Frontier Natural Products Co-op

While I don’t detest it, it’s nothing special. I sincerely can’t think of a more “meh” English Breakfast. The price point is right for bulk but it leaves a lot to be desired. If left steeping too long becomes quite bitter, in my case near-undrinkable. Not sure of the margin of error here, just felt like it went from tolerable to ugh in virtually no time flat. Unless you’re desperate, there is much better out there. Maybe it’d be good for blending/flavoring..?

The first cup of it I made was really grassy and musty, something between a Chinese green and a pu-erh. I didn’t like it at all, but thought it might be better rinsed.

So the next cup I rinsed. The first steeping of the tea (at about 4 minutes) was a deep amber color with a grassy, vegetal aroma. The flavor was much improved; the mustiness was gone, but it was still very grassy tasting and vaguely reminiscent of gunpowder green.

The second steeping (closer to 6 minutes because I was reading and forgot about it) was a rich apricot color, with little aroma. The flavor was less grassy this time as well, but it was also weak, as though it wasn’t sure it was capable of a second steep.

Overall, I wouldn’t purchase this tea again, but have enough leaves left for one more cup and may experiment with a shorter first steeping time.

A good general Earl Grey. Bergamot not too strong. Tea is pleasant, not particularly bitter. Has a nice aroma. More than anything else I love the amazing price tag on this guy. When I’m broke I’ll buy bulk where I can, and this definitely gives me my fix when on a budget. Great morning tea.

Heated to boil on the stove with organic cane sugar and ground cardamom. Strained, and added almond milk – delicious!

This is my first chicory tea. I didn’t realize it was chicory until I brewed it. I looked up the ingredients because it looked like a black tea with a dark brew. I have found to like chicory in tea blends. This, not so much. It has an unlikable bitterness.

I usually rate based on how the tea is w/o additions. To me, it needed a little sugar. It has a beer like taste to it, with the lemon and coriander in it. The ginger was a strong taste, too. It smelled amazing, but it tastes drastically different. I could finish my cup, but only because I was thristy.

Never had Darjeeling before and thought I’d buy a couple of ounces from my local grocer to try it. Great introduction to this variety of tea, just not what I look for in a morning cup of black tea. This tea is very pleasant, has a mild body, it’s a little dryer that most black teas, and has a subtle smoky flavor. Very pleasant and enjoyable, but I like the maltiness, sweetness and fullness of Assam in the morning.

Found this in bulk at my local co-op. They have quite a few different bulk teas, and whilst the bulk containers are clear, they’re small and don’t have too much tea in them at a time. In fact, there wasn’t much of this left at all, and a saleswoman kindly let me get mine from the bag that they use to refill (which was the silver, sealed bag that it had been shipped in).

This has a definite toasted rice taste to it, but there’s also a slight buttery taste underneath that, and a yeasty edge that reminds me of baking bread. It’s thick and slightly savory, as well. Something about it reminds me of Korean food, but I’m not sure how or why that is.

Oh, wow.
“Numerous bits” seems like quite an understatement for all the raspberry in this drink. It’s like a berry punch in the mouth! There’s more raspberries here than there were at the farmers’ market last weekend. The raspberries are stronger than the raspberry-flavor syrup used in soda machine “iced tea”. I feel like the teapot is going “thhhhhhhhb,” blowing raspberries at me. Raspberry raspberry raspberry.

It’s tart and fresh-tasting. The liquor is pink. That’s weird. i wasn’t expecting a pink tea. I mean, this is supposed to be a green tea. Since that often turns out yellow-ish, should the liquid be more of an orange color? Maybe? At any rate, even though I saw plenty of green leaves in the dry leaves, I don’t taste it.

I like it, I’m just a little blown away by how dominant the raspberries are.

It smells like houjicha. So I thought, well it must taste like it. No, it doesn’t. It isn’t the worst tea, but I couldn’t drink the rest of my cup. I went by brewing guidelines via Den’s Tea for kukicha. His instructions were brew for 30 seconds with boiling water with 2 rounded tsp for 8 oz. If this brewed longer, I don’t think I would like it. It’s roasted barley like and not tasty. I do like green kukicha, just not this stuff.

Honeybush is a flavor that is hard for me to pin down, but I like it. Tonight it reminds me a bit of unsweet cinnamon apples. I’d get up and stir in a little maple syrup, but then I’d have to move the laptop and the snoozing cat. He snuffles instead of snores.

From my teapot friend. Straight up tonight; no additives. It’s rooibos’ perkier, slightly sharper cousin. (Rooibos is a sleepy granny cat; honeybush is a kitten chasing its own tail?) I’m exhausted this evening, but at least my tastebuds are peppy now.

Dinked around with my own blend last night and added an equal proportion of chamomile … not until I’d imbibed half the cup did I realize that I’m two thirds of the way to my own faux Foxtrot! Further experimentation pending.

First time I’ve ever consciously tasted “not rooibos” in order to compare the two. Really nice…there’s something just a touch sharper in the taste profile than rooibos; enough so that my husband mentioned a similarity to Red Zinger minus the tartness. Better still—it was inexpensive; our local health food place has bulk-by-the-ounce so it’s doesn’t cost much to experiment!

VERY BERRY? Yet it has Chicory, Lemon, and Hibiscus. No actual berries? Well, the dreaded hibiscus…here goes!

Oddly enough this isn’t overly hibiscus. Interesting. I mean, it’s noticeable but not overly tarty. I think I should thank the Chicory for this feat. It’s more smooth than I thought it would be. This isn’t too bad…

grassy green with funky aftertaste neither of which I am crazy for

Thought I would try another cup…not really into this after all…

I’m neutral about this one…like the idea of green chai…doesn’t smell or have a memorable taste tho. It’s very ’Plain Jane". Not Bad, but not excellent either.

The rest of today I will be RANDOM Tea Selections of the teas in my stash I haven’t tried yet. As for this one…it’s a really good, plain Ceylon! Plain and Simple. It’s stereotypically Ceylon but still tasty! Not much else to say about it, really.

My local Herb store has a bunch of new Bulk loose leaf teas from Frontier Co-Op so I bought just a few. Thought I would try a little bit before sending to LiberTEAs.

This is pretty straight forward Assam…a good go-to…or stand-by. Brew dark and bold. Great for mornings!

Blueberry goodness! This tea is very interesting. This was my first experience with the twig tea. I can’t believe how much of that tea plant is usable! The blueberry isn’t overwhelming. I got 3 brews from this. I don’t think I would buy this again, but I am interested in having the green kukicha by itself. I agree, the blueberry comes off artificial. I don’t know if the flavoring was.

I had this with some sweet and sour faux chicken. The jury is still out, but I’m warming up to it a bit. :) The flavor does seem to change a lot as it cools.

Feeling a bit “meh” about this. In all fairness, I’m not really sure I’m a big fan of oolongs. This seems like a pretty good tea, I’m just not all that excited about it. I’ll give it another shot for sure though.

This is pretty good. Mostly Cranberry with a hint of Orange and the black tea is strong, too. With all the Matcha I had this afternoon I thought I would pair it with a few energy bars! LOL

WOWZA! I’m going to be bouncing off the walls!