My first cup of tea came at the end of a night's work when, vague memory tells me, the cool New England air, the convenience of Dunkin Donuts, and an experimental mood led me to order a cup. I imagined it would be unpleasant, so I assented to sugar. The girl scrunched up her eyebrow when I asked for three. That hot syrup hit close enough to the mark that I brought the drink, with rapidly lessened sweetening, into my beverage routine.
At the supermarket, I managed to skip past Lipton, Tetley, Nestea, and Red Rose, instead going for Bigelow then Twinings on a friend's recommendation. Not long after, out west, I found Stash at the grocery store and discovered Market Spice's loose-leaf array. From this point, I sought tea shops for stocking up and had pretty good luck overall, but a move back east into a semirural area meant mail order would become the new order.
SpecialTeas' style, selection, and price made me a regular. I supplemented my SpecialTeas favorites, for a couple of years, with selections from Portsmouth Tea Company scooped straight from the warehouse barrel. Then that shop made a couple of missteps (leading to its demise) and SpecialTeas got absorbed by Teavana (a company for which I had already gained an aversion), so I was forced to seek out a new online source. I landed at Upton Tea Imports and have stuck there since. Gifts and random finds keep variety on the shelf.
Upton says I've ordered these. I use ***** for the best. Four stars is threshold for "would order again."
BTP1: Old South Meeting House Breakfast Blend (October 2023) *** Welterweight breakfast contender
DJ70: Tindharia Estate 2nd Flush Darjeeling GFTGFOP1 (November 2016)
NT06: St. Isaac's Blend (August 2020++) **** Orange and cedar?
NT77: Thé Mélange Russe (August 2020+++) **** Suits any mood
NT100: Champs de Lavande White Tea (September 2024 bonus)
TA04: Season's Pick Assam FTGFOP Organic (July 2011)
TA07: Season's Pick Assam GFOP Organic (December 2015 ++) ****
TA20: Tippy Orthodox FBOP Assam (November 2016 ++++) **** Good for breakfast
TA28: Mangalam Estate Assam FTGFOP (September 2017)
TA40: Tippy Orthodox GFOP Assam (April 2017 +++) **** Anytime no nonsense
TB01: Organic English Breakfast Blend (October 2021 bonus) *** Quiet and inoffensive
TB02: Leadenhall Street Blend (June 2016 ++) **** Full and earthy (*** 05/19)
TB05: Mincing Lane Breakfast Blend *** Assam and Yunnan
TB10: Bond Street English Breakfast Blend - I have forgotten
TB12: CTC Irish Breakfast Blend (April 2017+) **** Sure, why not?
TB14: Scottish Breakfast Blend (++++++) **** Malty a.m. kick
TB18: Ceylon English Breakfast Select (May 2024 bonus) *** Fine and fine
TB20: River Shannon Breakfast Blend (+++++++) **** Reliable day-starter
TB51: East Frisian BOP (+) **** Nice breakfast alternative
TB52: East Frisian TGFOP (November 2016) *** Adequate, not exemplary
TB60: Russian Caravan (2023 bonus) ** Not much there
TB70: Finest Blend Russian Caravan (March 2021 bonus ++) **** A proper cup
TB75: Baker Street Afternoon Blend (annual) ***** Smoky but balanced
TB84: Robert Fortune Blend 41 (January 2020 +++) ****
TB86: Richmond Park Blend (September 2019 +) *** Pleasant enough but
TB89: South Street Breakfast Blend (September 2019) ***
TC57: Somerset Estate BOP (April 2020) ** Added ingredients required
TC102: Ceylon OP Lover's Leap (October 2023) ***
TE01: Season's Pick Earl Grey Crème Vanilla (May 2015) *** Vanilla overpowers bergamot
TE10: Original Earl Grey (September 2019) ****
TE11: Extra Bergamot English Earl Grey ** Too much extra
TE19: Devonshire Earl Grey (June 2016) **** Straightforward Earl Gray
TE57: New England Harvest Blend ***
TI69: Jolotigo Estate Java Orthodox BT (December 2015) *** Meh bonus sample
TM72: Donyi Polo Arunachal Pradesh (April 2019 bonus) **** Tipply mouth mystery
TSA8: Colombian Bold Breakfast Blend Organic (June 2021 bonus) *** Fair and bright
TV11: Vietnam Eastern Beauty Oolong (January 2020 bonus)
ZGP6: Silver Sprout Green (2018 bonus)
ZG18: China Chun Mee Moon Palace Organic (August 2020)
ZK11: China Keemun First Grade (April 2019 +++) **** Assured every day
ZK21: Premium Keemun FOP
ZK22: Hubei Province Keemun Ji Hong (March 2023 bonus)
ZK97: Keemun Mao Feng (September 2017) ***** Undertones and overtones
ZK98: China Keemun Mao Feng
ZP22: Panyang Congou Select
ZP76: China Panyang Congou (June 2016) ****
ZP78: China Congou Wu-Yi Golden Monkey *****
ZY24: Yunnan Black Mao Feng (April 2017)
ZY30: Yunnan FOP Select (2022 bonus +) **** Pleasant breakfast alternative
ZY45: Yunnan FBOP (2022 bonus) *** Nothing stands out
ZY75S: Yunnan Black Dragon Pearls (August 2022)
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