100

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challengeSunday, January 24th: National Compliment Day Tea #1

Additional notes: Now this is the ULTIMATE of sad sipdowns.  I feel like I should have a funeral for this tea.  This was the perfect day in the dead of winter to really work on some favorite teas I’m clinging to.  So I looked at my Steepster cupboard, sorted by my rating, and picked some of the oldest teas around here that also just happened to be the best teas ever.   I doubt even Mastress Alita could find the source of this tea.  No list of ingredients on my Steepster Select package other than to say Company: Special Teas Etc and the Origin: Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. It also doesn’t help that a few companies were called ‘Special Teas’. Maybe I should try the Earls from the most obvious sources, that many tea companies source their teas from.  I’m not really remembering what the common sources of teas are, at the moment…  Anyway, this is the best Earl to the end and I will miss it the most.  It was time! 100 rating even while this old!
2021 sipdowns: 10

Lexie Aleah

Someone on Steepster mentioned this one in one of the other notes for this tea. Not sure if they mean’t it was the same tea or just named after the other one. https://tiestatea.com/products/earl-grey-de-la-creme?variant=4348273229851

Lexie Aleah

The second one looks like a match

tea-sipper

OH, good catch, Lexie Aleah. I actually have the Tiesta (probably because the name is the same). And it’s hard to tell if it’s the same tea. Especially different harvests after all these years. It’s very similar and probably my new favorite Earl.
The Culinary – I didn’t see that one yet. I wish I knew where their teas were sourced from.

tea-sipper

Actually Culinary might be sourced from English Tea Store and I don’t think English Tea Store’s Earl compares. But I know that many companies had to move to more natural bergamot these days so it might just be what I have to live with now.

Lexie Aleah

If I remember right Culinary Tea’s sources their teas from different places?

tea-sipper

Yeah, there are so many teas at Culinary it’s probably different sources. I’ll have to order some one day! ONE DAY. haha

tea-sipper

I just found this one too. I wonder where they source from: https://camellia-sinensis.com/en/earl-grey-cream/2212

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Lexie Aleah

Someone on Steepster mentioned this one in one of the other notes for this tea. Not sure if they mean’t it was the same tea or just named after the other one. https://tiestatea.com/products/earl-grey-de-la-creme?variant=4348273229851

Lexie Aleah

The second one looks like a match

tea-sipper

OH, good catch, Lexie Aleah. I actually have the Tiesta (probably because the name is the same). And it’s hard to tell if it’s the same tea. Especially different harvests after all these years. It’s very similar and probably my new favorite Earl.
The Culinary – I didn’t see that one yet. I wish I knew where their teas were sourced from.

tea-sipper

Actually Culinary might be sourced from English Tea Store and I don’t think English Tea Store’s Earl compares. But I know that many companies had to move to more natural bergamot these days so it might just be what I have to live with now.

Lexie Aleah

If I remember right Culinary Tea’s sources their teas from different places?

tea-sipper

Yeah, there are so many teas at Culinary it’s probably different sources. I’ll have to order some one day! ONE DAY. haha

tea-sipper

I just found this one too. I wonder where they source from: https://camellia-sinensis.com/en/earl-grey-cream/2212

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Bio

Hi! I love tea and trying new ones – it adds a bit of variety to my day! Books, music, TV & movies are my thing… and tea, of course.

Some of my favorite tea shops (still operating):
birdandblendtea.com
teavivre.com
52teas.com
svtea.com
whisperingpinestea.com
justea.com
harney.com
Dammann Freres
fusionteas.com
Javateaco.com
Lupicia
Octaviatea.com
Davidstea
eco-cha.com
what-cha.com
singleoriginteas.com
teasenz.com
tealyra.com
Mandala
verdanttea.com

Favorite tea shops (RIP):
butikiteas.com
steapshoppe.com
steepcityteas.com
aquartertotea.com
dellaterrateas.com
zentealife.com
angrytearoom.com
theteamerchant.net
joysteaspoon.com
tealiciousllc.com
Rivertea
Specialteas

My icon photo is Richard Mayhew from the graphic novel ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry.

Most of the teas listed in my cupboard are actually sample sizes. I don’t really have 2,000 ounces of tea around here! Many of my teas have only one teaspoon left… maybe two. But I like keeping them in my cupboard list for reference to what I could be sipping. Usually, I write tasting notes once for each tea. I’m still drinking them, just not writing tasting notes each time!

I’m always in search of: Hattialli, Qu Hao black, Jin Jun Mei, teas using marshmallow root.

My dislikes: hibiscus, ginger (unless in chai), turmeric, bee pollen, charcoal type flavors

My ratings:
95-100 – Super awesome deliciousness favorites – cupboard essential
80-95 – Also pretty delicious
65-80 – Pretty good
50-65 – Okay
1-50 – Probably won’t want to sip it again

I’m planning on being a Steepsterer as long as there IS a Steepster, so if you’re not hearing from me, that means something happened to my health… if you know what I mean. (Or as evidenced by the great computer hiatus of 2019, something happened to my computer… I have a dumb phone so can’t access internet on that. As of 12/20/21 my wifi might start getting unreliable.)

Happy sipping!

Location

USA

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