Tea is a universal drink and has so many different flavors other then the most common black and green teas.
Tea is much more complicated then one may think. However, the one major thing about tea is that it is interchangable. Tea can be like coffee, bland and dull unless an obnoxious amount of sugar and milk is added or it can be rather exotic in its taste and the thought of having it any other way then black with the tea bag still in is a ridiculous concept. Even as one of the oldest drinks in the world tea is still a revolutionary drink.
The first tea drinks on the list are the ever prominent and always satisfying black tea:
Black Tea
Black tea is a very satisfying tea. This tea should always be a go to or a nice substitute for one the more exotic teas. The first black tea to try is
1. Irish Breakfast Tea
This tea wasn't distinguished apart form English Breakfast Tea until World War II but the tea is still one of the ost phenomenonal black teas that could really give a person a boost at the start of the day.
One Irish breakfast tea to try would be Grace Rare Tea's "Pure Assam" Irish Breakfast Tea.
2. Ceylon
Ceylon is usually a little bit more citrus oriented then the Assam blend in Irish breakfast tea.
Usually, Ceylon has a lemon content in it or associated with orange flavors.
3. Kenyan
Obviously brewed in Kenya, but instead of a brownish or golden color it comes out as a reddish color.
4. Darjeeling
Darjeeling is a bitter tea, but this may be good to try in the winter to prepare for the bitter cold? No, well try it anyway its good with a little bit of sugar or actually just black if you can handle it.
I refuse to acknowledge green tea as a winter tea drink or really good tea so im excluding it from my list.
However, next on the list is Chai tea which is always good in the winter because of all the spices that are added and all the little toppings and flavors you can add to it just like coffee.
Chai Tea
Even though saying Chai tea is an oxymoron because Chai simply means tea in many parts of the world. And also Chai tea's usual base is black it is known for simply its favorfal and spice content. However, the spiced Chai tea that we all are thinking when reading is technically called, Masala Chai. Masala Chai is the falvored tea that everyone enjoys from December to March.
First Chai up is of course the aforementioned Masala.
5. Masala
Very flavorfal and always a success on the taste buds.
6. Teavana's Chai
Teavana's loose-leaf chai tea combines sweet cinnamon, spicy ginger, and fragrant cardamom with black tea for a unique taste.
The third type of tea on my list is oolong.
Oolong
Oolong is a traditional chinese tea that really has a unique taste that is semi bitter but rather tasteful. Also, Oolong is very healthy for those with high blood pressure and respiratory problems.
7. Rou Gui Xiang
This is a so called "punchy" tea which means that it has a little kick to it, a little surprise to the taste buds.
8. Tie Guan Yin
Mellower taste on the tongue and is rougly tanslated to "Iron Buddah".
9. Rougui
A spicy tea with a flavorfal aroma.
Final tea category on the list is Pu Erh Tea.
Pu Erh
Pu Erh tea are dried leaves that are femented and come from the Yunnan province in China.
Pu Erh tea is a fresh and earthy taste, which we all try to channel in the winter.
There are two types of Pu Erh tea which are wither black or green.
10. Black Pu Erh
Also called "Shou" or ripe, cooked tea. This is a staple of Pu Erh and very popular and can be found as a popular Pu Erh.
Flavorful but very earthy tasting.
11. Green Pu Erh
This is the final tea on the list but could be the only green tea I'd actually recommend.
Less earthy tasting then the black Pu Erh, but still a quintessential example of a "healthy" tea.
Thank you for indulging me in my tea addiction and I hope that I have inspired some to be exotic and try these teas from different parts of the world.