I just love drinking tea

Woke up this morning ... rather early for me at 5.45am, so here
I am a short while later, sitting in front of my computer screen,
with a gigantic mug of hot tea alongside. I had laid in bed for
a while, after going for a pee, to see if I could get back off
to sleep, but I felt too awake & decided to get up. (Probably
caffeine-fuelled insomnia, as I had had some tea rather late in
the afternoon yesterday).

One of my political heros is Tony Benn, a former left-wing Labour MP,
and pacifist, who is well known for drinking large mugs of tea. I
think he'd approve of the size of mug I'm using.

So what brands of tea do you like, and are you a milk-first person?
How do you make the perfect cuppa?

Over the years, we've tried many brands of tea, and have usually
gone for ones that make stronger, more flavoursome teas. In the
early years of our marriage, Mrs C and I used to drink a blend made
by the Co-op, Indian Prince, which was the preferred brand of her
mum and dad... very strong stuff. Later on, when we were living
with another family for 15 years (sharing a large house and 6 girls
between us), we all drank Yorkshire Tea made by Taylors of Harrogate.
They certainly grow some good tea in Yorkshire.

And now I go for more flavoursome stuff ... Twinings English Breakfast
Tea, which I definitely recommend if you haven't tried it) and if
if you can get hold of it. I blend the loose-leaf tea with one
quarter to one third Darjeeling tea, for even more flavour ... and
I like it strong too. About one and a half heaped teaspoons of loose
-leaf tea into a pre-warmed china pot, to make my large mugful... and
left to infuse about 3-4 minutes before pouring.

Mrs C and I are milk-first people and we drink tea without any sugar.

I don't like tea with sugar. I remember once visiting a Turkish family,
when I was a GP. The father was a postgraduate student, who gave me a
very hot cup of weak tea, boiled up with condensed milk ... it took me
about 5 minutes to drink it (as it was too hot initially), and I didn't
like it at all as it was horribly sweet ... but I couldn't refuse to
drink it as I felt I would have been impolite. I declined hot drinks
from patients after that.

One reason why I dislike holidaying abroad is the absence of a reasonable
brand of tea to drink ... we just get tasteless brands of tea, and so
either take our own tea-bags with us, or drink more coffee. And as for
the horrible tap-water you get in places like Gran Canaria -- you have
to buy bottled water to get a reasonable hot drink. The tap water tastes
as if it's a by-product of the petro-chemical industry.

We have relatives here and in New Zealand who like very weak tea ...
perhaps you're the same .. quick dip in and out with the tea bag, one
tea bag to about 10 mugs of tea. Well, that not my cup of tea, but if
tea rationing were introduced, I suppose I'd get used to it.

And what about decaffeinated tea ... any favourites there? Our choice
is for PG Tips tea bags ... but it never tastes like to real stuff to me.
Some years ago, I tried doing without caffeine for 6 months or so ... I got
terrible withdrawal headaches to start with, but then managed without
caffeine OK. However, when I went back onto drinking caffeine one day, I
noticed an amazing difference in energy ...as if someone had fitted me
with a high performance car engine ... wow, what a difference!
Yes, I just love the stuff.