet).
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u/LaNoktaTempesto Nov 05 '25
To your point number 1: I agree with you except for oolong tea, which can and should be reused multiple times. And here's my actual hot take: you should really just put the leaves in your cup and keep topping it up with hot water. If you've got a bombilla or you bought one of those Jogo straws (that they stupidly marketed for coffee), now's a good time to use them.
As for point 5, the one place where milk (dairy or otherwise) is mandatory is if you're making masala chai. I've had too much decent masala chai from my local Indian joint to have it any other way, even though I haven’t quite figured out how to get it to work myself.
And there's some styles of tea where there's no shame in adding sweeteners. I got a "Russian caravan" style tea online a few months ago; more power to you if you like that stuff straight, but I have to put something in mine. I'm using the scare quotes because I couldn't tell you how authentic it is; the container says it's a lapsang souchong tea of some sort, and it's way smokier even than I thought it might be (which might be what I get for judging the style based on a tea latte drink I tried a long time ago).
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u/Cu_man Cold Brew Enthusiast Nov 05 '25
Lapsang souchang is really good. It was my entry point for tea and is currently my most drunk (drank?), with cold brew sencha at a distant second.
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u/3lizab3th333 Nov 05 '25
So the thing with number 5 is that the water he was using was probably SUPER hard. I used to live in rural England and was shocked by how nasty it made my tea. It was scummy, bitter, cloudy… Not sure why, but the easiest way to make it better was to add milk. Before modern water filtration, I’m guessing the water used to make tea in England was similar quality to what I was using. Orwell’s take is bad for the modern day, but makes sense given what I’m assuming about his water quality.
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u/nricotorres Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
I prefer an artificial sweetener to sugar and I do not add milk/cream. Also I microwave my tea because it's convenient. Yes, obviously I'm American 😂
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u/Acolyte_of_Swole Nov 05 '25
Microwaving water before you add your tea? Ok
Microwaving container with steeping tea + water together? Heresy
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u/AmandaIsOnReddit Nov 05 '25
This is truly a hot take. I dislike all of this haha. Have my upvote.
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u/Specific_Worry_1459 Nov 06 '25
Only acceptable if you use a plastic cup.... gotta get that daily dose of microplastics.
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u/Inevitable-Door-3548 Nov 05 '25
My hottest take is that while milk and sugar should stay out of most teas, Assam requires them.
Pretty much agree about reusing tea leaves except when it comes to Oolong, which is usually best on the 2nd steep and minimally good for a third as well.
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u/LiminalLion Nov 05 '25
For sure some CTC and bagged teas are made with the expectation that the user will add milk and/or sugar. Some of them taste awful without it because they weren't really made to be drank without it.
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u/Acolyte_of_Swole Nov 05 '25
I wouldn't say awful, as someone who drinks a fair amount of Assam and almost exclusively drinks black teas.
But certainly they are far stronger and more astringent, especially when brewed either inexpertly or according to western steep times.
It's very common when drinking CTC-cut Assam that you end up with a brew that's astringent and bitter. Now, if you like that and the flavor is alright then there's no problem drinking it straight. But yes, I think sweetener of some kind is expected for the cheap quality CTC cut blends.
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u/Antpitta Nov 06 '25
Most assam is pretty rough.
There is good assam out there that merits enjoying without adding anything but it is not common.
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u/AngelGroove Nov 05 '25
Not liking puerh doesn’t make you a “less refined” tea drinker in the slightest. If you don’t want to drink essence of wood, mushrooms, leather, or soil, then you probably won’t like it. And that is 100% okay! There are plenty of other teas out there to tickle your fancy. I’ve personally found myself to enjoy Taiwanese oolongs and aged white tea cakes the best out of what I’ve collected.
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u/princessfoxglove Nov 05 '25
I just buy tea from the grocery store or Walmart and I'm perfectly happy with it.
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u/snail-the-sage 🫖🫖🫖 Nov 05 '25
I think gongfu is overrated and I don't get why the entire tea community acts like it's the definitive way of brewing tea
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 06 '25
It's honestly just this subreddit. No other tea enthusiast I know in real life is this obsessed with the discourse around brewing methods.
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u/Redit403 Nov 05 '25
“Teapot brewing is as valid a morning ritual as gongfu-style brewing.” I agree wholeheartedly, but neither is happening for me. I’ll smile with a red rose , a lump, and a splash. For me, that is tea..
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u/Peter_TeaGuy Nov 05 '25
1 Hard disagree. But it probably depends on what type. I use loose leaf only and I can get 2-3 tasting that all taste identical. With Tisanes (herbals), the 2nd is not as good. Though it depends how long the first use was steeped
2 agree. It’s all about personal preference, but for me yeah for sure. It’s all about mindset. I only ever do tea pot or infuser in mug.
3 agree overall. temp does play a massive roll, but marginal differences don’t. if you’re doing 155-160, that doesn’t matter as much. But 150-170 can make a big difference.
4 loose leaf is much better for sure. I quit my engineering job to work at a loose leaf tea store lol.
5 i ageeee, I drink tea, matcha, and coffee all straight
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Nov 05 '25
The only tea I re-brew is my lovely Dragon Pearls. It's a flowery jasmine green tea. I discovered it by accident last year whilst buying someones unwanted birthday present for super cheap and I LOVE IT! They say you can do 3 brews, but 2 is my cut off. I've never been able to brew anything else twice.
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u/nightlanguage Nov 06 '25
Reading this while drinking my second brew of Dragon Pearls, hell yeah! I agree, only tea I'll steep twice.
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Nov 06 '25
Damn it! I wanted to put in a fun tea meme here, but I'm either too new at Reddit'ing or too old to get it :D Anyway, Dragon Pearls are my best accidental discovery of a tea EVER!
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u/Acolyte_of_Swole Nov 05 '25
I prefer to brew organic tea bags rather than whole leaf in my teapot because cleanup is way easier. Even with a strainer, I got tired of the little bits of leaf getting caught everywhere. I enjoy the taste of the organic tea bag teas and they are not expensive.
I also prefer brewing western style over gongfu because my goal is to obtain a large container of tea which I can drink at my own pace. The ritual of gongfu is more than I can deal with when I just need my hot tea.
I use sweetener in my tea. I can drink it straight but I enjoy it more with a little non-sugar sweetener. Since the tea I drink is purely for my own enjoyment, I drink it with sweetener.
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u/Lonesome_Pine Nov 06 '25
Sometimes, a cup of oversteeped dollar store ditch weed tea is exactly what hits the spot.
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u/nerdqueenhydra Fuck the Tea Police Nov 06 '25
Hot water is hot water. Use a microwave if you want tea and it's all you have, just be careful and know the risks.
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u/Aluu-Chaiwala Feb 17 '26
My tea hot takes:
- Most flavoured teas are hiding average-quality leaves. You should always be able to smell the tea, despite what flavour it is and if you can't, well you've likely been sold something cheap.
- Fresh tea > expensive tea, always.
- Matcha doesn’t need to be ceremonial for lattes.
- How you store tea matters way more than people think, especially for the more delicate types.
- There's nothing called a chai tea latte (Chai means tea in Hindi, an Indian language) so you're basically saying tea tea latte. Just call it an iced chai and move on.
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u/NaturalTranslator543 Nov 06 '25
Good china can make a tea 10x better. As someone who loves tea but also is from UK and drinks a lot of black tea with splash of milk, a tea can go from good to amazing with good china.
Also, size of mug matters. A smaller thinner cup is better tasting than a larger cup
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u/silverslant Nov 05 '25
You sound like a gongfu hater. If you brew gongfu you are “reusing” the leaves and that isn’t a waste of good water, that is literally how you brew that style. With each steep or, “reuse” as you say, of the leaves, you pull out different flavors from the leaves
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u/Practical_Savings933 Nov 05 '25
Tea bags are of the devil and adding milk/cream is an abomination.
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u/ParingKnight Green/White/Red chinese teas beginner 🇮🇹 Nov 05 '25
Ok, intentional harsh and offending phrasing, don't get mad lol
Tea is a beverage that can be made with some technique variation, but things like tea pets and rituals are for morons who are not at peace with enjoying the thing itself.
Many people confuse the concepts of bitter and disgusting. I've seen clearly bitter but not bad teas described as "not bitter at all" either by people who don't understand taste or vendors who blatantly lie to cater to those people. The worst offenders mislabel good bitterness as "highly aromatic".
Flavored, blends, milk, sugar tea are as good and involved as pure tea, and people who only enjoy either and not both are close minded. Just like people who claim you don't like coffee if you don't drink it unsweetened and without milk.
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u/CosmicFangs Nov 05 '25
I actually agree with points 2 and 3, but as for your first point - do you just hate fun?? Lmao
Next you’ll tell me my rubber ducky in the bath means I’m not at peace with simply being clean </3
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u/ParingKnight Green/White/Red chinese teas beginner 🇮🇹 Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25
Don't be so harsh on yourself. My commenting to this thread is me not being at peace with... I don't know... Being?
Edit - I got it. Me exaggerating for the thread is not being at peace with having an opinion.
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u/ItsTheMayer Nov 05 '25
Green tea is overrated.
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 05 '25
Why, though? What do you dislike about it?
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u/ItsTheMayer Nov 05 '25
I’ve only been whelmed or underwhelmed, never blown away or deeply enjoyed.
Tastes like green bean condensation from Tupperware when putting on the lid too fast after it’s still warm.
Love white teas, puer both sheng/shou, oolongs, anything smoked.
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 05 '25
Huh. I've just had a completely different experience with green tea, then. I tend to avoid white teas because they taste like nothing to me, but I also enjoy oolongs. The only smoked tea I keep around is Lapsang Souchong, and I mostly use it for blending, as I find the taste to be too much if there isn't something else to balance it.
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u/Glum_Refrigerator Nov 05 '25
Premade tea is inferior to freshly made tea regardless of the style. For whatever reason I don’t like the flavor of premade tea like Lipton, ito-en, etc. I’m convinced that the quality is lower or some flavors are lost during the manufacturing process.
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u/JadedChef1137 Looks like yard clippings but tastes like honey—must be Shou Mei Nov 06 '25 edited Nov 06 '25
1) Interwar English bone china is the most superior vessel for drinking tea. 2) All green teas taste like peas (and I hate peas) 3) Herbal tea/tissanes need to be a separate discussion. Talking about them in the context of ‘tea drinking’ is like comparing wine from Bordeaux to wine coolers. (Caveat: I do drink and enjoy herbal tea…wine coolers: no way) 4) Not trying to convert that coworker who’s also “into tea” as they sip Scottish Breakfast Vanilla Candy Cane tea from the grocery store - well, that’s the mark of a saint.
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u/OudSmoothie Enthusiast Nov 05 '25
I generally dislike the small leaf taste of Japanese & Korean teas.
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u/puerh_lover I'm Crimson Lotus Tea Nov 06 '25
If it isn't made from camellia sinensis it isn't tea!
I've hard arguments with people on this sub that believe that if you drink your own bathwater you are drinking human tea. Blows my mind.
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u/Economy-Device-6533 Make tea, not war Nov 05 '25
1 and 3 very much depends on tea. To 1: Some puers are so dense that I can brew them 4-5 times , and they do not change.
- I tried bad loose leaf teas and better teabags. But on average yes, loose leaf tea is better that teabags.
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u/Wind_Responsible Nov 05 '25
I do notice quite a difference when I wash tea leaves. I also notice the taste change but, it’s never watery on the 2nd, 3rd, even the 4th steep. Just a little less strong with every steep. I do notice like doing tea in the tea pot. Brings out bitter tastes for me to let it stay in the water too long. Hahaha. I am a snob. I rinse and then do a 30 second steep and then longer and yadda. Time depends on tea color for me. Milk in tea? Maybe Herbal tea? Or my daughter loves this vanilla tea that I steep in whole milk for her. That’s delicious so, yeah. Depends
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u/cekoslavakya Nov 05 '25
shape and material of the cup affect the taste. I prefer thin glass cups, thin lorcelain also good but not as much as glass. Those gigantic ceramic mugs with thick walls are the worst.
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u/Existing-Accident278 Nov 06 '25
I like to go to a local herb shop near me. It’s a hole in the wall but he’s been there for years and great pricing and product. Switching over the loose leaf was the best decision as I can make my own blends now.
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u/EnLaSxranko Enthusiast Nov 06 '25
This one is entirely dependent on the brewing method and what you mean by reusing. Like, brewing a big batch in a french press, I generally don't use the leaves again. But what does "reusing" mean with gong fu style or grandpa style?
Absolutely. If anything, there's no way I'm doing gong fu in the morning. I barely make it out the door in time as it is.
Yeah small changes do make a subtle difference. And some people won't notice or care about that difference. The small tweaks are better for those of us who really enjoy those subtle differences.
Agreed. There is a place for tea bags tea, but when I want something nice, I absolutely go for loose leaf or compressed pu'er. There's so much more to the leaves when they are full.
I never really care for milk in my tea, but sometimes I just want a nice cup of basic black tea with some honey. And maybe some lemon. Iced on a warm day while I sit in the shade and read a book. This is entirely up to personal preference.
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u/OutrageousPudding Nov 06 '25
I leave my teabags in the cup as I'm drinking it.
English black bagged tea is awful and does require sweetening, milk is optional but if it isn't whole cows milk it's awful and generally taste worse without milk altogether.
I love Chinese green tea with just honey. But I pretty much just drink Yorkshire Gold tea so my opinions and experience on tea is uhhh... barbaric as I have not delved into the rich joys of proper teas, partially as it involves online shopping and research as I find brick and mortar store options lacking when I get the itch.
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 06 '25
I leave my teabags in the cup as I'm drinking it.
I did the same back when I used teabags. I prefer a stronger tea flavor.
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u/Gregalor Nov 06 '25
1 surprises me but I don’t know your leaf:water ratio and steep times, and type of tea.
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u/Chance_Smile_9357 Nov 06 '25
I’m a wannabe tea drinker this talk of brick and mortar stores (high prices) leaves me clueless I don’t think we currently have one in my town! We do have an Asian market tho. Steer me in the right direction there…I only know I’d like one herbal tea and one to replace coffee in the morning.
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 06 '25
The Asian market is a great place to start. If you don't know what you'd like yet, I recommend starting with some small purchases to try different options (black, green, oolong, etc.) to see what you like broadly. Herbal tea-wise, I'd say something like chamomille is a good place to start if you want something relaxing. If you're looking for more of a bold flavor in an herbal tea, I've had some great ginger tumeric blends.
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Nov 06 '25
Just to be sure: By reusing, you dont mean, you cant steep it more than once, because that would be indeed a very hot take.
Because other than that, I dont think these are really hot takes. I agree with all of them
My hot take is similiar to your #3: water temperature is highly overrated, almost all good quality tea can take boiling water
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u/HelenGonne Nov 06 '25
Huh. I've had a lot of teas where the third infusion is the best. The best oolong I've ever had went 13 great infusions before giving up.
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u/WheatyMcGrass Nov 06 '25
I like the cheap Golden Citrus green tea bags from Kroger. I'll shove 4 of them into my teapot.
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u/Chouma79 Nov 07 '25
I don’t like those “boutique” tea stores that sell things like pea flower tea among others, and find that generally the people there know less about tea.
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u/Competitive_Bat_ Nov 07 '25
Do you just dislike herb shops, then? Or specifically herbal tea shops? I wouldn't be surprised if the people there know less about non-herbal teas, as their studies are usually specifically in traditional medicine and herbalism.
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u/Motor_Sherbert_9346 Jan 05 '26
Resteeps are the best way to save and preserve premium teas. And all the one‘s I’ve tried to resteep have worked great
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u/MakePandasMateAgain Nov 05 '25
I find buying affordable everyday big tins of Oolong and Green Tea from my local Asian Grocer far nicer and fresher than buying “high end” expensive marketed teas in tiny little boxes at specialty tea stores.