oh man, yeah I used to love those East India Tea Company commercials - “Get a rope!” - indeed.
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I’d have to try it to be sure, but if there’s vanilla in it like it sounds like then likely not. French is really bergamot and, well, blue flowers. It’s super delicate and I really enjoy it. But thanks for this, I’ll keep an eye out for it.
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Thanks! It’s been years since I’ve had one, and I couldn’t remember the rest of the 'em.
You certainly will get maximum tea for your dollar. And also slowly turn your insides into leather.
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It appears there is vanilla in it; I find the vanilla smooths out some of the sharper notes. How do you feel about Lady Grey, which uses different citrus notes to lighten the bergamot?
Surprise factor zero, Captain: the librarian likes a cuppa with her books 
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Went into a Teavana once, tasted a few things, liked them, bought them, then was kind of appalled at the price. Still, took them home and thought the tea was great. When I was done with my tins I went back and found that branch had gone out of business. I wonder if this model evolved after that.
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Trick with Barrys is to not let it steep so long it begins to eat the cup.
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Lady is sometimes a little too slight for me, it depends on the mix. My issue with vanilla is that it’s a heavy flavor and I’m not huge on it in my teas.
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Add about 3 grains of salt…
Kusmi tea is much better and, tins of it can often be found at Home Goods.
If it doesn’t dissolve the spoon (or at least let the spoon stand up straight without help) it’s not strong enough?
Another way to score better tea prices is to be aware that European teas are teas from elsewhere which have been rebranded. Most English Breakfast is just Keemun, so ordering some decent Keemun from China can yield better tea for a lesser price by bypassing some of the intermediaries. I was out of state a few months ago and asked a hyper old guy at Trader Joe’s if they had any Assam tea, and he said that they did not. But it turned out that they had lots of cheap Irish Breakfast, which is basically the same thing.
These days I order most of my teas through Upton. Their selection and prices are the best I have found. My ex was in disbelief that their teas could be as good, because they don’t make beautiful full-color magazine size catalogs like Harney does.
And yes, purchase by weight, not volume!
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If you really want to buy tea, here’s where you need to buy it (good tea at bulk, so helps if you order with friends and share) http://www.sfherb.com/store/loose-tea,category.asp
Mmmm, that is my primary loose leaf fix.
Is the Lapsang that she gets from theteaport?
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Of course they did. They are already biased to love it after dropping that much cash. Expensive shit tastes better.
You can taste test identical wines and say one is a $10 bottle and one is a $100 bottle, and the $100 bottle wins every time.
I say go to a tea store that isn’t part of a huge chain and ask them what’s popular. Gyokuro is nice if you like green tea, and I totally support everyone in this thread suggesting Assams.
For big tea companies I really like Yorkshire. I would elaborate but I’m really more of a coffee person who likes to take brief vacations to tea-land.
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Yes. Last time she sent me half a kilo, and I was shocked that I went through it in a year. Usually I’m very sparing with it because it’s hard to get for me, but it was so good I just made it my go-to. DH finds Souchong nasty, so none for you!
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We ship our tea from England, it costs around $0.80/ounce shipped. One big advantage of shipping from Europe is that the tea is much fresher than stuff that has been sitting on the shelves in the US.
The problem with buying German tea is that what you have to order is “Loser Tee” and that brings back bad memories of unfortunate clothing choices in my youth.
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“Loose leaf tea…”
Is that where you make tea out of your old high school class notes?
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