March Sipdown Madness
In my brackets, this tea was paired off against Kusmi’s White Anastasia.
This was actually my first time trying this tea, and based on the dry leaf aroma I had very high expectations for it. Despite an ingredient list featuring a lot of things that I’m not a fan of, the aroma of this tea is pure, robust and sweet wintergreen extract. Like, it goes HARD on the wintergreen. That seemed right up my alley!
Unfortunately, steeped the intensity just doesn’t match the dry leaf aroma. I could probably sit and smell the dry leaf for hours without tiring of it, but the steeped tea is just fine. Certainly not unpleasant, and most of those touchier (for me) ingredients don’t come out in the taste which is a relief. Just not nearly the punch of wintergreen I had anticipated. Not close.
Ultimately, I picked White Anastasia as the winner.
Comments
This is one of my favorite teas. I just get “rootbeer” from it; must be the mix of cherry bark/sarsaparilla/wintergreen. I recently sipped down my stash just because I’d rather restock fresher, but it was an enjoyable few months of evening cuppas.
I’m not all that familiar with Tea Runners. Do they blend this themselves? I ask because I was under the impression that it was a Montana Tea & Spice (in Missoula, MT) creation. It’s sold EVERYWHERE here under the MT Tea & Spice name but it wouldn’t really surprise me if they were trying to claim credit for someone else’s blend, honestly. Other MT Tea & Spice teas I’ve had are seriously underwhelming but people here rave about them because it’s a local company.
TeaRunners are out of Portland and wholesale tea from several different sources. TeaSource sells Evening in Missoula as well (which is where I get it) and they are out of Missouri. Considering Montana Tea & Spice has a pay-by-the-pound retail catalog on their website (and I don’t see anything else) that seems to indicate they are a wholesale supplier (that is, they sell their tea blend to other tea businesses/companies, who may resell in their own packaging, price points, and even rename the blends) which is very common in the tea industry.
Thanks, Mastress Alita. I get confused about the origins of some teas with the giant wholesalers and companies putting their own brand name on things.
This is one of my favorite teas. I just get “rootbeer” from it; must be the mix of cherry bark/sarsaparilla/wintergreen. I recently sipped down my stash just because I’d rather restock fresher, but it was an enjoyable few months of evening cuppas.
I’m not all that familiar with Tea Runners. Do they blend this themselves? I ask because I was under the impression that it was a Montana Tea & Spice (in Missoula, MT) creation. It’s sold EVERYWHERE here under the MT Tea & Spice name but it wouldn’t really surprise me if they were trying to claim credit for someone else’s blend, honestly. Other MT Tea & Spice teas I’ve had are seriously underwhelming but people here rave about them because it’s a local company.
TeaRunners are out of Portland and wholesale tea from several different sources. TeaSource sells Evening in Missoula as well (which is where I get it) and they are out of Missouri. Considering Montana Tea & Spice has a pay-by-the-pound retail catalog on their website (and I don’t see anything else) that seems to indicate they are a wholesale supplier (that is, they sell their tea blend to other tea businesses/companies, who may resell in their own packaging, price points, and even rename the blends) which is very common in the tea industry.
Thanks, Mastress Alita. I get confused about the origins of some teas with the giant wholesalers and companies putting their own brand name on things.
I do too! It could also be that all three of those are getting the blend from yet another source… it can be hard to tell sometimes!