My Identi-Tea

Black tea is truly Indonesia. The darker, the better. Dark and sweet. Javanese tea fanatics only take loose tea, brew it in freshly boiled water in a teapot for about five minutes, then pour the tea in a cup filled with lump white sugar. Tea bags are a big NO. I'm a Javanese, never attached to anything in this world to the point of fanaticism, but I do love tea.

As much as I love the bitterness in traditional loose black tea, I grew up digging other tea variants, too, tea bags included. When I'm in a supermarket, I always go to the tea section. To me, these historical Indonesian black teas as well as modern fruity flavored teas are more attractive than potato chips, chocolates, or instant noodles. And this morning I was happy to find that Lipton produced a selection of flavored black tea and infusions at a reasonably low price (compared to pricey Twinings or Dilmah). Some local tea factories have produced similar products before, but I don't really like how the tea left a funny feel in my throat that I suspect coming from too much use of artificial flavors.

I bought two boxes of Lipton tea: apple flavored black tea and peppermint plain infusion. Each box contains 15 individually packed teabags. Other flavors available are strawberry, vanilla, and caramel. For infusion (no tea leaves used), there are two kinds: peppermint and chamomile. I read the information on the carton box about the ingredients, and I am glad that they use real (dehydrated) fruit. A little artificial flavor is still used, though.

It is raining again outside, and it's a little bit chilly. A cup of hot tea would be heaven! And I got this new tea to taste. Born and raised as a Javanese, I always like my tea sweet. Instead of adding sugar, I add one block of Lo Han Kuo in my tea this time. Healthy and... hmmmm.... You should try it!