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As far as I can tell, Darjeeling and regular old Irish breakfast tea essentially taste the same. But the former is more expensive. I think I've been scammed by Big Tea. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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I'm on a weekend vacation and forgot to bring my tea and the international grocery didn't have it, so I settled for Darjeeling. I can barely notice the difference. It's so subtle that it might as well just be a different tea brand.

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[-] Peasley@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

IBT is on the stronger/darker side, Darjeeling is on the lighter side.

IBT should be rich, dark, high in caffeine, with a strong flavor that doesnt get overpowered by milk, or ruined by a little oversteeping. It can still be burned if you use water that's too hot.

Darjeeling should be amber-colored, light tasting, moderate in caffeine, and should have some floral notes. The flavors can be drowned out by milk or oversteeping in my opinion. Best black and lightly steeped in sub-boiling water.

[-] 200ok@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

This is a great description of the difference between bold and light black tea! I never thought about the over steeping and milk overpowering aspects and it makes so much sense -- thank you!

[-] Mr_Blott@feddit.uk 10 points 1 month ago

I'd have to assume that the Irish breakfast tea you had before just simply wasn't Irish breakfast tea.

Darjeeling is one of the lightest teas, not good for much other than "afternoon tea and cakes at Gleneagles hotel" kinda thing

Try giving a cup of that to Bunny McGarry and see how fast he shoves a hurley up yer arse

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago

One time a friend brought me some good quality, loose leaf Darjeeling tea. The box said to drink without milk or sugar, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I am now a convert to plain black tea. That stuff was good!

[-] Taalen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

A few years ago I got myself a nice tea maker with adjustable temperature and brew time. Then I got some nice Assam tea, brewed a pot, and it turned out so nice I decided it didn't even need milk. Then I ended up on a wikipedia spiral and found out that the Brits apparently started putting milk in their tea when they started drinking Assam tea, after being used to milder Chinese teas. Heh.

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Sounds like you've been drinking some shit twinings level Darjeeling.

Alternative

I think the £3 bottle of prosecco I got from aldi and the £100 Champaign taste the same.

[-] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

yeah thats definitely not true at all though. i dont like champagne or prosecco, but ive had good champagne and it absolutely annihilates cheap sparkling white

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Exactly.

[-] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

ah right, I didn't understand you were kidding

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

More making an analogy.

Something like this at £40 per 100g will taste as different to ops Irish breakfast tea as the Champaign and the cheap sparkling wine.

[-] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

yeah no shit but I thought you were saying that as your literal truth, that you couldnt tell the difference ✌

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

It's probably because I'm British so assume I don't need to use things like /s

[-] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

nah, i hate /s. I'd rather have this back and forth once in a while than see /s's everywhere.

[-] Tiuku@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 month ago

OPs reasons may be wrong, but the conclusion is nonetheless correct: Big tea did scam you.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I KNEW IT!

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

If you don't notice the difference, well, your loss. I take a nice Darjeeling or Assam over a British Zombie Tea any time.

[-] fireweed@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Are you comparing bagged tea or looseleaf? I feel like bagged tea tends to taste pretty similar, especially if sourced from a grocery store vs a tea shop.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Bagged. And that could be the case.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Seconded. Most grocery store brands are low quality tea. Think grocery store tea is to good tea as Folgers instant is to a decent coffee shop fresh grind.

Good tea isn’t easy to find, at least in the US.

If you can find a place that sells good tea loose leaf you’ll enjoy it much more and be able to taste differences.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Put four bags in the cup this morning. Now I can taste the difference.

[-] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

Look at this fella, drinking tea on their weekend vacation. 🙄

[-] OpenStars@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

IBT is best tea and I will die on this hill.

Or maybe any hill. Perhaps I just want to die on some kind of hill? (/s btw:-P)

img

[-] pretzelz@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Try a single estate Assam, it's what it's made out of, but better

[-] OpenStars@piefed.social 0 points 1 month ago

I've literally never seen or heard of that, but that does sound nice!:-)

[-] pretzelz@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

This is where I get mine from: https://www.tea-and-coffee.com/buy-tea/location/assam-tea

Very reasonable, especially when you compare it to equivalent quality coffee beans. And you don't need the equipment to go with it ...

[-] OpenStars@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

Nice!:-)

[-] badlotus@discuss.online 2 points 1 month ago

English breakfast tastes like Darjeeling according to Vampire Weekend: https://youtu.be/v0Jyn8uideU

[-] atro_city@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

I'd argue that most people can't see nor taste the difference between similar products unless they are literally beside each other.

[-] sxan@midwest.social 2 points 1 month ago

Many products, sure. And with many caveats; Earl Grey is clearly distinct from Darjeeling, although both are black teas, simply because of the added bergamot. I can tell many apples apart - I couldn't name them in a blind test, but in most cases I can tell you which aren't Honey Crisp - the textures and tastes are very different for many varietals of apples. However, I don't think I could identify what kinds of apples are in an apple cider.

I'm sure you have your own examples. I'm not disagreeing with you, in general.

[-] jodanlime@midwest.social 2 points 1 month ago

I think you got ripped off. Darjeeling has a different taste than Irish Breakfast, but I'm terrible at describing tastes.

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[-] randombullet@programming.dev 0 points 1 month ago

Darjeeling is just a region where tea is made right?

It's like my Keurig tastes the same as my hand ground coffee from Columbia?

[-] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Champagne is just a region where sparkling white wine is ~~made~~ grown right?

Some regions just have the right mix of climate, soil, sun, temperature, precipitation etc that gives the product its cachet.

[-] zout@fedia.io 1 points 1 month ago

You've just proved the point, there are plenty of good regions for sparkling white wine which are not named Champagne.

[-] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Oh, for sure. I’d pick an unknown Cava over an unknown Champagne any day of the week. The thing is that humans have this inbuilt competitive thing - coffee, tea, wines, tobacco, potatoes, ganja, cheese, etc etc all have the same mythos around them. The experts want to class one particular product “best in class”. To the casual enjoyer it can often all taste/look pretty much the same. Also “industry best” does not have to equate with personal favourite. They can be two different things.

[-] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This may be one of the most 'first world problems' worthy problems I've ever read...

edit: /S for the downvoting folks that take a shower thoughts post seriously

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's a shower thought, dude. Also, there's no such thing as Big Tea as far as I know.

Edit: I literally thought that in the shower and it amused me.

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

I knew a guy who looked into starting a tea growing business in Nepal. He was simplifying, I'm sure, but his answer in the end was it's all controlled by the tea mafia!

[-] cynar@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

The British empire has entered the chat (backed by a very heavily armed fleet of warships).

[-] KittenBiscuits@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

There is however a Mr. T, and he would indeed pity the fool duped by a Darjeeling flim flam done in his name.

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this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2024
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