The Extra Ingredient

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drank Blackberry by The Extra Ingredient
3225 tasting notes

My friend who gave me the sample of this tea a while back was going to Greensboro and asked if I would for her to pick up some tea for me. I asked for eight ounces of this, and it was only eight dollars. Wow.

It is really good, very flavorful. My daughter and her friend love it and we are managing to sock it away pretty fast. The blackberry aroma fills the house when we make it. It kept reminding me of something, and I finally got it. Parma violets. Daughter’s friend agreed there were similarities. Don’t be horrified, it doesn’t taste just like them, but there is something about it that is reminiscent of violet candies. And now I want violet candies because I am out and they sell them around here and I am really susceptible to suggestion apparently.

I am almost too groggy to type. For those who saw the earlier posts, here is an update.

Mother-in-law had spinal surgery yesterday to relieve pain of compression fracture. She is now too weak to be accepted back to her assisted Irving place, so we face finding a rehab facility and then hoping to get her back to where she was. If not, nursing home. She couldn’t not sit unassisted today. We have to take turns staying at the hospital with her because she barely eats enough to keep a gnat alive and can’t feed herself, and the nurses are too busy to feed her.

Nephew spiked a fever of 105F just when they were going to move him from ICU. The bruised area of his heart had caused an abscess to form on his lung. They did surgery and installed a drain, and the MRI revealed that he also needs spinal surgery. Fortunately it is a routine and straightforward fusing of two vertebrae together. Naturally the drunk driver who hit them is fine. He walked for the first time in eleven days today’ with a walker. He will step down to a new ward in the hospital and then go to rehab before going back home.

Thankful right now for good health, and considering doing a bunch of jumping jacks every day to increase my bone density…

Kittenna

Perhaps I’ll come across your original post in a bit, but wow. That sounds like an awful situation for your relatives; I hope they both start to improve soon, and can make as close to full recoveries as possible :(

boychik

You are in my thoughts

yyz

Thinking of you.

Sil

hugs my thoughts are with you

mrs.stenhouse12

Thinking of you and your relatives! <3

gmathis

Continuing to pray for your patients and your patience and strength as you care for them!

Teatotaler

Praying for you and yours.

Christina / BooksandTea

That’s awful that so much bad stuff is piling on, but I’m glad to hear your nephew was using a walker.

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drank Blackberry by The Extra Ingredient
3225 tasting notes

I am not adding this to my cupboard because I have only about one ounce of it. This was a gift from one of my music students today. We have tea together almost every week, as I did with her brother before her.

Their family goes to The Extra Ingredient whenever they visit Greensboro. The story they were given was that the loose teas being sold by the ounce are blended by a British gentleman who used to blend teas in England and asked them to carry his blends here so that he could continue to buy the needed supplies to blend and drink his favorite teas.

I may have under leafed this a bit, but it is very tasty. The dry aroma is really lovely. There are black tea leaves, not too small, and bits of green leaf which I assume to be blackberry leaves, but I suppose it could even be stevia leaf or something. If it is, I will soon have a stomach ache, so I am hoping it is blackberry leaves.

It smells like candy and I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out what is so familiar about it. I think something about it is reminding me of Guava candies or Parma Violets, but without the soapy taste. I like Parma Violets, by the way, in spite of the soap!

The tea isn’t particularly astringent, the berry flavor lingers. I am astonished at the price I was told for this tea and wonder if they were mistaken. I was told it cost 3.99 for four ounces and this was repeated several times, so I don’t think they meant to say that was the price per ounce. My little bag says it is two ounces but I think it was divided, so maybe that is actually the price for two ounces. If it is, this is an amazing deal if you like flavored tea.

I find it very sweet drinking it without additions, but I plan to cool some tomorrow and add simple syrup and try it as an iced tea. If it is good that way, I may have to stop in the store myself soon.

Cheri

There’s a new tea shop that opened in Greensboro – Vida Pour. I’ve had some of her teas before she opened her shop. Quite nice.

ashmanra

Thank you! I will probably be up that way by year’s end so hopefully I can check them out!

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From the HHTTB

Not a bad little tea. Not overly mango flavored, but it is there.

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70

First cup of the day. I’m going to try to have a true Sipdown Saturday today and get through almost all of the rest of the teas in my cupboard. That’s my goal, anyway. This tea is my kind of chai – it’s lightly spicy, but more of a sweet spiciness rather than a peppery spiciness. I also like that you can taste the maltiness of the black tea along with the spices. It is wonderful with a little sugar and milk.

-Dry blend has a mixture of small black pieces of tea leaves with small pieces of spices.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of spicy cinnamon. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet spices.
-Tea liquor is a thick dark brown color.
-Robust malty flavor and finish. Spicy aftertaste with hints of cinnamon.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A nice chai with a robust and sweet flavor.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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70
drank Mango by The Extra Ingredient
358 tasting notes

It feels good to be back in my own kitchen, making a cup of tea this morning. We were out of town the past week visiting family, and while it was nice, it is wonderful to be back home in the peace and quiet. I owe an apology to Terri HarpLady for not contacting her about having tea while we were in St. Louis! My father-in-law has cancer and isn’t doing well, and my fiancee’s brother, sister-in-law and two children are living at his parent’s house while their new house is built, so we really didn’t have a minute to ourselves this trip. Hopefully next time! We didn’t even get a chance to go by The London Tea Room to purchase more tea, which was very sad.

I have this Mango tea more often as iced tea rather than hot. It’s definitely good in the summer, served over ice and lightly sweetened. Although a cup of this tea hot this morning is doing very nicely as well! The mango flavor isn’t overwhelming or artificial, it’s just very light and fruity. There is a fresh mango aftertaste that is just right. With a little bit of milk and sweetener it becomes a more creamy cup. Today is going to be a hot summer day, and this was the perfect cup to start the day with!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with yellow petals, small orange petals and pieces of dried fruit.
-Dry leaves smell sweet and fruity. Tea liquor aroma is of tropical mango.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium reddish orange color.
-Light fruity flavor and finish. Small mango aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A creamy cup with a light sweet mango flavor.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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60

I very much need a strong tea to wake me up this morning! We went on an impromptu trip to the mountains for the past two days, and all of that hiking and sightseeing left me a little sleepy this morning. We did have a wonderful time, though, and I very much needed a little getaway trip. I grew up in the mountains, and a trip ‘home’ always leaves me feeling refreshed.

This tea is all around very light – the aroma is very light and so are the flavors. The orange that I get is like a sweet orange – not a tart, citrusy orange or a real juicy orange flavor, just a faint, sweet, almost candy-like orange. The flavor is a little malty with a cinnamon finish. The cinnamon isn’t ovewhelming at all – it’s very mellow and warming. This one is best with sweetener, which seems to bring out more of the cinnamon flavor. Milk makes it a little creamy, which is nice but not necessary. I would’ve thought that I would prefer this tea in the winter, but it actually makes a nice summer tea also!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pieces of cinnamon bark and pieces of orange peel.
-Dry leaves smell very faintly of sweet orange and cinnamon. Tea liquor aroma is lightly of oranges.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Slightly malty flavor with a wispy cinnamon finish. Light sweet orange aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Good tea. Light sweet orange and warming cinnamon flavor.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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70

This tea is from a little store here that sells a handful of loose leaf teas and has a large selection of bagged teas. They also have a lot of fun cooking/kitchen items, and I love going in there! We used their teas a lot last summer for iced teas, and probably will this summer too. The dry leaves smell lightly of blackberries, while the tea has a more sweet blackberry aroma. The flavor is sweet and malty, with just a very light berry aftertaste. This tea smells more like blackberries than it tastes like them. It’s a decent cup hot, but it does make a nice iced tea.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with pieces of green leaves.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of blackberries. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet blackberries.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Sweet malty flavor and finish. Very light berry aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A sweet and malty tea with a hint of berry flavor.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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