Tea Blog

More and more tea vendors are selling sample sizes of their various teas. For all you tea drinkers out there who want to try new teas, this news should make you feel like…

“Heaven, I’m in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak…”

That Irving Berlin song, sung by Fred Astaire in “Top Hat,” could very well have been written about tea samplers. They’re a great way to broaden your tea horizons, trying teas from various countries and in different tea families. Tea sampler sets are even better, giving you the opportunity to experience a tea grouping.

Sample sizes can vary. I’ve seen them in ½ ounce, 1 ounce, and 1¼  ounce sizes. Depending on the tea, you could get any where from a couple of cups to five or six cups, possibly even more if you do multiple infusions. That’s plenty to give you an idea of whether the tea taste appeals to you.

Of course, tea samplers are also a great way to add variety to your tea pantry. No need to settle on a limited number of kinds of tea. You can purchase small quantities of several different teas, assuring that they won’t go stale before you have a chance to use them.

Explore the wonders of China, motherland of tea and still the supplier of the most varied teas, with a sampler set that includes:

• Keemun Panda
• Jasmine with Flowers
• Pinhead Gunpowder Green
• Lapsang Souchong
• Jasmine Dragon Tears
• Lychee Congou China Black
• Shanghai Lychee Jasmine

Hop on across the China Sea to Japan with a sampler set filled with these classic teas:

• Japanese Sencha Kyoto Cherry
• Japanese Sencha
• Gen Mai Cha
• Gyokuro
• Izu Matcha

Try the teas that helped give stamina to the men and women who built the British Empire:

• Earl Grey
• English Breakfast Blend #1
• Scottish Breakfast
• Irish Breakfast
• English Breakfast Blend #2
• Buckingham Palace Garden Party
• Lady Londonderry
• Earl Grey Cream

Of course, you could try a bunch of green teas:

• Lavender Butterfly
• Earl Grey Green
• Lemon Green
• Granny Green Apple
• Chai Green
• Bohemian Raspberry
• Long Island Strawberry

Or a bunch of flavored black teas:

• Lemon
• Mango
• Peach
• Raspberry
• Vanilla
• Holiday Spice
• Monk’s Blend
• Peach Apricot

Enjoy a special cupful of Estate Teas:

• Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling
• Assam TGFOP
• Oolong Orange Blossom
• Darjeeling Mim
• Nonsuch Estate Darjeeling
• Formosa Oolong
• Kambaa Estate Darjeeling
• Lover’s Leap Estate Darjeeling

Get a taste as fresh as a skip through a field of wild flowers with a sampler set that includes such herbals as:

• Peppermint Herbal
• Chamomile Herbal
• Lavender Herbal
• Bourbon Street Vanilla Rooibos
• Sunshine Lemon Rooibos
• Casablanca Herbal
• Bella Coola Herbal
• Bingo Blueberry Herbal

Don’t forget those delicate and tasty white teas, including:

• Regular White
• Pai Mu Tan
• 100 Monkeys
• Snow Dragon
• White Eagle Long Life
• Peach Apricot
• Oasis Mango

Have I given you a good place to start? Good! I’m off to try a new tea. Ah, “Heaven, I’m in heaven…”

Make sure to stop by and sample A.C.’s blog, Tea Time with A.C. Cargill!