Cupboard Question

Good topic, I hope don’t mind me chirping in now and again since I tend to feel bothered by contributing. Things happened around me when contributing to things…

Must haves:

Green teas; Demoulas store brand (I was so upset that it was not available this last store visit, seemed on purpose.)
Wuyi’s Oolong
Orange Pekoe (store brand) good for ice tea by gallon/jugs
London’s Cuppa is becoming a favorite must have as it is alternative to those breakfast teas.
Ceylon teas (milky Oolong’s) is becoming a favorite

I have ran out of Chai teas; I would like to store/stash this as well.

Da Hong Pao or some other by Jerry Ma on Ebay or directly from store in China. But the strength of this tea kept me up for nearly two sleepless nights so I am refraining for now.

There is temptation to purchase and try more new teas but funds are so very limited, next too none but I snag a few here and there when sparing change/money crosses path by way of spouse. But he must eat, so tea cupboard does not take precedent.

Although cupboard is nicely filled with samples obtained but can’t make a purchase as yet. I am grateful to tea and this site.

I mean; some folks must have breakfast, others a good smoke, some a good cup of coffee. And the alternative is a good cup of hot tea.

Teas that are permanent in my cupboard:
Blood Orange Black-Drink the Leaf
Sinharaja-Golden Moon
Strawberry Honeybush-52 Teas
Neopolitan Honeybush-52 Teas
PG Tips…an Honest cup of tea:)
Genmaicha-Strand Tea
Chocolate Earl Grey-Upton Tea
Peppermint Tea for when I am sick.

hope it’s ok to revive old threads…i sometimes stumble on them while searching the boards and wish i could reply to great questions and then realize oh, this thread’s been dead for 2 years. whoops.

what HAS to be in my stash:
-at least 1 or 2 really good, complex contemplative blacks (verdant, golden moon, and butiki all have good ones and i’m crossing my fingers the stuff i just got from teavivre will fit here too)
-at least 1 “classic” comfortingly plain black for those times you crave just the taste of black tea as you remember it when you first got into tea at all (i call it “tea baggish black tea”…breakfast teas, yorkshire, pg tips, etc. for some reason i class h&s tower of london here too)
-1 darjeeling (flush can depend on season or context, but i confess to usually opting for a second flush muscatel myself) and/or a similar black from nepal (i like upton’s)
-a good lavender earl grey (in winter occasionally i’ll deviate to a cream one)
-something smoky, either pure or a blend (keemun, lapsang, or something like upton’s baker street)
-1 or 2 whites, can be flavored (yay butiki!) or simply a decent silver needle or bai mu dan
-a few flavored black options, just because some are so delicious, even if it’s hard to find the right time of day to fit them into (h&s florence, della terra oatmeal raisin cookie, a lot of the mariage freres stuff)
-flavored no-cafs, however many i’ve found that i love at any given time. i prefer to do most of my tea drinking later in the evening while writing, so this category can be quite large (della terra, american tea room, joy’s teaspoon, new mexico tea company, h&s, lupicia have all served me well in this area)
-a powerful sleepytime blend (new mexico extra sleepy bear!)
-1 or 2 for congestion/sickness (stash white christmas ‘cause it combines mint with ginger and is bagged which is ideal when i’m too out of it to be messing with loose leaf, adagio foxtrot, any good moroccan mint)
-some random tea bags for visitors or on-the-go (usually stash or bigelow or sometimes republic of tea, just grocery store stuff)
-big ol’ box of the jumbo-size luzianne tea bags, because i live in memphis so i’m not allowed to make classic sweet tea (as in the kind where you boil down a concentrated tea-and-sugar syrup on the stove first before adding water) without it ;)

I’m so glad you revived this one. I think its fun to see what other’s can’t live without. It gives me all sorts of ideas.

I just reorganized my tea cabinet this week to have a permanent collection so it is still a work in progress. I have 14 tins of tea I absolutely need to have in my tea cabinet, 9 teas that rotate depending on the season, and 1 tin of rock sugar that is a new addition this week. We won’t even get into the crazy amount of samples I’m trying to go through right now trying to find a few more favorites for my permanent tins.

I always have:
Earl Grey – right now it’s Rishi’s Earl Grey Lavender
Jasmine Green – Rishi’s Jasmine Green
Peach – Della Terra’s Mellow Mango Peach and Rishi’s Peach Blossom
Rose – Rishi’s White Tea Rose Melange
Blueberry – Della Terra’s Blueberry Crumble (for pancake Saturday)
Peppermint – Undecided on my favorite yet, but I really like Rishi’s Peppermint Rooibos
Herbal – Rishi’s Serene Dream and serendipiTEA’s Monk’s Mead
Ginger Peach – right now it is Bentley’s White Ginger Peach, but I’m looking for a replacement that is loose leaf. I hate to replace this one, but I can’t find it locally anymore and amazon wants $10+ per tin when they have it. I was only paying $4 locally. I object to the inflated price amazon is charging and am in search of other options.

I’m still deciding on the last few for my can’t live without tins, but they will likely be herbal since I’m trying to cut back on caffeine. I’m trying to find a honeybush for the permanent tins so I’ve ordered a ton of samples to try out.

I’m also still working on rotating my Fall/Winter tea out and my Spring/Summer in. We’ve had a run of really cold weather so I’m behind on this. Who thought it would snow up here the last week of April and I would still be drinking hot tea in May?

you can generally expect to find
Spring/Summer
Rishi’s Sencha Sakura
Rishi’s China Breakfast (awesome for ice tea)
a lot of fruit tisanes for iced tea. I think Adagio’s Raspberry Patch is going in to the rotation this year, I just tried a sample and really liked it. It has so much potential for blending as well, I’m looking forward to playing with it.

I’m also looking for a cherry that doesn’t taste or smell like cough syrup. I’m still searching for this one.

Fall/Winter
a lot of smokey or more earthy teas
Lapsang Souchong always has a place and Pu-erh is a recent addition that is growing on me. I usually have more black tea in the winter, but this year I went mostly with Earl Grey.

My latest addition was Della Terra’s Mother of Pearl and I think I’m falling in love, but it won’t ever be an every day tea for me.

I also have a pretty good assortment of Twinings bagged tea for guests and Lipton for my mother in law (it is the only thing she’ll drink). Not to mention my stash of yogi tea for when I’m sick and don’t want to mess with loose leaf. You can over steep the heck out of many yogi teas and they only get spicier not bitter. Perfect for when you aren’t in the mood to pay attention to your tea.

tea I can’t live without…like the kind that I have to reorder when I have enough for 5 cups because I’m afraid I’ll go through it too fast…

1. S’mores by Della Terra
2. Birthday Cake from DAVIDs
3. Red Velvet Cake from DAVIDs
4. Earl Grey Cream from Vermont Liberty Tea Company
5. My Morning Mate from Teavana
6. a backup bag of whatever my 52teas obsession of the moment is
7. Oatmeal Raisin Cookie from Della Terra
8. Peppermint- right now its Jaclyn’s Cocomint Tea from Simpson and Vail

I think everything else is interchangeable, like if I run out of Buttered Rum, I still have Salted Caramel or things like that.

I am still very new to all these great online tea resources available and I know my essentials will be added to.
So far…
Tower of London Harney & Sons
Mi Xian black Butiki
Monkey picked oolong
Organic Buttered Rum DavidsTea
Moroccan Mint
Several flavors of Red Leaf Matcha! I think I would cry if I ran out.

Adagio’s Earl Grey Moonlight
5-7 various greens (flavored and unflavored)
3-4 chais
2-3 herbals
2 rooibos (one’s a chai)
I’m about to dabble in oolong and I have 3 or 4 varieties being sent

That’s about it, I think.

I’m still relatively new to the loose leaf teas, but there are certain things I like to always have on hand.

1. Sweet Dreams- Bigelow
2. Herbal Unwind: Orange & Cinnamon by Twinings
3. A lemon ginger tea- lately it’s been Stash brand
4. A strong black tea- lately Butiki’s Premium Assam :-)
5. A peppermint tea- I keep that in my stash at work for stomach troubles or when things get chaotic
6. A chai- Right now Butiki’s So Long and Thanks for All the Fish
7. Some sort of fruit blend- often mango, pomegranate, or peach

Must always have:

-Kukicha (any brand, but currently have Arbor Teas)

-Monkey picked white tea – The Tea Spot

-Any unflavored Green (Current fav. is Verdant’s Laoshan Green. I have the autumn harvest and just ordered the Spring one)

-Irish Breakfast Tea (a recently acquired favorite!)

-Pumpkin Creme Brulee – Butiki

-And, finally, a constantly changing random selection of everything else because I need variety too!