Tasting Teas

For 6 hours yesterday, we sampled teas to finalize our new tea catalogue.  Whew!  Jacque came over from the Tea Room and we set aside the entire day at the office to get this done.  We started with the toughest category - flavored teas.  Why toughest?  Because it is getting harder and harder to find teas with flavors that are true, that don't have a chemical aftertaste, that aren't bitter or too tart or ineffective.  We tried dozens - green with lemon/jasmine, oolong with basil/lemon, rooibos with organic blueberry, black with jasmine and cream, green with tangerine and berry, pumpkin spice, apple/caramel, bergamot berry, plum/lavender......and the list goes on.  We did this in good faith because our customers want newer teas, we want to provide variety and we wanted to see what was out there - our own blends and those of others.  At the end of the day, after having moved on to varietals - straight blacks, greens and oolongs - we had the elements of a new catalogue and I will be preparing a first draft this weekend of the various categories.  Then we will need to match each to a location on our tea shelves at the Tea Room.  Finally, we will add names, descriptions and prices.  Some winners were:
  • 4 new Ayurvedic teas which we mentioned in an earlier blog
  • A new Assam
  • 2 new Darjeelings
  • Inclusion of our 3 teas we launched on our anniversary in November, Panda Blend, Ten Treasures & Grand Tisane
  • A couple of new Chais/Spice teas including one with Yerba Mate
  • A few rooibos blends
  • 4 - 5 new black flavored teas; a couple of new green flavored blends including one with strawberry with a natural sweetness
My favorite tea of the day was a brand new Organic green China mainland oolong with the fragrance and sweetness of a Formosa Jade Oolong but at a lower price point that customers are sure to appreciate.