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Sampler Sunday! I got these sampler teabags from a very nice volunteer in my department at the library, who remembered that I love lavender in my tea. Since today is a very grey morning, and my mood has been rather grey lately, it seemed the right time to make a teapot of lavender Earl Grey this morning. Finally drove my car to its utter death trying to “get by” with it waiting until my family would be coming back to state to deal with all the business involved with getting my grandmother into longterm care, at which point I can purchase her vehicle, the funds of which would go directly to her longterm care. But it didn’t make it… so I’m without a car at all for another week. Since it was totally dead, I only managed to get $200 for it after I’d put $1100 into repairs on it. Sad.

I gave the tea my typical brief CTC steep, though pushed it slightly longer (2 minutes) just because I wanted to make sure the lavender notes would come through. There is certainly a lovely lavender aroma wafting from the teapot… mmm. I’m also getting some lemony notes in the aroma. The tea doesn’t really hold a candle to my favorite Lavender Earl Grey from Angry Tea Room, but for a bagged tea, Twinings of London is still holding out on top for me. The bergamot is perhaps just a touch heavier than I tend to prefer but not as overbearing as most bagged Earl Greys which is why I typically avoid them; it tastes a bit on the citrusy lemon side, and there is a noticable lavender note that blends well with the bergamot because of that lemon note, and is soft and relaxing. The base tea is quite smooth, perhaps because I steeped this so briefly, so I don’t have any bitter or astringent notes in my cup. The base is a mellow malt allowing the flavors to take precidence.

This can’t really replace the loose lavender Earl Grey I keep in my cupboard, but if I found this in a restaurant or needed some cheap teabags for travel, I’d gladly take this along.

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Floral, Lavender, Lemon, Malt, Smooth

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
tea-sipper

That angry tea room lavender EG IS really good. I’m so sorry about your grandma and your car.

Mastress Alita

Thanks. Sadly because of weather and my aunt coming down terribly ill my dad had to cancel his trip, so the hits just keep coming. I’m uncertain at this point if there is any way I’ll be able to get my grandmother’s car, which is stuck out of state, and I need family to get to it since moving it will require a second driver… sigh. Right now I’ve been stuck for a week with no transportation at all, in a small town that offers no real public transportation alternatives, and it’s really starting to wear me down, and that’s just on top of the stress and grief of my grandma’s health. Feels like we just can’t catch a break at all.

tea-sipper

Ah, terrible. I know all about middle-of-nowhere “transportation”. Hopefully something works out soon.

tea-sipper

Hope you’re doing okay.

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tea-sipper

That angry tea room lavender EG IS really good. I’m so sorry about your grandma and your car.

Mastress Alita

Thanks. Sadly because of weather and my aunt coming down terribly ill my dad had to cancel his trip, so the hits just keep coming. I’m uncertain at this point if there is any way I’ll be able to get my grandmother’s car, which is stuck out of state, and I need family to get to it since moving it will require a second driver… sigh. Right now I’ve been stuck for a week with no transportation at all, in a small town that offers no real public transportation alternatives, and it’s really starting to wear me down, and that’s just on top of the stress and grief of my grandma’s health. Feels like we just can’t catch a break at all.

tea-sipper

Ah, terrible. I know all about middle-of-nowhere “transportation”. Hopefully something works out soon.

tea-sipper

Hope you’re doing okay.

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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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