Well, hello there! You wanna know about black tea in the Philippines, huh? Let me tell ya, it ain’t as fancy as them city folks make it sound. It’s just…tea, you know? We drink it.

What kind of black tea we got here? I ain’t no expert, mind you, but I see them boxes in the store. Lots of Lipton, yeah, that yellow box. They say it tastes good and don’t cost too much. That’s important, you know? We ain’t got money to throw around like them rich people in Manila.

Then there’s this other tea, they call it…uh… “orange pekoe” somethin’. Sounds fancy, right? But it just means the leaves are whole, not all crushed up. They got different kinds, like SFTGFOP1, sounds like a car part or somethin’. They say that’s the best, but I don’t know. Tastes like tea to me. Then you got OP, that’s the… uh… the plainest one, I guess. Not so fancy.

• Lipton is popular. Easy to find, easy on the pocket. That’s what matters, right?
• Whole leaf tea is better they say. But costs more, I reckon.
• Grades of tea? Too much thinkin’ for me. If it tastes good and warms my belly, that’s enough.

Now, me, I like my tea strong. Boil that water good, put in a teabag or two, let it sit a while. Sometimes I put in a little sugar, if I got some. Milk? Nah, not for me. But some folks like it that way. To each their own, I say.

We Filipinos, we drink tea when we’re sick, too. You got a cough? A cold? We make this ginger tea, “salabat” they call it. Boil up some ginger, add a little honey if you got it. That’ll warm you up and make you feel better. It ain’t black tea, but it’s tea, and it helps. My grandma used to make it for me all the time.

Where do we get this black tea? Well, you go to the store, any store. Big ones, little ones, they all got tea. Sometimes the market, too. You see them vendors selling all sorts of stuff, and sometimes they got tea. But mostly, I just buy it at the grocery store when I go to town.

I don’t know where they grow all this tea, to be honest. Maybe they grow some here in the Philippines, maybe not. Probably not. Lots of things we buy come from other places. China, maybe? Or India? They got lots of tea over there, I heard.

Is black tea good for you? I don’t know. I ain’t no doctor. But it makes me feel good, warms me up in the morning. And that ginger tea, that definitely helps when you’re sick. So, maybe it is good for you. Or maybe not. But we drink it anyway.

How much does it cost? Well, that depends. Lipton, that’s cheap. Them fancy teas, they cost more. But you don’t need fancy tea. The cheap stuff is just as good, in my opinion. We ain’t got money to waste on fancy things.

So, there you have it. Black tea in the Philippines. It ain’t complicated. We drink it because it’s good and it’s warm and it don’t cost too much. And sometimes, it helps when you’re feeling poorly. That’s all there is to it. Now, you want a cup?

And you know, sometimes, we just drink water. If there ain’t no tea, or if we ain’t got money for tea, we drink water. Water is good, too. Keeps you alive, you know? But tea is nicer, especially on a cold morning.

So, next time you see that yellow box of Lipton, you think of me. You think of all us Filipinos, drinking our tea, going about our day. It ain’t fancy, but it’s ours. And that’s all that matters.

Oh, and one more thing. Don’t go puttin’ too much sugar in your tea. It ain’t good for you. A little bit is okay, but too much will rot your teeth. My grandma always told me that. She was a smart woman, my grandma.

Tags: black tea, philippines, lipton, tea grades, ginger tea, salabat, affordable tea, filipino tea