Sam wrote:
Then i got a mix of something they serve you, the aruveydic chai and the mate blend. I like that. Then saw where it takes 180 degree water. Any easy way to find out when the water is 180 rather than taking a meat thermometer to it while it is coming to a boil?
Then, how can you tell what tea will taste like from reading the descriptions. I got four samples from here and they are all black teas, but I liked the mango tea from Cheesecake Factory and then a few of what they serve at Teavana. With the bad experience of the too-sweet roobios tea I got yesterday, I want to see what I might like from Adagio and Upton. Suggestions?
About your first question: when I'm really worried about it, I measure the temp. I've found that heating the water in the microwave in a clear pyrex or glass container to the point where there's a lot of steam coming off the top, but no boiling, is about right for 180. On the other hand, I tend not to worry too much about temperature except for greens and pouchongs--blacks are usually fine with boiling water for me.
I'm not sure what to say about descriptions. It sounds like you might like straight fruit-flavored blacks, which are pretty standard. You might like black teas with a single fruit--sometimes they add flower blossoms for color or something, which doesn't matter. The ingredients are probably the best bet in this regard--if it sounds appetizing, it probably is, with a lot of trial and error.
I'm not a big fan of sweet, fruity tisanes (herbal teas) either. Tisanes with sweet ingredients (like lots of berries or other dried fruits) can be overly sweet, as they usually are getting most of their flavor from things that have naturally occurring sugars. The same sweet ingredients in a black tea base are often less sweet, because the tea, which isn't sweet, is constituting more of the flavor component. Some fruit-flavored green teas are often too sweet for me too, as the tea gets overpowered by the fruit (although I do like some fruit-flavored green tea blends).
I do like rooibos a lot, but it is a little sweet on its own, so I would be cautious of rooibos blends with a lot of sweet ingredients. Hibiscus is an ingredient I usually avoid like the plague, as it's too sweet for my tastes.
"Malty" is usually code for an Assam somewhere. "Brisk" or "takes milk well" is often but not always a sign that the tea is more puckery or tannic (which can be a good thing if you're into that, like my wife). Keemuns are sometimes described as "smoky" (not like lapsang souchongs, which are actually smoky), Yunnans sometimes in terms of cocoa or spice.
A lot of it is a matter of personal preference, and trying different things. Over time you'll get a sense of what descriptors and ingredients tip you off to. There's no perfect descriptive language, either; sometimes descriptors I've read seem to be totally off, others seem more standard and predictable. If you can see and smell the tea in person, that's great (although sometimes that can be deceiving too). I think the ingredients are key; as you learn what different tea varietals taste like, what different processing techniques do, what different flavorings do for you, that's probably the most useful information.
