72
drank Ginger Spice by T2
1216 tasting notes

Happy Grandparent’s Day! Today the prompt is to drink a tea that reminds you of a grandparent.

While none of my nuclear family are tea drinkers, both of my grandmothers drank tea. My grandmother who passed in 2020 was a firm English/Irish Breakfast drinker. As a child I strongly associated the smell of black breakfast blends as being the “smell of tea” and still remember it fondly when I drink one of those teas.

My other grandmother (still alive, but in a care facility with severe Alzheimers/Dementia) was a fan of Orange Spice tea. I don’t have any teas specifically branding as orange spice blends in my stash, but this particular chai is very heavy on orange peel, making it more of an orange spice tea in my eyes. Brewed up a pot to drink during K-drama watching with Todd.

Has a nice aroma of vanilla cream, clove, and ginger. The citrus comes out on the sip more than the nose. It’s not as strong of a note as a proper orange spice tea would be, but there is an undertone of tart and pithy orange, a strong mix of clove and vanilla mid-sip, and a warming sensation of ginger against the back of my throat at the end of the sip. The ginger is strong with this one; normally I prepare this tea as a latte to take some of the heat off, but in the spirit of making it closer to the Orange Spice I remember drinking with my grandma, I am taking it plain today. I have a mild headache and the ginger feels nice on my head and stomach, despite being a little warmer than I tend to prefer.

Flavors: Clove, Cream, Ginger, Orange Zest, Spices, Spicy, Tangy, Vanilla

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML
gmathis

I’m loving the grandparent stories your prompt has prompted! I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off yesterday, so I missed the opportunity to sip on time, but when I do, it’ll be Pappy’s Sassafrass (or whatever they call it now) in honor of Grandpa Jenkins. He drank his real-from-the bark version from a disreputable old Rubbermaid tumbler while he sat on the front porch watching the squirrels and the neighborhood kids skitter by.

Mastress Alita

What a nice memory!

Todd

Oh, I like Ginger Spice. Pappy’s Sassafrass sounds good too! I have vague memories of my grandparents, but I don’t remember what they liked to drink.

gmathis

I guess Ozark Mountain terminology has fallen out of favor … the brand name has changed to Ancient Infusions now. It’s a concentrate that’s lovely on its own or fun to mix with other fruit teas.

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Comments

gmathis

I’m loving the grandparent stories your prompt has prompted! I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off yesterday, so I missed the opportunity to sip on time, but when I do, it’ll be Pappy’s Sassafrass (or whatever they call it now) in honor of Grandpa Jenkins. He drank his real-from-the bark version from a disreputable old Rubbermaid tumbler while he sat on the front porch watching the squirrels and the neighborhood kids skitter by.

Mastress Alita

What a nice memory!

Todd

Oh, I like Ginger Spice. Pappy’s Sassafrass sounds good too! I have vague memories of my grandparents, but I don’t remember what they liked to drink.

gmathis

I guess Ozark Mountain terminology has fallen out of favor … the brand name has changed to Ancient Infusions now. It’s a concentrate that’s lovely on its own or fun to mix with other fruit teas.

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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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