80

Growing up back in the 70s and 80s, there were two types of tea. Lipton tea bags and some disgusting instant iced tea mix that I believe we tried once and never bought again.
- Edit – It was Nestea, and at the time, it really was quite horrible. At least to my tastes as a kid.

My parents, especially my Dad, were coffee drinkers, so we almost never had hot tea. That was usually saved for the rare times we would get take out from the one and only Chinese restaurant in town at that time.

Instead we always had it cold. My Dad would take an old large glass bottle that had once contained orange juice (back in the days before everything was made out of plastic), stick in some tea bags, and fill about 1/3rd full of boiling water. And there it would sit on the kitchen counter for what seems like an obscenely long amount of time. And then he would fill the glass bottle up the rest of the way with tap water. And there it would sit, tea bags and all, until we finished it I don’t know why we never put it in the fridge. It was just what was done and I never thought to question it.

To this day, no matter how my tastes have evolved, no matter how many excellent teas from all over the world I have tried, I still want to go back to that Lipton tea bag flavor when it comes to iced.

And, with summer fast approaching, I know I’m going to want a lot of iced tea. And while I have tried so many excellent teas over the years, I can’t help but want iced tea that tastes how it tasted when I was a kid. Instead of me going out and buying a bunch of tea bags, I decided to see if I couldn’t try something that was the same, but yet of a higher quality than tea bags.

And thus this.
Whew! Took me a while to get to the point, didn’t it?

Anyway, my order came in and while I have slated this in my mind for iced, I felt like I should at give it a go hot at least once.

And what does it taste like? Very reminiscent of those tea bags from so long ago. There’s a bit of astringency, but its not harsh and its completely expected. Its not the kind of flavor profile I normally look for in a hot tea anymore, but if I were stranded on a cold mountain top somewhere and I was craving tea, this would be acceptable.

If I were to rate this now, it would likely sit at a solid 50. But my intentions for this aren’t for hot, but cold. And I’ll reserve my rating until after I’ve tried it that way.

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Due to Steepster instability, I have moved to my own system for logging/rating/tracking and I have chosen to move to a 10pt rating system. (As of 7/2023)

All new teas will be rated using this new system. Existing teas will not be modified unless I try them again.

Rating Details:
100 – Amazing
90 – Excellent
80 – Enjoyable
70 – If I’m in the right mood
60 – Nothing Special
50 – Interesting elements, but doesn’t work as a whole
40 – Disappointing
30 – Not for me
20 – Harsh/Bad
10 – Absolutely horrible

All reviews are purely subjective based upon my personal preferences alone.

Location

Seattle Area

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