Gourmet herbal teas

It has always been a source of puzzlement to me that a nation that drinks as much tea as the British could drink such boring, low quality stuff. The ubiquitous “tea bags” are nothing more than the hot drink equivalent of a a hamburger, born from an age of convenience and fast food. They are usually stuffed with poor quality products, and just about as tasteless as their fast food equivalent. And although I haven’t been able to find any study on the effects of daily ingestion of paper brew, I guess it’s not all that good. Loose tea leaves would be better, but they are much harder to find. Good quality loose leaf tea is usually available only in specialised stores.
Recently, with the advent of “Healthy eating”, new kinds of tea bags have begun to appear, with name like “Spiced Apple” or “Lemon and Ginger”, although they often contain little of either. The “best” tea bags you are likely to find in your local supermarket will probably be stuffed with such exotic herbs as camomile, peppermint or nettle (which had been growing in our back garden for generations, but probably don’t anymore, and that is if we still have a back garden).
Finally, not that long ago, various mixtures termed Spice tea or Ayurvedic tea started appearing, mostly in Health food stores. While they are definitely a step in the right direction, and a good as tea bags can get, they still will only satisfy fast or frozen food addicts (even if of the most discerning kind).
If you want the real stuff, this site is for you. It aims to reintroduce the subtle and satisfying art of brewing herbs and spices in hot water to make drinks which you may choose to call tea.