The rash happens with green tea and the regular Lipton tea. Herb teas seem to be ok for my skin and we drink Tension Tamer at night. I'm guesssing it is the tannin in tea that causes my problem. I find tea to have more of a caffinated effect on me than coffee, do you?

San, I'm just the opposite. I can't stand the taste of coffee, but moreover, the caffeine in coffee hits me all at once like a big jolt (kind of similar to the shaky feeling I get after I've used an inhaler), and I'm antsy and shaky all day. With tea, it comes on gradually, and I hardly notice a difference on mornings when I start the day with a non-caffeinated tea instead.
I'm glad that there are some teas that work for you! There are lots of delicious hebal teas. One of my all-time favorites, Honeybush Vanilla, is an herbal blend.

No Angie...I was never properly introduced to tea!

But thanks to Kari for allowing me to join the group with an iced Mocha:)

My introduction to tea (properly brewed loose-leaf tea, as opposed to tea out of a bag that I'd let steep for far too long and wondered why it tasted so bitter) was on my first trip to London. We had a tea luncheon at the Orangery at Kensington Palace, and the food was delicious, and the setting was gorgeous. So I suppose that kind of colored my tea experience forever - I always think back to that trip as the event when I really fell in love with tea.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/kensingt.....ngery.aspx

Shall we also wear fascinators?

San if you like the taste of orange pekoe there is a lovely tea, totally herbal that tastes exaclty like it. No tannin or caffeine. It only comes in tea bags as far as I know though. (Caf-Lib; Laval, Que; 1-888-ID-FOODS).

Aida, thanks for your expert advice! I am copying your tips down and will try them out soon.

Kari, that is very true about the tea balls! I suggest them to new-to-loose-leaf-tea drinkers because they are just so much simpler hehe. Ideally, you'd leave the tea leaves to float loose in the brew and either strain out or even drink around them, but I find the tea balls are a great time saver. As long as you don't overfill, they have room to expand; I usually suggest half full, though some teas unfurl to a much larger size than others (for example, white teas need much more room than say a crushed darjeeling).

Alicat, no problem! If you have any questions feel free to ask me, I do loves me my tea ^^