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My local grocery store has Stash teas at $1.78 for 20 bags. Perhaps it’s time to revisit Stash and hope that their other teas are better than their chocolate and vanilla ones. Since I know this one is good, I grabbed a box. I’ve been told by a very trustworthy lady that the orange spice is good for sun tea, so I may try that (when there’s light again. Goodness, Washington, why do you have to have so much fog this year?).

I’m finally back to my home tea stash! It’s been a few days, and I’ve noticed I’m back to being my mopey, boring old self (none of this Alaska adventuring for me anymore…) — and also back to a house that looks like a hurricane went through it. My family isn’t into spring cleaning — we do winter cleaning. It’s still autumn down here in the contiguous 48, but I’ve seen enough snow and ice up in Alaska to make it winter already.

This is a great go-to tea for cleaning days. It’s flavorful, and I now taste the chamomile (after having about 5 cups in a row). I have an odd desire to somehow use this tea to make bath products — it smells that good. I only have three more teabags left, though (even the tea stash is getting a winter cleaning), so I have to decide whether I want to make a mess with body products or just enjoy the tea as it’s supposed to be…

A very lovely lady left a few Organic India Tulsi teabags for me in the hostel at the Providence Alaska Medical Center, and so I tried this one yesterday. I’m used to black tea mainly and appreciate green tea, but I have never tried a tulsi tea. The first thing I noticed was how delicate the scent and taste were. It took a bit of time for the tea to steep for me — more than 6 minutes, I’d say. The scent and taste are pretty light unless oversteeped, but the general taste is warm and somewhat savory, and it gets better with milk (I know I’m not the only one who puts milk in green tea). I’m much more used to stronger teas, but this really calmed me down and made me happy — happy enough to do the dishes from about ten other people in the hostel*. I do believe that I’m getting more used to green teas, too, and I was really satisfied with the green tea base in this tea.

*If you use a public kitchen, please clean up after yourself; it’s just general hospitality and the other people using it won’t be angry at you (or throw away the deep frying oil you’re not supposed to use because it’s messy and smelly).

Someone has kindly donated a box of this tea to the Hickel House on the Providence Alaska Medical Center campus in Anchorage, Alaska. …Or maybe someone decided to get rid of it there. Lemon + ginger usually = all-natural home remedy. I haven’t had the best of luck with lemon lately, so I was hesitant to try this. However, I did it, but I cut the steep time, since I’m not that fond of strong ginger notes. The teabag itself is absolutely beautiful when wet and the color is nice, too. I actually liked the taste, and got it all down. Sadly, like with most other lemon things, I developed a bit of heartburn, but I’ve gotten used to that by now. It was good enough that the heartburn didn’t really matter.

I had this tea for the last five days in the morning at the Fairfield Inn in Anchorage. I only tried my first green tea about five years ago, and so I guess I’m still getting used to the general green tea taste (I like my black teas). I enjoyed every cup of this tea, though. I think I may seek it out when I get back to living a normal life.

The Fairfield Inn in Anchorage serves this tea in bags with breakfast. I personally like this tea — it’s a good average green tea, and it’s one of the only Stash teas I can drink. I usually hate Stash teas wtih a vengeance (which makes me sad, since they’re a PNW company), but this really makes me happy. I definitely suggest removing the teabag after a few minutes at most, but it’s worth it for a good green breakfast tea. I take it with milk (and everyone thinks I’m weird, but it makes it nice and smooth).

This tea tasted like cake. Pure, amazing, super fatty cake that you know you shouldn’t have but tastes so good but will cause diabetes instantly. It was wonderful with a teensy bit of sugar and a good bit of milk. It was my favorite tea.

Unfortunately, it’s not made anymore. Many, many tears have been shed because of this loss.

Alaska Airlines serves this tea in their Anchorage to Nome flights. I’m pretty sure the teabag has traveled many, many miles, and is probably really old. However, I was happy with this tea — it was super red (hibiscus coloring?), but I could taste the cranberry and apple. I don’t know, the ingredients list is different on my teabag, so perhaps the blend has changed? It got pretty tart after about 5 minutes of steeping, but it was good without sweetener.