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While talking tea with the 
Hamster Of Darjeeling one day, she pointed me toward the Coffee & Tea Exchange (sometimes listed as the Chicago Coffee & Tea Exchange) as a purveyor of tasty delights of good and proper strength.
The Hamster is native to Malaysia, you see, and finding teas strong enough to hold a spoon up in the cup without eating through it has been an ongoing trial since she moved to the US. During her global migration, she was also stymied by the tendency of different countries to prefer a different regional tea as a base/basic tea; Australia, if I remember correctly, was a little bright and citrus-y for her tastes, and our own supermarket basic was politely tipped into a potted plant when heads turned. (Okay, that one's an exaggeration.) I'm of limited help in these teaxplorations, as I usually tend to under-steep just a touch and so don't mind a somewhat weaker tea. But I do have an eye for resteepability, which is of great importance to both of us, as we are bothcheap frugal tea snobs.
One tea leapt out at me from C&TE's website: Sassafras Delight!
Sassafras! I'm a sucker for a sassafras tea. It's pure memory-fodder of my youth, when my grandfather used to head down to our stretch of sticks and ticks to bring home firewood. I've had the real, honest-to-Missouri thing, though I was too young to properly appreciate it at the time, and I've had bagged versions, the best of which came from a little Victoriana shop many, many years ago. Mostly, though, I just stick with Pappy's Sassafras Concentrate, because it's tasty and affordable and right there at the grocery store, and because I don't even know where I'd find a sassafras tree to maim for DIY tea instead. Maybe one of these days I'll just order sassafras bark directly and go to town.
(For sake of objectivity, I point out that some die-hard sassafras purists say Pappy's tastes like root beer candy, or more sarsaparilla than sassafras. The listed contents are filtered water, 'extractives' of sassafras, 'natural flavors', caramel coloring and potassium sorbate (preservative). Alas, here in the USA 'natural flavors' can mean anything the manufacturer likes--I don't know if it's a shot in the arm after filtering out safrole, or plain old root beer flavoring. Overall reviews suggest that if you aren't a connoisseur of sassafras, it probably won't be an issue.)
I cooed over C&TE's Sassafras Delight but decided against it. I'd like to say it was because I'd just ordered tea and was practicing self-control, but it was plain laziness: they don't take Paypal and I didn't feel like digging out the credit card. But then the Hamster decided to make me a Christmas gift of it. Like the gift of the magi! Where she sent me tea and went without caffeination herself, and I sent her homemade soap and went without...nevermind. On to the review!
In the Bag:
That smell! It's a finely cut tea, with tiny bits of sassafras bark in it and cinnamon oil for flavor. The cinnamon oil doesn't show up in the scent, but I'm not surprised--sassafras is a strong, strong scent that expands to overpower and fill up all available space, much like BO and fandom. It reminds some of licorice, though I don't smell it--a little odd, since I love absinthe too, and it also has a licorice-like smell. As a side note, I love the company's brown paper bag. Eco-chic!
The Steepening:
Again: sassafras scent expands to fill up all available space. My whole apartment smelled delicious.
For the first tasting, I used plain cold tap brought to a boil, without a rinse because the Hamster had noted that C&TE teas didn't need it, and steeped to the full time for black teas. For later tastings, I used less tea, did the rinse as usual, and reduced the time. First tasting was taken plain, second with sugar, third with stevia, fourth with hot cocoa, fifth with coffee...
The cinnamon oil is strong in this blend. Too strong. My lip went numb and tingly. There's no sign of the base tea in the cup, but I expected the sassafras to overpower that; I didn't quite expect the Red Hot Cuppa, though. To borrow Barq's catchphrase, it has bite--not so much root beer bite as rabid dog bite. Sugar didn't cut the fire a bit, and stevia turned it into a syrupy, nasty mess (oh stevia, why do I keep trying?), and weaker steeping didn't even put a dent in it.
I kept at it, because goddammit, I will not be denied sassafras tea. It was a good flavor profile, just very, very, very strong. (See also: Hamster-recommended teas of good and proper strength.) And I finally hit on it last night: it's all about the resteepability! Instead of rinsing, I need to steep as usual and pour that first cup out. The resteeped cups are a much more mokie-friendly strength. In the process of getting to that, I also discovered that the tea makes a great replacement for water in hot cocoa, which tempers the cinnamon nicely while letting the sassafras do its thing, and goes very well mixed into coffee for an extra kick of flavor.
Oh, and that this tea needs a dedicated pot. Everything else that goes in after it will smell and taste like sassafras and cinnamon for a good while.
The Verdict:
Not a tea for the weak, or for those who like their teas weak! It will fight you every step of the way, and sometimes it will win, and sometimes it will break your heart (though mostly, it will leave your lips numb and your face twisty). But if you stick it out, it's so, so worth it.
Hamster Of Darjeeling one day, she pointed me toward the Coffee & Tea Exchange (sometimes listed as the Chicago Coffee & Tea Exchange) as a purveyor of tasty delights of good and proper strength.The Hamster is native to Malaysia, you see, and finding teas strong enough to hold a spoon up in the cup without eating through it has been an ongoing trial since she moved to the US. During her global migration, she was also stymied by the tendency of different countries to prefer a different regional tea as a base/basic tea; Australia, if I remember correctly, was a little bright and citrus-y for her tastes, and our own supermarket basic was politely tipped into a potted plant when heads turned. (Okay, that one's an exaggeration.) I'm of limited help in these teaxplorations, as I usually tend to under-steep just a touch and so don't mind a somewhat weaker tea. But I do have an eye for resteepability, which is of great importance to both of us, as we are both
One tea leapt out at me from C&TE's website: Sassafras Delight!
Sassafras! I'm a sucker for a sassafras tea. It's pure memory-fodder of my youth, when my grandfather used to head down to our stretch of sticks and ticks to bring home firewood. I've had the real, honest-to-Missouri thing, though I was too young to properly appreciate it at the time, and I've had bagged versions, the best of which came from a little Victoriana shop many, many years ago. Mostly, though, I just stick with Pappy's Sassafras Concentrate, because it's tasty and affordable and right there at the grocery store, and because I don't even know where I'd find a sassafras tree to maim for DIY tea instead. Maybe one of these days I'll just order sassafras bark directly and go to town.
(For sake of objectivity, I point out that some die-hard sassafras purists say Pappy's tastes like root beer candy, or more sarsaparilla than sassafras. The listed contents are filtered water, 'extractives' of sassafras, 'natural flavors', caramel coloring and potassium sorbate (preservative). Alas, here in the USA 'natural flavors' can mean anything the manufacturer likes--I don't know if it's a shot in the arm after filtering out safrole, or plain old root beer flavoring. Overall reviews suggest that if you aren't a connoisseur of sassafras, it probably won't be an issue.)
I cooed over C&TE's Sassafras Delight but decided against it. I'd like to say it was because I'd just ordered tea and was practicing self-control, but it was plain laziness: they don't take Paypal and I didn't feel like digging out the credit card. But then the Hamster decided to make me a Christmas gift of it. Like the gift of the magi! Where she sent me tea and went without caffeination herself, and I sent her homemade soap and went without...nevermind. On to the review!
In the Bag:
That smell! It's a finely cut tea, with tiny bits of sassafras bark in it and cinnamon oil for flavor. The cinnamon oil doesn't show up in the scent, but I'm not surprised--sassafras is a strong, strong scent that expands to overpower and fill up all available space, much like BO and fandom. It reminds some of licorice, though I don't smell it--a little odd, since I love absinthe too, and it also has a licorice-like smell. As a side note, I love the company's brown paper bag. Eco-chic!
The Steepening:
Again: sassafras scent expands to fill up all available space. My whole apartment smelled delicious.
For the first tasting, I used plain cold tap brought to a boil, without a rinse because the Hamster had noted that C&TE teas didn't need it, and steeped to the full time for black teas. For later tastings, I used less tea, did the rinse as usual, and reduced the time. First tasting was taken plain, second with sugar, third with stevia, fourth with hot cocoa, fifth with coffee...
The cinnamon oil is strong in this blend. Too strong. My lip went numb and tingly. There's no sign of the base tea in the cup, but I expected the sassafras to overpower that; I didn't quite expect the Red Hot Cuppa, though. To borrow Barq's catchphrase, it has bite--not so much root beer bite as rabid dog bite. Sugar didn't cut the fire a bit, and stevia turned it into a syrupy, nasty mess (oh stevia, why do I keep trying?), and weaker steeping didn't even put a dent in it.
I kept at it, because goddammit, I will not be denied sassafras tea. It was a good flavor profile, just very, very, very strong. (See also: Hamster-recommended teas of good and proper strength.) And I finally hit on it last night: it's all about the resteepability! Instead of rinsing, I need to steep as usual and pour that first cup out. The resteeped cups are a much more mokie-friendly strength. In the process of getting to that, I also discovered that the tea makes a great replacement for water in hot cocoa, which tempers the cinnamon nicely while letting the sassafras do its thing, and goes very well mixed into coffee for an extra kick of flavor.
Oh, and that this tea needs a dedicated pot. Everything else that goes in after it will smell and taste like sassafras and cinnamon for a good while.
The Verdict:
Not a tea for the weak, or for those who like their teas weak! It will fight you every step of the way, and sometimes it will win, and sometimes it will break your heart (though mostly, it will leave your lips numb and your face twisty). But if you stick it out, it's so, so worth it.
