Another Traveling Tea Box?!?!?!

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Dr Jim said

Here’s an update. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the box and hope to put it in the mail next Monday. It’s amazing. I counted 58 teas! I originally planned to sample them all but don’t think I can do that in a reasonable time, so am prioritizing.

For those of you who have been tracking the tea (I hope I’m not the only obsessive-compulsive in the group): Ellyn removed cookies & cream matcha, Teavana passion fruit jasmine, S’mores Genmaicha, Killer’s Vanilla, and Lavendar Camomile.

Ellyn added: Harney Matcha iri Genmaicha; 52 teas: Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake, Blueberry Cream Danish, and Bananas Foster; Adagio: White Cucumber, Masala Chai, Earl Grey; David’s Tea: Pink Lemonade, Tropicalia; New Mexico Tea co: Green Plum & Pear, Simpson & Vail: Carrot Cake Cupcake Tisane; Virtuous Teas: Candy Cane; Whistling Kettle Asai Tangerine, Whittard of Chelsea, Assam Hazelnut; Steenberg’s Organic Pai Mu Tan; Ovation Choc Rasberry Mint; Singing Dog Vanilla Vanilla Blackberry Sage.

There is a good news/bad news thing about Ellyn’s additions. The ones I’ve tried so far are really great, and I’m really enjoying them and also love having such a broad range to choose from. The down side of putting so much variety in the box is that the quantities are limited, so they’ll probably run out after a few more people have sampled them. (I’ve also removed one from the box and may take a few more).

Overall, I think the positives far outweigh whatever downside there is (particularly for the next few people in line). I loved the variety so will probably emulate Ellyn and try to put a variety of smaller samples into the box when I ship it. This is partly a necessity, since I put a lot of tea into the other travelling box this summer and don’t have a lot of volume lying around anymore.

Ellyn select said

Sorry for not including the run-down online. I realized I should have done it AFTER I put it into the mail for you. I am glad you are enjoying all of the teas. I love the idea of using these boxes for variety – to give ideas of all kinds of new tea options!

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Dr Jim said

I’m finally done with my tasting. It’s been wonderful. I couldn’t taste every tea, but managed about 40 out of slightly less than 60. I started having allergy problems so backed off anything that had flowers as an ingredient, which meant tossing quite a few back into the box. I don’t know that it was related to the tea, but better safe than sorry.

There was a lot of great tea in the box. I took the Bananas Foster, the Tropicalia, and the Vanilla Blackberry Sage. I removed 6 grams of the Apple Jade but sent the rest along. I also took the last samples of the Harney Fanciest Formosa Oolong and the Verdant aged Tieguanyin (the last two samples of this last – couldn’t resist).

I’ve added the following: Upton teas TD12 Tindharia 1st Flush 2012, TD33 Thurbo 2nd Flush 2012, ZP79 Panyang Tippy Golden Needles, ZP87 Organic Black Monkey, and Gopaldhara 1st Flush Darjeeling 2012; Teavivre Keemun Hao Ya; EnjoyingTea Mim’s Darjeeling; Lupicia Pineapple Oolong; Harney’s Vanilla Comoro; David’s Tea Movie Night; and Mountain Tea 4 seasons of spring, Medium Roast Osmanthus, and Black Pearl oolongs.

Most of these new samples are modest in size (1/4 to 1/2 ounce). I decided to follow Ellyn’s fine example and go for a wide variety. Note also that I’ve re-balanced the box a bit away from flavored teas. My taste runs to non-flavored teas, so that is what I have available.

I’ll take to box to the Post office Monday and it will be on its way to Short Sorceress. (Recall that I contacted Martine and she asked to be removed from the distribution list.)

I should have been paying closer attention, I didn’t realize my turn was coming up. I can’t wait for the box to arrive, hopefully I’ll be over my cold by the time it gets here. Right now I can’t taste a thing :(

Dr Jim said

I’m glad I mentioned you by name. With two boxes in play it’s harder to keep track and they come around a lot sooner.

I’m glad you did too, I think I’m a bit confused about the order for this box.

Dr Jim said

Maybe I’m the one that’s confused. We did a number of rearrangements for box C and I just assumed that we’d be using the same order (ChuckieRoy said something to that effect when he mailed out the box). There were a few tweaks, but my assumption is that I mail to you (as before), you mail to Moraiwe (as before) and so forth.

that was my assumption too. We should make sure everyone is clear about the correct order for both boxes (if they are actually different)

With the two different threads I got a little confused, I just wanted to make sure I was still sending it to moraiwe.

Dr Jim said

Here is the current list as I have it:
Short Sorceress, moraiwe, Shadowfall, Fiddling, Shelley_Lorraine, TastyBrew, BrewTEAlly Sweet, AureliaFish, Wheezybee, Emilie, Chelle, Chuckieroy, MelissaTea, Fuzzy_Peachkin,
Ellyn, Dr Jim

Darby and Martine have asked to be dropped from the list.

Thanks again, Dr Jim, for being the organized force behind this!

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Dr Jim said

The tea is in the mail.

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I just did a massive tea clean out and finally have my stash under control. I think I have to pass on this box for now. Thanks!

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I just came home to find the travelling tea box waiting for me on my front porch. I’m just blown away by the amount of tea I get to enjoy this week.

The box looks a little worse for wear so the first order of business is to find a new box and figure out which tea sprouted a leak. I’m going to go ahead and switch this to a regular box, moraiwe is only two hours or so from me, so there is no reason to send it Priority Mail.

Just so everyone knows I’m going to Minneapolis for the weekend to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary. I won’t make much progress on the box until Monday, but I promise to have it on its way again as soon as possible.

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So I was getting ready to break into Pumpkin Pie, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t from Teavana, just in a Teavana bag. Can whoever added it let me know where it came from? I’m almost positive it is from Art of Tea, but I wanted to make sure before I post my tasting note.

Thanks!

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MelissaTea said

I think Chuckieroy put it in -

Unknown Tea Store
Pumpkin Pie Herbal

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So I’ve had the box for nearly a week now and I just did a count, I still have 30 teas left to go. I’ve skipped a large amount of tea because I’ve tried some of them before or they just don’t appeal to me, so that will help speed things up a little. I’ll probably drop it in the mail early next week, that way I have the weekend to work through the last few teas.

So far, here is what I added to the box:
52 teas
Pancake Breakfast

Culinary Teas
Long Island Strawberry Sencha

Della Terra
strawberry sundae
Mellow Mango Peach
Walnut Brittle
Chocolate Dipped Apple

JusTea
Kenya Black

NMTeaCo
Peach Rooibos
Chocolate Mint Rooibos

serendipiTEA
Monk’s Mead

Teavana
Citrus Lavender Sage

Utopia
Roasted Almond Cookie
Chocolate Strawberry Saffron

Whispering Pines
Golden Lily Oolong

Edited to add:
Georgia Tea Co.
Rocky Horror Spice

moraiwe said

Holy crap! I didn’t realize this was headed my way so soon! Well, yay!

haha, that was my response when Dr. Jim said it was on its way to me. I need your address since there isn’t a list in this box.

Dr Jim said

The really nice thing about having two boxes in play means it isn’t so bad to sit on a box while you sample lots of tea.

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I still have a few more teas to try, but the TTB will likely be on its way to moraiwe on Wednesday or Thursday.

Here is what I removed
Virtuous Teas Candy Cane – 1oz
Kusmi Tea Earl Grey Polish Blend No 18 – all
Teavana Dosha Chai Rooibos – all
Tin Roof Teas Arabian Night and Sencha Claus – all
Art of Tea Happy Tea – all
Harney Vanilla Comoro – 2T

Finished Off
52teas Coconut Cream Pie
52teas Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish
Simpson & Vail Carrot Cake Tisane
Harney – Dong Ding Light
Mountain Tea Co. – 4 Seasons of Spring, Med. Roast Osmanthus, and Black Pearl

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The box is on its way!

moraiwe said

YAY!

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