Tea Please!

[YukisUke]

I know that Earl Grey Tea is very good!! You could also try Green Tea. I recommend you try it hot or cold. Delish!!

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by jbradfor

Or just buy milk tea from a vending machine. Hot or cold, your choice.

Are you kidding me? That carton stuff is NOTHING like proper tea with milk in it. For starters proper tea is made with boiling water, not 100% 'milk', and the sugar isn't that foul reconstituted syrupy stuff. And it's fresh. No, no, no sir. The two do just not compare.

[jbradfor]

Originally Posted by Columbine

Are you kidding me? That carton stuff is NOTHING like proper tea with milk in it. For starters proper tea is made with boiling water, not 100% 'milk', and the sugar isn't that foul reconstituted syrupy stuff. And it's fresh. No, no, no sir. The two do just not compare.

Besides being in a bottle, not a carton, I agree. OTOH, after a couple hours walking around touring, a cold one is pretty refreshing.

But keep in mind that I'm American, and we know nothing about proper tea

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by jbradfor

Besides being in a bottle, not a carton, I agree. OTOH, after a couple hours walking around touring, a cold one is pretty refreshing.

But keep in mind that I'm American, and we know nothing about proper tea

A bottle? Oh right, vending machines! Our campus shop sold it in cartons. I know a fair few people who really loved it, but to me it just was sickly, unpleasantly thick and slightly chemically tasting.

But keep in mind that I'm British and had to have teabags posted to me the whole time I was in Japan.

Poca Poca Lemon tea though? Oh man, can't get enough of that stuff.

[SHAD0W]

Originally Posted by Columbine

Are you kidding me? That carton stuff is NOTHING like proper tea with milk in it. For starters proper tea is made with boiling water, not 100% 'milk', and the sugar isn't that foul reconstituted syrupy stuff. And it's fresh. No, no, no sir. The two do just not compare.

Said like a true Englishman!

There aint no vending machines in my host family's house :P

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by SHAD0W

Said like a true Englishman!

There aint no vending machines in my host family's house :P

Hahah, it was one of the few sore points about japan. Not enough good black tea. Or cheese. Or wine.

Thank god the rest of the cuisine is utterly delectable.

Vis a vis tea lingo, I do know that if you like your tea strong then thats 濃い味. Darned if I can remember what weak tea is. I'm sure it's not 弱い味 but some more specific word. Maybe はくみ?

[Nyororin]

The taste of those bottled milk teas vary quite a bit - some I think taste sickly sweet with a dash of detergent, while others are actually quite good.
As for ordering it in restaurants - it seems that in most places if you ask for milk tea, you will be served regular tea with milk (or a side of milk) and sugar sticks/cubes to add to taste. The 100% milk stuff is usually called "royal" milk tea and costs a bit more because of the amount of milk and pain to brew it.

Of course the quality of the tea varies, and there really isn`t much you can do about it as most places don`t really give you the option to order in detail.

You can get some very high quality tea and tea bags at specialty shops. I don`t know about the rest of the country, but Lupicia is one of my favorites.

But then again, I`m not British so...

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

The taste of those bottled milk teas vary quite a bit - some I think taste sickly sweet with a dash of detergent, while others are actually quite good.
As for ordering it in restaurants - it seems that in most places if you ask for milk tea, you will be served regular tea with milk (or a side of milk) and sugar sticks/cubes to add to taste. The 100% milk stuff is usually called "royal" milk tea and costs a bit more because of the amount of milk and pain to brew it.

You raise a great point. Honestly, I was probably so traumatized by a cheap brand of the stuff that I never gave it a second chance, so yeah, maybe I need to try some other sort from a different source. Thinking on it, one of my friends (and a fellow carton hater) had Royal Milk Tea in Tokyo at a posh hotel and he said it was amazing. Several times, in fact, so it must have been good.

The other thing I found with ordering black tea in restaurants was that you could pay about the same price and not know if you were going to be landed with Liptons yellow label (aka cheap salty black scum) or something like Twinnings (aka なつかしい〜). Unless it was super cheap or wincingly pricey. We found a cute little italian cafe that was selling a cup of tea for one at 600yen a pop. On the other hand, you got actual leaf tea with that (no idea what brand, but it wasn't Twinnings i don't think) and it was ~delicious~.

On the other hand, Japan has some of the most amazing green teas. Much more economical too as even the cheap day-to-day stuff can be really quite palatable.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Columbine

You raise a great point. Honestly, I was probably so traumatized by a cheap brand of the stuff that I never gave it a second chance, so yeah, maybe I need to try some other sort from a different source. Thinking on it, one of my friends (and a fellow carton hater) had Royal Milk Tea in Tokyo at a posh hotel and he said it was amazing. Several times, in fact, so it must have been good.

I think that you need to think of it as a separate drink to appreciate it too. Not as tea brewed with milk, but as a sort of dessert drink. Even if it`s not the fancy restaurant type, if you think of the (better) carton/bottled types as a drink of their own rather than a butchered version of something else you can find quite good ones.
The most common carton one that is sold around here is this;
I find it absolutely awful, and it only becomes drinkable after adding much more milk to dilute it. (Still not good though...)
There are a few others that make the rounds, but not only are they overly sweetened but they have artificial sweeteners on top. I won`t even dare try any of them, so definitely understand if that was what traumatized you.

On the other hand, Japan has some of the most amazing green teas. Much more economical too as even the cheap day-to-day stuff can be really quite palatable.

Of course. I laughed a bit at this, as I have no doubt that from a Japanese viewpoint the same thing could be said about the UK. "It was so hard to find good green tea there - you could order some for the same price and get really crappy stuff or decent stuff in different places. They just can`t tell the difference. But I have to say, you can find some of the most amazing black teas there! Even the cheap day-to-day stuff can be quite good!"

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I think that you need to think of it as a separate drink to appreciate it too. Not as tea brewed with milk, but as a sort of dessert drink.
The most common carton one that is sold around here is this;
I find it absolutely awful, and it only becomes drinkable after adding much more milk to dilute it. (Still not good though...)
There are a few others that make the rounds, but not only are they overly sweetened but they have artificial sweeteners on top. I won`t even dare try any of them, so definitely understand if that was what traumatized you.

That's an interesting way of putting it. I know I like black tea purin, so yeah... maybe I just haven't had a good cup of it yet!
I don't recognise that particular one. I can't find a picture of the stuff that was always sold near us, but there was definitely a lipton brand carton and a dumpy sort of bottle with a brown/clear label.

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Of course. I laughed a bit at this, as I have no doubt that from a Japanese viewpoint the same thing could be said about the UK. "It was so hard to find good green tea there - you could order some for the same price and get really crappy stuff or decent stuff in different places. They just can`t tell the difference. But I have to say, you can find some of the most amazing black teas there! Even the cheap day-to-day stuff can be quite good!"

hahaha, it is so absolutely true. Especially as a lot of the cheap green teas tend to be flavored with something. I remember one of my Japanese friends being horrified at the idea of green tea and blackcurrent. Not that I blame her, it's foul. It's getting much more popular though. A couple of years ago it used to be you had to hunt out a health food shop or order it from london to get a) ~japanese~ green tea rather than chinese and b) something tasty. Now Whittards tea people have a reasonable selection, and there's about 6 more brands dabbling in green tea. You still can't get the large packets of cheaper loose-leaf green tea in supermarkets though. Or matcha.