My user name Living-UK-Taiwan consists of two countries, both of which happen to be big tea drinking countries. Let me show you some tea from both countries.
Twinnings
Twinnings is an iconic 300 year old brand of tea from England. If you've visited UK or like tea, you may have seen them around. I always get them as gifts, particularly for overseas friends, you can never go wrong with a bit of British'ness can you? This particular box was a present from a friend when she came round for dinner the other month. It's in a lovely presentation box and has 8 different types of tea all individually packed.
My go to tea is also from Twinnings, it's their English Breakfast tea. I took this photo from the supermarket the other day as my stash is tucked away in the corner of my pantry. I always stock up when they are on special offer to make sure I don't run out. Currently, I have 6 boxes, and each box has 120 teabags, that's 720, and will last me about a year 馃槉
Earl Grey is another popular type of tea, and often perceived as a posh drink. It's infused with bergamont flavour. Personally, I'm not a big fan of drinking Eary Grey, but I have a bag of loose leaf at home which I use to make bread and cakes.
Yorkshire Tea
Yorkshire Tea is another British brand, and I think they're the second most popular brand in the UK. In recent years they've launched some unique flavours like this Biscuit Brew which has a malty flavour. We have a box at home, my husband likes to drink it with condensed milk because he said it's like the Hong Kong style tea he used to drink. When I took this photo, I notice they have another new flavour called Caramelised Biscuit Brew. He said he's going to get a box and try it sometime
Fruit teas
I love elderflower drinks and was very intrigued when I saw this elderflower and pear white tea. Sadly, it didn't live up to expectations. My niece gave me the blue box of herbal tea, she said it wasn't her cup of tea馃槀. And the jar in the middle is Ukranian apple tea, which came from Ukraine, of course馃挍 馃挋
My other tea collection
My Chinese calligraphy teacher in Taiwan is a tea connoisseur, this is part of his collection. When I visited him the other year, he served me a tea tasting session of three different types of tea, starting from the lightest green tea, to the strongest black tea. I remember he told me the price of the black tea, it was... expensive !! And very nice, even though I don't normally like black tea. The bundle at the top right is a type of black tea called pu'er and it a collectors item.
My collection isn't as extensive as his and I'm running a little low on stock. Luckily, Chinese tea last a long time. You only need a small amount for each brew, and I don't drink it every day. Tea drinking is more of a lifestyle, especially when you're drinking good quality tea. It should be enjoyed and savoured slowly in a relaxing environment. One of my favorite tea is called Oolong, and Taiwan produces some of the best due to its high altitude. The higher the altitude better the quality. These two tins of Oolong were presents from my friends from my last trip back to Taiwan in 2023.
And here's a pack of green tea. It's vacuum pack, solid as a brick to keep its freshness. The thing I love about Taiwanese tea is that many come with an air tight tin, not only does it keep the tea fresh, it's also very presentable as a gift. In fact I thnk all my Chinese tea are gifts from friends, I rarely buy them myself. I'm so blessed to have so many nice friends 馃槉
The Japanese are also famous for their tea. This is Genmaicha, a green tea with toasted rice. That's the brown and white bits. Genmaicha has a nice nutty flavour and balances very well with green tea to give it another dimension.
Snowpea's home
Some of you may know my little girl Snowpea and her bestie Mary. They live with me, specifically on my tea shelf in the kitchen. This is where I keep my day to day drinks. Coffee pods on the left, two more tea tins from Taiwan with more tea inside, and my English breakfast teabags on the right.
This wasn't quite what 