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Thanksgiving at mom’s, Day 2, Tea 5.

Darjeeling is one of my favorite styles of black tea, but it’s sometimes hard to find a good one. Lots of it is pretty bland and boring, and then there’s the designer brands’ version that is more experimental blend than anything I am looking for.

Here we go Bigelow. A company known for no nonsense, basic, straight forward teas.

This does not disappoint. Basic, straight forward, nothing extra or out of the ordinary. It’s not trying to be anything it isn’t, it’s just a simple Darjeeling. And a good one at that.

I’ve had good Darjeelings, freaking amazing Darjeelings, weak Darjeelings, and designer Darjeelings.

Where does this one fit in? This is the solid, consistent, well balanced and great tasting boxed Darjeeling. Sure there’s better out there, but I would call this the benchmark for the rest.

Well done, Bigelow.

Vacation continues. Day 2, Tea 4. And old school favorite, one of the first mint teas I ever had back in the day.

It’s been a while, but it’s nice to return to the roots, to bring back the simplicity of an old stand by. Nothing special, no hidden special ingredients, no nonsense, just straight up good mint flavor over a solid and simple tea base.

In a world were everyone seems to be trying to make something out of the ordinary, something that stands apart, something that is different from the rest, it’s nice to find that old school simplicity in the back of the tea cabinet.

Like running into an old friend that reminds you of your roots.

Good stuff. This isn’t necessarily an amazing mint tea. It’s not all that well balanced, and the mint flavor is not all that fresh tasting, it’s a bit bland in general. But I really appreciate the simplicity and the minimalist honesty in this cup.

Day 2, Tea 3 of my adventure in mom’s tea cabinet. Yeah, this one isn’t really a traditional “tea”, but let’s be honest, neither is a lot of stuff on here if we follow that logic to a T.

This one, however, is further off. Made from Gynostemma leaves and a collection of Chinese and Asain extracts. The new age, hippy folks love this stuff, the rest of us are a little skeptical. Then again, it does need to come down to taste.

Here we go:

Gross.

The scent is not bad, slightly sweet, somewhere in the neighborhood of the grass and wet straw hints in green tea.

But then there is the taste. Yeah, no. It has a sort of slimy, oddly bitter taste. Not really for me.

I’m sure if you drink this stuff several times a day for a couple years, you will have a super clean system. Maybe so. The folks in Southern China and Northern Vietnam who drink this stuff their whole lives are very healthy. Of course, there is no proof that that is from this specific plant and not the rest of the natural, healthy lives.

For me, I’ll stick to the proven science behind straight up Camellia sinensis.

Thanksgiving at mom’s continues. Day 2, tea 2, Tetley’s English Blend.

Not really sure what English Blend means. Blend is easy, it’s a blend of teas from different places. Now for the English? Is it an English Breakfast? Just an English? What exactly is an “English” tea? Hmm..

Well, for starters, this is much better than I thought it was going to be. I love the simplicity. Much like the Bigelow teas, this is a solid, simple, straight up tea with no gimicks, no extra flavors, it’ not trying to be something it doesn’t need to be. Unlike the Stash and Tazo teas I’ve had the last couple of days that take the idea of a certain type of tea and then add all kinds of crap and flavor to make it “better”, only in the end they ruin the base of the tea itself.

I really like this Tetley stuff. Simple, old school, no gimicks, just straight up really good English Tea. I would buy this 100 times before teas like Stash and Tazo and any other modern, hip, “new” tea blends.

Wonderful.

Another day at mom’s, another trip through her tea cabinet. First up: Stash English Breakfast.

This is a great breakfast tea, even with Stash Tea Company’s signature taste. It works well in the English Breakfast blend, and makes it taste like a slightly overspiced, but well done, English Breakfast.

It is very well balanced, however, and I still get a good taste of each element, from the black tea base, to the essentials of an English Breakfast, with just a hint of Stash’s signature taste.

For a boxed, bagged English Breakfast tea, this one isn’t quite up to the standard in simple English Breakfast teas, Bigelow. It’s almost like Stash worked too hard to make it taste like a Stash tea. It’s still very good, no doubt.

More from mom’s tea cabinet. She’s a big fan of fruit tea blends. Here’s another one.

This one I like better. The orange fits better with the tea base. The orange is still soothing and prominent, but the tea base is still in the mix. Pretty good balance.

I would like it to be a little less spiced, but it is what it is. Good orange taste, too spicy, could use more tea base taste.

The Thanksgiving tea marathon continues. The next find in mom’s cabinet. I would normally never buy fruit tea blend, but it’s a holiday, so I might as well try something new.

Smells good. I do like fruit, and juice, and peach. So I should like this, yeah?

Of course it’s good. The peach flavor is nice and crisp and clean. And if that’s what you’re looking for, this is great. We can argue all day whether this is “tea” or not, but in the end, it’s just a good sipping peach flavored tea blend.

I would like the tea base to shine through a little more. But that’s me. I’m a stubborn tea snob. ;)

Next in line from mom’s tea cabinet. I’ve had this one before, it’s a decent, solid green tea blend. I’m normally not a huge fan of blends, but this one is OK. Hints of grass and wet straw almost overwhelm the green tea flavor, but it’s still a good mix. Nice and tasty.

And, as the name intends, it is certainly quite soothing. Zen indeed.

More interesting finds from my moms tea cabinet. She said this is close to a chai tea. Sort of. It’s really more of a strong Spiced tea. And when I say strong, I mean the scent alone cleared my sinuses.

I’m actually not a huge fan of spiced teas, but this one I like for some reason. Still, the spice flavor overwhelms the tea base. But I guess that’s what a spiced tea is supposed to be.

In that case, this is an amazing Spiced Tea. I’m just not a spiced tea fan.

Thanksgiving means a trip up to moms house, and rummaging through her tea collection. This is a pretty good Earl Grey tea. Really good, as far as boxed, bagged, tea goes. Full of flavor, nice balance, and an interesting hint of something I can’t place. I like it!