I can't remember who I was talking to about tea (@thequeeninyellowlace and @help-help-i-need-an-adult maybe?), but I figured I should mention a few of my favorites:
- Adagio chestnut (flavored black tea) is my new all-time favorite tea. No really. Even over Irish breakfast. It is THAT GOOD. My brother and sister-in-law gave me a 3 pack of Adagio teas for Christmas, and this one was in there, and I have NOT looked back. It's just a really good black tea, with a slightly nutty flavor and some maple notes. I LOVE IT. (The other two were gingerbread black tea - quite good - and candy apple herbal tea, which I expected to be better.)
- Twining Irish breakfast (black tea) is now my second favorite black tea. Which goes really well with creamer and a little sugar.
- Stash maple apple cider (herbal tea) is AMAZING. I accidentally ordered two 100 packs of it, and then ordered 2 sampler packs of tea which each had an 18 pack box of that flavor in it, and I'm not even mad. It's that good.
- Stash chocolate mint (flavored oolong tea) is the OTHER flavor I order in 100 packs. For good reason. If you like mint chocolate, TRY THIS TEA. (Harney & Sons has a very good loose leaf mint chocolate tea, if you prefer loose leaf!)
- Great Value (Walmart) peppermint bark (herbal tea) is a seasonal tea (AKA only sold around Christmas) that tastes like mint chocolate with spearmint. I bought one box last winter, then went back and bought two more. I'm already out.
- Bigelow blackberry citrus (herbal tea) I tried when I wanted a blackberry tea (I like blackberries) and then LOVED. It's now on my "don't run out of this tea" list.
- Stash white peach (oolong tea) is a lovely, light tea with a gentle fruity flavor. You can drink it by itself or mix it with chamomile - both are nice. You might want to use two tea bags if you have a large-ish cup - the flavor is a little weak, and I like my tea strong.
- Bigelow peppermint & chamomile (herbal teas): I mix these together when I have a cold/sinus infection (which is basically EVERY OTHER MONTH, fuck my life) and it works slightly better than most teas at loosening up the gunk in my nose so I can blow it out. Also, with some sugar or honey, it tastes nice! AND it soothes a sore throat, which is always a nice bonus during cold and flu season.
- Stash holiday chai (black tea) is my favorite chai tea, and I have tried SOOOOOO MANNNNYYYYY chai teas. Seriously. And "spiced teas."
- Harney & Sons has sooooo mannnnyyyyy good loose leaf teas, but I'm at work right now, and I don't bring my loose leaf teas to work (too fiddly), so I can't remember which ones are my fave, other than their mint chocolate and a Venetian tiramisu white tea that is SURPRISINGLY GOOD.
- Tealyra lovely nights (rooibos/herbal tea) is rooibos, chamomile, mint, vanilla, and AMAZING. I bought some to try it and YOU NEED IT TOO.
- Every so often, I get bored and buy a sampler of teas that look interesting - most recently was a Stash pack of 50 different tea bags. (They also sell packs of 6 boxes, each a different flavor. The fall/autumn one is good!) Doing something like this is a great way to try new flavors without getting stuck with a bunch of tea bags of something you don't like - if you DO like a flavor, you can order more! If you don't, it was one bag, no big loss. (Apparently I like ginger and citrus/fruit teas more than I realized because I LOVED the lemon ginger tea, and liked both the orange ginger and the peach ginger tea, but the plain Meyer lemon just tasted like hot lemonade to me.)
No, I'm not getting paid or endorsed or even free samples for recommending tea to anyone. I just get a kick out of going "hey, want to try this thing (that I like) and see if you like it? You did? Want me to tell you more about it and maybe try more types of it?" Which is 100% how I got a coworker hooked on fancy teas. She went "I need caffeine, but coffee and energy drinks give me heart burn" so I was like "want to try some tea?" And the rest is HISTORY.