Again, here, not much of a green tea. I do have some loose leaf green tea in my collection, but favourites are white teas and lady grey, only I make the latter using a hot infusion of freshly picked lemon balm and sweeten with a little honey. Absolutely divine. Especially when the balm is picked in flower, so the nectar helps sweeten.
Not a fan of earl grey, but lady grey is nice stuff. Had another good one recently, a black tea, flavored with some sort of rose extract. That was pretty good and didn't need anything else to improve it. But white teas have always been my favourite, or lady grey made with balm decoction, can't buy that as one product, but lemon balm is a member of the mint family, and as such will spread like plague in a middle-ages slum, given half a chance it will take off and make a run for it, to the extent that its best grown in pots, or if in the garden, harvested pretty aggressively. Otherwise it'll take over given the slightest chance.
Easy to grow, and it helps smooth the tea out, because it contains compounds that inhibit GABA-transaminase, an enzyme that breaks down GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS. So it has a calming, gently sedative type effect. More of a relaxant, perfectly safe, and has even been used by herbalists for treating fractious babies.
As far as taste changes go I've had a few. I used to like cointreau, but now I can't bear even the smell of it, the very thought of it makes my stomach twitch. And synthetic strawberry flavors. Used to tolerate them if not LIKE them, now I don't eat the likes of strawberry yoghurt, candies, drinks. Used to detest sandwiches, no matter what was in them, a texture mismatch type thing I think. In my first secondary school, I used to squash them into a ball and slap them up against the bottom of the table so I wouldn't have to eat them. Now, I don't mind them and actually make one if I'm hungry and its all there is.
Didn't use to be able to stomach vodka as a kid, I gagged at the thought even before opening a bottle, now I can drink it by the bottle, downed in one and not so much as bat an eyelid. But cointreau...I'd throw up if I tried to drink it.
