drank Irish Breakfast by Custom
226 tasting notes

I bought this from my favorite café in all of Baton Rouge when I was down visiting this summer… and I have no idea from where they source their tea. Sorry, unknown company!

I’m reviewing this but not rating because I had a rather different experience this time, because of an experiment I decided to try. A bit of explanation first: my sister came to stay for a couple of days, and while she was here she expressed an interest in having some flavored coffee. Not wanting to see her spend $$ at Starbuck’s (or, as Dave Ramsay calls them, Five Bucks), I agreed to pick up some flavored coffee creamer at the store we were headed to. She flew home yesterday, and now we have an enormous bottle of flavored coffee creamer (something we don’t normally keep stocked). So I was looking at it this morning and decided to try some in tea—specifically, this tea, since I thought it likely that the flavor would be strong enough to not be overpowered by the French Vanilla flavor. And I think I like the result.

It definitely has a different mouthfeel than normal (I discovered that the creamer my sister selected was non-dairy, which I would probably have objected to had I known, but it wasn’t marked very clearly on the bottle, and it was in the refrigerated section…). It’s a bit oily, surprise surprise, but I don’t find it unpleasant. The flavor is definitely on the astringent side, because again, the creamer was non-dairy, so there was nothing to cut the bitterness. However, the creamer did add some sweetness and smoothness that isn’t normally there, so one could almost call it a fair trade. I enjoyed it, and will probably do it again. :)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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I very clearly remember my first experience with tea. It was in a Target near my house, and my best friend handed me a cup of chai from the Starbucks inside the store and said, “Try this.” I believe I was about 12 at the time, and from then on, I was completely hooked.

Anyway, as my increasingly weirded out family will tell you, my obsession with tea has (almost) steadily escalated since then. I discovered the world of tea slowly, first with just chai, and then with bagged teas I could get from supermarkets and specialty stores, and then with loose leaf teas. I mostly shop for tea at Teavana, but I also patronize other local shops that I’ve discovered within the last couple of years. I’ve ordered a smattering of teas from a few online places, but I’m always leery of buying tea online, since most of how I select teas in person is by smell… unless I’m at The English Tea Room.

My favorite types of tea are blacks and flavored blacks. And oolongs. Right underneath that are rooiboses and whites, and then greens and herbals, and then mates. I’m always looking for a new favorite, but I appreciate rediscovering old favorites. I like to blend teas, but I never store them that way, mostly because I like to leave myself options.

I prefer nutty/sweet/rich teas to fruity/light-flavored teas or bold/full-bodied teas, but I do try to drink some of everything to widen my palate. I’m always willing to try any tea at least once (except this one tea that Teavana mercifully discontinued… the loose leaf smelled like cheese, I swear). I do perhaps rate teas a little leniently… because I’m not very picky. I will try a tea at least three times before I pronounce that I hate it, and I will always focus on the good aspects of a tea rather than the bad. That’s just how I roll. :3

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Colorado, USA

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