I sit here drinking my PGtips tea...three spoons of sugar and a bit of whole milk. Lately I drink PGtips because I like how strong it is and brought back a box of 200 or so bags from London. I have always loved chai. To me, chai was always simply black tea with a lot of sugar and a lot of milk. That's how it was served in Kenya...and it was best with a bit of a smokey flavor from being cooked over a fire. I like chai with the spices as well, especially if it's made by Josephine Hatch. My pet peeve is how you have to call it a chai tea latte to buy it at a "coffee place." That's like saying, "I'd like some tea with milk and sugar and make sure there's some tea in there...oh, and make it with some milk too." A bit redundant.

I started drinking tea faithfully in the winter to keep warm, and after having Joanna to stay away long enough to have my devotions. That's one of my favorite times to drink tea...I put Joanna down for a nap, make some tea and have my quiet time.

Ah, Sarah, we are tea kindred spirits in almost every particular. I, too, like a simple chai with milk and sugar (and a bit of smoke) in a glass glass if possible, though a little green cardamom is a fine addtion. "Chai tea latte" is indeed redundant. I had never thought of that.

In boarding school, we would try to get teachers to buy us tea from the little teashop from across the road and to go outside for class. If we were lucky we might get several additional cups of chai that day, in addition to the tea available at breakfast and tea time and supper. Mmm, tea. Oh, and tea when the monsoons are going stong and it is drippy off the pine trees or a bank of clouds is rolling down the hillside is also lovely.

I have really fond memories of my roommate Amanda making us Moroccan Mint tea. She lived in Morocco for many years and swears it's authentic. But for me the real joy was in all the care and display with which she served it to us. She used a tea tray that was made of lots of little pieces of tile set in a kind of cement (kind of like a little mosaic), and she poured it out of a beautiful piece of pottery with a lot of overlapping stars on it. It was nice.
Now I'm hooked on PGtips...thanks to Mrs. Ward ;) It’s really strong and actually is the only tea that has been able to replace coffee. I'm drinking it now actually.
P.S. Neil, I no longer drink the chai made with green tea. You were right it's not nearly as good as black tea.
O.K., I really need to get back to work! Happy sippings.

I will miss our tea times... I'll be over for some tea sometime soon. I also agree that the whole "chai tea latte" phenomena is a little out of control. It is as if they needed to rename it in order for it to sell. In terms of style of tea: I prefer Nepali tea. Its black loose tea with green cardamom, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon. You can't forget the sugar... sometimes they even put ginger in it... that's only on special occasions. If you haven't tried the Lapsang Souchong... Its marvelous... It really is like drinking a campfire... During the curing process they dry the leaves over a fire. MMMMM smoky!

Good Earth Tea (found at Trader Joe's). It's great and you don't have to add milk and sugar to make it sweet and yummy though sometimes I add soy milk and a drop of honey for good measure. Sorry, you all are probably tired of hearing about THE BEST TEA IN THE WORLD : )

I had a friend in highschool (kind of friend) who invited me a few times to join his lunch table for tea. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but at the time I thought it was sooo cool. I think he brought a tea pot and everything.

I love tea stalls in India. My favorite is my friend Jora's tea stall. I would spend countless hours sitting on the street with her and her kids, and one of them would always run and bring back a cup of chai and one of my favorite "sada" biscuits; soooo good. Of course, it was probably the company more than the tea, but that was still an enjoyable aspect of those times. I also loved ordering cups of chai in the various cafe's and hostels that I stayed in throughout Asia. Your back porch is a good place for that as well; I agree. Though the smokey tea that Jesse mentioned tastes a little too much like smoke, heheh It is seriously like drinking a campfire!

I'm confused by why chai tea latte is redundant. Chai doesn't necessarily have to have milk; we have chai tea bags for hot tea. Just curious. Don't worry, I'm not just being a sensative Starbucks barista:) heheh

Courtney, you are right that "chai" is the generic word for tea, milky or not, so that part is not redundant, even if in our culture "chai" is associated with milky sweet tea. In Pakistan in the Punjab, the call such tea "Dudth Paathi," which in essence means "milk tea." I suppose, though, that "chai tea" is still a bit redundant, no? And I must say, my favorite cup of store bought tea is a Starbucks. They give you two tea bags for venti and grande teas! How nice is that! Sometimes I simply take one of them home. And they have fantastic teas. Mmm, mmm.

TEA IS FOR SISSYS! (in a thick southern accent)

Just kidding, I love me some tea. Obviously, my wife is the master tea maker in our house and when I need an afternoon refreshment I enjoy a "cuppa". When we were in London a few Christmas's ago, I learned just how satisfying tea was in the North Atlantic climate in the afternoon (especially in the winter when the sun goes down at 4pm). Brilliant!

However, I don't think I could substitute tea for my morning coffee addiction.

ummm. i love a cup of pg tips (which you can get at world market, btw), milk and sugar. I like earl gray with honey. and my new favorite herbal tea is tazo's wild sweet orange/ with honey. and I also agree, I prefer tea with others. coffee, I drink alone. tea, the more the merrier.