Yesterday I went with two friends to a craft/vendor show. It was an eclectic mix of traditional craft show (think handmade candles, unique earrings, crocheted dishcloths, quilted table runners, etc) and gourmet food suppliers. There were people selling artisan soup mixes, frozen bread and cookie dough, coffee beans, small batch hand made truffles, a build-your-own hot chocolate vendor, and a single tea merchant.
This merchant had a small selection of loose leaf teas, almost all named for cities in Norway. Since 90% of the people living in Fargo are of Scandinavian ancestry, this was a good gimmick. They had free samples of Cozy Cabin (one of the two teas not named for a Norwegian city). It was nice. Nothing special really, but I was so happy and pleased to find a local tea vendor that I bought a couple. I got 1 ounce of the Cozy Cabin, 1 ounce of this one, and two ounces of Royal Pleasure Garden in a gift tin for a friend for Christmas.
This one, Oslo, was again not spectacular, but it is a pleasant tea with a mild flavor, with only a bit of astringency at the end of the sip. I was able to chat with the women who own the tea shop. It is a mother and daughter team and when I asked what kind of tea leaves they used their reply was “black.” I asked again what kind. Ceylon? Assam? They both seemed amazed that I knew particular teas came from different regions. tea. They said most people they sold to had no idea so they labeled their teas as “black” or “green”. They didn’t want to put people off b y sounding too snooty. It’s a sad statement on the general knowledge of Fargoans on tea. :(
As I said, this isn’t really anything special, but I will probably buy from them again, just to support local tea suppliers.
Yeah, around here, tea-literates are oddities rather than the norm.