Baxter Tea Company - Good Tea, Good Cause

Hello all,

I hope you're having a great day wherever you are. We're suddenly having a winter warm up. It's been in the teens and 20s here, but today it's supposed to be 55 degrees. I'm practically watching our snowmen melt before our very eyes.

Today I wanted to share some info. about a new-ish tea company that cropped up in Maine. I was born and raised in Maine and have a strong affinity for that part of the world. As soon as I'm on I-95 it feels like I'm heading home. So I thought it would be interesting to highlight some of the tea companies that have set up shop there. I've only found two so far! Baxter Tea Company is one of these two.

Baxter Tea was established by Maine native Lisa Liberatore to provide high quality tea and to help with causes she believes in. The company is named for the 200,000 acre Baxter State Park, a gorgeous refuge of mountains (including Mount Katahdin), lakes and forest land. Lisa's love for Baxter State Park is closely intertwined with her business plan. 10% of the sales from online loose tea sales are donated to support the ongoing preservation of this land. Another key part of the company's charity work is supporting fundraising efforts for schools through their "Baxter Tea Company Tea and Coffee Fundraisers."

These are worthy goals and connections, certainly. As someone who spent all of my professional career to date in the non-profit sector, I am a great admirer of business owners who give back in these ways. But let's be honest. What is most important is the tea, right?

Rest assured, Baxter Tea Company has the tea side covered very well. Their products include a range of loose teas (scented, unscented, and herbal), iced tea blends in pre-made filter packs, pre-packaged teas by Bromley's and Teaposy (flowering teas), as well as teaware and accessories. They have also added coffee to their offerings.

Baxter Tea provided me with four samples to try - China Black Rose, Earl Grey, Mandarin Flavored Sencha, and Blueberry Rooibos. I thought all of these were very well done blends - not overly scented, clean flavors, and well-formed tea leaves.

• Mandarin Flavored Sencha - I was hesitant about this one. I sometimes worry that flavoring is used to mask poorer quality tea. I also have had some really good and really not good orange teas. I assure you that there was no need for hesitation here. It was a wonderful blend. The orange blended beautifully with the sencha flavor. Rather than masking flavors, I felt like it made them even brighter. I suspect this would make an outstanding iced tea.
  
• The China Black Rose wasn't my favorite - there was something about the scent that was reminding me of candy and Fruit Loops. The flavor of the tea was nice, it just wasn't something I would choose on a regular basis.
  
• The Blueberry Rooibos was surprisingly good. I am generally hesitant about blueberry teas. I think blueberry is very hard to capture without it tasting artificial. And rooibos is such a hit or miss with me. Again, it isn't something I'd buy regularly, but it was a really pleasant change. Nicely done.
• The Earl Grey was among the best I've ever had. Seriously. The scenting was so subtle. It was an amazing black with a light, ethereal quality added by the scenting. Ironically, in the past, my favorite Earl Greys have been the bolder ones. This couldn't have been more different, but it was amazing. I would highly recommend giving it a try. (I also used it to mimic Starbucks' London Fog latte with great results - 1 1/2 cups Baxter Earl Grey, 2 tbs Torani Vanilla Syrup, and about 1/4 cup foamed milk. Mmmm....)
  

Based on my initial experience with Baxter Tea, I would definitely recommend checking out their offerings. Great tea that supports an excellent cause.

***Completely unrelated note - After my initial excitement over the Starbucks London Fog latte I decided to try their Black Tea latte. Completely lackluster, IMHO. It reminded me of when I was sick as a kid and my mom would make me a mug of Red Rose tea with milk and sugar in it. It wasn't bad. It just really wasn't very interesting. (I was told that it's Indian black tea, steamed milk and "Classic syrup," which is just a simple syrup.)