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Lady 0f Spaydes drank Gourmet Island Spice Tea by Lindsay Gardens

41 tasting notes

Listening to : Regina Spektor- Ne Me Quitte Pas

I remember Lindsay Gaardens teas from my childhood! The boyfriend and I found this at the dollar store and it sounded interesting, so we had to get it!

Observation 1: Packaging is blagh. Inside the box is this thin plastic with perforations on one edge for easy oppening. The tea bags are square and flat, with two attached to each other and no string, making them useless (lets face it, no string =useless). I made the tea. Yes, I MADE TEA. Boyfriend was mowing the lawn. >.> I took boiling water, cut the bags open and put them in myinfuser and steeped for 5 minutes as instructed. This tea is super fine, dusty almost.

Observation 2: Naked, this tea steeps a murky brown. The particles are so fine that there were little bits in the bottom of my teacup. I taste black tea and citrus and the fragrance is primarily black tea and a hint of coconut. This tea is a bit bitter. Maybe the water was too hot???

Observation 3: With sugar (scantilly clad): I only taste black tea. There’s no real outstanding tropical notes.

Observation 4: With milk (robed): Tastes like bitter black tea.

Observation 5: With milk and sugar (fully dressed): I taste very little coconut. Best taste for this tea yet.

Overall: its the instant coffee of tea, what can I say? I ended up finishing the pot by drowning it in sugar. Its a low grade black tea, but it did bring a lot of memories for me. After all the teas I’ve been enjoying, I’m sad that this was a chore to finish. But c’est la vie. By the way, no boyfriend review this time. He really was mowing the lawn and now he’s in the shower.

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2 comments

dagmar1
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The chamomile tea was unexpectingly pleasant. I love my chamomile. Ran out the other day and ran to a store I don’t normally go to to get my tea , thank you for the unexpected pleasure.

Debb1
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I was pleasantly surprised by the fruity, tropical flavor of this tea. Weak so needs extra steeping and only one cup per bag but naked (without any dressing) this light and lovely tea suited my discriminating taste just fine, altho the plain packaging left me wanting.

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Comments

dagmar1
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The chamomile tea was unexpectingly pleasant. I love my chamomile. Ran out the other day and ran to a store I don’t normally go to to get my tea , thank you for the unexpected pleasure.

Debb1
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Bio

A casual tea drinker since my childhood; I recently began to truly explore international tea culture in my search for the perfect tea ritual in my extremely hectic lifestyle. I am a young pantheist college student pursuing the science of medicine with a minor in bioethics (philosophy) and I firmly believe that having a ritual for relaxation and meditation is crucial to physical and emotional wellbeing. I recently hosted my first afternoon tea party and hope to assemble a routine arsenal of tea and literature enthusiasts to share my teatime. My tastes are international and I embrace styles and ideas of different cultures across the centuries. I look forward to tea and literary recommendations from you all!

So I know there is no proper way to truly gauge teas as the best or the worst, but like with education, a standardized rubric system is very important to communicate certain aspects of a quality before one has a chance to read in-depth reviews.

It is with this in mind that I strive to follow the proceeding guidelines and rubric:

1. I shall not provide a grade based upon an improperly brewed tea. This includes: experimental blending, scalded leaves, oversteeping/understeeping and insufficient amounts of leaves provided.

2. All rated teas must initially be steeped in accordance to the guidelines provided by the tea company. Addendum/reevaluation may occur if properly documented.

3. I shall try my very best to leave personal preference out of the scope of grading. However, I shall endeavor to be very clear of my opinion of the teas that I rate.

Grading Rubric
100 point scale:

- Clearly and concisely conveys the flavors of the artist’s intent with no supplemental explanation if the flavors are within the taster’s experience (20 points)
- Requires menial ingredient adjustment (i.e.: milk, sugar, stevia, etc.) to achieve the flavors intended by the artist. (15 points)
- Is completely consistent in flavor and quality from batch to batch. (15 points)
- Requires little to no adjustment to preparation (sans accounting for regional differences in altitude, airpressure, etc…) for a full flavored steeping (10 points)
- has a very high quality tea base that compliments the blend (note: does NOT require whole leaves)(10 points)
- Re-steeps at least two to three times strongly if able. (if bagged, re-steeps twice well) (10 points)
- Stores very well (No flavor diminishment when stored in a dark, cool and airtight space for short periods of time). If bagged, is packaged promoting optimal infusion, ease of use and freshness. (10 points)
- has a clear explanation of ingredients, allergens and preparation instructions. (5 points?)
- Is very well priced in relation to the quality of ingredients and quantity provided. (5 points)

Location

Los Angeles, CA, USA

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