This is a box of Taylor’s of Harrogate Earl Grey Tea. By anybody’s standards, this is a pretty damn good box of tea. I got it at the corner shop for $3, which is seriously a steal.
At The Better Cheddar down on the Plaza, Taylor’s clocks in at $9 for a box of 50 tea bags. Which is still not really a bad buy when you consider that the regular grocery store will charge you nearly $4 for a measly 20 sachets of Twinings.
I intend to become a regular customer of this store in my neighborhood, and hope that I can eventually convince the owner to order in some Lapsang Souchong for me. A lapsang hookup within walking distance would be pretty freakin’ sweet.
Besides being a bargain retailer of fine tea, this little oddball mini-mart happens to have a very good selection of ingredients for Indian cookery. I stumbled on to this knowledge by accident this past summer. I was out running errands and it was wicked hot, so I though I’d just stop in this sketchy-looking convenience store and buy a bottle of soda. Once I was inside, I realized that it was no ordinary convenience store I was shopping in. Because I’m lazy as hell, I’ll crib my Google+ review of the place as follows:
This store is a hidden gem. If you judge by the exterior you could be in danger of writing it off as a dodgy liquor mart, but if you overlook its shabby frontage, enter, and have a look around, you will find an unexpected and well-stocked shop with a concentration on ingredients for Indian cookery. You can buy paneer here, pre-mixed seasonings for various curries, several types of lentils, dried garbanzo beans, poppadums, sesame cookies, and other sub-continental delicacies. If you live in the Downtown area (of KCMO or KCKS) it is well worth a look-in for specialty ingredients.This store also has a broad selection of Midwestern and Latino staples, the expected beer cooler, sodas, candy and chips.
I was in there today to get paneer and poppadoms for our Christmas dinner, and happened to notice the tea while I was browsing the shelves (I was hoping for regular malt-flavored Milo powder). It is so hard to find malted-milk powder that doesn’t also have chocolate flavor in it, and I have been tasting for malt powder in a smoothie for quite some while.
Oh well, our holiday Saag Paneer ought to be very satisfying, and it’s nice to have a handy source for goodies like that.