This is a rather long analytic post, skip down for the actual tea review. I’ve been a bit confused trying to identify this company as they seem to have some multiple personality issues, possibly due to private labeling?
This and the Coconut Truffle by Tea Guys (www.teaguys.com) was my very first foray into gourmet loose leaf teas after my first broad order from Twinings of 8 different varieties of bagged teas which I was very happy with.
I had been looking at all the major brands of loose leaf (before I found this wonderful community) and became somewhat perplexed with the pricing structure in moving from the 20 bags per box at $2.99 a box to the huge variation in pricing loose leaf. Understanding the yield per ounce vs bag was my next challenge.
So being the Excel geek that I am, I started a spreadsheet plugging in the selling price at however many ounces then dividing down to get a per ounce price from them all and found the going rate to be around $3-$4 per ounce. Then reading around I gathered there are about 8-10 teaspoons per ounce (with usually 2-3 steepings per teaspoon).
Using this formula (9 teaspoons per ounce and 2 steeps per teaspoon)
I arrived at about $0.075 a cup for my Twinings bags of 20 at $2.99 a box.
For most of the other teas at $3/oz a cup worked out to $0.167
Which brings me (finally, sorry!) to The Tea Guys and their Tease brand which at $9.95 for a 6oz bag ($1.67/oz) works out to $0.093 per cup. So this is what prompted me to order my first loose leaf from them and I have been so happy with it!
THE TEA
The 6oz tea comes in an easy to open ziplock foil pouch for resealing and as soon as I opened it I was OVERWHELMED with the aroma. The fruitiness was stronger than a really strong potpourri and I was a little afraid it might be too much until I brewed my first 24oz pot. It was rich and aromatic with the peach being pretty strong but not nearly as overwhelming as the first whiff seemed. There is a spicy undertone from the ginger and the Darjeeling interweaves with the other flavors.
I love it with cream, sweetener, and a touch of honey. The only drawback is there is a lot of debris so use a fine mesh filter. I get a nearly as strong 2nd steeping in my 24oz pot from one heaping teaspoon.
