teas have changed or is it my taste buds

I bought small containers of Twinnings and Bigelow English Breakfast. Neither had the hearty flavor I was expecting. So I bought a box of Lipton and it had no flavor at all. I used to buy PG Tips but it seems to have lost flavor also. Is it my taste buds or has tea changed for the worst. The Lipton tea bags are much smaller than I remember. Is that one of the reasons- reduction in tea leaves. Need help finding a good robust tea – loose leaf or bags.

5 Replies
Netherhero said

Your taste buds. Try a local co op. They will probably have stuff like frontier, or Mountain Rose Herbs. They will have Ceylon, Assam, English Breakfast, and Irish breakfast. These terms mean nothing except a growing region, but in general Ennglish Breakfast is a nice blend. Not great quality overall, but a step up, organically farmed, not in bags, and a ten dollar bag will last you a long time. I keep this stuff around sometimes just in case.

Thanks, I will look for a local co op. Great suggestion.

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It could be both your tastebuds and the tea changing – harvests change all the time because of so many different conditions. It is very rare to find that tea can somehow stay the same. I hope you can find some tea you like!

It seemed like the tea tasted the same for years, but it could have been changing little by little and I’m sure my taste buds have changed. Thanks for the info about the regions. I’ll keep searching.

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Decent Assam might be just the thing; this main plantation source’s teas are nice:

https://www.halmaritea.com/teas/halmari-gold-orthodox/

I like their oolong version better, or at least did a few years ago when I last tried it. It’s a lot fruitier, closer to a Darjeeling second flush than a typical Assam. It’s nothing at all like Chinese oolong; still in the range of what I would consider to be black tea.

I’m not sure about your change. Maybe your foods range has changed, or some type of habit shifted things, eg. smoking would alter sense of taste. Using different water would change results too (mineral content).

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