Papa’s Pile

Description

Papa’s Pile – 100g of Tea That Needs a New Home

What exactly is Papa’s Pile?

We don’t know. That’s sort of the point.

Papa’s Pile is an ever-changing assortment of teas that have accumulated around Tea Tavern over time: samples we’ve tried, teas that weren’t a good fit for the business, interesting odds and ends from past adventures, and the occasional perfectly respectable tea whose label has wandered off to wherever lost tea labels go.

Think of it as the back shelf of an old apothecary cabinet: a little cluttered, a little mysterious, and potentially hiding something delightful.

Rather than let good tea languish on a shelf, we’re sending it out into the world for another adventurer to discover.

Each Papa’s Pile contains approximately 100g of assorted loose-leaf tea, selected from whatever happens to be in the pile when your order is packed. You may receive several different teas, and we can’t promise particular types, origins, ages, cultivars or flavor profiles. In some cases, we may not know exactly what a tea is ourselves.

That’s why it’s Papa’s Pile.

What You Might Get

• Samples of teas we’ve tried over the years
• Teas we decided not to carry
• Odds and ends from our tea collection
• Teas whose identifying information or labels have been lost somewhere along the journey
• Multiple different teas adding up to approximately 100g

Flavor Profile

• Yes. There will probably be flavors.
• Your assortment could be earthy, floral, fruity, grassy, roasted, sweet, smoky, bitter — or several of those things
• Every Papa’s Pile will be different — consider the contents a small roll of the dice

Why Drink Papa’s Pile?

• Explore teas you might never have chosen for yourself
• Experiment without committing to a full-size package of a particular tea
• Practice identifying aromas, flavors and brewing characteristics without knowing exactly what’s in your cup
• Give perfectly drinkable tea a home instead of letting it go to waste
• See what treasures might be hiding among the Tavern’s accumulated odds and ends
• Experience the particular thrill of asking, “What the heck is this?” and having us answer, “Your guess is as good as ours.”

Specialized Brewing Instructions

There aren’t any.

Because Papa’s Pile can contain different kinds of tea, there is no single brewing method appropriate for everything you might receive. Individual teas will be separated when practical, but identification and brewing instructions are not guaranteed.

When in doubt, start conservatively with a lower water temperature and shorter steep, taste, and adjust from there. Consider it part of the adventure.

The Fine Print

Papa’s Pile is intentionally sold with fewer guarantees than our regular teas. Your approximately 100g assortment may contain multiple types of tea, and Tea Tavern cannot guarantee the identity, origin, harvest date, cultivar, flavor profile or ideal brewing method of its contents.

If you want to know exactly what you’re drinking, we have many excellent teas for that.

Papa’s Pile is not one of them.