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This was a free sample sachet that came with a recent order. Way back in the day Art of Tea used to sell sampler size pouches, but now they don’t… and their smallest offering is 4 oz. bags. Which I hate. I got hooked on some specific teas years ago from the samplers I had bought, and have wanted to restock for ages, but because of their freaking huge bag sizes, simply haven’t. During Black Friday when their stock was 25% off, I talked my friend Todd (he doing a homemade advent from me over here, btw: https://www.steepster.com/ashi ) into splitting the bags 50g/50g with me. Box arrived, and this was the only sampler — a single sachet — in the box. I haven’t had this tea before and am keeping it as my “repacking/reboxing” fee. :-P

Steeped the single sachet in 350ml (12 oz) of 205F water for 3 minutes. Getting a stronger bergamot aroma off this cup than I did from the Cream of Earl Grey sampler from DAVIDsTEA I tried recently; it’s waxing a bit toward the lime area of citrus to my nose. I can also smell notes of the vanilla/cream. On sip, the bergamot is much stronger as well! It’s a rather rich, full EG flavor, with a strong citrusy bergamot flavor (still reading lime notes from it, pleasant!), with a vanilla/cream flavor filling in late in the sip. I seem to be getting the hit of bergamot first, and the cream second. The tea itself it bold and smooth, though I can’t really pick out any defining flavor notes from it against the flavorings.

A satisfying morning cuppa.

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Cream, Lime, Malt, Smooth, Vanilla

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML
AJRimmer

As my dad would always say, “You have to pay the troll toll!” Usually pertaining to him taking a bite of a food he bought/handed to us.

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AJRimmer

As my dad would always say, “You have to pay the troll toll!” Usually pertaining to him taking a bite of a food he bought/handed to us.

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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