78

Yes, I’m still alive. Since May I’ve been very preoccupied with first-time homebuyer stuff, and am working on trying to close on a house at the end of this month and the stress of packing up my home. At present, the vast majority of my tea collection is in boxes (I’ve only left some of the samplers/boxed tea currently unpacked, and have mostly been drinking iced tea trying to clear some of that out before it gets added to my last massive tea box). I’ve also felt quite stressed because back in June my job basically backed me into a corner to pull my FMLA rights away from me, and things have been going quite slowly with the DoL trying to get those rights reinstated, so I’ve been having to work through all my chronic migraine attacks. This gal is exhausted. But next week I’m going to Portland for the PDX Tea Fes! Honestly at this point, I’m more excited for some days to not be dealing with the house stuff and work than the tea. Sad, but true.

Anyway, I’m down to my last three servings of this one. It’s an old flavored rooibos I got from Snake River Tea in Boise, and it’s wholesaled from International Tea Importers. The dry leaf has a strong creamsicle aroma. The steeped tea is a deep red-orange and has a strong stonefruit and sweet vanilla fragrance. The base is slightly brassy/woody, but mostly the flavor is strongly orange, leaving a citrusy tanginess on the tongue; like most orange flavors it does come off to me a touch artificial, but not enough that I’m finding it bothersome, especially compared to other orange-flavored teas I’ve tried. It actually pairs pretty nicely with the noticable sweet vanilla flavor, which lingers in the aftertaste. I also can taste just a hint of a peachy/stonefruit note in the tea, which also may be helping balance and take the edge off of the artificiality of the orange flavoring. Overall, the balance is actually really good in this one, and I’m surprised that the flavor has held up so well since this is one of my older teas. It has a nice creamsicle taste, with a slightly more tangy/fruity hit before the sweetness of the finish kicks in.

Flavors: Artificial, Orange, Peach, Smooth, Stonefruit, Sweet, Vanilla, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML
tea-sipper

Congrats on buying your first house! Sorry about the job pain and I hope the tea fest goes well for you.

Mastress Alita

Ya, I’m really looking forward to it, now. The home-buying experience has been exhausting, and the Department of Labor has been very slow with my complaint (probably because my employer didn’t leave anything in writing I could use to support myself, it was all done verbally, so if you just have “your word” that doesn’t look so great to get some negotiations in there…) I’m now quite happy to be off to the Oregon Coast/Portland for a week. The vendor line-up for the tea festival is a good one [https://www.teafestpdx.com/vendors], and me and my friend Todd signed up for three panels: a discussion of pu-erh, tea blending and tasting demo, and tea, tourism, and social change.

tea-sipper

The tea fest sounds amazing. I recognize a few vendors, including JusTea. They sent me some samples when they first started!

LuckyMe

Glad to see you back on Steepster. Hope the home purchase goes smoothly…it was a nerve wrecking process for me as well. The real fun though begins after closing when you have to clean, maintain, and fix the darn thing. Such are the joys of homeownership, but worth it to have a place to call your own :-)

Kittenna

Congrats about the house! Seems to be a current trend with people I know. I’m looking forward to some commentary on the tea festival when you return!

Mastress Alita

Thanks! I’ll try to remember to take some good notes of my tea-capades around the Oregon Coast and Portland!

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Comments

tea-sipper

Congrats on buying your first house! Sorry about the job pain and I hope the tea fest goes well for you.

Mastress Alita

Ya, I’m really looking forward to it, now. The home-buying experience has been exhausting, and the Department of Labor has been very slow with my complaint (probably because my employer didn’t leave anything in writing I could use to support myself, it was all done verbally, so if you just have “your word” that doesn’t look so great to get some negotiations in there…) I’m now quite happy to be off to the Oregon Coast/Portland for a week. The vendor line-up for the tea festival is a good one [https://www.teafestpdx.com/vendors], and me and my friend Todd signed up for three panels: a discussion of pu-erh, tea blending and tasting demo, and tea, tourism, and social change.

tea-sipper

The tea fest sounds amazing. I recognize a few vendors, including JusTea. They sent me some samples when they first started!

LuckyMe

Glad to see you back on Steepster. Hope the home purchase goes smoothly…it was a nerve wrecking process for me as well. The real fun though begins after closing when you have to clean, maintain, and fix the darn thing. Such are the joys of homeownership, but worth it to have a place to call your own :-)

Kittenna

Congrats about the house! Seems to be a current trend with people I know. I’m looking forward to some commentary on the tea festival when you return!

Mastress Alita

Thanks! I’ll try to remember to take some good notes of my tea-capades around the Oregon Coast and Portland!

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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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