Tea comparisons?

LOL - you're on a roll!

FWIW, this one is for Earl Grey, but since the base tea and amount of bergamot changes from source to source and I've already discovered what I like, I tend to disagree with the ratings >:o

Heres' one I look at from time to time...

Melinda

snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.com/17/05

Resa,

I have no immediate answer to your question, but I will say here that ROT and Upton are huge companies, while IPOT is relatively small. I also know that the owners of IPOT travel regularly to China, Taiwan, and India, searching and researching and talking with the farmers, so among the three examples you give, guess which one I trust. I've seen some of the village films the guys from IPOT made for their own records. Pretty interesting.

Michael

i think the resident michael plant is/was involved with the above site. but i don't think it's current anymore - i haven't seen any new reviews in ages..........p*

Upton is huge? By what measure? Volume sold? Number of teas offered? Number of employees? Something else?

Thanks to all for the websites!

Resa

Thanks. So... will you drop the other shoe, and share which Earl Greys you like best, please? I know, everyone has their own preferences, etc., but... please?

Resa

Sure, no problem.

My #1 absolute favorite is the Original Earl Grey TE10 from Upton. #2 is Bigelow's.

If I'm feeling really desperate for a fix of EG, I'll have a cup of Twinings, but I'd mostly really rather not because I don't get the same sense of satisfaction and enjoyment that I do with the others.

Ceylon-based EG makes me gag and I once ran across then avoided an Assam-based EG. To tell the truth, I haven't liked any Assam or Assam blends that I've encountered. Note that my favorites use a base of China black and Twinings is a blend of several. The TE10 has less bergamot than Bigelow's and Upton offers the Extra Bergamot English Earl Grey (TE11) that has way too much bergamot for me although it's their most popular EG.

:)

Thanks! And good to hear that there CAN be such a thing as too much bergamot - when I order from Upton, I'll try both. Thanks!

You're welcome!

If you haven't already, I suggest that you try a Ceylon-based EG (TE15, TE17, TE20, &/or TE09) as a couple of my friends prefer those over my base China black.

Of the different English Breakfast teas that I've had, my #1 favorite is the Ceylon EB Wilson Select (TB18).

Again, thank you. (Does Upton track referrals? Considering that I've had to refill my pen from all the notations, if they do, you should get credit!)

Resa

:)

I don't know. I've never looked or asked.

Refill your pen? Do you use a fountain pen? (I do.)

Yes, fountain pens only. Well, mostly only.

The now-refilled pen happens to be a (no longer manufactured) Rotring Freeway with smooth-as-butter custom ground fine italic nib, filled with Herbin Bleu Myo ink.

Kewl! I keep 4 fps filled with Noodler's contract inks - permanent, waterproof, fp-safe inks and use them in my tea journal so I don't have to be concerned about getting drips of water in it which I keep in the kitchen for easy reference.

I invite you to come on over to alt.collecting.pens-pencils sometime. We're mostly into using fps (despite the name of the group) and the participants are mostly nice, just like here.

Thanks - I've been reading acpp for about 10 years, and have known Nathan since the days when he actually had time to do pen repair! Thanks for the contract ink suggestion - have a couple of his colors, but not any of those... yet. This also means that we may "know" each other already - small world!

There *are* some really nice and helpful people there, but to be honest

- I learned how to killfile because of that group. I keep thinking that someone will have posted about the LA show, but nothing yet.

Resa

participants

Oops, sorry! I didn't recognize your name from there. Yes, I've killfiled some participants, but it's not nearly as bad as other ngs I'm in. That's why I said "mostly" :).

Nathan posted something this month about the LA show. Check the threads on "more info on lubricating inks" and "Fountain pen as highlighter?"

I've got others of his inks, too. For the contracts, I use the black, legal lapis, aquamarine blue, and hellbender red. The black is totally awesome - the best of any black I've ever used and I'm quite smitten with the legal lapis, too.

LOL! Nothing to apologize for - I don't think I've posted there for years and years, and I barely scan the threads, so wouldn't have noticed your name. I guess the good news is that you're not in my killfile! :)

The show is today, so I was hoping for a report. I don't know what I'm expecting, but I'm always curious.

I was figuring that legal lapis would be the tea journal ink, but perhaps I should get eternal brown - more tea colored, kinda! (And keeps this on topic, maybe - thanks for changing the subject line!) Too bad there aren't sample sizes of the ink... yeah, I know, cartridges, but Nathan doesn't have them.

Now to pull together what info I should record, as I wait for the Upton site to stop choking on a hairball or whatever it is that has it no longer responding, and place my order.

Resa

I try to remain on better behavior ;).

Ah, so!

Since he's still developing his line, maybe he'll get a round tuit eventually.

I like to rotate the colors so that it's easy to find where one journal entry quits and another starts.

Some ideas -

I start with item code if the vendor uses them, name of tea, vendor, and date. Next are brewing details: x tsp. in x oz at xxx° for x min. and my opinion of the results. After my trials, I note at the bottom whether I want to reorder that particular tea from that vendor or not. I highlight the best amount/temp/time for the teas that I keep on hand 'cause sometimes I forget and highlighting makes it easy to find the combo that works best.

On the last page and working back towards the front, I list tea, sometimes vendor, and page no. in the same color ink in which I did the entry. That makes it easier to locate when I want to review what I previously wrote.

Something must be wrong. It hasn't come up for me, either, and I started before I typed what I include in my tea journal so it should have been done way before now. It was fine when I got those codes for EB earlier.

Funny that you said hairball - my cat likes to drink Darjeeling and white teas if I don't stop her so, be forewarned. I've taken to using a lid from a plastic tub to keep her and her cat hair out of my cup/mug.

I also record stupid things I don't want to ever repeat like when I added vanilla extract to cherry bancha in a warped attempt to make cherry-vanilla bancha.

Also attempts at creating my own blends, recipes, whatever pertains to tea.