I am most certain this is nothing new under the sun...

Just for a different taste when I get low on any tea I have I toss the almost empty tea into a tea tin marked "Mixed Tea". I do this with my black, green and white teas, and each tin marked "Black Mixed Tea", "Green Mixed Tea" and "White Mixed Tea" appropriately.

I love my black teas, and I'm drinking more and more white teas all of the time. So just now I made two pots of tea, one from the "Black Mixed Tea" and the other from the "White Mixed Tea", then I combined the two finished teas into one pot to make a mixture of black and white tea. What a new taste experience! I'm enjoying the combination of the well know taste of black tea with the settle and almost nutty taste of the white tea in one cup!

Makaibari Estate Organic FTGFOP1S Autumnal

This tea I bought from Upton Teas back in June of 2006 called Makaibari Estate Organic FTGFOP1S Autumnal (FTGFOP1 = Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, grade 1) is what I am enjoying right this moment Gongfu style with my Yixing Tea pot. This tea is a Darjeeling Tea, and is also one of my favorites. This cup has a deep floral, sweet and nutty flavor, but not much of a muscatel flavor that is associated with Darjeeling Teas. Because of the "autumnal label" this tea was harvested late in the harvesting year. I find all First Flush teas (Darjeeling or otherwise) to be the teas with bet best flavor. First Flush means the first harvested tea in the tea harvesting season.

Darjeeling Green Tea

Another tea I bought from Tfactors Teas was Darjeeling Green Tea - Gopaldhara Tea Estate, Darjeeling. I love Green Teas, but sad to say many less than premium Green Teas have a "grassy taste". In this tea I do taste a bit of a grassy taste in this tea at first, but glad to say that grassy taste goes away after a few sips because the after taste lingers for a bit, so the finish on this tea is not clean ("clean finish" means little or no after taste). The after taste is what makes this tea enjoyable, but I doubt I'd buy more of this tea after I run out.

But remember the health benefits Green Tea offers, and if you like Green Teas, don't pass this one up for it is better than most I've had, and at $8.61 for four ounces - it's truly a great deal.

Darjeeling Premium

Well, as I've stated before my favorite teas are from the Darjeeling province of India. The teas that are grown in Darjeeling are grown at a very high elevation around 750 - 2000 meters in century old Tea Gardens. So these teas are usually the best teas you can get (in my opinion).

I bought this Darjeeling Black Tea from TFactor Teas a few weeks back, and it has a simple name of "Darjeeling Premium".

I drink Black, Green and White Darjeeling Teas all of the time (every day), so my taste for a good quality Darjeeling is very discerning.

This Darjeeling Premium Tea has the signature muscatel aftertaste (most likely the reason Darjeeling Teas are my favorite) like most Darjeeling Teas have. This tea is a bit stronger than most Darjeeling Teas, but is still suitable to drink any time of the day.

Now as I finish up this little blog note on Darjeeling Premium, I'm off to go steep myself another cup!

Ceylon Sonata

I ordered this tin of tea called Ceylon Sonata from Adagio Teas a few weeks ago.

For the price this tea is a good buy, but I believe this tea is better suited for your average "Lipton" or "Tetley" tea drinkers. Don't get me wrong, this tea is a high quality tea that is far better than your "Lipton" or "Tetley" teas, it's just that I believe that the average person who does not have a "taste" for premium teas would find this tea a better choice for a starter tea per se.

And just so that I don't sound to unfair about this tea, this is the second time I have ordered this tea from Adagio.

I would also recommend this tea for mornings, and this is one of the few teas I would consider adding sugar, honey and/or milk to give you a different taste. (There are very few teas what I'd add anything to, for I like my teas pure)

Satrupa Golden Pekoe

I ordered this tea Satrupa Golden Pekoe - Satrupa Tea Estate, Upper Assam from the same order as I posted here: Organic Queen’s Namsang, from Tfactor Teas.
I believe this tea is a good all around tea that can be good for ant time of the day. The cup is very balanced even with it's dark coloring. To me it also has a clean finish after a few moments. I'm glad I took advantage of the tea sale that Tfactor had a few weeks ago. I usually drink only single estate teas, like the one here, and I am glad to have found this one for it is a really good change if you drink the same tea all of the time (of which I am not guilty of). I read on the Tfactor site that this tea is a limited edition tea, so I might just get some more before they run out.

Organic Queen’s Namsang

I ordered this tea Organic Queen’s Namsang - Rani Tea Estate, Lower Assam from Tfactor Teas a few weeks ago due to a sale they had going on by email invite only. I am glad I ordered this tea for it is a good cup to have in the morning. The tea is round and it has a malty aftertaste to me, and a good strong cup to wake you up. Tfactor Teas recommended this tea for an afternoon tea, but I believe it's better suited for the morning to get you going. I don't find this tea to be a relaxing tea for the end of the day like I find Darjeeling Teas tend to be for me.

If you like strong well rounded cups of tea, this one is a good choice.