I order my teas from Upton Tea and one of the things they do to get you to try different teas is to give you a choice of one of four different teas in a free small sample size with each order. I’d never tried a Columbian tea before, so when the above tea was one of the four offered with my last order I decided to give it a try.

Great color, smooth and flavorful, definitely far better than any tea bags from the supermarket, but my taste in teas runs in a slightly different direction. Found it to be on the mild side and without any hint of the chocolatey notes the description indicated. I had used 2.25 grams of tea to 6 oz. of water at boiling, steeping for four minutes. Will increase the time to five minutes for tomorrows cup, but my experience is that longer brewing times tend to bring out the tannins, think the” brisk” in Lipton tea, which I don’t care for.

Still, the sample packets are great for trying new teas. Afterall, that is how I stumbled upon the Keemun tea that is my favorite. Just like in wines and cheeses, there is a tea for every taste. My wife is into iced tea, though she buys loose tea from another online seller, then bags it up and brews it as solar tea before refrigerating it. But that is a story for another post in the distant future.