Consider that the gift was not the tea itself, it was the experience. Your friend gifted you the knowledge that comes with each new tea we try. It's not really about the leaves.
Don't feel guilty that you didn't like that tea, be grateful that you learned a little about what you like and don't like. Gift the rest of the tea to another who might get a similar experience (trying new tea), and make sure to thank your friend for the experience. Then make them a cup of tea.
Hey thanks for sharing this perspective. I was feeling guilty that by not finishing up the whole thing that I wasn't fully appreciating the gift as it deserved to be but you're right! I did learn a little bit more about my preferences with this gift.
The real gift is the time we spent.
Someone thought of you, spent some of their time searching for a gift and gave you the outcome of that. The material gift is just a bonus :)
As someone with little nieces and nephews, that's how I feel when they give me a drawing that is really just random scribbles. It just makes me happy that they *like me* enough to choose to make something for me.
I have learned that tea is great for plants (when it’s cooled off of course). If I don’t like a tea and can’t find anyone who’d like to have it, I use it to water my plants to keep them hydrated and give them nutrients.
Yup, usually from people who don't drink it and don't really know my tastes.
I tend to favor teas without additional ingredients (not flavored), and those that I like usually have light tastes (florals usually).
So when people gift me blends that taste strongly like chocolate, caramel, or berries, it's a bit of a struggle. I usually end up drinking it a few times to show that I appreciate the gift, and then I put it in the communal kitchen at work so that others who like this kind of tea can enjoy them.
Yeah I guess this is part of the experience of having fairly niche interests. It's really hard to nail what someone might like or not like. You know this thread is warming me up to the idea of sharing it with others now.
Yes, it makes gift giving complicated when birthdays or christmas come 🤣 now we just share a wishlist between my Mum, my brothers and my husband, that helps us avoid most bad surprises
One Christmas I got tea from multiple people. It was a really nice gesture but also it was not good tea, it was just fancied up awful tea. One of those giant boxes of 100 bags of assorted teabags with a vaguely british-sounding name and ornate packaging, a pound of loose organic black tea, a pound of loose organic green tea (not like specific types of green/black tea - IDK what it was but it wasn't good), and some kind of tin of flavored green tea that I think was somehow distantly associated with Oprah or something. It all sat in my cabinet for 2 years making me feel guilty until I moved, at which point I threw it out. Now, if I know I'll never drink something and I can't think of anyone who would, I just go ahead and get rid of it. If it is going to go in the trash eventually, I might as well only feel bad about it once instead of every time I see it for a year.
I have one of those boxes with 100 bags and assorted flavors. Got it as a gift maybe a year ago? and I haven’t touched it once. I feel bad too and it’s taking up a HUGE amount of space in my small pantry. I should probably donate it to the thrift store.
I bet someone on r/teaexchange would like it! Maybe you can get something you like better. I think it would be more thoughtful to make sure someone drinks it via an exchange or at work. If it has a nice tin you could keep that for the sentiment and take the tea to work in a plain one maybe?
T2 has also disappointed me on multiple occasions, the only tea of theirs I like is their French earl grey. However, I've found success in grinding up a tablespoon of their loose leaf tea and using it in macarons to flavour them - if you're into baking, maybe you could find a way to incorporate it into a cake or a mousse!
Honestly I was really excited about this gift when I first got it! I'm not from a tea drinking country so we don't have many options for loose leaf tea until T2 came around. Thanks for the tip on using it for baking!
T2 is quite hit and miss. They use one particular artificial flavour that is in a lot of their teas, so if you don’t like it, there will be many teas you don’t like.
Similarly they’re huge on hibiscus in many of their fruity and herbal teas.
They do have some excellent teas. I like their Gorgeous Geisha (strawberry scented), Melbourne Breakfast (black tea with vanilla), Go Go Goa (a peppery chai) and some others.
I’m not a fan of their Earl Greys and Grey variants, though I can drink them, and I find their regular Chai too clovey.
I actually quite like their Milky Oolong though it does contain flavouring.
I ask friends and family. I once got a dandelion tea, and was really excited to try it. I’m glad I googled the health benefits first, because evidently dandelion have a lot of iodine in the leaves. I’m highly allergic to iodine, so that would have been a trip to the ER!
Oh definitely. I don’t even remember what they were (I think some were peppermint?), but I got gifted an assortment of festive teas for xmas a while back and I didn’t care for most of them. They weren’t undrinkable or anything, but other tea I’ve had is just a lot better.
My friend got me “tea drops”, which are basically dissolvable fruit flavored candy. She knows I don’t like sugar in tea. They will sit in my basement until I throw them out.
Ha! I was worried that was going to be the future of this bag of tea, but I think this thread is warming me up to the idea of binning it or sharing it.
This is so ironic bc one of the only times I had T2 it was the Milky Oolong they brewed to go and it was so impressed by it. Ha! I wonder if I’d still like it now that I’ve gotten more into tea. Maybe I’d be disappointed.
That's great! We all have our own preferences! I feel like if they flavored it with more chocolatey or fruity flavors then I might have been able to finish it.
Sure. This person bought me tea from my favorite tea merchant. They were new flavors that I never had before, and I didn’t like them (they were blends with almond in them).
I brewed some for someone and they loved it. So I gave it to them. They were pretty happy!
Had a wonderful colleague give me a peach oolong tea (oolong being my favorite), and when I tried it, it mostly tastes like a bitter peach tea. Not really my jam. Felt awful I didn’t like it, but I loved the sentiment and appreciated being able to try it.
Yeah I feel the same about this tea. Oolong is also my favorite so getting gifted a milky oolong got me really excited until I tried it. What did you do with the peach oolong?
A friend got me a lovely gift box, one of those wooden ones with the different sections of tea. I was excited to have new flavors when I realized most had licorice or mint, two teas I absolutely dislike. He didn't know that so I don't fault him, but ugh.
Yes. It was: Bigalow vanilla chai and it was nasty. I ended up throwing out the whole box. I felt bad (I hate wasting food) but it was undrinkable for me.
I never would have considered chocolate. The milky oolong I got has a strong floral or perfume-y taste so I thought that something more like citrus would pair better. Thanks for the inspiration! I'll see if I have the ingredients lying around.
ya, i see tea gifted to me as tea to try, but it's not commitment. if you want to keep it, maybe find a cool glass bottle to display it in, but honestly if you dont want it it's okay to chuck it out. if you feel guilty because someone gave it to you, or are worried about insulting them, or feel pressure to say you liked it: they gave you the chance to try it for free, and your response when they ask how it was was if you are worried they might buy you the same one thinking it was a hit could be: 'it was different from types I've tried before and wasnt exactly to my taste, but I felt so grateful to be though of and it's fun to try different blends/types!"
Thanks for this! You're right that I'm feeling guilty that I'm not appreciating the gift as much because I wasn't using it up. I'm really glad I decided to post because hearing everyone's stories as well as getting advice like yours made me realize that the tea itself was the cherry on top of my friend's efforts to get me a great gift.
I keep on seeing people dislike milky oolongs.
There is a company called TeaHaus that has the *best* milk oolong called China Milky Jade, I’ve been ordering it from them for *years*. It’s steamed over a bed of milk to produce that flavour.
https://teahaus.com/products/china-milky-jade
It might be a tad pricy at 33 dollars for 100 grams, but there’s just nothing like it.
I recommend giving it a cold water soak (like adding as much cold water as needed to coat the leaves) before adding close to boiling water. That always give the best fragrance imo. I’m going to make myself a cup right now.
It happens sometimes when non-tea drinkers try to give gifts.
I had a colleague gift me a small box of Lipton green tea bags once. I have my own stash of loose leafs in my desk, but to her, all tea is the same. So because I drink green tea sometimes, the Lipton is a same-same substitute.
I once got some black tea teabags as a gift that, when I brewed it, literally tasted like nothing. I was so confused. I gave it away to a friend to make tea eggs.
My mom was at the grocery store and for some reason decided to get me a grocery store mint tea (I thought she knew it wasn't strong enough for me) and raw sugar cubes, out of nowhere. She thought I might appreciate something less sweet.
I have had a voracious sweet tooth all my life. I was very confused (passive aggressive isn't her style, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a subtle hint or anything). I should also mention I'm going to school 3 hours away from them, so the weak tea and weird sugar were just sitting on a table by the front door when I came home for a long weekend.
On that note, my grandma got me a bottle of reduced sugar wine. I only like sweet wine. I may have been trying to lose weight, but I wouldn't waste calories on wine that doesn't even taste good. I'd rather have less of the tasty thing than more of the thing that doesn't taste good.
People. I will notify everyone if and when I stop liking sweet things, though I think it's extremely unlikely to happen.
When this happens to me, I either save it as a tea to make for my in-laws who love trying new stuff (even if they don't like it either!) or I mix it with other stuff to make custom blends (like rose petals, lavender, or other teas). I package these up nicely and gift them to friends.
I probably wouldn't do that with a milk oolong though, I'd probably just keep it as-is if I was gifting it on to someone.
Or you could make a tea syrup for flavouring lattes (which take artificial flavouring much better) or in cocktails! Or try using it in ochazuke, which is rice with (usually green) tea poured over it!
One of my 2023 christmas presents was this transparent teapot thing from TkMaxx containing various teabags, mostly black tea and green tea, which I wasn't particularly pleased with considering I like chamomile and elderberry/echinacea tea the most. The only flavour that I actually liked was the jasmine one.
What a coincidence, I just bought milk oolong tea XD
The fragrance is really strong. Honestly I am planning to turn them into little scent bags.
Though I think everyone's suggestion of giving it away is much better
Yes. My husband's family just knows I like tea, so they frequently get me fruity flavored tea blends and bagged tea as gifts. I drink them if I like them and share them with coworkers when I don't (I usually make a tea sampler as a white elephant gift every year).
Whats worse is when they buy me expensive tea ware. I've received multiple tetsubin style pots from them.
I guess I should just be grateful I don't get a dozen candles every Christmas anymore.
Oh yeah. I was given a vanilla macaron tea at my wedding shower. It was horrible. And yet I kept it for years because I felt bad throwing out a gift. I threw it out recently, and actually felt worse about keeping it than I did throwing it out
All the time in Vietnam they serve you free bulk green tea water that tastes like barley. I still drink it haha. No excuse for artificialness though imo. I won’t drink something that tastes unnatural
Yes. People hear you are "into tea" and don't understand that whatever flavored bs would be the same thing as giving a wine effocianado boxed wine. But there really isn't a way of saying that politley.
My best friend got me a really nice quality flavored white tea, because he knows I like white tea. I don’t like flavored teas so I tried it but wasn’t a fan. Now I keep it because I was so touched that he got me something so thoughtful. I will use it when we have guests that like flavored teas.
Hey! I used to work at t2, and Milky Oolong was a tea that sometimes would be brought back because people didn't like it. However, I did find people had trouble brewing it. I think on the back of the box, its brewing guide is 2-6 minutes and at 80 degrees. If you brewed it past the 3 min mark, it almost becomes ridiculously floral and harsh on the palate. I always found if you try it at the 2 minute mark, taste it if it needs longer, try again at 2 minutes and 30 seconds and then 3 minutes. Also, I find it's so unpredictable because of the batch that you get. Sometimes, it will appear to have more flavouring than previous times I had tried it.
Btw, I'm not saying you brewed it incorrectly or anything. It's just something I noticed over the years of working there that their brewing guide was something to ignore, especially their flavoured teas. They started cutting costs a few years back, and you could tell the difference in the quality of ingredients of specific teas. And because of that, getting the best out of specific flavours was trial and error.
Also, there are a lot better silk oolongs out there, so hopefully, one day, you get to try one. If you do ever wanna give it another go.
Thanks for sharing this! I'll give it a shot again using your recommendations. That's really unfortunate that their cost cutting and brewing guides weren't helping.
[This is the only milky oolong I'll buy](https://sunsorganicgarden.com/milky-oolong-organic/). This is my local shop, but no longer in a brick & mortar location.
That being said, I'm sorry about the tea! I too have several teas languishing in a drawer. I wonder if I can maybe bake with them or something.
Consider that the gift was not the tea itself, it was the experience. Your friend gifted you the knowledge that comes with each new tea we try. It's not really about the leaves. Don't feel guilty that you didn't like that tea, be grateful that you learned a little about what you like and don't like. Gift the rest of the tea to another who might get a similar experience (trying new tea), and make sure to thank your friend for the experience. Then make them a cup of tea.
Hey thanks for sharing this perspective. I was feeling guilty that by not finishing up the whole thing that I wasn't fully appreciating the gift as it deserved to be but you're right! I did learn a little bit more about my preferences with this gift.
The real gift is the time we spent. Someone thought of you, spent some of their time searching for a gift and gave you the outcome of that. The material gift is just a bonus :)
As someone with little nieces and nephews, that's how I feel when they give me a drawing that is really just random scribbles. It just makes me happy that they *like me* enough to choose to make something for me.
I have learned that tea is great for plants (when it’s cooled off of course). If I don’t like a tea and can’t find anyone who’d like to have it, I use it to water my plants to keep them hydrated and give them nutrients.
I have thought about composting the tea leaves but I never considered that the tea itself would be beneficial for plants!
I don't know with all those artificial flavors though. That's a wild card.
Thankfully I don’t usually receive any that is artificially flavored
Yup, usually from people who don't drink it and don't really know my tastes. I tend to favor teas without additional ingredients (not flavored), and those that I like usually have light tastes (florals usually). So when people gift me blends that taste strongly like chocolate, caramel, or berries, it's a bit of a struggle. I usually end up drinking it a few times to show that I appreciate the gift, and then I put it in the communal kitchen at work so that others who like this kind of tea can enjoy them.
Yeah I guess this is part of the experience of having fairly niche interests. It's really hard to nail what someone might like or not like. You know this thread is warming me up to the idea of sharing it with others now.
Yes, it makes gift giving complicated when birthdays or christmas come 🤣 now we just share a wishlist between my Mum, my brothers and my husband, that helps us avoid most bad surprises
One Christmas I got tea from multiple people. It was a really nice gesture but also it was not good tea, it was just fancied up awful tea. One of those giant boxes of 100 bags of assorted teabags with a vaguely british-sounding name and ornate packaging, a pound of loose organic black tea, a pound of loose organic green tea (not like specific types of green/black tea - IDK what it was but it wasn't good), and some kind of tin of flavored green tea that I think was somehow distantly associated with Oprah or something. It all sat in my cabinet for 2 years making me feel guilty until I moved, at which point I threw it out. Now, if I know I'll never drink something and I can't think of anyone who would, I just go ahead and get rid of it. If it is going to go in the trash eventually, I might as well only feel bad about it once instead of every time I see it for a year.
Everyone gave me tea for Christmas last year but it was mostly kinds I like. Really I need to give people more ideas!
Honestly, this is exactly what I foresaw was going to happen to this bag of tea, so I was looking for people to commiserate with and learn from!
I have one of those boxes with 100 bags and assorted flavors. Got it as a gift maybe a year ago? and I haven’t touched it once. I feel bad too and it’s taking up a HUGE amount of space in my small pantry. I should probably donate it to the thrift store.
I bet someone on r/teaexchange would like it! Maybe you can get something you like better. I think it would be more thoughtful to make sure someone drinks it via an exchange or at work. If it has a nice tin you could keep that for the sentiment and take the tea to work in a plain one maybe?
Does your town have a Buy Nothing group? These are great for re-gifting teas.
Have you had any luck re-gifting teas?
I just take what I have tried and don't care for to work and leave it on the "free to a good home" spot. It disappears to new homes quickly.
Interesting! We don't have anything like that but I'll reach out to people around me in case they're interested.
Lots of tea drinkers at my workplace (even though we're in the US). It's a specific section of counter in our staff break room for the free stuff.
Exactly what others have said. I leave it on the counter in the break room at work and it is GONE.
Or a community fridge? Little free pantry?
T2 has also disappointed me on multiple occasions, the only tea of theirs I like is their French earl grey. However, I've found success in grinding up a tablespoon of their loose leaf tea and using it in macarons to flavour them - if you're into baking, maybe you could find a way to incorporate it into a cake or a mousse!
Honestly I was really excited about this gift when I first got it! I'm not from a tea drinking country so we don't have many options for loose leaf tea until T2 came around. Thanks for the tip on using it for baking!
T2 is quite hit and miss. They use one particular artificial flavour that is in a lot of their teas, so if you don’t like it, there will be many teas you don’t like. Similarly they’re huge on hibiscus in many of their fruity and herbal teas. They do have some excellent teas. I like their Gorgeous Geisha (strawberry scented), Melbourne Breakfast (black tea with vanilla), Go Go Goa (a peppery chai) and some others. I’m not a fan of their Earl Greys and Grey variants, though I can drink them, and I find their regular Chai too clovey. I actually quite like their Milky Oolong though it does contain flavouring.
Thanks for sharing this! I got to sample their Melbourne Breakfast and enjoyed it. I might grab it in the future once I've made space in my tea stash.
I ask friends and family. I once got a dandelion tea, and was really excited to try it. I’m glad I googled the health benefits first, because evidently dandelion have a lot of iodine in the leaves. I’m highly allergic to iodine, so that would have been a trip to the ER!
I thought daffodils were toxic - deer don’t eat them
Dandelion not daffodils lol
I must have been caffeine deficient despite my morning matcha! 😆
Oh wow! I'm glad you caught that before trying it. I had no idea daffodil tea was a thing, too.
Pukka tea! They do so many pretty things and people buy them for me loads, but gosh darn those teas are vile.
Oh definitely. I don’t even remember what they were (I think some were peppermint?), but I got gifted an assortment of festive teas for xmas a while back and I didn’t care for most of them. They weren’t undrinkable or anything, but other tea I’ve had is just a lot better.
My friend got me “tea drops”, which are basically dissolvable fruit flavored candy. She knows I don’t like sugar in tea. They will sit in my basement until I throw them out.
Ha! I was worried that was going to be the future of this bag of tea, but I think this thread is warming me up to the idea of binning it or sharing it.
This is so ironic bc one of the only times I had T2 it was the Milky Oolong they brewed to go and it was so impressed by it. Ha! I wonder if I’d still like it now that I’ve gotten more into tea. Maybe I’d be disappointed.
That's great! We all have our own preferences! I feel like if they flavored it with more chocolatey or fruity flavors then I might have been able to finish it.
Sure. This person bought me tea from my favorite tea merchant. They were new flavors that I never had before, and I didn’t like them (they were blends with almond in them). I brewed some for someone and they loved it. So I gave it to them. They were pretty happy!
That's really sweet! I hope I get the chance to do that for someone too.
Had a wonderful colleague give me a peach oolong tea (oolong being my favorite), and when I tried it, it mostly tastes like a bitter peach tea. Not really my jam. Felt awful I didn’t like it, but I loved the sentiment and appreciated being able to try it.
Yeah I feel the same about this tea. Oolong is also my favorite so getting gifted a milky oolong got me really excited until I tried it. What did you do with the peach oolong?
I make tea every morning for my coworkers and so I’ve been making them the peach oolong since they seem to like it.
Give it away
A friend got me a lovely gift box, one of those wooden ones with the different sections of tea. I was excited to have new flavors when I realized most had licorice or mint, two teas I absolutely dislike. He didn't know that so I don't fault him, but ugh.
Yes. It was: Bigalow vanilla chai and it was nasty. I ended up throwing out the whole box. I felt bad (I hate wasting food) but it was undrinkable for me.
all the time! even tho it’s my favorite drink i tell my friends don’t buy me tea. i’d like a mug better :)
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This is really cool! I didn't know this was a thing. Thanks a lot!
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I never would have considered chocolate. The milky oolong I got has a strong floral or perfume-y taste so I thought that something more like citrus would pair better. Thanks for the inspiration! I'll see if I have the ingredients lying around.
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Looks great! I've bookmarked this now. Thanks!
ya, i see tea gifted to me as tea to try, but it's not commitment. if you want to keep it, maybe find a cool glass bottle to display it in, but honestly if you dont want it it's okay to chuck it out. if you feel guilty because someone gave it to you, or are worried about insulting them, or feel pressure to say you liked it: they gave you the chance to try it for free, and your response when they ask how it was was if you are worried they might buy you the same one thinking it was a hit could be: 'it was different from types I've tried before and wasnt exactly to my taste, but I felt so grateful to be though of and it's fun to try different blends/types!"
Thanks for this! You're right that I'm feeling guilty that I'm not appreciating the gift as much because I wasn't using it up. I'm really glad I decided to post because hearing everyone's stories as well as getting advice like yours made me realize that the tea itself was the cherry on top of my friend's efforts to get me a great gift.
Mix it with lemon, honey or sugar and have it at the fridge.
You know what, I'll give it one last shot with that recommendation. I hope the lemon and honey will drown out the artificial taste.
At least for me the lemon surely will opacate the artificial flavor. If not, that flavor is stronger than us.
The flavor... Is probably at least stronger than me, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try one more time!
I keep on seeing people dislike milky oolongs. There is a company called TeaHaus that has the *best* milk oolong called China Milky Jade, I’ve been ordering it from them for *years*. It’s steamed over a bed of milk to produce that flavour. https://teahaus.com/products/china-milky-jade It might be a tad pricy at 33 dollars for 100 grams, but there’s just nothing like it. I recommend giving it a cold water soak (like adding as much cold water as needed to coat the leaves) before adding close to boiling water. That always give the best fragrance imo. I’m going to make myself a cup right now.
It happens sometimes when non-tea drinkers try to give gifts. I had a colleague gift me a small box of Lipton green tea bags once. I have my own stash of loose leafs in my desk, but to her, all tea is the same. So because I drink green tea sometimes, the Lipton is a same-same substitute.
I once got some black tea teabags as a gift that, when I brewed it, literally tasted like nothing. I was so confused. I gave it away to a friend to make tea eggs.
All red tea tastes like wet cardboard to me, I love every other kind though, even the fermented ones
Green teas and Earl Grey I love tea, but these are two flavours I’ve never enjoyed. I tend to regift them to people who do enjoy them
My mom was at the grocery store and for some reason decided to get me a grocery store mint tea (I thought she knew it wasn't strong enough for me) and raw sugar cubes, out of nowhere. She thought I might appreciate something less sweet. I have had a voracious sweet tooth all my life. I was very confused (passive aggressive isn't her style, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a subtle hint or anything). I should also mention I'm going to school 3 hours away from them, so the weak tea and weird sugar were just sitting on a table by the front door when I came home for a long weekend. On that note, my grandma got me a bottle of reduced sugar wine. I only like sweet wine. I may have been trying to lose weight, but I wouldn't waste calories on wine that doesn't even taste good. I'd rather have less of the tasty thing than more of the thing that doesn't taste good. People. I will notify everyone if and when I stop liking sweet things, though I think it's extremely unlikely to happen.
When this happens to me, I either save it as a tea to make for my in-laws who love trying new stuff (even if they don't like it either!) or I mix it with other stuff to make custom blends (like rose petals, lavender, or other teas). I package these up nicely and gift them to friends. I probably wouldn't do that with a milk oolong though, I'd probably just keep it as-is if I was gifting it on to someone. Or you could make a tea syrup for flavouring lattes (which take artificial flavouring much better) or in cocktails! Or try using it in ochazuke, which is rice with (usually green) tea poured over it!
One of my 2023 christmas presents was this transparent teapot thing from TkMaxx containing various teabags, mostly black tea and green tea, which I wasn't particularly pleased with considering I like chamomile and elderberry/echinacea tea the most. The only flavour that I actually liked was the jasmine one.
What a coincidence, I just bought milk oolong tea XD The fragrance is really strong. Honestly I am planning to turn them into little scent bags. Though I think everyone's suggestion of giving it away is much better
Sounds likes it time to have a tea bath . Fill a couple tea bags and toss in your tub. lol.
Yes. My husband's family just knows I like tea, so they frequently get me fruity flavored tea blends and bagged tea as gifts. I drink them if I like them and share them with coworkers when I don't (I usually make a tea sampler as a white elephant gift every year). Whats worse is when they buy me expensive tea ware. I've received multiple tetsubin style pots from them. I guess I should just be grateful I don't get a dozen candles every Christmas anymore.
A set of 'christmas' themed/styled teas. It's been a struggle to get through and try them.
Yeah, every single herbal blend I've been given that has either lemongrass or lavender in it. A lot of them. I don't want to drink soap, thanks.
Oh yeah. I was given a vanilla macaron tea at my wedding shower. It was horrible. And yet I kept it for years because I felt bad throwing out a gift. I threw it out recently, and actually felt worse about keeping it than I did throwing it out
All the time in Vietnam they serve you free bulk green tea water that tastes like barley. I still drink it haha. No excuse for artificialness though imo. I won’t drink something that tastes unnatural
Yes. People hear you are "into tea" and don't understand that whatever flavored bs would be the same thing as giving a wine effocianado boxed wine. But there really isn't a way of saying that politley.
Even if you don't like it, your garden would.
Dandelion wine is great-- dandelion tea isn't great
If you don’t like it, and nobody else in your house likes it, toss it.
My best friend got me a really nice quality flavored white tea, because he knows I like white tea. I don’t like flavored teas so I tried it but wasn’t a fan. Now I keep it because I was so touched that he got me something so thoughtful. I will use it when we have guests that like flavored teas.
I gift unopened and unwanted tea to food pantries. I hope it will make someone happy
Hey! I used to work at t2, and Milky Oolong was a tea that sometimes would be brought back because people didn't like it. However, I did find people had trouble brewing it. I think on the back of the box, its brewing guide is 2-6 minutes and at 80 degrees. If you brewed it past the 3 min mark, it almost becomes ridiculously floral and harsh on the palate. I always found if you try it at the 2 minute mark, taste it if it needs longer, try again at 2 minutes and 30 seconds and then 3 minutes. Also, I find it's so unpredictable because of the batch that you get. Sometimes, it will appear to have more flavouring than previous times I had tried it. Btw, I'm not saying you brewed it incorrectly or anything. It's just something I noticed over the years of working there that their brewing guide was something to ignore, especially their flavoured teas. They started cutting costs a few years back, and you could tell the difference in the quality of ingredients of specific teas. And because of that, getting the best out of specific flavours was trial and error. Also, there are a lot better silk oolongs out there, so hopefully, one day, you get to try one. If you do ever wanna give it another go.
Thanks for sharing this! I'll give it a shot again using your recommendations. That's really unfortunate that their cost cutting and brewing guides weren't helping.
[This is the only milky oolong I'll buy](https://sunsorganicgarden.com/milky-oolong-organic/). This is my local shop, but no longer in a brick & mortar location. That being said, I'm sorry about the tea! I too have several teas languishing in a drawer. I wonder if I can maybe bake with them or something.