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tea reviews
Mar. 7th, 2013 03:16 pmFor the longest time I've been bulk ordering Taylors of Harrogate English Breakfast tea as my go to morning cuppa. I've switched online sources a couple of times. The first time my retailer decided not to carry it any more. The second time, the vendor messed up my order twice and failed to fully refund the first mistake. So this is my baseline tea. It often looks like tea dust and you have to steep it in order for the tea to plump up and not give a dusty cuppa. 5 stars for flavor. 3 stars for passing off crappy tea to the dumb Americans.
It turns out, it's hard to find a steady supply of loose leaf tea in baton rouge. Even my local whole foods only carries tea bags in the tea aisle. In the bulk aisle, they feature Republic of Tea British Breakfast and are willing to special order.
Republic of Tea British Breakfast is fairly well balanced. Not strong enough. You really need to use 2x the amount of tea for a good cuppa but otherwise has a nice flavor. 4.5 stars.
Note: my local whole foods sells this to me at their bulk rate of $32/lb. I suppose they should offer me a large bulk discount. What's interesting is that if you buy this from the republic of tea website, it's $39/lb.
Teavana British Breakfast. Strong, strong, strong malty flavor. I really tried to like this tea but just couldn't. There was some other flavor besides the malt and the two together where gross. 1 star.
The Tea Spot (Boulder Co) Bolder Breakfast
A nice tea but still with a noticeable malt flavor. This is when I realize I don't like malt flavored tea. So drinkable but not my thing. 2 stars. BTW, this is the purveyor of one of my all time favorite afternoon teas: meditative mind -- a white tea with jasmine and rosebuds. Awesome.
Tazo Awake--
I know, everyone hates starbucks. I've gotten used to the awake tea and it's my go-to tea for travel because it's easy to find in both grocery stores and airports. Nice, well rounded, strong. 4.5 stars. I would settle on this as my morning cuppa if I could find a regular supply of loose leaf. Alas, I can't bring myself to switch to tea bags when I have a delightful denby tea pot that needs to be used.
next up will be from Highland Coffee, a local cafe.
It turns out, it's hard to find a steady supply of loose leaf tea in baton rouge. Even my local whole foods only carries tea bags in the tea aisle. In the bulk aisle, they feature Republic of Tea British Breakfast and are willing to special order.
Republic of Tea British Breakfast is fairly well balanced. Not strong enough. You really need to use 2x the amount of tea for a good cuppa but otherwise has a nice flavor. 4.5 stars.
Note: my local whole foods sells this to me at their bulk rate of $32/lb. I suppose they should offer me a large bulk discount. What's interesting is that if you buy this from the republic of tea website, it's $39/lb.
Teavana British Breakfast. Strong, strong, strong malty flavor. I really tried to like this tea but just couldn't. There was some other flavor besides the malt and the two together where gross. 1 star.
The Tea Spot (Boulder Co) Bolder Breakfast
A nice tea but still with a noticeable malt flavor. This is when I realize I don't like malt flavored tea. So drinkable but not my thing. 2 stars. BTW, this is the purveyor of one of my all time favorite afternoon teas: meditative mind -- a white tea with jasmine and rosebuds. Awesome.
Tazo Awake--
I know, everyone hates starbucks. I've gotten used to the awake tea and it's my go-to tea for travel because it's easy to find in both grocery stores and airports. Nice, well rounded, strong. 4.5 stars. I would settle on this as my morning cuppa if I could find a regular supply of loose leaf. Alas, I can't bring myself to switch to tea bags when I have a delightful denby tea pot that needs to be used.
next up will be from Highland Coffee, a local cafe.
