Choice Organic Teas

What can I say about this Oolong tea? That its ordinary…yes. I can’t find anything that stands out about this tea except that its organic. It does taste like an Oolong and its an ok tea. It’s drinkable, but I like exceptional teas and this is just not one of them. Another sale tea (2.75) at the health food store.

I’ve been gone for over two weeks, due to internet problems. We were switching providers. …Didn’t work out too well, so we ended up without internet for a time. But it’s all good now.

In that time, I ran out of one tea and picked up two new ones. Both from the organic market near my work. I love that place. It’s got such a wide selection of teas. Mostly all bagged, but still good!

I rather like this one. Brewed, it smells strongly of assam, but sipping it—it’s assam, but not as strong, tempered very well with a bit of ceylon, so it’s bright and bold and quite nice. Would probably hold up very well to tea, I figure.

Once a term at college we have a little Marketplace Setup where local shops sell their wares here. This time around a loose-leaf tea shop set up a booth—the first Canadian storefront for an, apparently, very popular European boutique tea company (Forsman Teas). Although about 90% of the teas contained rose petals (blurg), there were some very good ones in there. But I resisted buying any, because I’d just gotten two teas already (if I’d known a tea company was set to come, I would have held off on this tea and the other one I got!). I regretted it though, because they had some VERY unique flavour combinations (all of their years are flavoured blacks or greens or black/greens; their 1001 Nights is quite different from any I’ve ever seen before). I wanted to try Northern Lights, which is blueberry and mint black. Very interesting!

Back to THIS tea, though—I like it. From what I understand, they company sells loose leaf as well, but there were none at the place I went. Just these bagged. But they’ve got bagged Russian Caravan! How interesting. I want to pick a box up after I run out, just to try.

Also found a shop downtown that carries Kusmi teas. I plan to make a run there at some point—haven’t made any exact plans when, although I’m starting to drown in teas, so I think I’ll hold off until I finish off a few more of what I’ve got. I’m starting to run low on a few, so it shouldn’t take long.

a middle ground okay lukewarm whole leaf green tea…
i enjoyed a nice warm cup of this right before lunch, but after 3 sips i realized that this tea was sort of like bland cereal—it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. yes, that grassy flavor was there but it wasn’t really the I CANT STOP DRINKING THIS (in a good way) type of reaction i was hoping for.

not bad. but not good.
bland cereal tea.
at least it is fair trade

Another chilly grey marine-aired PNW morning. Genmaicha FTW!

Need nice warm comfort food tea and genmaicha fits the bill today!

I love genmaicha. So green and toasty!

Genmaicha for a sleepy Friday afternoon. Not doing much to help the sleepies, but it’s a nice, sturdy, solid sort of tea.

Recovering from an interview at a big, big museum in New York City and a lack of texts from the boy who was supposed to get in touch with me yesterday. Modern dating does not agree with me. I’d rather be upfront and stop wasting time. Whatever happened to a letter in the mail? Boo hiss. Nothing is going according to plan, and I am sitting at home without any of my good tea. At least I’ve sent out another résumé and cover letter and am meeting someone at the Met on Friday and I am hopeful, always?

Trying to perk myself up with a cup of this. It’s very, very floral for a non-flowering tea. Almost like jasmine, but darker and smokier. I don’t know what magnolias taste like? There’s a bit of bitter aftertaste that leaves my mouth dry. But after all’s said and done, I suppose it’s a decent, basic staple. I’m trying to think of more to say about it, but I guess you’ve finally done me in, Steepster: I have tea-snobbed all over this one…

This is my first genmaicha ever, so I can’t say how this compares to other brands, but this is pretty yummy! I actually ended up making my own genmaicha extra green/“ryokucha” by stirring in some matcha powder, and the result is delicious! Toasty, milky, lightly sweet, vegetable-ey, a little bitter…om nom nom nom nom.

This is one of the first teas I have bought from bulk at PCC. I had it for my morning tea, and for my evening tea. It’s a nice pleasant gently flavor, and a nice pleasant gentle aroma. The second steeping (this evening) definitely looses some of the punch. It’s a pretty good tea for a decent price. Especially considering it allows me to support local stores (PCC in Redmond)

For p.m. drinking. Difference in flavor from the standard version is detectable, but slight, and it’s not a bad or (to me) identifiably “decaf” taste.

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. Organic. Fair trade. My go-to morning cuppa. Not that I’ve tried a million Earl Greys—I stopped when I found this one—but the flavor is superior to yr cheapo supermarket brands. Plus there’s that warm feeling of virtue.

Very nice iced!

Liquorice is the “curious” flavor in those “curiously strong” mint candies. It adds a welcome sweetness to the cup, and, of course, that slightly odd and quirky liquorice flavor. This is a refreshing herbal cup. If you really hate liquorice flavor, it may not be your cup. I like this without any milk or sweetener. It may work quite well as an iced tea, and I may try that later.

Yum. The best way to start the morning.

This is my standard choice when I want black tea. Lovely with milk and sugar.

If you want a tea that will kick your butt into motion in the morning, here’s your tea. Very dark, intense flavor, and I suspect a fairly high caffeine content. I tried their bagged version of this. The leaf is very fine – not quite dust, but pretty close. I think because it is so fine, it is very easy to oversteep and get a really nasty cooked flavor. There is a lot of tea in the bags, so I used one bag for a one pint pot. I found that a shorter steep, about 3 to 3 1/2 minutes tops, yielded a strong, malty but still very palatable tea that definitely had enough body to stand up well to milk and sugar. I suspect if you left the teabag in the pot you could polish chrome with this tea.

I have yet to meet a mint tea I did not like, and this one is no exception. Very simple and straightforward blend of green tea and spearmint. I bought the tea bagged from Pura Vida, but I notice that they sell it in loose leaf through the Choice Organic website. I may try ordering that next time.

First attempt: tastes like spinach and Brussels sprouts.