We were our of town this past weekend at a soccer tournament. Saturday was nice and sunny, but Sunday was absolutely freezing and rainy. It was pretty miserable sitting on the sidelines watching the games. But I’m sure the girls who were playing were really cold and wet, so I didn’t complain too much. I was glad that we took our little 16 oz. Bodum electric kettle and some sample teas so that we could make some teas in the room to take to the games and then also to have a cup at night.
We went up early on Friday to spend the day in Richmond and went to the Carytown area to have lunch and visit Carytown Teas. Overall, I wasn’t super impressed with the store. I took a list of teas that I had found on their website to try, and when I got there and realized that a lot of their teas are Harney’s that they just resell. That cut my list down a lot, since I already have a lot of Harney’s and would just rather buy from them. The shop was really cluttered, there was literally stuff all over and it was all jumbled and didn’t really make me want to browse around a lot. My fiancee asked to use the restroom and he told me later that there were actually teas being stored in the bathroom! They were in clear plastic bags on the floor, but still . . .
I ended up purchasing 3 teas. Mistie’s Blend was the only one that I really wanted to try from there. It smells heavenly, like very rich cocoa. There is a nice hot chocolate aroma while the tea is steeping. The ingredients list rose buds and hazelnuts, but there are only ordinary black tea leaves in the blend. I’m not going to lie – I was a little sad, since I love rose flavor and if it’s listed on the ingredients I kind of am expecting it to be in there when I open up the bag. Maybe I am just being too picky? The flavor is malty and chocolatey with a little hazelnut finish. There is a nice cocoa aftertaste that lingers. Sadly, I can’t taste any rose in the blend whatsoever. The tea is a little thin also, but not terribly so. This is a nice tea and it really does taste like a tea version of hot chocolate, but if I could find another tea with rose added in I would probably purchase that one.
-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of rich cocoa. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and nuts with just a hint of cocoa.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Malty chocolate flavor with a small hazelnut finish. Lingering cocoa aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Thin hazelnut and hot cocoa taste. No rose flavor noticeable.
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Even if the tea was sealed, it seems so odd to store it in the bathroom!
Gross! Not the tea but the storage!
Oh, too bad there was no rose flavor!
Customer: Do you have any oolong?
Employee: Jack! Check the bathroom? We got any oolong?
Customer: Uhhhh….
So glad that I’m not the only one that found this odd! Maybe they had just received a shipment or something and ran out of room to store it???
oh noes!! haha this is hilarious. and sad. and hilarious.
well, i go to Carytown Teas often. the owners are grumpy. and also friendly. they are very human. (basically i used to think the owners hated me, but now they are very nice to me always and i still kinda feel like they hate me. … with all the moods it’s like i’m back in Philadelphia! home sweet home)
it’s a weird place. if i were being more diplomatic i would say it’s a unique place. but seriously some of their teas are the best i’ve had. and i love it for all these wacky reasons.
i can’t wait to see what the third tea you bought was! (on saturday i got the blood orange puerh and the coconut oolong)
basically i find the place odd ball quirky cute. the clutter and double door entrance and collage of peoples tea mail sent to the store.
maybe when i visit i feel like i’m a character in an indie movie?
I agree that their teas are good. I rated both of them high. Mistie’s Blend was good, even though it didn’t match the description at all in my opinion. The other tea was the Provence Rooibos blend. It smelled different than I expected, so I hope that I like it. I was so close to getting the Coconut Oolong too!
It is a quirky little place, just very much not what I expected.
Even if the tea was sealed, it seems so odd to store it in the bathroom!
Gross! Not the tea but the storage!
Oh, too bad there was no rose flavor!
Customer: Do you have any oolong?
Employee: Jack! Check the bathroom? We got any oolong?
Customer: Uhhhh….
So glad that I’m not the only one that found this odd! Maybe they had just received a shipment or something and ran out of room to store it???
oh noes!! haha this is hilarious. and sad. and hilarious.
well, i go to Carytown Teas often. the owners are grumpy. and also friendly. they are very human. (basically i used to think the owners hated me, but now they are very nice to me always and i still kinda feel like they hate me. … with all the moods it’s like i’m back in Philadelphia! home sweet home)
it’s a weird place. if i were being more diplomatic i would say it’s a unique place. but seriously some of their teas are the best i’ve had. and i love it for all these wacky reasons.
i can’t wait to see what the third tea you bought was! (on saturday i got the blood orange puerh and the coconut oolong)
basically i find the place odd ball quirky cute. the clutter and double door entrance and collage of peoples tea mail sent to the store.
maybe when i visit i feel like i’m a character in an indie movie?
I agree that their teas are good. I rated both of them high. Mistie’s Blend was good, even though it didn’t match the description at all in my opinion. The other tea was the Provence Rooibos blend. It smelled different than I expected, so I hope that I like it. I was so close to getting the Coconut Oolong too!
It is a quirky little place, just very much not what I expected.