Constant Comment

I was reading one of my classmate’s essays for senior seminar and it was about her family—her mom, specifically. It was so well written that it made me homesick for my mom. Two of the things that remind me of her is a cherry-almond lotion and Constant Comment.

Sometimes, nothing satisfies you more than grocery store tea. I have a feeling that I will always have some Constant Comment somewhere in the house.

So, I’m sick and staying with family/friends in Colorado. I was craving some comfort tea from the moment I woke up. Something with lavender. So my cold-medicine-addled self put on boots and wandered across the street to Wal-Mart, where I was sorely disappointed. They didn’t even have Tazo’s Earl Grey! That was my backup if I couldn’t find anything else with lavender in it.

I returned empty-handed, but was lucky enough to find this in the cupboard. This would do as comfort tea, I thought. And it was good. An old standby. Warm spices, a hint of orange peel, and a caffeinated black tea base. But I’m still craving lavender.

Had this for afternoon tea. I think I overbrewed it a bit, but it was still drinkable. That’s what is great about this tea- it takes abuse and still tastes pretty much the same way you remember. Yummy!

Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011
1st Steep of the Day.
After 2 Hours of Shoveling Snow.
Came in to a Steamy Hot Cup Of Biggie’s Constant Comment.
Could not have been a Better Choice this Morning.
Big Bold Black Tea base with the Right amount of Orange Spice.
Continue to Love this Old Favorite Tea.
I Wasn’t the Tiller man Today But felt like on Shoveling.
Music to Drink Tea By.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghoS6iJTrYc

Keep on Steepin

I haven’t had this tea in ages but I know I drank a lot of it when I was younger. Thought I would try it again today since it was in the office and free.

Sadly this isn’t as good as I remember but I guess I’m a tea snob after spending so much time on Steepster. I steeped for the recommended two minutes but am finding the black tea base to be kind of thin with a bitter aftertaste. The orange and spices are what really make this decent. Probably won’t be tempted to try it again anytime soon.

meh … it’s a free sample… why not.

i just sorted my teas digitally. i have 126 teas in my cupboard and my goal is to get it to 76. give or take. cuz i have put samples in my cupboard too, but that’s because some samples i’ve already drank plenty of and could easily give them away. this all kinda makes me feel a little better because i thought it was WAY more out of control than 126. even if i could get below 100 i’d be happy. not that i don’t love to have lots of tea! but i do wanna feel like my collection is manageable and like i can give each tea in my stash the attention it deserves.
i would also like to be able to add new teas to my stash immediately, instead of sticking them in tea purgatory (the darkness in the back of a bottom drawer) until i have room to properly open and taste them.

there are 43 teas in my stash that i haven’t tried yet.
i would like to reduce my stash by 50 teas overall if i can.

problem is, my sister is moving-in in 3 weeks and even when we merge our teas since we have many duplicates, she will still be bringing several new teas to the collection. also, soon i am going to europe, and i expect to bring A LOT of tea back with me. (I’m also gonna try VERY VERY hard to only buy samples.)

i’ll just plan to do a big spring cleaning when i get back i guess.

this bigelow isn’t nearly as awful as i assumed it was gonna be. take what you can get bigelow.

There were packets of this at the post-rehearsal supper tonight, so I figured I’d try this classic tea! I had no control over water temp (and didn’t worry about steeping time either), and ended up with a rather strong but pleasantly orangey/spicy cup. It reminded me of Christmas – perhaps cloves are part of the spicing? I ended up adding some coffee creamer (powdered stuff – ick!) to mute things a bit, which was pretty successful. I wanted sugar but there was none to be found. Anyhow, I can see why people would like this, as it’s kind of like a bit spicier earl grey. Steeped properly, I’d imagine it’s great without additions. I should have nabbed a second teabag…. sigh!

Okay, I was tired of seeing all the comments of people who grew up on this tea and had fond memories of it while I had yet to try it. I finally remembered to toss it in the basket tonight while shopping.

When I opened the pouch that the teabag comes in, the aroma was arresting. It reminded me of the instant Russian tea people used to mix as Christmas gifts when I was a kid.

I am so glad I read the package instructions. They say to steep for one to two minutes. Had I not read that, I would have gone five for sure. Since it was my first time drinking it, I compromised and steeped it for about one and a half minutes. Two would have been fine, thoug it was good where I stopped it.

I can see how this tea evokes nostalgia. It is very smooth. The orange flavor is very nice, and though it smelled strongly of clove, which is sometimes too strong a spice for me, it actually has just the right amount. Thank you to all the Steepsterites who kept mentioning this bagged variety. I am very glad to own it! Do I get some sort of initiation into a Constant Comment Club? Or at least the Cheapster Steepsters? LOL!

Do you know the instructions on the envelope say steep 1 to 2 minutes? Who knew! Before trying to learn the ways of tea (ok less than a year ago) I would have steeped this flavored black tea at least 3 to 5 minutes, and in all honesty I probably wouldn’t have taken the bag out at all. This may be the very first time I have ever followed the instructions on this one. You know what? It’s pretty darn tasty. I have always loved this tea but brewed properly, I can actually taste the tea and it is nice. The sweet spice (especially the clove) is the main flavor but doesn’t mask the other ingredients. The orange surrounds the spice, and then I taste the tea. It may or may not be Argentina fannings, who knows, and regardless I don’t care. It works and that’s what’s important. Thank you Ruth Bigelow for introducing me to tea. I do miss the pressboard ‘tins’ of the 70’s. I wish I had kept some of them. Upping my rating because this was exactly what I wanted today.

I’ve had these last two bags of Constant Comment from my Bigelow Tea sampler for a while now…the first bag I had wasn’t pleasant at all. I finally decided to just go ahead and brew these, and have it as my first morning cup that, in all honesty, really just has to be more caffeinated than anything.

So, when I sipped this morning, bracing for that horrible spice taste, it wasn’t there. Gone. In it’s place is a spiced, orange-y black tea that’s quite lovely. What the crap?

Oh, I brewed it at 5 minutes before, and 3 minutes this time. Wow, that does make a difference! At 3 minutes, whatever spice I’d been tasting before hasn’t made its evil appearance, and all the flavors blend well together. Upping the rating, because this is very nice this morning.