for some reason it doesn't taste like the one in Chinese restaurans, it's too strong. The brand name is Twinings of London; it cost me about $2.60 and I bought it at Euro-Fresh Market. It also says on the side of the box sweeten with milk for a sweeter taste. Do Chinese restaurants do this? How do they make their tea? With higher quality tea? I use 1 tea bag for 1 cup of water. Should I just boil it in a tea pot and then drink it? Would it help the flavor? Thanks! =)
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10 responses so far ↓
1 jade // Feb, 2008
My Chinese restaurant sells me the tea bags they use.
Ask the Chinese restaurant if they can sell you those
boxes.
Also ask them how they exactly make the tea.
2 Mystee_Rain // Feb, 2008
I hear you and hope you find your answer, I have been trying for years to find a tea you can buy that tastes like the ones they serve in restaurants I'll be watching to see what you get for answers.
3 Chris // Feb, 2008
It will not help boiling it in a different way, it is mst likely the type and brand of tea that you own. Because certain oolong teas come from different tea leaves, you should ask the restaurant about the tea that they make. If you want to have your tea be not as strong, I recommend adding more water to allow the quantity of tea you have to boil in. Also, great alternatives are Green tea, and White tea, as each one is made differently.
Good luck!
4 Joy M // Feb, 2008
i used the japanese (brand)oolong tea,i find it tasty and healthy.
5 jimmy jo dax // Feb, 2008
its simple, it has to do with how much they dilute the tea and the fact that they use medium boiled water along with tea leaves without the bag (the bag does lock in certain flavors). I would buy a kettle that was around the size they use and cut open 2 tea bags per each kettle. You will notice that when you first drink tea in a restaurant it is much stronger..then the great taste slowly seeps its way in as you ask for another refill.
6 Kris L // Feb, 2008
The tea they serve in most Chinese restaurants is NOT 'oolong' tea. Oolong is a 'strong' tea, and most Chinese restaurants serve green tea and occasionally jasmine tea. I suggest that you go to a good 'tea store' that sells 'bulk' teas, and tell them the 'flavor' of the Chinese tea you want, and buy at least five of them … but don't think that you can get the 'exact' flavor that you do in a Chinese restaurant unless you can find out from the waitperson the EXACT 'brand name' and flavor, and find out exactly how they make it. Most Chinese restaurants use 'bulk' tea (NOT TEABAGS) and are very 'close' about exactly HOW they brew the tea. I use one teabag (I have about 100 different 'flavors' in bags, plus another 50 flavors in 'bulk teas' that are also known as 'loose tea') in a 16-20 ounce cup, and I 'watch the bag' and pull it out when the 'water' changes to the 'color' I want … but I KNOW TEAS and know how 'strong' the tea will be according to the 'color' … so you should buy a 'book' about different teas and about the different ways of brewing your tea, and STUDY and enjoy the 'learning experience' … and you should NEVER 'boil the tea' whether it's in a bag or loose … you bring the water to boiling or near boiling then pour the water over the loose tea or tea bag … and if you use tea bags, most bags can make 2-4 8-ounce cups of tea!
7 papa // Feb, 2008
No, for "real taste" adjust the hot water amount, if you felt too strong, add more hot water.. if too weak add more tea… However, Oolong is supposed to be strong.
Basically the problem is your tea bag… first, i only know Twinings gets Indian teas… but I might be stupid… but if this company suggest you to add milk into Oolong tea for a sweeter taste, then this company is totally bull..
Oolong tea originally has strong fragrant, taste already, add milk just spoiled it.
Besides that, since when you see a Chinese guy holds 1 hand tea pot and 1 hand milk jar?
8 oohay // Feb, 2008
i am a chinese myself and Chinese people definately dont make their tea with additional milk or sugar (traditionally)! and seldomly the dried tea leaves would be packed in tea bag seperately but in a box. And a good oolong tea would costs you much higher than that, i guess.. (since my dad actually spent over a hundred dollars on tea itself on his trip to china last year, but he bought quite a lot of them)
i think the reason for it to be too strong is that the teabag is for a whole teapot of tea, not just one cup. and usually in a formal chinese tea ceremony, the 'virgin tea' is supposed to be poured away while you only drink the tea which is brewed the second time. the tea leaves are usually used repeatedly over 2-3 times.
picture of a chinese teapot: http://www.dragon-gate.com/images/cpics/MS083_c.jpg
have fun!
9 Barrie H // Feb, 2008
I buy my tea, green, online. See the link below. I've made some of this tea for a friend of mine from Vietnam and she says it is very good! Have to pay attention to the type of tea and the steep duration and temp. Sounds picky but it DOES make a difference in the taste.
The second link will yield google results for making tea.
Hope these help!
10 spectrejazz // Feb, 2008
No, normally Chinese restaurants do not sweeten their teas.
The tea in a more "Chinese" Chinese restaurant is Puer tea. In more Americanized establishments they will serve Jasmine Green tea most often, and Oolong in a very few. These teas are most often not bag tea, they are loose leaf. They use a relatively small amount of this loose tea leaf and steep it in boiling water until it is drank.
This depends on the brand, but the tea used is usually higher quality than a tea bag, but relatively low quality compared to most loose leaf teas available at your local tea store.
Most people would recommend not boiling your tea in the water, but rather steeping it in water that has just been boiled. Of course boiling it wouldn't kill you, it would just diminish the natural fragrance and flavor of the tea by damaging the leaf.
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