Finishing up some batches of chai recipe experiments and wondering what local (grown here) teas people have used with good taste?
I find the teas here are higher in caffiene than assam types. Anyone try this out at home?
Oriental Beauty somewhat works, though you might need to add some extra sugar for balance. Add a shot of Glenlivet 12 for an extra kick.
Why not use some of Taiwan’s excellent hong cha? The original tea bushes brought to Nantou in the 1930s (iirc) actually came from Assam.
Guy
2 Likes
indeed red tea is what im after, perhaps im asking for easy to find brands. like you say, thats essentially what we are looking for, but im curious which ones have been good (and easy to find). the tea in my area is mostly oolong and green. doesnt taste right. supermarkets here sell strange stuff, mostly imported and/or mixed with other things.
ps. whisky and tea sounds nasty. ill take either, but virign.
Look for 日月潭紅茶, Sun Moon Lake Black Tea.
It’s good, although they also resell Indian tea, so watch out for that .
My 2 cents: Most Taiwanese processed red teas will not mix well with spices. I find even though red tea is supposed to be the closest thing to an English style tea, it is a totally different processing recipe, and still retains that tobaccoey, earthy flavour that you get with all the oxidised teas here. Bad description of the flavour perhaps, but suffice to say I think masala tea, if you are drinking with milk, is best made with the granulated assam you get in those big boxes from Brooke Bond or other brands, or just any box of loose leaf English tea.
1 Like
OP could try this stuff, it’s tea bags though.
https://www.pcstore.com.tw/waymode/M13620474.htm
1 Like
This place has loose leaf Assam and others, economical
1 Like
Been noticing the same thing in taste here. Interesting you mention the tobacco aspect ad it does seem quite related with design parameters and builders of the dehydrators. Interesting!