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I think it’s more a question of dosage, rather than kind of black tea.

If you are in for the caffeine, something completely different are Taiwanese high mountain Oolongs, some of them keep me up all night if I drink them too late...

But as a current black tea drinker, if I were to suggest alternatives, I would try some roasted Oolong teas for example.

Be careful though, once you go down the rabbit hole...

You may like an Assam CTC
"CTC tea actually refers to a method of processing black tea. Named for the process, "crush, tear, curl" (and sometimes called "cut, tear, curl")."
Rich, strong and because the tea doesn't really expand, any teaball or cotton bag is fine to steep with.

@sizmo we all have different constitutions so I can only speak for myself (though maybe it would apply to you) but "India bush" teas give me the jitters worse than coffee. This tea is typically what is grown in India, Sri Lanka, and Africa. Black teas made from "China bush" do not give me the jitters despite having caffeine. "China bush" teas are generally grown in China, Taiwan, Japan.

So for example, an assam will give me jitters but a keemum will not, though both keep me alert.

@Baisao @Bok @rdl

Would you believe that after alot of research, i discovered what i think MIGHT be the standing-out factor with Lipton...
apparently the black tea in their bags is mainly 'Orange Pekoe and Pekoe cut black tea'.

So i went to a tea shop earlier and managed to find 'Basilur 100% pure Ceylon Black Tea - Orange Pekoe'. and guess what? When i brewed it, i felt just as alert and revitalized as the Lipton brings about.

I've tried a few other black tea bags, and i highly doubt this is a Placebo!

Let me know what you guys think

@Baisao @rdl @Bok

I also found this diagram showing how tea is graded. How accurate would you guys say this is??

@Ethan Kurland

Citation for attached diagram : Wikipedia, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_tea ... rading.jpg (I DO NOT OWN THE DIAGRAM)

sizmo wrote: ↑

Wed May 29, 2019 1:38 pm

I also found this diagram showing how tea is graded. How accurate would you guys say this is??

Most western style black teas have leaves chopped in small pieces, which makes it hard to say wheat kind of leaves went in. Anyway, they are all marked as "xyz orange pekoe" because why would anybody mark their teas as a lower grade than that. In the end Orange pekoe simply stands for a mix of a loose leaf black teas from somewhere sold in a grocery store. Any middle eastern/arabian grocery will probably have a good selection of them. "Ahmad Tea" is a reliable brand producing teas in this style. Also "Twinings", but you'll pay some premium for the queen's endorsment of the brand and the cute little can.

Btw. next time you go to a tea shop, you may as well give a try to some chinese loose leaf black tea to see how you'll feel about it. It may not hit you as hard, but it may have a nice taste or something.

sizmo wrote: ↑

Wed May 29, 2019 1:38 pm

I also found this diagram showing how tea is graded. How accurate would you guys say this is??

Of course then you have all the grade variations such as

OP: Orange Pekoe

FOP: Flowery Orange Pekoe

GFOP: Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe

TGFOP: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe

TGFOP 1: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe One

FTGFOP: Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe

FTGFOP 1: Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe One

SFTGFOP: Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe

SFTGFOP 1: Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe One

For broken leaves, the letter “B” is added to the name as in BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe), FBOP, GBOP, TGBOP, etc.

For smaller grades used in teabags, fannings and dust grades are used, for example: OF, OPF, FBOPF, FD, GD.

.m. wrote: ↑

Wed May 29, 2019 3:13 pm

middle eastern/arabian grocery will probably have a good selection of them. "Ahmad Tea" is a reliable brand producing teas in this style.

I was trying to remember Ahmad Tea when thinking about this thread. I drank a lot of Ahmad's teas when first venturing away from teabags, especially Assam. Sold at Russian stores in Boston area also.
If one wants to sample with small amounts, turning to Upton Tea might be wise.
sizmo, Amazon also sells regular empty teabags. You can also buy silicon teabag holders in which you can "hide" double-bagging.

I just prepared a cup using aTrader Joe's Irish Breakfast teabag. Hated it, even with milk. Without some fruit jam in the cup to carry it, I can't enjoy it. Makes me think I need to sample some Ruby Jade 18s and 21s from Taiwan again to get some Assam flavor tempered by other flavors.

Cheers

Im not joking when I say this as I have a family friend whose tea factory supplies to Liptons.

its mostly very low grade Sri-Lankan black tea. Basically the equivilent of dirt.

L.S.G.artapprentice wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 07, 2021 10:11 pm

Im not joking when I say this as I have a family friend whose tea factory supplies to Liptons.

its mostly very low grade Sri-Lankan black tea. Basically the equivilent of dirt.

But but but it’s orange pekoe dirt!

Baisao wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 07, 2021 11:32 pm

L.S.G.artapprentice wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 07, 2021 10:11 pm

Im not joking when I say this as I have a family friend whose tea factory supplies to Liptons.

its mostly very low grade Sri-Lankan black tea. Basically the equivilent of dirt.

But but but it’s orange pekoe dirt!

thats orange peoke FANNINGS you you you peasent you

Lipton changes its blend country to country, so there isn't a single answer anymore. Lipton wants to be the opposite of a genericized trademark, where instead of Lipton becoming the word for tea, with any tea counting as Lipton, tea becomes the word for Lipton. To facilitate this, Lipton blends follow the tastes of whichever region they happen to be in.

However, there is an answer to this question historically! I now get to quote myself from 2012, when I started thinking about this question on TeaChat:

Arnold Wright's 1907 Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon gives what seems to be a complete list of the Lipton's tea estates at the time... might be interesting to taste through. These were the (mostly) Uva teas that made Lipton's famous. I wonder how many still play a part in Lipton's blends?

The "Dambatenne Group" of estates:
Dambatenne
Maha Dambatenne
Bandara Eliya
Sunny Peak

The "Monarakande Group" of estates:
Leymastotte
Nahakettia
Upper Lyegrove

Other Uva estates:
Keenapitiya
Oakfield

Non Uva(?):
Pooprassie Group
Karandagalla
Panilkanda (https://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 2&p=222506)

Sad to say, I still haven't drank my way through vintage Lipton, although maybe LeoFox's Ceylon tea thread will get me to give it another shot.

mbanu wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:04 pm

Lipton changes its blend country to country, so there isn't a single answer anymore. Lipton wants to be the opposite of a genericized trademark, where instead of Lipton becoming the word for tea, with any tea counting as Lipton, tea becomes the word for Lipton. To facilitate this, Lipton blends follow the tastes of whichever region they happen to be in.

However, there is an answer to this question historically! I now get to quote myself from 2012, when I started thinking about this question on TeaChat:

Arnold Wright's 1907 Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon gives what seems to be a complete list of the Lipton's tea estates at the time... might be interesting to taste through. These were the (mostly) Uva teas that made Lipton's famous. I wonder how many still play a part in Lipton's blends?

The "Dambatenne Group" of estates:
Dambatenne
Maha Dambatenne
Bandara Eliya
Sunny Peak

The "Monarakande Group" of estates:
Leymastotte
Nahakettia
Upper Lyegrove

Other Uva estates:
Keenapitiya
Oakfield

Non Uva(?):
Pooprassie Group
Karandagalla
Panilkanda (https://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 2&p=222506)

Sad to say, I still haven't drank my way through vintage Lipton, although maybe LeoFox's Ceylon tea thread will get me to give it another shot.

Do it!!!

While it originally was (mostly?) Ceylon tea, today the bulk of the blend is from Kenya.

According to Wikipedia, Yellow Label is blended from about 20 different teas, but this PR article says up to 40.

Also, in 2014 they changed the process, pressing the leaves to extract "tea essence" and then adding it back before drying.