comparing tea varieties

[redbird]

We recently ordered one ounce each of three kinds of loose Assam tea, and a quarter pound of vanilla tea from Porto Rico, in order to get a mostly-coffee order up to the minimum for free shipping.

So I am comparing the teas, not at all systematically, So far, I liked the first one I tried with milk and sugar, enough that I want to taste it black (that's their Assam TGFOP). The Assam koilamari I just drank is drinkable, but blander and less interesting than either my favorite Golden Assam Khongea estate (from McNulty's) or this Assam TGFOP. The koilamari cooled off as I was posting about this to a Discord server, and tasted worse at room temperature than the Golden Assam--but I generally don't like lukewarm tea with milk and sugar, and sometimes pour out part of a mug of tea if it gets cool.

Unsurprisingly, the better of the two Assams I've tasted so far is also the more expensive. Next up, Porto Rico's Assam Khongea, which is the least expensive of these three. This appears to be a not-as-fancy tea from the same estate that produces my favorite Assam.

Comments

[otter]

You are much more of a tea connoisseur than I am.

[cmcmck]

I'm fond of a good Assam.

[switterbeet]

<3 Assam!
If you are into comparing teas systematically, check out Steepster

for you and any other Canadians reading this

[redbird]

If you're interested in less robust flavors like green teas and oolongs, I recommend Camellia Sinensis, in Montreal and Quebec City (though the cafe part of the Montreal shop didn't survive the pandemic). Early in the pandemic, a friend of mine organized a virtual/distributed tea tasting, in which everyone mail-ordered one tea the same, and each of us also picked (at least) two others.

We each made and drank the shared tea, and discussed our opinions of that tea, and about the other teas we'd ordered at the same time.

I wound up ordering six kinds of tea, because they also had a minimum for free shipping. Conclusion: I like tea, I like maple syrup, the maple tea blend did not work. I might have remembered sooner that I sweeten my tea with sugar (white, Demerara, or vanilla) or sometimes honey, not maple syrup.

Re: for you and any other Canadians reading this

[switterbeet]

Thanks for the rec. That sounds like a delightful event!

I've had maple tea and it was pretty nauseating to me.