Charleston Tea Plantation

For the sipdown prompt, “a tea from a US company.” Prepared cold brew.

This last Tuesday, I held a presentation at the library where I work as part of our adult Summer Reading program line-up on U.S.-grown tea. Hopefully over the next several days I’ll manage to finally get down my thoughts on each of the four teas that I covered and provided as samples to the attendees. This was the green tea from the line-up, and the only one of the four that was offered cold brewed during the presentation.

Both the cold brew I’m currently drinking in my water bottle and the cold brew that was prepared for the presentation on Tuesday used a 3 teabag per liter ratio, though the tea made for the presentation had a very precise 8 hour steep (teabags went in at beginning of shift, out at end of shift) and what I’m drinking now cold brewed a bit longer in the fridge. On Tuesday, I found the tea slightly bracing with more of a gunpowder/hyson sort of flavor profile, that dry grass/hay mixed with smoke note. This longer steeped cold brew is instead very rich in grassy and vegetal green notes. Wet, squishy green grass and mixed asparagus/spinach. Still a little bracing on the aftertaste.

Not my favorite green, but honestly not that bag for teabag green, where I’ve had a lot worse than this. While I don’t typically sweeten my cold brew, this one may be a candidate since I’m not using much leaf and it’s still coming off a little stronger and more biting than I prefer my greens.

A friend from postcrossing sent me this tea among a New Year card (received much earlier)! Thank you Benjamin from South Carolina, USA!

I needed to wake up call after another passed exam and for studying for another exam. It’s hard to have all of them so close to each other, but now only 4 are remaining, and three weeks of exam period. Luckily, at least two of them will be in summer term too; so I don’t have to worry that much about those two. But, naturally I would like to pass them all in time.

Anyway to the tea…
It’s very nice that they have used pyramid sachet, but they should know a better quality tea can be there… it’s mostly dust and fannings, which made me a bit sad.

The aroma was very nice, autumn leaf pile and barnyard, that typical for black teas, enjoyable and I knew it is going to be strong and hopefully tasty tea. Hmm. It seems it wasn’t delivered well into taste as I got, instead of baked bread, typical black tea tannic taste. It actually tasted like an quite cheap tea, somewhere between Lipton Yellow label and Twinings basic black teas.

What a shame it isn’t more complex; although it has been fun to try US produced tea, which lacks depth, but isn’t that bad as I was a bit afraid of! I can understand being it produced for sweet part of market, for people who are drinking tea only with sugar added and/or milk. For that, I reckon it will be a delicious and better than Lipton. But on its own… it’s 66. Above average, but just a tiny bit.

Song pairing (to write a note):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_0pQTEhj8A

This is a semi-regular breakfast tea for me. It’s a little on the lighter side, not as robust as some of my other choices, but good for a slow. leisurely wake up.

The tea was decent for tea grown in the US, but I didn’t like how the taste was overpowered by raspberry. I like to actually be able to taste the tea leaves. I think people who don’t like traditional teas as much and prefer strong fruity or berry flavors might like this tea , but it was a bit too strong for me.

Plantation peach tea
Smelled like peach. Taste lingers. Not much of a big fan of peach. But if you don’t mind peaches the tea is quite peachy.

The smell of tea leaves is quite pleasant. The color is caramel looking. Overall the tea in a way is sweet like raspberry but subtle. I really enjoyed it. I’d recommend 10/10.

I really enjoyed this tea. I love peach flavored things but a lot of places make the peach too sweet, too strong, or too fake. This tea does a really good job of giving a real peach flavor without overwhelming you with peach. I also enjoyed it hot which I wasn’t expecting because I usually like iced peach tea.

This tea is absolutely wonderful. The taste is exactly like a fresh raspberry and is extremely refreshing. It has a fruity refreshing taste without being too sweet or too bitter which is why I really enjoy it.

This first time a had this tea was during an afternoon tea outing on a brisk Winter afternoon, and it was the perfect juxtaposition to the chilly weather. I had it more recently during our tea tasting in class and had the opportunity to prepare it for everyone. It’s so much more enjoyable to be able to take the time to boil the water to just the right temperature for you, to fill the bowl of the teapot so that the bottom is covered with the beautiful dry leaves, and then after brewing you get to see how they have transformed and swelled with water.
The fragrance of this tea is a great enhancement and adds a moreish quality, the flavor is deep and earthy with more of a raspberry aftertaste. In fact, the lingering aftertaste is my favorite part.

I really enjoyed the raspberry taste. It wasn’t too bitter for me, which is a big thing for me when deciding if I like a tea or not.

Another basic green tea. No intense or complex notes just vaguely green and vegetal. There wasn’t a lasting mouthfeel either which makes me wonder about quality. There were no “island” notes nor did I find any hay or lasting bitter greeness.

This was a solid black tea I love english breakfast while studying and it has beautiful notes of caramel and dark full-bodied mouthfeel.

I didn’t like this one either, the tea flavor didn’t last in your mouth but the artificial peach flavor did.

We tried this in class, it was okay I am just not a fan of fruity teas.

Very Peachy!

A solid English style black tea. Brewed a large pot in the Western style, and enjoyed the taste without cream or sugar. Definitely worth checking out for casual drinking or for less sophisticated tastes.

When things say island it elicits the thoughts of tropical fruits, beaches, the ocean etc. Nothing about this tea shouts island to me besides the fact that it was made on an island. I honestly find it a bit bland. Greenish should at least have some grassy flavors but this… maybe some hay?

Mmm, this is delicious! The base tea has a rich, bready flavor that mixes perfectly with the pop of sweet, juicy peach. Not sure what the difference is, but the loose leaf version is SO MUCH better than the bagged one.

I made myself a cup of this like an hour ago and completely forgot I was steeping it for a solid chunk of time and was expecting it to taste awful. I quick took it out of my Ingenuitea and it was fine… I’m convinced its impossible to oversteep this tea!

The black base definitely shines through a little more than usual and the raspberry becomes more of an undertone but it’s still a nice cuppa.

Always a favorite. I think I didn’t steep it for long enough this round but it’s still wonderful as always.

This one will probably always be a favorite. I generally like it iced but this morning I needed something cozy to keep me awake. I’m getting towards the bottom of the tin and the raspberry flavor is not as strong as it once was.

I think this is my favorite flavored black. The raspberry notes are strong and it makes for a great hot tea and a great iced tea.