Constant Comment

Most proper tea cupboards have them.  Those little random tea bags that you've picked up along your lifes journey or that have been gifted to you, patiently waiting hidden between your boxes of tea for you to remember they exist so you can give them a try.  This one was from my last place of employment before the company closed down and I embraced my life as a housewife.  I have sampled many new teas that they supplied and the ones I didn't get a chance to try, I stashed.  It's almost been a year since I became a full time housewife, and my last employers switched hands about a year prior bringing these new teas with them so it's been nearly two years that I've had this one hidden in my tea cupboard.  I finally decided to budge and give it a try.  

It's a blend of orange rind and sweet spices so I thought perhaps it would taste a bit like Earl Grey.  I was very wrong.  The smell and taste are like a warm blend of orange and chai.  This is such a great tea to drink when it's cold out and you want to warm up while pumpkin candles are burning and the smell of pine from the tree is wafting through the house.  Makes me a little upset that I didn't wait until it got colder out.  I do live in Florida, so who knows when and if that will actually ever happen.  I would compare it to Twinings Pumpkin Spice Chai, which is one of my winter wonderland favorites.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one, since it is a Bigelow tea.  I've had very few experiences with Bigelow, but I do know of their reputation.  Some have even gone to such lengths as to say "Bigelow is for people who know nothing about tea", which is a pretty harsh statement.  I would say that Lipton is for people that know nothing about tea, but that's a given.  That being said, while I did enjoy this, and it does taste like my Twinings Pumpkin Spice Chai, I wouldn't be purchasing this since I have my Twinings.  Now if Twinings stops making Pumpkin Spice Chai, then I know where to go for my substitute. 

There's always one... (a Teavana rant blog.)

A trip to the Boca Raton Town Center Mall in West Palm Beach has a lot of treats for the upper class shoppers.  It seems that every indulgence needs a brand name that says you've made it when you treat yourself.  For a while, this mall only offered two main options for these people: Godiva for the chocolate lovers, and Starbucks for the coffee drinkers.  But what of tea drinkers?

Tea is a tradition.  It's a piece of history.  Something connecting us to a Feudal Japan and Queen Elizabeth I and many others before those points in history.  Tea leaves have been grown over a span of generations all over the world, bringing us a variety of tea leaves and completely different tea experiences.  Starbucks sold a tea, and still do, while they wait for a transition to occur.  A transition to serve their newest company buyout: Teavana.  The company that Starbucks currently sells is Tazo, a company that was founded in 1994 and sold to Starbucks in 1999.  They make an acceptable Earl Grey... and that's about it.  But this newer tea company (founded in just 1997) has been creating quite a buzz lately in a country that prided itself in throwing tea overboard as a middle-finger protest to the Brits back in our revolting days against the motherland.  I've just noticed a few issues with this company and its patrons.

At the entry way of the store are two sampling opportunities.  Sometimes one hot and one iced, sometimes both hot.  And for me - always disappointing.  I'm a purist of sorts when it comes to tea.  I don't like a whole lot of flimflam.  Just give me a proper cuppa and I'm a happy bunny.  I like my black tea black, my green tea green, and so on, with slight variants allowed to spice things up every now and then.  Teavana, though, insists on adding fruits to some of my favorite brews.  I'm not a huge fruit tea fan.  Something about it just seems amiss.  Which leads me to my first observation.  A large majority of the patrons I've talked to didn't like tea prior to Teavana and seem to not like any proper cuppas that can't be found outside of this little tea boutique.  Their target market are people who are not only new to tea, but alien to loose tea and it's preparation.  These people enter this store that seems like an initiation into the steadily growing sea of tea drinkers and come out $100+ poorer with their new tea prepping gear and teas.

And yes, tea drinking is steadily growing.  In an America where people are realizing the things that they are putting into their mouths - especially where drinks like soda are concerned - and the highly caffeinated coffees keeping them from resembling zombies throughout the day, Americans have been steadily turning on to drinking tea.  With a wide variety of caffeine free teas and the health benefits flooding day time shows where Doctors tell you what to do/eat/drink every morning it's no wonder why Starbucks saw this opportunity and took it.  Even they know that their expensive coffees are going to be met with a challenge as coffee declines and tea inclines.  I'm not saying the tea sales are going to ever even come close to matching coffee sales in America, just that people will be demanding the healthier option of tea and passing up on that cup-a-joe.  So they picked the priciest tea that has been their competition.

Teavana, as you'd expect, isn't without their faults outside of fruiting up most of their teas.  They've been judged for doubling the amount of tea they recommend you brewing for their in-store samples.  They don't tell you this in the store though which is why some angry customers have gone home to steep their new tea only for it to taste much weaker than what they just had in the store.  The employees argue that this doubling for samples is to ensure that the customer really gets a taste of the tea.  Some customers have also complained how when they purchase a tea and request one amount, the clerk over-pours past the weight they've ordered.  This is a matter of up-selling.  Much like when you order cold cuts and it goes over a little bit - only this tea is much pricier than most meats and cheeses found in even the Boar's Head part of the deli counter.  Among their pricey teas are equally pricey merchandise; like tumblers, tea sets, and kettles.  There was a recall on a particular tumbler whose glass will shatter and send scalding tea all over you.  Fun!

So things may seem fine-and-dandy for the future of Teavana, but they still have their challenges.  When broken down, the stats for tea in America are as follows:

Iced tea makes up 85% of tea consumed in America.
Of the tea brewed in America, 65% is bagged, 25% are pre-brewed (like canned iced teas), and only 10% are loose leaf.

The reason is that while Americans want to enjoy tea and all the benefits of it, we are still living in a fast paced country and they find loose leaf teas to be too time consuming when you can just throw a tea bag in a mug with some boiling water and be on your way without having to measure things out.  This Starbucks venture will presumably do all the measuring for you when you order so this will increase the client-base for Teavana by exposing their product to the Starbucks customers who will give it a go.  If I can order a basic Earl Grey by them at Starbucks, I may change my views.  But for now, I'll just stick with my Prince Vlad by Kusmi, Earl Grey Supreme by Harney & Sons, and my trusty old Twinings.  Because when it comes to a good brew, you don't always have to drain your bank account.  Cheers!

Lapsang Souchong

If you have ever wanted to know what a punch in the face feels like, then this is the tea for you!  The key word in the flavor description is "smokey" and that is the very reason why I was compelled to venture into this tea.  Usually, I can smell a tea through the box and I know what to expect.  Somehow, this tea was undetected by my nose... until I opened it.  That, my dear readers, is when the Kraken was unleashed.  It smelled of burning wood.  It smelled STRONGLY of burning wood.  That's where the punch in the face comes in - minus all the pesky blood and secret Fight Club lifestyle.  The usual beautiful aromas that you associate with a nice cuppa like the comforting and mouth-watering aroma of the bergamot in Earl Grey are replaced by Smokey the Bear's nightmares.  It gains this when the tea leaves are smoked in a bamboo basket above burning wood.  I really didn't know what to expect at this point and was certain that I was about to meet the elusive "tea I don't like" that I never thought actually existed.  I brewed it, and dove in.  Hand to Goddess, this tea wasn't nearly as strong and smokey as it smelled, which was a huge relief.  It does have a very distinct smokiness but it isn't nearly as strong as the smell is.  I also find that the taste and the smell are actually very different.  It smells like burning wood but tastes just slightly smokey and woodsy.  You can only find this one at specialty stores and online.  This was another one of my local British shoppe finds.  When I purchased it, the shoppe owner asked if I heard about it on Oprah because apparently she mentioned it and then he sold out in a week.  Being a former Barnes & Noble employee and seeing how books she mentioned flew off the shelves, I understood exactly what he was talking about.

A little warning about this tea:  It makes things in it's surrounding smell like it does.  I put one in my handbag and everything smelled like it.  I put it in my tea cupboard, and the teas near it started tasting like it.  I have since placed the little tea bags in a ziploc and put them back in the box they came in.  You can still smell it when you handle the box, but it doesn't spread like the plague anymore.

I definitely recommend this to anyone who has never had a smokey tea before.  I can actually say that I do enjoy this tea... as scary as it may smell.  Cheers!

Bentley's Oriental Treasure Green

Last Winter, I received a large variety of teas from the Holly King (aka my parents).  Among the bulk, was a sizable collection of Bentley's teas.  I know I'm always tooting Twinings horn, but this tea is a step above...usually.  They make my second favorite Earl Grey - my first being Harney & Sons Earl Grey Supreme which I could really go for about now.  Green teas are slightly harder to rank.  Every company  puts one out now but that doesn't necessarily mean that they should.  Most of the Britain based tea companies make very bland green teas, which is probably why they are so quick to flavor them with fruit.  My guess is that when everybody got on the "Green tea is healthier than having a beating heart" train they felt the need to jump on but didn't have the proper tea gardens and plantations to produce the same quality as their black teas that brought their names to the esteemed level they are at now.  This isn't a terrible green tea, but you'd think with a name like 'Oriental Treasure', they would attempt to up the ante a bit.  After trying a nice warm cup of this, I came to the conclusion that the name is meant to really sell you.  The other companies will call their green tea just that... green tea.  But not Bentley's.  They want to put into your mind that you are about to embark on the same cat-faced treasure cave as Aladdin.  They didn't really think this through though.  They forgot that you are actually going to be running it by your taste buds.  And those taste buds are going to be met by a treasure chest of disappointment.  The taste bud equivalent to a kid getting socks as a present instead of Hot Wheels.

Earl Grey Decaf

This Twinings tea is my absolute go to in my tea cupboard.  I drink a lot of tea so I try to have a variety of decaffeinated teas just so I don't have a crazy amount of caffeine everyday.  I especially try to stay away from caffeinated teas when it starts getting too late in the afternoon since I already have issues with going to sleep.  And I'd rather not be bouncing around the house like a crack head at 4 in the morning because I over did it in the caffeine department the day before.  I probably have this tea every single day if not more than once.  My husband and I have tea time together at least once a day, usually before dinner or shortly after dinner, to just relax us after everything that the day brings.  And this is the tea that usually fills my mug.  

While it does lack caffeine, it does not lack the flavor of my favorite tea type.  You really can't tell the difference between this and the caffeinated one by Twinings.  It just tastes like the ever so lovely Earl Grey that I admire so much.  If you haven't tried a decaffeinated tea yet, I'd recommend looking for a version of one of your favorite teas, just so that you can see that there really isn't much difference.  Most Publix grocery stores offer a good selection of decaffeinated teas sitting on the shelf next to their caffeinated counterparts - at least where Twinings is concerned.  If you're on a mission to build up a proper tea collection, try to have a good amount of decaffeinated/caffeine free teas in your collection to give yourself more nighttime options.  If you drink as much tea as me, it's also very wise to have a these options available for your tea times.  Now go brew up a cuppa, grab a good book, and enjoy!  Cheers!

Irish Afternoon

A lover of Irish Breakfast and English Afternoon, it was a no brainer that I would purchase this when I found it - very surprisingly - at a Walmart.  It was such a rare finding for a place like that since their tea selection is usually just all about the purge of society: Lipton.  It was pricier than Lipton, but it's also an imported tea, and those are usually pricier at any grocery/specialty stores.  You do get 80 tea bags int his box, so it evens things out a bit.

I'm a firm believer that the more North you go in the UK, the stronger the black teas get.  And this is no different.  English Breakfast is the weakest of all the UK teas in my opinion.  Irish Breakfast is stronger, and Scottish Breakfast is even stronger than that.  Afternoon teas are typically weaker than their Breakfast counterparts.  English Afternoon is weaker than English Breakfast, and Irish Afternoon is weaker than Irish Breakfast.  That being said, Irish Afternoon is much stronger than English Breakfast.  I'm not sure if the Irish teas are so much stronger because you're expected to add whiskey to them or if it just balances well with potatoes.*

It is an excellent cuppa, and if you find it too strong, just steep it less the next time around.  I have one tea that is so strong, that I just hold the bag near the rim of the mug with my tea tongs, poor the hot water directly on the bag, and then throw the tea bag away and it's STILL strong as hell.  As long as it suits your taste then that's all the matters.  Cheers!

*I'm allowed to make these jokes, I'm Irish/English decent and as pale as snow just as my Anglo-Saxon ancestors.

Ceylon Black

One of my favorite loose teas in my tea cupboard is my lovely bulk of Ahmad Tea of London's Ceylon black tea.  I found this a couple of years ago at a local Jordan market that makes delicious falafel's and hummus. It was a decent sized box for just $7, so I couldn't pass it up.  This thing must have been shrink wrapped in some sort of government testing facility, because when I broke the seal it expanded about 10 fold.  I had to keep it in two tupperwares and it was only just recently that I got it down to one manageable tupperware.  Where Ceylon was concerned, I was suddenly a well prepared squirrel with a surplus of acorns when the first snow appeared.  I was bringing it to work and offering it to people, just trying to make a dent in it.  Too bad only a handful of people actually enjoyed this specific tea and those that did were always trying to take it easy on the caffeine.  I was really concerned, still am, that I'm not going to finish it by the time the expiration date rolls around in 2015.

As with all loose teas, the strength really depends on how much you use.  I use a pretty generous amount and it ends up looking like a cup of coffee once steeped fully.  That little monkey relaxing in my tea is filled completely with this delectable tea (I think that's why he seems so happy). It is a very rich tea and is perfect for mornings since the caffeine content packs quite a punch.  It has a very woodsy taste for a black tea.  And just to make it confusing, there is also a green and white Ceylon.  So far I've only ever had the black one.  You can find a Twinings version of this tea in most supermarkets that I've yet to try because I have enough of this one to last me years in an apocolypse bunker.  Health foods contain other more pricey brands of this beauty, too.

If you like strong teas and black teas, then this is definitely worth a try.  Cheers!