The last time I was at the Royal Subic store aboard the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, I was looking for teabag tea to use with my iced tea maker and had difficulty finding anything other than various green teas. I prefer black tea and I'm not sure why, but it's probably because that's what I grew up with. The Olongapo markets carry Lipton teas, but I was looking for something a little different and I found it.

Black Tea with Cinnamon

I had never heard of the Steuarts brand of tea, but I was willing to take a chance. Before I brewed my first pitcher with it, I looked it up on the net. I found the George Stuarts Product Page but strangely, this particular product wasn't shown.

This tea is part of the Ceylon tea collection sold by the George Stuart company, and a little research told me that Ceylon was one of the former names of the country of Sri Lanka. So now when I see a tea package of some kind that says "Ceylon", I'll know it comes from Sri Lanka.

The Taste Test

I wasn't disappointed. The cinnamon taste did not overwhelm the natural taste of black tea like the teas with lemon flavoring added (or any fruit for that matter). I like the natural flavor of black tea and that may be one of the reasons I don't like the tea you buy in jars and cans with fruit flavors added. The fruit flavors are all that I ever tasted with brands like Snapple and Arizona Iced Tea.

The cinnamon taste isn't strong and there's just enough there to tell you that it has cinnamon in it. My wife's aunt is staying with us on vacation and when I walked near her, she said she knew what kind of tea it was by the smell. I think she cheated and saw the box in the cabinet and tried to act like she knew something she didn't. Unless that lady has a super keen sense of smell, I don't think the cinnamon smell is strong enough for you to smell unless you have the cup at your lips.

I'll be looking for similar types of teabags the next time I'm out shopping for groceries, regardless of where. I kind of like having a variety of tastes and smells to go along with the natural taste and smell of black tea. I'll even deal with green tea if I find something suitable. The only requirement I have is that the added flavor doesn't overwhelm the natural flavor of tea.

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There are some things in life where I will accept no substitutes. Coffee and tea are two of these things.

This is the second of two articles I wrote for my main site. This one was originally published in April of 2008 and I've moved it here (with minor rewriting) because this site is about coffee and tea and the other is not. Keep in mind when it was written as I made references:

Recently, I was reminded by Claire (A little piece of me) that while some people like lemon in their tea, others do not. She, like me, does not like lemon in her tea. She needs "proper" tea, whatever the heck that means.

Tea, Cold or Hot

I've noticed, at least locally, that much more tea is sold with lemon added than without. In fact, I can rarely find instant tea that doesn't have the added lemon flavor. Yecch! At times, I have resorted to doing the tea bag drill and making my tea that way. I prefer iced tea, but when it doesn't feel like a sauna in my house, hot tea works just as well. The instant tea brand I always look for as unsweetened, without any added flavoring, is Nestea (a product of Nestlé. If I can't find any, I resort to buying the Lipton tea bags.

Local restaurants like to stick a slice of lemon in with the iced tea when it's served. The first thing I do is toss out the lemon before it ruins the flavor of the tea. I love the natural flavor of tea. I am guilty, however, of sweetening tea with sugar, but not too much. I don't want the sugar flavor overwhelming the tea flavor.

Black tea (an American all-time favorite), oolong tea, or green tea, it doesn't matter. They're all good to me. What a lot of people don't know is that all three are produced from the same plant. See "Tempest in a Teapot" for more information.

Coffee, Hot or Cold

Growing up, I was enticed into becoming a coffee drinker by the strong aroma wafting from the coffee pot percolating in the kitchen. I can remember my mother putting coffee grounds into the pot, letting it perk for however long it took, and then people sitting around the dining room table drinking it. Back in those days, the coffee pots were tempered glass and it took more than just a few minutes for the coffee to be ready. Nowadays, we have automatic drip coffee as well as instant coffee.

I prefer instant coffee, but not just any instant coffee. It has to be either the Folgers or the Nescafé (another product of Nestlé) brands. Other coffee brands just don't seem to taste right to me.

While I was in the military and stationed in Japan in the eighties, I had to settle for iced coffee, usually arriving as a can from a vending machine. When Starbucks started marketing cold coffee, it was already old news to me, so I didn't get suckered into buying it all the time.

When I was young, non-dairy creamers like Cremora and Coffee-Mate (still another Nestlé product) didn't exist (well, they did, but I never saw them). It's a good thing they didn't because partially hydrogenated oils are bad for you. Everyone that didn't drink it black used evaporated milk from a can. I drink coffee with sugar only these days.

Carbonated Beverages

It doesn't matter what you call them. In some places they're called soda. In other places they're called pop. In yet other places they're called soda pop. I can't drink any of them. When I was much younger, I drank soda because it was convenient. The vending machines were everywhere. It didn't matter which brand I preferred because it changed from month to month. As I got older, I realized that soda (while not knowing how bad it really is for you) just didn't do the trick in quenching my thirst.

A couple of months ago, I found myself drinking a soda because it was the only thing available at the time. We were out of bottled water and I was thirsty. I poured the soda over ice cubes and it still didn't water it down enough to tame my thirst. I ended up driving 11 miles to buy bottled water. Don't get me started on the tap water. The tap water where I was at was worse than the water you find in swimming pools, it had so much chlorine in it.

What Are Your Favorite Drinks?

Aside from alcoholic beverages, what do you like to drink? Coffee, tea, soda, other kinds of drinks or just water? Can you tell me why? If you're a beer-aholic (someone who drinks beer for the taste, not the alcohol), can you tell me why you prefer it over anything else?

(Image sources: The "What's in Your Pot?" Swap and Well of Illusions!)

Similar Posts:

• Iced Tea or Iced Coffee?
• Iced Tea — When It's Too Hot to Drink Coffee
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• Steuarts Black Tea with Cinnamon
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