53

So, I had a Mason jar of iced tea in my fridge, and couldn’t remember for the life of me what I had actually made. With my migraines memory loss is a persistent problem. I could tell from looking at the jar it was a black tea, and sniffing the tea, it smelled a bit like berries, particularly it sort of had a grapey aroma or black currant, but I definitely didn’t remember making my Black Currant Black iced, something I keep telling myself I should do. Finally I started looking back through my massive tea catalogue Excel file hoping a name would jog my memory… but that actually worked. Wanting to get more boxes of bagged tea out of my cupboards that I hardly ever drink, I decided to make an iced tea batch of some bagged Lipton I had been gifted ages ago by a former volunteer in my department of the library.

Oh boy, bagged Lipton… and this one is discontinued now, too.

I will say I was pleasantly surprised that it was in a sachet, not the stinky paper bags that I usually have to cut open when dealing with bagged teas because I will actually taste the paper otherwise, and it actually did smell… nice? There was a really pleasant fruity scent from the tea, and there still is with this finished ice batch, and that is probably why I would never have guessed that I had a Mason jar of Lipton tea sitting in my fridge.

It… tastes okay, I guess? Mostly, it just still tastes a bit weak to me, so if anything, I still think the base of the tea is the main problem. I used a teabag per cup of water (4 bags per 4 cups of the quart) but it just feels a little dull. That said, it isn’t unbarably bitter either, which is my usual response to bagged Lipton, so there is that. It’s actually drinkable, and does have a fruity note, it just isn’t nearly as pronounced in the actual tea as I’m getting from the aroma. It’s more like a muted berry flavor than any particular fruity flavors… where is the strawberry I was smelling? Or the grape? Or the black currant? Amazing how lackluster it all turns in the glass. But the best by date on this was April 2018, so maybe age has something to do with it, too.

Ah well, I still want to sip this down (really need to free up the space from these old gifted bagged teas…), so I still need to try this warm, and next time I make another batch of this iced, I’ll try overleafing it a smidge and seeing if that helps.

Surprisingly drinkable for a Lipton, and probably being fuller leaf in sachets has a lot to do with that.

Flavors: Berries, Malt

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec 4 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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