90

I’m a bit behind in my advent teas, as this is today’s tea, and I haven’t done write-ups for the last two… but I’ve been working on sipdowns to keep my inventory under control and today I finished off the packets for Days 1-3 (plus the 2017 packet of Day 4). And obviously hording tea is a major problem for me, because I also had a packet of this tea from 2017 that was unopened… a 50g one. So ya… better work on that before breaking into the newer one. Hopefully it will be okay, but I do worry that the sunflower seeds may have soured, I know nuts and seeds can have the same issues as coconut (though aren’t quite as awful as coconut tends to be).

I made a two-cup pot with a generous teabag in it and left it steeping while giving the cat her after-work run-down. It’s a beautiful red color and smells divine; it smells very nutty, and I do get a very sweet chocolate-covered strawberry aroma as well. I love strawberries in Nutella and I definitely can get that from the smell. The flavor is also quite nice; the strawberry has a nice, juicy, berry quality, when many strawberry teas taste more like strawberry candy to me. There is a cocoa note, but it is more of a subtle dark chocolate that comes out toward the end of the sip and blends nicely with the nutty quality of the tea. I’m not sure if I taste hazelnut, exactly, but I definitely taste nuts, and chocolate, so I think because I eat so much Nutella my brain tends to go with hazelnut… but it has almost a lighter, peanut sort of quality, as well. It’s pleasant either way. I’m happy this tea has held up so wonderfully despite the age, and that I happen to have such a large bag because I am foreseeing many happy nighttime cups. It is simply lovely!

Flavors: Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Hazelnut, Nuts, Nutty, Peanut, Strawberry, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML
52Teas

Just a note – there are no sunflower seeds in the newest reblend.

tea-sipper

This one beat out PEACHY KEEN?!? I liked this blend before… but it’s lightyears away from Peachy Keen.

52Teas

Sorry @tea-sipper – I like peachy keen but it didn’t do well in the poll at all. :(

tea-sipper

haha, it’s okay Anne. It’s just if more people had TRIED Peachy Keen, they would know the magic that is Peachy Keen. :D

52Teas

sigh I agree! But then, I think that about ALL of my teas … including this one.

tea-sipper

I can imagine. Well, one solution would be to have a tiny bit more supply of some teas? I know you say you don’t have the room to stock them, but it seems like teas sometimes sell quickly…

52Teas

Of course – but, how do I predict which will sell and which do not? I have inaccurately attempted to predict which would and would not predict all too often with disappointing results. In fact, some of the teas that made it to the top of the polls this year happened to be teas that I had to sell on clearance at some point because they didn’t sell out quickly and I needed to liquidate them. So there’s that.

52Teas

And – Peachy Keen … just so happened to be one of those teas! It was a tea that didn’t come out the way I expected it to so I tweaked it and it became something different from its original intention. As a result, I ended up having a bunch of it and had to sell it at a deep discount.

tea-sipper

hmm.. it’s odd clearance teas also become poll winners so I can see why it’s tough for you to guess what will sell better. I liked the mistakes, whatever they were on peachy keen. :D

Todd

Some extra of this got made for advent, and I was really pleased when Sara mentioned there was some for sale! I bought two packets right away, and I’m finishing a cup right now.

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Comments

52Teas

Just a note – there are no sunflower seeds in the newest reblend.

tea-sipper

This one beat out PEACHY KEEN?!? I liked this blend before… but it’s lightyears away from Peachy Keen.

52Teas

Sorry @tea-sipper – I like peachy keen but it didn’t do well in the poll at all. :(

tea-sipper

haha, it’s okay Anne. It’s just if more people had TRIED Peachy Keen, they would know the magic that is Peachy Keen. :D

52Teas

sigh I agree! But then, I think that about ALL of my teas … including this one.

tea-sipper

I can imagine. Well, one solution would be to have a tiny bit more supply of some teas? I know you say you don’t have the room to stock them, but it seems like teas sometimes sell quickly…

52Teas

Of course – but, how do I predict which will sell and which do not? I have inaccurately attempted to predict which would and would not predict all too often with disappointing results. In fact, some of the teas that made it to the top of the polls this year happened to be teas that I had to sell on clearance at some point because they didn’t sell out quickly and I needed to liquidate them. So there’s that.

52Teas

And – Peachy Keen … just so happened to be one of those teas! It was a tea that didn’t come out the way I expected it to so I tweaked it and it became something different from its original intention. As a result, I ended up having a bunch of it and had to sell it at a deep discount.

tea-sipper

hmm.. it’s odd clearance teas also become poll winners so I can see why it’s tough for you to guess what will sell better. I liked the mistakes, whatever they were on peachy keen. :D

Todd

Some extra of this got made for advent, and I was really pleased when Sara mentioned there was some for sale! I bought two packets right away, and I’m finishing a cup right now.

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Profile

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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