Talk to me about leaf teas

Your favs? Your ones to avoid? How long should I brew it for? How many times can I use it? all advice/suggestions welcome. :)

Hey!
My friend has her own tea company cuppa~T. On FB and a website. My fav of hers is Monks pear and Rainforest magic! Both are black tea bases with amazing flavours added in. I would HIGHLY recommend both of those flavours but monks pear is my absolute fav! I have 2-3 cups of her tea a day.

I don't brew my tea more than 3-4mins ever because it doesn't make the tea stronger, it just makes it bitter and yucky!! I couldn't figure out why my tea tasted so yuck until my mum (a tea freak) told me I shouldn't brew it more than 3-4 mins and now it is perfect everytime!!! I wouldn't re-use the leaves cause they would be all bitter and yucky

anyone got any favs?

I brew no more than 4 mins.

I miss my tea place, I used to get them to make up blends just for me.

Since I can't get my own blends made by my tea lady, I have to start blending my own again. So I'm now on the hunt for some good loose leaf teas, with a good range of herbal blends, preferably not mixed, so I can make my own.

I love picking fruit blends for summer and making an ice tea.

:bump:

Mmmm tea...

My go to is still a good quality english breakfast. Great pick me up when feeling a bit crappy.

Other teas I'm fond of are things like lemongrass, chai and peppermint. Ginger is good too but apparently baby doesn't like it and it tastes funny at the moment.

Loose leaf tea is so much nicer than bag tea though - I find I can taste the glue in bag tea now. But has anyone seen that new kettle that has different settings for different teas?