Scott B

This is the first Vietnamese tea I’ve had in years and only my second overall.

Maybe I got a little overexuberant in buying this tea-only one review here (over a year ago) and none on Upton’s site in the past year. The dry leaves are short, tightly rolled and dark brown with a just a few golden tips. Can’t really describe the leaf aroma-just kinda a generic woods-ey type smell. It brews a coppery liquor and tastes very similar to Assam (which I was kinda expecting). However, this tea is off. Seems stale to me. I assume the tea hasn’t been sitting in a foil sample pouch all this time waiting for someone to order it. This is why I have started to gravitate toward companies that can give me a harvest date on their teas. Hope this is just an aberration. Too bad-it was a promising tea.

Ok, I gave in and bought some Rooibus Chais.

I’ve seen a lot of good reviews for Upton Teas here, but I really don’t like their web site. It is small and cluttered and looks like it’s from 1996. But when Amy oh mentioned their awesome prices on samples, I decided to give it another look. I was seriously like a kid in a candy store-almost all the samples were just $1. It was so easy to just keep adding samples to my basket-I mean, who really thinks much about an extra dollar, right? You don’t see it adding up. If I didn’t have so much tea here, with more on the way, I could have easily ordered twice as many samples. The order shipped the next day and I got it just two days later. $4.40 for flat shipping is not the cheapest flat rate, but it is definitely one of the cheaper flat rates I have seen. The samples come in nice sealed foil packets. Sadly, they are not resealable. Going to have to break out some clothespins or something.

I wish I had thought of buying samples sooner-so many more teas to be able to try-and no big hit if you don’t like something. I used to think having to buy “only” 50 grams was nice, but 12 and 15 grams is awesome-I run out of stuff faster and can get more samples sooner (and buy in bulk the stuff I really love). Yeah, I’m a little excited about this. It’s like when you were in high school and joined the Columbia House Record Club and got your first shipment of 12 CD’s all at once for like $2-yes, dating myself perhaps.

Ok, the Rooibus Chai Blend. Dry-Star anise is most prominent, although I smell the cardomom too. Love the little orange peel bits (I’ve had that before, maybe in a Kashmiri Chai). I brewed exactly 8 minutes. The liquor is copper orange/brown-not very rooibos-ey at all. Brewed it smells a bit like TG’s Christmas Herbal Blend with the cinnamon and a touch of clove.

I brewed two cups-one straight and one with soymilk and sugar added. I actually used to drink chais straigh-then I tried a chai at a Himalayan restaurant. They warned me it was way too strong straight, but they were out of soymilk, so I had it straight. It was good, but really strong. Have gone to soy and sugar ever since. However, this blend holds up well straight, but the cinnamon and pepper is a little strong-at least not tasting too much star anise. I didn’t really notice the cardomom-which is not a bad thing, as I don’t like it to be too noticeable.

With milk, I brewed chai in mug and added soy and sugar after brewing was complete. It was really delicious. I tasted a little star anise but more cloves and orange than in the straight brew. The cinnamon was tamed too (I’m drinking rooibus because of reflux, so I don’t want too much cinnamon, which is an irritant). I am used to drinking a Masala Chai after dinner as a dessert with a cookie or two. I think this blend is a really good caffeine-free substitute for that and I will be drinking it with soy and sugar from now on. I only got a sample pack, but it promises me 7 brews. That’s 14 cents a cup-can’t beat that price for a sampler. Trying a couple of other Rooibus Chais, but there is a good chance I will buy more of this in the future.

This is my first Genmaicha. I’ve never been much into green tea except some common classics-Moroccan Mint and Jasmine. Credit to Steepsterites for bringing this tea to my attention.

I HAVE had sencha before-a green coconut sencha that I got used to, but didn’t really enjoy that much and TG’s Sencha Claus, which is good, but really disguises the flavor of the Sencha.

Toasted brown rice sounded like a nice compromise between overwhelming the sencha with spices and flavorings or not tasting the botanicals at all (like the green coconut sencha).

So, this tea looks really interesting with the brown rice kernels and the occasional cute little popped kernel. The rice will help make this a lower caffeine option-which I sadly need these days. The liquor is a very light sea green in color. The toasted rice flavor is nice and unusual to me in a tea. It is kinda dominating the sencha, though. It’s good, reminds me of a puffed rice breakfast cereal. It’s got a touch of a tinny note in it though. I am trying to remember if that’s something I noticed in the breakfast cereal as well. I don’t care for that little part of it. Overall, it’s decent. I don’t love it, but I’d like to try some more genmaichas in the future.

This is my first tea from Nepal. I was more than a little nervous learning that this is grown under similar conditions right across the border from Darjeeling-as I don’t care for 2nd flush Darjeelings at all.

Anyhow, the leaves are dark brown and tightly rolled with a liberal amount of golden buds mixed in. Dry leaf aroma is hard to describe-perhaps a faint note of licorice. The brewed aroma is that of what to me is typical 2nd flush Darjeeling-probably what others call “muscatel”, but to me it smell like some kind of corn liquor (as in corn alcohol).

The flavor is pretty much all the corn liquor-especially on the finish. It does get a bitter aftertaste as the tea cools. I CAN drink this-in fact I drank 4 ounces of a Rishi 2nd Flush Darjeeling (mainly because it was so expensive)-but I prefer not to.

I’m not giving this a numerical rating because I’ve never liked a 2nd flush darjeeling, so it doesn’t seem fair. It has all the characteristics of a quality tea, but it’s just not my preference. I would drink a cup of this if offered, but I would hope my host wouldn’t have a giant pot to share with me.

I bought this to have another white tea to drink when my reflux acts up. I had to choose between 1.5 ounces and 8 ounces with nothing in between-what’s up with no 3 or 4 ounce options, Adagio? 8 ounces of white is A LOT of tea! Glad I only bought 1.5 ounces. Anyhow, in comparison with Teavana’s Strawberry Paraiso (another recent white purchase) this is at least mostly tea.

In fact, the few blueberries I found are covered with tea dust and not easy to find. Still the blueberry flavoring is very natural and provides a pleasant aroma with the dry leaf. The leaves themselves are broken in fairly large pieces and are various shades from medium green to medium brown. The liquor brews a nice golden color that somehow comes across in the taste. Again, the blueberry is natural. It’s sweet, but is improved with a teaspoon of sugar. I even tried a steep with cinnamon and brown sugar added. Not bad if you can find the right ratio, but it makes for a heavier tea. I got two steeps out of my leaves, which is okay, I suppose.

Overall, though, I am not crazy about this. It’s good, but not great. It might be a nice refreshing option iced-and I’ll try that when it heats up. Although I will definitely finish this, I probabIy wouldn’t buy this again

After trying different measures and different boiling times (and even cleaning my Zoji) I have finally figured out what I don’t like about this tea-too much Ceylon and not enough Assam. That’s why I think this is not strong enough for me and why it tasted a little different than other Irish Breakfast Blends. I’m not very experienced with Ceylon at all-I do like it, but I don’t want it to dominate the Assam in my IB. It’s still good, not great-but not what I was looking for. My old rating was based on how I enjoyed the flavor-not what the tea was composed of or what I was looking for-so I will leave that rating intact.

Another purchase guided by the folks here at Steepster-78 is not an awesome rating, but it’s pretty solid considering well over 100 reviews. Also, this blend has Ceylon and Assam-the teas that make up RoT’s “Lucky Irish” Breakfast Blend (which I USED to love).

This is my first order from Adagio and I hate the packaging of the tea. It is a similar pouch that many companies use, with the mylar-type foil on the inside-but thinner than others. And the outside looks and feels thinner and cheap. There were some spots on the outside that looked like oil. It could have just been air-bubbles under the label, but I don’t like having to wonder about what it is. Some pouches are really nice and I don’t mind storing my tea in there-not this one. It went straight to a tin. Also, there is a hole in the bag for it to hang on a hook. I hate to think of my tea just being pulled off the shelf in a retail store-hope David’s doesn’t do that.

The tea itself-the dry leaves smell ok, aromatic enough-a little malty I suppose. Wet leaves, the same, just a bit more so. This is intended to be a first thing in the morning tea for me-not a sit there and ponder all the aromas and flavors type of tea. Liquor is mahogany brown. Flavor is good. Malty. However, not as strong as I would expect-this was consumed straight. I think tomorrow I will add a half teaspoon of tea and/or an extra minute of steep time. I may adjust my preliminary numerical rating after further brews.

_{This review is for the Autumn Harvest}

Ok, I suppose I should review this.

This was probably my first completely Steepster-driven purchase. I’ve never looked forward to trying a new tea more-gobs and gobs of 90+ reviews from independent, knowledgeable reviewers here on Steepster, coming from a small farm, a small service and quality oriented company, blacks my preference-I looked forward to loving this tea.

But I don’t.

Today is my 3rd or 4th day I have brewed this tea-hoping at some point I would become enlightened to what everyone else sees in this tea-or just get used to it. And I am kinda used to it, but although familiarity has not bred contempt, neither has it brought love.

I love that it’s experimental-tea would be boring without experimentation. This is different tea to be sure-certainly not too much like various Keemuns and Yunnans I have tasted. The dry leaves are rolled tight with some slight bends. They appear to have little aroma unless you take a big inhale, then I get slight chocolatey and floral notes. The leaves are very dark-almost jet black-I was half expecting the liquor to be as dark as black licorice.

Fortunately, liquor was just a deep coppery brown. Brewed leaf aroma is roasty with a slight resemblance to a roasted oolong, a little resemblance to keemun and not sure what else. The first steep flavor is kinda roasted with a touch of chocolate, but not much. Can’t really describe the dominant flavor. It’s different and just okay. It’s very heavy in the mouth, but relatively smooth until it starts to cool when some bitterness appears.

The 2nd steep tastes a little more chocolatey. Can you taste the tannins? Because it feels like I can really taste the tannins. Third steep-the liquor is deep amber colored. It now has a medium heavy mouthfeel. Flavor is improved a little. A touch milder, more grainy perhaps. Also tasting a bit more oolong-ey than previous steeps-especially the aftertaste. Still, nothing too exciting-don’t really like oolong anyway. I’ve done 4 steeps before, but have no notes for a 4th steep. If I have a 4th steep today, I’ll edit this note to include the information. There’s lot of tannins and caffeine in this tea, and with my reflux, I can’t afford 4 steeps of this if all I feel is “Meh, I don’t understand all the fuss.”

I am happy with my experience buying from Verdant Tea-they are personal, responsive, and committed to quality. They have several other teas that I look forward to trying. I might even try the first flush of this tea-if someone can convince me it’s significantly different. But I doubt that I would buy this Autumnal Harvest again.

My acid reflux has been really acting up for the first time in a long time and it caught me without any rooibus at home. I am VERY picky about rooibus-it tastes medicine-y to me and the most popular blends of orange, mango, vanilla and such do nothing to alleviate the rooibus taste. I’ve found a couple from Canadian companies that look promising, but the shipping is just too high-I’m not paying more for shipping than for the tea.

Anyhow, so I broke into my Summer Strawberry Paradaiso from Teavana (which is milder on reflux), but it’s expensive and I don’t want to drink it all day anyway. So, I took a look at my Christmas Herbal Tea. I bought 2 75 gram bags because it was very good and because of the very long shelf life. I was saving this for December-and I BROKE INTO IT! It’s not the caffeine, apparently I just need to drink a hot beverage. Still, I rarely drink herbal tea. I still haven’t finished my Greek Mountain tea from quite some time ago.

But, for some reason I tried this herbal tea. Perhaps I was wanting to try all the TG holiday-themed teas. I don’t remember. The dominant flavor here is cinnamon-a very mild cinnamon (not like Jolly Ranchers). I can taste the orange and maybe a bit of cloves. But make no mistake, this is no herbal “constant comment”. It’s smooth and sweet enough to not require sugar. The aroma is a pleasing melange of all the ingredients-again mostly cinnamon, but complemented quite well by its supporting cast. I guess I’ll be drinking more of this until I find a Rooibus and another white tea. I can’t say that I love it, but it’s very solid and if it can save me a cup of caffeine and tannins every day until my reflux settles, it’s a very pleasant way to do so. At Christmastime, this seems like a Christmas-ey tea-now it just tastes good.

This is the second green tea I recently purchased from TeaVivre. I have had Dragonwell once before, from Teavana, and it was pretty good-I figured this would be better, and it is.

The dry leaves are a pine needle green and they are actually the size and shape of “needles” on artificial Christmas trees. However, there is nothing artificial about this. The dry leaf aroma is vegetal and spinach-like. The fragrance is pleasantly intensified after a 3 second rinse in 175 degree water (the brewing temperature). I kinda want to pretend I grew this in my garden. Brewed leaf is brighter green and smells much the same with a bit of creaminess added.

First steep was 2tsp/175/1:30. The liquor is a very pale greenish yellow and fairly transparent (I’ve had “cloudy” greens in the past). Not too much of a surprise in the flavor-a very pleasant spinach and cream taste. To me it tastes much like TV’s Xin Yang Mao Jian. In fact, I am going to have a taste off soon, because they taste fairly similar to me-I am very envious of those of you with “advanced palates” who can glean more complex and subtle notes out of teas.

2nd Steep-175/1:45
Liquor about the same-can’t really get much paler. Flavor is still solid-slightly weaker, but not much. Flavors are the same-spinach and cream. Refreshing and delicious. Zero bitterness. Could probably go for a third steep.

I have been very happy with my green tea purchases from TeaVivre. I tend to drink 80-90% black tea and I’ve been wanting some lighter greens to balance out my tea drinking. These work well and I will be drinking a lot of this and Xin Yang Mao Jian for the foreseeable future.

Revisiting this today without rinsing the tea. As reported by others, this does have a nice pinkish liquor. It doesn’t seem artificial. The color probably comes from the beetroot pieces. It’s a nice aesthetic touch. And if you were wondering about the raisins, yes, there are indeed some raisins in here.

After carefully blending the tea together, I would say this is more like tea-flavored fruit tisane than fruit-flavored tea (that is more fruit and popcorn than tea).

I did not notice any appreciable difference in the flavor compared to the brew I did yesterday with rinsed leaves. It’s still very good, though I wish I could taste the papaya more. I look for it more next time. Again 2 steeps at 175/2min. One steep with sugar, one without. A teaspoon of sugar really helps this one out. Could probably go with 3 steeps if you wanted-this stuff is pretty expensive for having so little tea in it.

It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it, so I’m giving it an 87

I’ve been having some reflux issues lately and Amy oh recommended some white tea as being gentler if I just HAD to have some tea during this time-and yeah, I just HAD to have some tea today! I bought this tea to have for summer-especially iced. I had really enjoyed TG’s Strawberry white and this seemed similar enough and had good reviews.

Now, I did not get this lovely pink color that everyone else mentions-however, I did rinse the tea for a few seconds before brewing. I will not rinse tomorrow to see what the liquor looks like.

Glad Teavana recommends 175 because my Zoji tea boiler does not have an automatic setting for 160.

Anyways, the tea out of the bag was mostly popcorn and strawberries and precious little tea. After my first brew I put this in a tea tin and saw more tea in the bottom-I will very gently try to blend this a bit more evenly next time, but still, more fruit and less tea than I am used to seeing in this type of tea. The white leaves are also smaller than I am used to seeing in other fruit/white blends. The strawberries and big and so are the papaya chunks. Didn’t notice any raisins, but wasn’t looking for them. The popcorn is, well, popcorn.

So, brewed at 175/2. Liquor very pale straw.. Strawberry flavor is nice, but subtle. Hard to taste other flavors as much. I gave this a second steep with the same parameters and added some sugar and it really brought out the flavors-very enjoyable. I know that I will enjoy this iced during the summer. No rating number yet-want to try it again tomorrow, but consider this a positive review.

This is exciting-my first order from Teavivre and my first order direct from China!

I’ve never heard of this tea before, but Teavivre’s web site said this is refreshing in hot weather and with an early summer in the States, I thought it was worth a shot.

The leaves are as everyone says-thin and very dark green, almost black (Charleston Green, perhaps?). The dry leaves are very fragrant and smell like spinach and a touch of cream, or maybe even creamed spinach with a bit of nutmeg? Brewed leaves turn a very nice spinach green color.

Have made this two times. First time was 1 tsp at 175 for one minute. 2nd steep was 175 for 1:15. Very pleasant. Taste very similar to aroma. Spinachy, kinda sweet, smooth. Slightly weaker 2nd steep-but definitely worth 2 infusions.

Today I used 2 tsp at 175. First steep was 175 for 2 minutes. Liquor was a pale green-yellow, with more green in it than yellow. Spinach was the dominant flavor-really the only flavor that I can describe. Surprised that there was a bit of bitterness in this steep and I think I brewed this a little too long. Still, it was good.

Second steep: 175/2min. Maximum spinach/vegetal flavor. Zero bitterness. Clearly brewed the earlier steep too long. Liquor is paler, again slightly more green than yellow. Very enjoyable.

Third steep: Liquor is paler still. Again a bit more green than yellow in color. Flavor is weakening. Still slightly spinachy but gravitating toward what I perceive as a generic green tea flavor-a GOOD general tea flavor, but not as unique as the first two steeps.

Well, our hot spell ended before this tea arrived, so I can’t comment on its effect in hot weather, but it is a refreshing tea and I expect it to do well. I may even ice it.

I am mostly a black tea drinker, but I feel I need a bit of balance in my teas. This has worked out well and I will probably order it again-feel stupid for ordering this just before the new harvest came in. Still, excellently packaged and the tea looks and tastes very fresh.

Haven’t had this since last summer.

This is my favorite Moroccan Mint so far. Have been looking for one that uses spearmint, but not any flavoring, to no avail. My experience with RoT’s Moroccan Mint has led me to be willing to compromise on the flavoring issue, since I am not truly opposed to it anyway-it’s just a preference.

Anyhow, this tea smells wonderfully minty, but perhaps it might be cloying to some-it’s dry leaf aroma does resemble Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum more than a little. The taste isn’t that much different. Maybe not as “gummy”, you can taste the tea, but probably taste the mint more. I drink this mostly during the summer as I find it very refreshing on a hot day. I will drink it hot, but I also love it iced. I rarely sweeten it hot, but I will sweeten it iced. It’s a nice change of pace from typical summer drinks in the States.

I was excited to get this Keemun Hao Ya. Up til now every place I bought Keemun from just called it “Keemun” – no differentiating between types of grades (not even Rishi).

Packaging is great with a sealed foil envelope inside a re-sealable foil pouch (all Teavivre’s have been like that).

Leaves are black with a few golden buds. Dry leaf aroma is fairly chocolate-y. Brewed leaf aroma has more pine notes. Liquor is very coppery. The taste is traditional Keemun to me-notes of chocolate, pine, smoke. Nothing predominates. It seems more smokey if you let it cool TOO much, though.

I find one heaping teaspoon gets you two solid steeps-maybe 3 depending on your preference. I tried 2 teaspoons, and I got 3 steeps, but they were more inconsistent. I consider this tea a great value-I paid much more for a Keemun Reserve from Rishi and used 6 teaspoons to get 5 steeps-with the first one being almost undrinkably bitter (no matter what adjustments I made). AND, I think this tea from TeaVivre is a little bit better than Rishi’s as well.

I’d say this is the best Keemun I’ve tasted yet. Will definitely re-purchase when the new harvest comes out this summer.

I bought and drank this about 2 years ago.

I love raspberry and chocolate together so I expected to really enjoy this tea, but meh, it was okay. Neither flavor overpowers the other, but neither flavor is particularly strong either. The tea base was adequate. I didn’t taste the rooibus too much-oh, but a pain to get out of a mesh strainer basket. Umm, I finished the tea, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Anna’s-which is another TG black tea with raspberry (sans chocolate and rooibus).

From memory, maybe 2 years ago. Cranberries are TART. You need something sweet to balance it out-I thought the mango would do it. Alas, it did not. This tea had an artificial feel and just didn’t work for me sweetened or not. Did I even finish this?

Wow, surprised no one cares for this tea. Yes, it smells amazing-could be a potpourri of apple and cinnamon. I tasted the apple, cinnamon, and tea all pretty well and they seemed nicely balanced and flavorful. Better with a teaspoon of sugar, but tried not to do that too often. I liked to use this as an after dinner dessert tea in the fall-goes great with a graham cracker dipped in it (the missing crust!). When spring comes around it feels a little heavy and tastes out of place-so don’t overbuy.

Did a sipdown today. Only had about 2tsp though Rishi recommended 3-6tsp. First steep at about 2:40. Very pleasant and traditionally Keemun-tasting-not like that super strong first steep I get when I put in 6tsp.

Second steep-very good. Little noticeable change in flavor. Time 3:15
Third steep-weakening flavor, but drinkable. Time-2:20

If I buy this tea again, I won’t mess around with 6tsp to get my 5-7 steeps. 3tsp to get 2-3 steeps works out about the same without that overpowering first steep

First, let me state that I like peaches. If a peach is just right, I love it.

Ok, I was in South Carolina-home of the only tea garden in the States. South Carolina is also the #1 producer of peaches in the States-sorry, Georgia. So, buying this tea was pretty much a no-brainer.

Loose tea in a car and in hotel rooms was too much a hassle, so I waited until I got home to try it-what a disaster. I opened the tin and was overwhelmed by the most intense, artificial peach aroma I have ever encountered. There was no way anyone was ever drinking this stuff on any plantation. It smelled EXACTLY like a peach soda pop I had had several years ago. They really poured it on. Strong enough to be a car air freshener-and better suited, imho.

The loose leafs? I don’t recall. However, there was not a drop of peach chunks, blossoms-anything-in there. This is a PEACH producing state, please give me some peaches in your peach tea!

The tea? What tea? The liquor was overwhelmed by the peach perfume factory in my cup! The tea had no chance. After several failed attempts to find a brew time and temp that might bring out a little of the tea, I gave up and happily unloaded it on my sister.

I see that the pyramid bag version of this tea has a few decent reviews. Maybe they used some sort of different flavoring at that time. I don’t know, but I have convinced myself to give this a 1.

Bought this while on vacation in South Carolina. It’s a basic, no-frills green tea. Nothing complex, but nothing that your palate needs to adjust to either. Slightly vegetal. Unlikely to offend, but just as unlikely to induce rabid affection. The loose tea was finely chopped? The tin lasted forever. For me, more a reminder of a great vacation than a great tea, but if you want to try a tea grown in the States, it’s not bad.

Had this 18 months or more ago. Banana and chocolate-what could go wrong? Not too much, except that I got tired of this before I finished. You can taste everything here-the tea, the banana, and the chocolate. It was good. Better with sugar, but usually drank it without. The ingredients tasted properly balanced. I used this as a breakfast tea before I started going with assams and breakfast blends. It was kinda hard for me to drink it at any other time of day. I suppose it could be tried for dessert, but it just didn’t have that feel to me.

Anyhow, as I said, I enjoyed it, but I just got tired of it. I’d have it again some day, but I am not buying 100 grams of it. Have never forgiven TG for eliminating their 50 gram bags.

This may have been the first straight tea I ever tasted. In an order I placed filled with Yellow Peach, Raspberry Chocolate and such I thought “Vietnamese tea? Sounds different and exotic-I’m in!” I loved it and it got my started ever so gradually towards my preference of straight tea. After this I started trying Assams. Haven’t had this in a very long time. I miss it.

I loved this tea. I bought this tea the first time because it won first place at the North American Tea Championships Fall 2010. I had been pretty disappointed with TG’s English Breakfast Blend that had won 3rd place and I figured that there must be something better. This is just Assam and Ceylon-both teas that are self-drinking (unlike a couple of the teas in the TG blend).

The first cup was a revelation. Strong, yes, but not bitter. Bold. Malty. Simple yet very flavorful. Didn’t need milk and sugar to get through the cup like I did with TG’s. In fact, never even tried it with milk or sugar. It was just get it and go. Perfect way to start my day. However, if I only had one tea in the house I could have drank it all day long. If I had been a Steepster member back then I would have given it a rating in the 90’s.

So, when I needed a new boiling water tea (most of my teas brew at 195 or so), I did not hesitate even though it did not win an award in the 2011 Fall NATC.

Liquor is deep copper. Leaves are dark brown/black, short, somewhat needle-like with just a few golden tips/buds mixed in.

This batch has been so…disappointing. It’s not weak, but it’s not nearly so strong and bold. The flavor is just kinda… subdued. Not so malty. Not so anything it was last time. This is not a good thing for a breakfast blend. The first thing I did was to look at the best-consumed by date. I was suspecting they sold me the same batch that I had purchased last year. But no, it was January 2014 as opposed to March 2013 with different production numbers so that wasn’t it. I tried “refreshing” the leaves for 3 seconds in boiling water-to no measurable effect on the flavor.

I understand that variations in climate, precipitation, temperature, etc. can all effect the taste of tea leaves from crop to crop. That is to be expected if tea comes from a single garden. However, I expect a big outfit like RoT isn’t buying from just one Assam garden and one Ceylon garden. I would think they would buy from multiple gardens to try to prevent too much variance in their teas. I suppose climate variations could effect the whole regions too. I don’t know.

I wonder if they are using cheaper and lower quality teas for this blend now and saving the better stuff for their more upscale offshoot, Rare Tea Republic

Well, I’ll drink one cup first thing for now-because I don’t have any other boiling water teas, but I am looking to get some other breakfast-type boiling water teas, so I may or may not finish this.