Orange Pekoe (organic)

do any of you like to read memoirs?
i especially like to read memoirs about depressed or abused or mentally ill girls. is that wrong to admit? well, it’s true. Unbearable Lightness, The Glass Castle, Wasted, Anais Nin’s Unexpurgated Journals, and every single version of Sylvia Plath’s journals that have been released. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, but the point is i keep searching for more but i think i’ve read all the really good ones? i’ll keep looking and let you know what i find. i might have to broaden my focus to include men and drug addiction stories.
i do see these books as my equivalent to a trashy romance novel. sensationalized and dramatic and easy to read. but if i’m in a reading funk, one of these books always helps get my reading flow started again. or it works as a balance against the heavy and dense writing of the political non-fiction i’m usually chiseling away at.

this pekoe is boring.

I didn’t realize I never posted a review of this one – I bought it probably a year or so ago when I went on a bender of trying all of Davids’ unflavoured teas. Now, of course I know what a typical orange pekoe tastes like from the bag – this takes that to a more refined level. It does remind me a lot of Red Rose or Tetley, but without the gritty bitterness I find typical of those bagged teas. It could stand up to additives, but when steeped carefully you don’t need them. There is a natural sweetness in the tea which is very nice on the sip and helps take this from standard fare to something nicer.

All that said, for a LOOSE tea, this is extremely standard. This is what I would use to convince bagged OP drinkers that there is more in the world – baby steps! It makes a nice base for a chai and is okay on its own but I don’t drink loose leaf for “okay.” : )

I’ve been drinking a lot of regular ole’ black tea lately and decided to pick up an ounce of this on my way out of the mall (after I snatched up a Lupicia happy bag). My favorite for awhile now has been Harney’s Malachi McCormick, to the point where I’m thinking about just owning up to my love for that tea and getting a pound of it.

This is nice and unfussy, like basic black teabag tea but just not ground up and put in the teabag (which is probably exactly what this is). It’s got a nice astringency to it without being overpowering. This is not a kapow malt monster (which I like) but there’s a wee bit of malt to this as well. It’s good, but not something I’d drink on a daily basis for the price.

In other news, my boss offered me extra hours at the library this month until school starts again, and I’ll have TA work starting the 7th grading 25 papers a week until late March. It’s a nice start after the towing bill!

Oh, I am loving this tea. I grew up on bagged orange pekoe, as most of us did, Lipton was my mother’s brand of choice. However, we didn’t drink much hot tea, Lipton was reserved for the summer and sun tea. Sun tea, for those who don’t know, is when you put several bags of tea in a clear pitcher with a tight-fitting top and set it outside to brew in the sun for a few hours. A lot of my summer memories involve mom’s sun tea and how she never let me add sugar to it.

When I moved to Canada, one of the first things my mother-in-law and I bonded with was an after-dinner cup of tea, where she and I (and sometimes other family members) would sit and just chat about everything and nothing. She’s a Red Rose fan and though I do enjoy looseleaf teas much more now, whenever we’re at her house for dinner, I always say yes to that after-dinner cup of Red Rose.

When drinking bagged orange pekoe hot, I have to add copious amounts of sugar and cream, yes, cream. This has the sweetness and touch of creaminess I was looking for in the bags I used to drink. I added 1 tsp of sugar, as is my habit, but next time I might try less. I only let my black teas steep for 2 minutes, and that worked well for this tea.

Long, long story short, this is the best orange pekoe I’ve ever had and definitely one I plan to keep in stock and use year ’round.

Darnit!! so I got that “hibiscus” taste in this tea! even with milk!! and besides that, it was just boring. Better than the Tims tea I had the other day, and definitely better than Red Rose of course. Atleast there was that!
So I guess my buds aren’t up to par yet… that is what I am guessing. Black tea seems to be the only one that is really affected though. It’s a shame because I really do (normally) love black tea!
Patience m’dear! she says to herself over and over… be thankful they’re atleast partway back!
Besides, I have a specialist app scheduled in January to figure out the issue. Maybe then I will finally get some answers!
Or maybe it was just that this sample was from ages ago, dug out of the cupboard on a whim that really shoulda been brushed aside! bah. Old tea, why did I not drink you sooner?! I still have one serving left!
Well, now I know to avoid the non Asian black teas now! lesson learned :)

This was my last tea in my completion of having every tea on the current DavidsTea wall. Yes, I went with the irony of the Orange Pekoe. :D

I had them prepare mine with milk and agave, and it was delicious, if a wee bit too sweet. Who knew, I don’t like agave in my orange pekoe! This was an excellent cup of a solid tea staple, and I am definitely going to be enjoying the bag I got of it as well!

Received a free sample of David’s Orange Pekoe in a recent order.

Dry leaves: zero scent, but they look intriguing. Unassuming, perhaps, like that quiet guy who excels in art class in high school and hides behind his hair.

4-minute steep, boiling water, 1TB for 500mL, no milk or sweetener … classic ‘normal tea’ taste. Some depth and sweetness from the Assam, brightness from the Ceylon … very good. No bitterness. Yet still finishes a bit hollow, like it lacks something … more punch from the Assam, maybe? I find myself bracing for a malty pucker, some astringency on the back of the tongue, but it doesn’t arrive.

I’d confidently serve this at a big dinner or a tea party as ‘normal’ tea offering, but I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to get it for myself, not when David’sTea alone offers so much more. And my old fave, the fair trade English Breakfast from my local teashop, Britannia, leaves this eating yesterday’s dust. Perhaps I’m being a snob.

This was a free sample I received in a recent order.

The tea has a sweet, clean, traditional “tea” fragrance. For a majority of Americans, this is probably what they imagine when you say “tea.”

Prepared, it’s slightly sweet and vegetative with a moderate amount of astringency. This would be a good everyday and all-day-long tea. If I get a chance to make another purchase from DavidsTea, I’d probably throw a bag of this in as a staple item.

Add milk and sugar, and it tastes like hugs. This is the most comforting tea in my cupboard, and the one I usually reach for most.

This tasted basically like English Breakfast to me but less bold. I’d say it’s medium-bodied with a lingering finish. Not too complex, just a really nice black tea. I think it would be a good go-to tea for all occasions!

I grew up with two kinds of tea: Red Rose and Twinings Earl Grey. Every night around 7 p.m., my dad would ask everyone in the family if we’d like a cup of tea, and 99% of the time, I chose the Red Rose. So, I grew up with Orange Pekoe, and thus, I am very, very fond of this tea. It’s the flavour of Red Rose, tidied up and amplified. This is my hug-in-a-cup tea, and it suits all my wildly varying moods. Who doesn’t love Orange Pekoe, though?

Day 81 of my 101 days of DAVIDsTEA challenge.

The tea has a nice full-bodied flavour to it, flowery with a bit of smoke. Probably one of my favourite straight blacks so far!

My mark for a good black tea is something that I can — and want to — drink with or without milk and sweetener. And this fits the bill. I tried it first plain, and had the rest of my first steep (which had by that time slightly oversteeped with milk and honey). It tasted wonderful both ways. The resteep wasn’t bad either. :)

This is standard tea in my cupboard. I have it for those times when I just want tea, nothing special or fancy. I tend to have it with a hint of soymilk and raw cane sugar.
The tea is nothing particularly special. I find it lacks a little something…sort of empty or hollow tasting. It isn’t particularly full bodied, but it serves its purpose. I think its great to have on hand for those people who expect bagged orange pekoe (I don’t think we have any bagged tea anymore….).
I always refill the tin when it’s empty, but I don’t think I’ve ever craved this tea in an overwhelming way.

I got a little bag of this in an effort to expand my non-flavoured tea selection. I want to find a Really Good Black (and David’s Breakfast Organic isn’t it. Toooo floral.) or two and a Really Good Green (which will probably be a Chinese green, because I love the way they taste.)
Milk and sugar because it’s orange pekoe, and that’s how I usually take it, so this’ll draw the best comparason.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really measure because I still don’t know how much water my teapot holds. (Because I’m lazy.) So it looks a TOUCH weak…
Smells good, though. And TASTES lovely.
My go-to orange pekoe (okay, go-to TEA altogether) is Red Rose, but I can see this replacing it quite easily.
Drinkable and smooth, no bitterness… I’ll experiment, of course, but I believe I’ve found my Really Good Black!

I got this one knowing that I love Orange Pekoe, but never having tried a loose-leaf version of the beloved staple tea.

This tea tastes basically the same as Red Rose, which is normally what I drink for Orange Pekoe, but I found with this one that the flavour was gentler. It wasn’t as much of a punch as others have been. Maybe if I had used more leaves, I would have gotten more of a punch of flavour, but I didn’t seem to get much with this one. It was nice and subtle. I definitely like the option of having an orange pekoe that’s a bit gentler.
I think I would get this again, but I think I’ll use up my other orange pekoes first before restocking.

Really no scent coming from the leaves, let’s hope there’s more flavour than there is scent!

All-in-all, not bad, but it’s not blowing me out of the water either. I’m used to Red Rose and Tazo Awake tea so maybe my taste buds are off? There is the taste of a black tea with hints of roses, but it’s rather weak. I want this to wow me! To sweep me off into a lovely tea-induced coma! Sadly, it’s dropped the ball. Oh well, at least I tried it right?

A classic tea, tastes good. Nothing amazing, but better than any tea bag out there. A good pick me up. Nothing fancy here, but a solid tea

I bought 50 grams of this tea for my mom for Mother’s Day. She only drinks plain black tea and I think she’ll like this. It’s a nice, simple black tea.

Just very good in general! Although I am okay paying less money for other brands of Orange Pekoe

This is a run-of-the mill OP. With a little bit of milk and sweetner, it’s just okay.