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I need tea before I am operational this morning. Until I have more caffeine running through my blood stream, I cannot guarantee to make sense.

Sample from Arbor Teas that The Final Sipdown has encouraged me to bust open finally. This tea is now officially part of the epic EG hunt for the husband. Okay, maybe it isn’t epic but it sure feels that way since I have so many EG samples in my pantry. SO. MANY.

The smell of the dry leaves is very nice – potently EG in a way that manages to be strong but not OMG-at-the-bergamot-it-burns strong (I’m looking at you, Upton’s Extra Bergamot). There’s even a nice menthol-type whoosh at the end of the sniff which strikes me as fun (and much better than the more perfume-y after-smells that can pop up in EG).

Without additives. This is really nicely done. The tea feels heavy and smooth and clear but there’s no bitterness that sometimes pops up with additive-less flavored teas. The bergamot isn’t as strong in smell or in taste as it is in the dry leaves but it seems to mesh with the tea flavor and smell instead of sitting on top of it. There’s no chemical aftertaste, no tacky-mouth feeling from the flavoring. The bergamot flavor is nicely balanced – there’s a hint of sweetness to the flavoring but not so much that I would say this is sweet (though sometimes the aftertaste is a bit fruity-sweet which is pleasant). The overall taste is noticeably (but not overpowering) bergamot throughout the sip – from initial smell to aftertaste – and a tea tastes that, while not overly nuanced, gives a full, unmuddied flavor and a smooth but somewhat thick mouthfeel.

Honestly? Best EG I’ve had in the EG Hunt. There’s one Upton EG that might compete with it (their premium or supreme or something) but I had that one with additives and this one without so that makes me think the Arbor Tea’s one will win if there is a head-to-head. I do have super-fond memories of A&D’s EG – I recall it being a juicy type of EG and I really enjoyed that. But the husband didn’t and ultimately this hunt is to find his perfect EG that I also really enjoy. This tea officially makes me list of contenders two.

This tea was so unexciting the first time I had it, it’s been sitting in my pantry for the past 5 months, ignored and unloved. But with The Final Sipdown: Day 3 approaching rapidly, I decided to do some prep work and used up about half of the remaining sample. For one really big cup. Okay, the initial idea was to decupboard more than one tea today, but I do not need to drink 40-some oz of green tea at a go, so it’s being split in half. Plan on seeing this one go bye-bye tomorrow.

It’s not as bad as I remember it but it’s still not super-tasty. I decreased the steep time by a minute and that helped it a lot – there is a fair amount of astringency but it doesn’t dip into bitterness like it did at 3minutes. I’m sure being abandoned in my pantry for months and months has not helped it any as far as freshness but it was still acceptably tasty. I tend to prefer deeper steamed senchas and this one doesn’t have that same sweetness or quite the same thickness I’d get with one of those, but as lighter steaming goes, it’s nifty.

It’s The Final Sipdown: Day 2 and this is the sample to which I must say goodbye.

I have a problem using the last bits of good tea samples. Because if it is a good tea, I want to make sure I always have it on hand. If I only have a cup or two left, I don’t drink it up, I save it. After all, if I drink it, it will then be gone and I will be sad.

But I simply cannot fail in my decupboarding adventure on Day 2! No! If I’m going to fail, it will be after a long and arduous attempt, a mere three feet from the peak of Mt. Everest, not before we even leave base camp!

And with that determination in mind, I used my last bit of this to make a travel tumbler full of tea before heading out for Mt. Everest Costco. I was daring and used no additives. (Because that’s intrepid explorer-types roll, you know. Without sugar.) It is a rare tea that can stand up to travel tumbler abuse additive-less but this one performed swimmingly. Oh, there was a moment I held my breath when I could only slurp tiny amounts (it was very hot, you see, and we hadn’t brought a medic so I had to be cautious) and the taste was coming across somewhat bitter. I began to fear that the tumbler had defeated this tea. But the tea pulled through and, once it cooled and I could sip without fear, the taste reverted to normal yumminess. In fact, I believe it responded well to the travel tumbler challenge as it was bolder and stouter than before.

So two thumbs up for this intrepid tea sample as it successfully conquered my travel tumbler, even though it ultimately perished in the attempt. To those I must decupboard, I salute you!

Wow – sweet sweet sweet with a hint of spice. It tastes like I just made chai using the stovetop method – which means, rich, creamy and sweet. And I mean really rich. The sweet creamy is the strongest flavor so it’s more sweet than spicy so those that go for strong chais might be disappointed but as for me, someone who enjoys sweet and milky chais, this is pretty cool!
(Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aug3zimm/sets/72157625259950135/ )

Very rich and chocolaty. It’s citrus and chocolate but it’s not like a chocolate orange – it’s got a fuller flavor that makes it scream fancy, sophisticated chocolate. It doesn’t scream Earl Grey to me but has a nice citrusy flair that I really really like.
(Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aug3zimm/sets/72157625259950135/ )

I wouldn’t have pegged this as jasmine but there is certainly something soft and sweet and floral about it, especially in the aftertaste. Rich and creamy. Not overly tea-like but a very pretty chocolate and I like it.
(Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aug3zimm/sets/72157625259950135/ )

Mmm, very pineapple-y but more dessert or mixed drink pineapple-y than fresh pineapple-y because it doesn’t have the tart bite, maybe from the passionfruit? I don’t really pick out something straight passionfruit-y, more of the pineapple, but it’s very sweet and fruity. It is all creamy and smooth and sooooo tasty. Not overly tea-like but as a chocolate, it is fantastic.
(Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aug3zimm/sets/72157625259950135/ )

Wow. I mean, wow. Rich – insanely rich and tarry and smoky. The smoke is strong enough that it is definitely the stronger taste compared to the dark chocolate, but the two flavors pair together to give really heavy richness. Wow. Probably more tarry of a lapsang than I normally go for and it reminds me a bit of a bacon-flavored chocolate bar I had, but the richness is pretty fantastic. Totally and noticeably ‘tea’.
(Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aug3zimm/sets/72157625259950135/ )

Very different – thick and grassy and heavy, like a super-rich green tea ice cream. Not very sweet (well, it is but compared to the whole truffle idea – ‘not sweet’ in the same way that green tea ice cream is more heavy/dark/grassy than sweet) but very realistic and obviously green tea. Very tasty. I would love to have a container of these for chocolate treats. This one is the most noticeable ‘tea-infused’ of the truffles.
(Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aug3zimm/sets/72157625259950135/ )

It’s The Final Sipdown: Day 1 and this is the one I’m decupboarding. The smell is truly overpowering and makes me fear the first sip, but the taste is much better. It’s sweet and fruity and sweet. And possibly even tea-like, which is always nice for a flavored tea. I can’t say it is something I’m going to seek out in the future because it’s a bit too flavored and fruity for what I normally go for (and I have a mental block with flavored non-blacks), but I think those that enjoy fruity flavored teas would enjoy giving this one a home.