Stash Tea

A sipsby pick from last month; they’ve definitely been on a “send earl grey” kick for me lately. It’s a good thing I’ve learned to enjoy them!
This one is decent, despite the fact that I don’t enjoy lavender. The lavender is balanced well with the vanilla and bergamot, and while it isn’t my favorite even of the vanilla earl greys I’ve tried, it’s pleasant enough that I’d be happy to pick it up if I needed a quick and reliable tea off the shelf.

Well, judging from the ratings I think that I am the only person that enjoys this tea… It’s funny how everyone’s pallets are so different from each other. I do agree though it is an odd one, it does have a teeny bit of an olive taste, and a weird scent. However, it’s confusingly nostalgic in a way that I would drink it iced and cold brewed when available in the fall. I think my taste buds are broken. I’m not recommending it though because you have to be pretty strange like me to enjoy it.

Hmmm, no.

Not a fan of this one, it mostly just tastes like hibiscus tartness. There’s an odd musty note at the end of the sip as well… I don’t generally like red fruits or berries with rooibos, because I find it brings out the medicinal quality and ends up tasting like some version of cough syrup. It’s not quite that bad here, but it definitely has a touch of that medicinal taste.

Into the rehoming box it goes!

I’ve always heard good things about this one. I thought it might be overpowering since it’s double, but everyone speaks so highly of it that I still had high hopes. Turns out the hype is real! It’s not overdone at all, just a nice bergamot flavor. I’ll have to try this up against Stash’s regular Earl Grey to see how they compare.

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
October 2022 → A de-caf/caffeine free tea

I had hoped this would be a nice option for a caffeine-free chai, but it’s not great. It has a strange taste that I can’t quite place. I can taste the rooibos and the cinnamon. Tried to finish this one but it’s just not good enough to push through. Dumping.

I am using this sample teabag to fulfill a prompt for the October sipdown challenge – a decaf/caffeine free tea.

I almost didn’t try this but decided to give it a go because I didn’t even know anyone who would be glad to have it. I figured if I made a mug to go with lunch, I could tolerate it.

The smell of the blend straight out of the packaging was strong maple, followed immediately by a big hit of rooibos. I don’t care for red rooibos. The flavor of the steeped tea is mostly a sticky sweet maple and that annoying, medicinal rooibos flavor bullying its way through. I didn’t pick up lots of hibiscus but it may have contributed a little apple-like tartness which is no doubt the reason it is in this blend at all. It was fine with my food, but I would not ever purchase this. It might be good if they swapped out the rooibos and put…almost anything. Black tea, puerh, maybe even honeybush.

That’s another sample gone. Hurray! Since I don’t add samples or small swap amounts to my cupboard, this doesn’t reduce my numbers but it does signal progress in getting rid of all these sample teabags! I’ll take that.

Sipdown! (31 | 247)

A melon green tea? Sign me up! :P

This is a very pleasant bagged tea. The honeydew tastes like it’s on the underripe side to me, so it has more of a refreshing cucumber-esque note to it, rather than a syrupy and juicy ripe melon like Lupicia’s. The green base is mellow and grassy, which goes well with the lighter, more crisp melon flavor.

Not one I would order, just because I always have Lupicia’s Melon Oolong in my cupboard and I think one melon tea is enough. But if I wanted a convenient bagged version, I would consider picking this up. I bet it would be lovely for cold brew too, and much more cost-effective.

I made two lattes tonight using sample teabags from Stash. I have had these for about nine months, so they are not fresh but not too old, either. Honestly, this one smelled pretty bad to me, and now I realize it was the sarsaparilla. If you love sarsaparilla, you will probably like this more than I did. But it was mainly the aroma of the dry tea bag that I disliked.

I tasted this one before handing it off to Ashman, who said he really liked it. He has a real sweet tooth and he is working late and has a lot still to do, so after tasting it and finding it to be a bit bland, I jazzed this up with half water, half milk, our homemade vanilla extract, lots of sugar, and whipped cream on top.

The thing is, this is what it would take to make this enjoyable to me. It is not a tea I would crave or relish as a plain, hot cuppa. Not something I plan to order, but thankful for the sample, and so glad that he enjoyed it on his work break.

Note not about the tea: has anyone tried Bakers Tennis Biscuits and are they worth hunting down?

This is a sample teabag that came in an order about nine months ago.

Ashman is working late at home and feeling peckish, so I made a cheese and cracker plate and thought it was a great time to get rid of these two decaf samples as nice, filling lattes.

Sadly, when I opened the little wrapper the tea (both this one and Cinnamon Vanilla) had a strange and unpleasant aroma. It was a familiar smell, and I think I have decided it is mildew. Like someone threw a wet swimsuit in a hamper and left it and you don’t find out for a week. Ick.

I steeped it strong in just half the water called for and then added sugar and milk and tasted…and added more sugar and some vanilla, because there wasn’t much flavor. The strange smell was nearly gone, although when I tipped the mug back to get the very last of the drink, the smell hit me again. But at least it tasted better than it smelled.

Maybe it is just an off night for my taste buds or something, but this was very non-spectacular. We would have been better off having a cup of hot milk and adding our own spices.

I guess this is technically a sipdown, and I could technically count it under the “chocolate tea” prompt for the monthly challenge, but I only had a single bag from a TTB, so it seems disingenuous to count it!

Anyway, I’m a sucker for any chocolate-mint combo, and this bag smells divine! Brewed, it’s definitely more mint than chocolate, but it does have a hint of cocoa to boost the mint and give it some body. I added a bit of Not Milk (that’s the brand; my current fave alt milk!) and now it’s super creamy and delicious. There is no discernible oolong to my palate, but the overall effect of the base tea is perfectly fine.

I’ve had a sore throat for a few days and this is helping. For a bagged tea, it’s more than serviceable.

I don’t get a lot of chocolate from this, but I taste some herbal mint and a little something else, maybe more like white chocolate. There’s something about it that I don’t love, possibly the oolong base, but it’s all right. It reminds me of a less gross version of S&V’s white chocolate mint tea. Thanks tea-and-cats! I think this is my last sample from our Christmas swap!

The green base is very mild so you can’t really tell it’s green tea. The spices are quite mild as well. This one is pleasant, but it doesn’t have a lot of character. The spices blend so that none are stronger than the others, but it would have been nice if this tea had a little more intrigue. It was nice to try a single bag from a TTB anyway!

Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
August 2022 → A cheap tea

I didn’t actually compare prices, but Stash comes to mind when I think of cheap tea so here we are. I don’t have anything against bagged tea, there are some that I really love. I think Stash seems cheap to me because there aren’t many Stash teas I’ve had that I’ve actually liked. Maybe only one or two. I’ll have to go back and confirm that.

This ones not bad at all though. It’s an Earl Grey without any bells and whistles but sometimes that’s all I want. It’s all I want this morning. I decided on an Earl Grey because I read that EG is good paired with prunes and I just finished making some spice muffins with prunes mixed in. Doesn’t sound at all appetizing, but I like prunes so they turned out to be really tasty. And a good match for this Earl Grey!

This has a nice, gentle flavor. I taste the cocoa shells and a light floral touch from the lavender. I’m drinking this cold sweetened with milk, and it’s a pleasant enough cup that I’d actually consider buying a box of it. Everything combines to be a little desserty and very relaxing. Thanks tea-and-cats!

I received a sample of this tea in my order last November or December and am just now getting around to trying it, thanks to my recent tea reorganization bringing it to the front.

I made this at about 1 am since I wasn’t sleepy ( I am about to fall off my chair with grogginess now) and sipped it in my rocker. It was sweet to be up all alone, in a mostly dark house, with everyone quiet and that contributed to the enjoyment of having tea, but the tea itself was just okay. It was a bit thin body-wise but at least it was not heavy on the clove. The mint was okay, as I prefer spearmint to peppermint anyway,

An acceptable cup, not one I want to buy, but nice to have another sample off the shelf.

August Sipdown Prompt – an impulse buy tea

I threw this in the cart a couple of years ago when I was buying Stash White Christmas for some friends and family who love it.

This tastes like those banana flavored Circus Peanut candies. Not bad, and certainly a fun tea to have explored, but I just don’t reach for it and I find it a little difficult to pair with anything, plus Ashman wouldn’t like it so I end up drinking it by myself.

Probably not a repurchase unless it is on impulse again!

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge – a tea that reminds you of a family member.

This is pear tea but it tastes and smells like those soft orange peanut-shaped candies that we call Circus Peanuts. Why are they called Circus Peanuts when they are not peanut flavored? Why banana? And why does this pear tea taste like banana candy?

My mother loved those Circus Peanuts so when I was in a store that had them (they were rather hard to find) I would buy her some.

The tea is fun and tasty, not an expensive tea and easily accessible. It would have been a good tea for the “cheap tea” prompt, too.

I was going to make it for lunch to go with our salads when I remembered that Ashman doesn’t like pear and says it tastes floral to him, so I ended up having this and he got Glazed Lemon Loaf.

This is a sample from last year’s Christmas order. I have a student who loves Stash White Christmas and a daughter who probably has it running through her veins. They both usually get some Stash tea for gifts.

I fell asleep at 7 pm last night and woke at 11:40 pm unable to sleep again, so I decided to grab a good book and make a cup of caffeine free tea and get rid of a sample.

At 2 am, this is a surprisingly decent tea. It is nothing worthy of comparison to Cuppageek blends, but there we have it. The chocolate was in front for me with mint running alongside, and the lavender was very mild.

I would possibly even buy a box at Christmas if I didn’t have so much other tea I need to finish.

Bit more of a kick than I thought, nice lemon flavor as well and mint and green tea, perfect chilled for an afternoon tea.

Weak, especially compared to Whittard of Chelsea’s bagged Earl Grey.

This tea turned out super mild. I taste an intermingling of ginger and mint, but it’s not spicy. I don’t taste the white base at all. I would have guessed that it’s an herbal tea, in fact. It’s just a little too basic and mild to have again. Thanks for sharing tea-and-cats!