Me personally, I enjoy Black Tea, Green Tea with milk and lemon, and Earl Grey the most but Spiced Orange and Ceylon White are good too with some sugar.

Anyone care to mention the worst tea they have had? HK specialises in a Klingon version - even served in McDonalds here because of the demand - a horrific stewed/brewed teeth staining beverage. I think the English equivalent was British Rail circa 1960s.

TGM - Not just northern, a Yorkshireman, blessed with being born in god's own county..

I've fought very hard to ensure my offspring speak 'proper' with nice short/flat vowels - although we once had a coversation abour the 'darffodils' in the 'grarss'

OMGNSO - A good mug of tea puts everything right, and starts the day off properly. I don't think you can be truly English and not like tea ;)

"@Ghostie - then how do you explain bone, phone, drone, alone...As in "he droned on and on and on and on and on and on and on..." I should not have included alone though as I can't think of a verb form for it. Phoned is the vernacular for called on the phone, bones is slang, so I guess drone was the only true verb of the bunch and it is also a noun."

Firstly, I never said that the converse was true, that verbs must have a short vowel, just that short vowels tend to be verbs. Important logical distinction there:

For instance, sickle-cell anaemia tends to be most prevalent in people in the Tropics, but that doesn't meant that everyone in the tropics suffer.

But even disregarding that, all of those are primarily nouns, from which verbs were derived at some stage.

In order to contradict me you have to find a noun that is pronounced like "gone". with "-one".

Obiwan: there are lots of excellent places to get good tea in the states, especially in California. Sure, Safeway is only going to carry Lipton or maybe Bigalow in bags, but at least here in NorCal, there are 3 very good coffee shops near my house that sell dozens of kinds of loose leaf tea. Even my snootiest tea drinking friends find it to be acceptable.

Personally, I love coffee, but also enjoy a nice cup of Earl Gray, Darjeeling, or jasmine green. A little boring perhaps, but yummy.

@Pete U That's because tea is a drug: everything seems right because you're on a high.

Actually, this might have a serious point. If I want a cup of tea in the US (I'm visiting Florida in a couple of months), what's the best thing to do?

I prefer Chai tea with a milk and sugar... The best brand I've found for that is either Celestial or Bigelow. Also, Pomegranate Green Tea from Bigelow is really good.

@Poseidon - Spend the extra and get Tazo's Organic Chai. Celestial and Bigelow don't hold up to Tazo when it comes to Chai.

@Ghostie - I realized it after I posted that I was arguing something you never actually said. My apologies.

@pete take your own mate but it still wont taste the same, dodgy milk and all that, and in the tea debate my favourite is yorkshire tea with milk and no sugar ever nato standard can sod off for all i care, i do drink green tea no milk as well.

@groverloaf:
You have tea shops in No. California becuase 1) it's a more cultured area than "gangasta" So. California and 2) As I said before here, So. California is Capuccino territory, right near L.A. and Hollywood, never met a non-Theatre Friend of mine who didn't go for a cappucinno either way before tea or jsut screwing tea altogether (even the Theatre Friends will have a coffee now and then, but they still have plenty of tea.)

@PeteU: Depends on where in the States you're headed. Like I've said, much of California and the West (the desest states, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, etc.) just eschew it mostly; it's HOT there, so not a lot into tea, they're pretty much alchohol and Coke heavy, with coffee for breakfast, though iced tea can still be found. In the South (which I myself don't care for) there's plenty of Iced Tea (and a huge debate over sugared vs. non-sugared, sort of the American South's version of the milk question.) The American Northwest is your best bet (New York, Boston, Rochester, that area) still a good amount of tea focus there as I understand it...

Well, I've got stuff to do; on the way ack home I'll look for a tea place, try and get some of that Assam or something else new to try.

Amazon.com carries Twinings and Tazo loose leaf teas as well as infusers for brewing. Why not order it and have it shipped to your home?

Thanks Draug... I'll try it. I'm not crazy about tea, but if I'm in the mood for it, it's always chai.

Its Florida (for the kids) I'm afraid. Thanks for the (PG) tips though

My personal favorite is jasmine tea from the Ukraine (can be found at most World Markets). And no I do not live in Ukraine, Plain old Midwestern U.S.A.

Well, back, and with some more Earl Grey and some Lipton White Blueberry (that should prove interesting.) Tried the milk after the tea- didn't really seem to do much... sort of dulled the flavor, actually. Out of curiosity, how much do you guys add; I'll try again tonight with the milk going in first...

And it's another brand, Bigelow- report on that brand?

Bigelow is about equal to Celestial Seasonings in European black teas and equal to Twinings is Eastern and herbal teas. But, Eastern/herbal is Twinings downfall and European black is CS's downfall, so that measn they are just slightly better than Lipton and you'd do better to go with the respective masters of the other teas.

Oh, one other tea I wouldn't bother with is Stash. It's cheap and you get what you pay for.

Never even heard of Stash, to be honest...

I don't particularly care for herbal teas outside of Green and it's blends, and White, if that counts...

Have some Lipton White I just got with longer leaves and bluberry, going to try that along with another try at the Earl Grey mixture tonight (I drink a LOT; Coke and teas are really my "crack" so to speak... trying to cut back a bit on the Coke, and anyway tea is heathier, so there we are...)

If Lipton's White's are anything like the Iced Teas it has out, I'm expecting cheap taste and texture, but still palatable...

I've always been curious how much milk you Brits add to your tea. Is it a similar proportion as someone would add cream to coffee? or 50% 10% ... what is "standard" (knowing preference varies)?

That was a question I had too (though not phrased quite that way) how much milk would you suggest with Black Tea (particularly Earl Grey, drink that the most...)

Yeah, just as I predicted- Lipton's White's not doing to hot so far...

I don't drink tea, but an ex-pat friend of mine does, so I take her a pack of Tetleys teabags (440) whenever I visit.

What kind's that?

(Ditched the tea, onto the Earl Grey- milk after the tea and a teaspoon or two of sugar and it's great, enjoying it right *grabs mug* now. It's good straight too, but I'm not in the mood for it straight...)

@ag - Milk addition is typically fairly low - pretty similar to cream in coffee. People often measure this as a splash, drop or spot, depending on how they like it.

for each morning Earl Grey with a "nuage" or noisette of milk, and for real good moments FTGFOP1 summer darjeeling tea

Well, that was a good cup; a bit too much milk, though...

But I'm rather disappointed with the White tea from Lipton, exceedingly bland, nearly no flavor at all...

I can't stand tea (or coffee, for that matter, although curiously I like coffee-flavoured things), and I also generally dislike beer, so when I went to teach in Germany, a lot of them wouldn't believe I was English!

As for the -one debate, I would merely say the following: orthography in the English language has little to do with pronunciation, although, being from the South of England, I say 'scone' similarly to 'gone'. I always thought the other version was a northern thing, like the Scottish Stone of Scone (which *is* pronounced like drone, etc.).

Equally to weigh into the bath, grass, etc debate: firstly, see above. Secondly, the 'ahh' sound we Southerners put in is a VOWEL sound, so saying it adds an 'r' is ridiculous. Thirdly, many of these words derive from German: bath = Bad, glass = Glas and there are many others. The German pronunciation of these words is rather similar to the Southern English version, hence I would be inclined to say we're closer to the truth... but anyone can freely refer back to my first point!

Captain Dave - The Stone of Scone, and the village of Scone is pronounced like *moon* - any Scots on here will have your guts for that...

Scone like drone is so a southern thing :)

@Captain Dave:

Good God, man, no tea, no coffee, no beer- WHAT is it that you drink most of the time?