52teas

I have been snowed in for four days now and it looks like we’re about to get another round of the Blizzard of Oz 2013. I am way behind on packages. I apologize for that.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying an icy stein of this coming week’s tea of the week, which I can’t tell you about until tomorrow, except to say that it’s delicious and fun and I have some and you don’t. :P

Did I mention cabin fever might be taking a slight toll on my sanity?

Just made a pitcher of this at home. It’s another blistering day in Wichita. This is unmistakably banana. I’m thinking the black tea base maybe takes some of that Laffy-Taffy/Runts flavor away and makes it a bit less artificial tasting. To me, it’s just the right hint of sweetness in an awesome black tea without actually BEING sweetened. My wife prefers her iced tea with Splenda and insists this is amazing that way (too sweet for me, but to each their own).

I reallly love the ease of these teabags. I’m getting some samples of different pillow pack bags in to consider for the next round. As cute as these little bags are, they were a bear to get the teabags into.

Thinking about the teabags makes me a little sad. I would love to be able to share our teas with LOTS of people on a much larger scale. The truth is, it is VERY difficult to compete with the big teabag companies. The level of automation they employ and the economies of scale they enjoy are just unbelieveable. At one point I calcluated that to keep my labor costs in line, I needed to be able to produce 80 teabags an hour, weighed, filled and sealed—which was challenging. But if I had $40k, I could buy a weigh-fill-seal machine, fill a hopper with tea and hang up a roll of teabag filter paper and it would make 160 teabags a MINUTE for me. That’s twice my hourly goal in a MINUTE!

Oh well. I spend entirely too much time looking at Youtube videos of industrial equipment. LOL. Maybe someday we could get a bunch of purchase orders from some grocers and take them to the bank and say, “Please, can you help us join the industrial revolution?” Or maybe we’ll crowd source a Form Fill Seal machine though our awesome customers and Kickstarter or one of those sites.

Okay. I’m rambling now. Anyway. The tea is hitting the spot on this very hot day. I hope everyone is having a good Friday and staying cool with some nice iced tea.

Our AC is on the fritz and I think this tea is keeping me sane. It is just an amazing iced tea. A perfect rich tea and then you get that cotton candy finish, and it just makes you happy. Does me anyway. The teabags make it easy too. I just put the teabag in my 2quart pitcher, pour in a bit of boiling water from my tea kettle, and three minutes later, top it off with cool water and pluck the tea bag out for round two later. (Second steep is just as awesome as the first.

I’m enjoying a cup of this “iced” in my office today. That is to say steeped in a small amount of hot water, allowed to cool, then topped off with cool water from my water cooler. It’s a complex flavor. Rootbeer kind of hits your nose first, the first taste is all black tea, made a little stouter with the addition of chicory, but then you get the buttery-root beer on the back of your tongue and a hint of sweet licorice on the tip of your tongue. I did have a sip of it while it was still hot, with similar results, but the flavors are more pronounced when it’s chilled. I think as a hot tea it would be really awesome with some cream and sugar. As an iced tea, it’s quite an adventure just the way it is. I’m thinking I will have to make another cup. Oh, and the leaf smells amazing, like something from a dream: root-beery, buttery, licoricey—very exotic scent when they are all combined. I could just leave my nose in the package and smell it all day. I steeped it using hot water from my water cooler. Not sure how hot it is, probably at least 190.

Having a glass of this iced. I think this could be another VERY popular blend. It is really delicious. The orange, pineapple and banana are in perfect harmony. Just pure YUM.

I can’t wait to see what you guys think of this one. I’m having a big glass of this iced right now, and all I can say is WOW. This may very well be another North American Tea Championship tea right here. It is really stunning.

So, I officially have a new favorite iced tea. This stuff is just incredible! It is SO refreshing. If you haven’t ordered yours yet, there are only five left at this writing!

It is unbelievable that this is not sweetened. It really, really tastes like bubblegum and that’s without adding a thing to it. Not sure how this would be hot, but it’s amazing iced.

My wife and daughter came to see me in my office tonight and Millie saw this blend with her picture on it and started squealing, “I want a Millie Tea! I want a Millie Tea!” We brought some home, and she is ecstatic with it. I have to say, I expected the honeybush to compliment the bubble gum flavor, but OH MY! It is just stunningly bubblegummy!

Someone just ordered this in the shop as a 16oz iced tea with a tablespoon of sugar, took one sip and exclaimed, “MY GOD! This tastes JUST like a chocolate shake!” Had to pass that on. =)

I just spent $150 that I REALLY don’t have to enter this tea into the North American Tea Championships. I could only (not) afford to enter one tea. I hope I picked the right one and that my partner doesn’t kill me for doing it. (I would have stewed about it all year if I hadn’t done it.)

Can’t wait to see what you guys think of this one. It has been a HUGE hit here at the shop. Only five left!

Guys I know I recently decided not to rate my own teas, but I am going to make this one exception for this truly amazing blend. Everybody keeps telling me how weird or gross it sounds, but this is truly an amazing blend. Worthy of a 100 rating from me and everyone else!

Whoops. I really didn’t realize it until I added this tea to Steepster that one of our competitors has a tea blend by the same name. I guess great minds think alike. Anyway, it was a little late to change it now, but it’s a different sort of tea anyway.

Looking for a seriously decadent dessert tea? Your search is OVER. This is just simply amazing.

Okay, so I’m trying really hard not to toot my own horn here. I don’t want to ruffle any feathers. But you guys HAVE to try this. I know it’s not as out there as Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast or Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, but this is DELICIOUS! I’m thinking we may have listed the ingredients incorrectly. (We’re supposed to list ingredients according to weight, so that whatever there is most of has to come first. Well, I think instead of “tea, black currants…” it should have been “black currants, tea”). We really put a lot of delicious black currants in this blend and our Bai Mu Dan is spectacular with it. Really, you should try it.

I guess no one on Steepster has had this one yet. My wife made a big pitcher of this as an iced tea to go with our chicken Alfredo dinner tonight. It is sooo refreshing and delicious.

I’ve always been surprised at how much more popular our pomegranate teas are in our brick and mortar shop than they are online. If I had to guess, I would say that there are too many competing pomegranate blends out there, and they have become somewhat ho hum. But I think we are unique in creating our pomegranate tea blends with real freeze-dried pomegranate arils. They have been so popular at the shop that we’ve had to create black, green, white and honeybush pomegranate teas.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.