50
drank Té Negro by McCormick
164 tasting notes

We visited Mexico, and forgot to bring tea! In desperation, I visited a local grocery and the only straight black tea I could find was McCormick tea bags, 25 per pkg. Brewed each bag western style, with 6 oz purified water at whatever temperature it came out of the hotel coffee maker, probably 190°-200° F, for 3 minutes.

The tea was not discernably an Assamica, so I would guess an ordinary generic China black. Fannings, of course. Very plain tasting. Aroma similar to Lipton bags, but less intense. Taste had some astringency, dull generic strong black tea that gave me the caffeine I wanted. Not unpleasant, no serious defects, but nothing to write home about. If standard Lipton black tea bags (a very well standardized and reproducible benchmark) earn a rating of 65, and Red Rose a rating of 60, then I would rate these McCormick Té Negro bags in Mexico at 50. Better than quaffing an energy drink or popping a caffeine pep pill.

Flavors: Astringent, Tea

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 g 6 OZ / 177 ML
cube

I know the travel tea desperation feeling!

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cube

I know the travel tea desperation feeling!

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Life is too short to drink bad tea!
Pan-American: Left-coast reared (on Bigelow’s Constant Comment and Twinings’ Earl Grey) and right-coast educated, I’ve used this moniker & Email since the glory days of AOL in the 90’s, reflecting two of my lifelong loves—tea and ‘Trek.

Now a midwestern molecular biologist (right down to the stereotypical Hawaiian shirts), I’m finally broadening the scope of my sippage and getting into all sorts of Assamicas, from mainstream Assam CTCs to Taiwan blacks & TRES varietals, to varied Pu’erhs. With some other stuff tossed in for fun. I enjoy reading other folks’ tasting notes (thank you). I’ve lurked here from time to time and am now adding a few notes of my own to better appreciate the experience. Note that my sense of taste varies from the typical, for example I find stevia to be unsweet and bitter. My dislike of rooibos may be similarly rooted in genetics.

I don’t work for a tea vendor, and I’m not a professional tea sommelier. And I don’t taste every nuance, hint of flavor or note of aroma, nor am I trained to describe those that I do detect. But I taste enough to have opinions, and do my best to be descriptive. Sensory preferences can shift from day to day and person to person, so numerical ratings are kinda bogus, especially between and among various people. But there are individual trends, and I try to reflect that. As reference points for my ratings, I give Lipton Black Tea bags “orange pekoe and pekoe, cut black” a score of 65 because it is widely available and profoundly consistent. I view it as just okay. I would give plain, hot, quality spring water a rating of 25, and I buy Crystal Geyser brand for brewing because my local well water is stinky and discolored, and my filtration & softening system leaves it salty and unpleasant. Tea should make the commercial Spring Water better, not worse, so a rating below 25 speaks for itself.

I am conversationally friendly but absolutely not here looking for dates or money, nor to sell anything. If I’ve started to follow you, I don’t mean to be creepy, it only means you posted something I liked reading, or it was about an interesting tea or event. And I’ve recently discovered that the Steepster system only notifies me of new posts written by people I follow. If you follow me, I won’t assume anything. If I do not follow you, it isn’t a snub—you’re still a good human being!
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Photo with Aromatic Bamboo Species Raw Pu-erh Tea “Xiang Zhu” by Yunnan Sourcing, which is most definitely aromatic!

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