New Experiences

We had the delightful chance to try the tea that our friend gifted us. The “Blue People” which is neither blue nor made of people, is a delightful ginseng oolong blend. Earthy with sweet notes and just the right balance between green and black tea. The instructions say to steep for only 20 seconds, but a heads up from our gifter gave us the ok to steep it for 3 minutes for maximum flavor. So good. We’ll try to flash steep it at some point in a big teapot so that we can have the experience of drinking this and the evolving flavor over time.

It’s a busy time for us at the College, so I’m not sure what we’ll get done over the next few weeks. We are looking forward to the two breaks on the horizon - Thanksgiving and the winter breaks. We’ll get really moving then! I’m trying to source some fresh bergamot in order to dry the rind for our Earl Grey blend because we are still not totally happy with the blend. Til next time!

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Friends

Friends are great guinea pigs. We finalized our v1 of the Earl Grey base and, well, we needed it tested by people other than us. Fortunately enough, a friend and alum was in town and he was happy to take a tin and give it a try for us! Plus, he brought us something new and different, a ginseng oolong blend (their packaging is a little fancier than ours). It looks and smells awesome, with a slight hint of seaweed of all things. We can’t wait to give it a try! Thanks Eli!

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Smells Like Citrus

We got a whole bunch of new teas in this week. We found a new source for organic black teas in a number of preparations (including the Yuunan black that is in the photo) and we’ll be tasting them all this weekend. We couldn’t wait to put at least one of them into the testing phase for our Earl Grey blend, which has some additional color now from dried orange peel. We have to wait (impatiently) for the tea to cure properly, but fortunately we have several other teas to try in the meantime. Look for that in next week’s update!

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A Tea That Isn't

Several years ago, Disney moved on from a large corporation (Nestle) for their coffee, and to the surprise of some, ended up contracting with a small company out of Tampa for all of their coffee and tea (well, outside of Starbucks) called Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea. To say that it was a dramatic improvement would be underselling the change. I wouldn’t buy Nescafe in the stores, but I have purchased several bags of coffee directly from Joffrey’s since the change.

That all being said, we haven’t really tried any of their teas before now. And the tea we chose, isn’t really a tea! All regular teas come from a single plant - camellia sinensis, and any “teas” that don’t have the leaves of this plant are more properly termed tisanes. These herbal teas have flavors that are far-ranging, from fruity to flowery to spicy. The African Celebration tea from Joffrey’s uses an herb called rooibos (or redbush) and it is particularly popular in South Africa. It has no caffeine (somewhat to our dismay) and has a woodsy, smoky flavor. In the blend we tasted, it has hints of vanilla and citrus. For me - it tastes somewhat like the way a wicker basket smells. I needed a bit of sweetness and cream in mine - not my favorite herbal. Lindsay seemed to like it quite a bit, though!

We’re on the lookout over the next few weeks for a new wholesaler for our blends. The black tea we have on hand is just a bit too astringent for our tastes, even at low steeping times. Hopefully we’ll be back into making our final adjustments to our Earl Gray recipe and get it out to taste testers soon!

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There and Back Again

It’s been a few weeks, hasn’t it? We haven’t had much to report due to some travel that got extended due to Hurricane Florence, and the prep involved with being gone for so long. But, that doesn’t mean we didn’t get a chance to do some tea work while we were gone!

We were in Orlando for a conference as part of our travel, and that of course meant that we had to go visit the house of mouse - Walt Disney World. Normally, we aren’t interested in gimmicked, super branded teas, but we actually adore some of the tea that is branded with Alice in Wonderland. Our favorite? The Mad Tea Party Blend - a bit fruity, but not so much that it masks the essential tea flavor. You can get it in a kit like in the picture, but we aren’t as big of a fan of the other fruit inclusions. If you’re in a Disney park, see if you can find the packages with just that blend, you won’t be sorry (if you like fruit teas)!

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