#26433 - 06/29/09 08:29 PM
Spice & Tea Exchange
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Nemesis
veteran member
Registered: 09/01/07
Posts: 1532
Loc: US
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After spending the evening tooling around John's Pass down here in Florida, a store front caught my eye, "Spice & Tea Exchange". I thought to myself, "I like teas, and spices are always interesting. It's my birthday goddammit, I'm gonna check it out".
As soon as I opened the door, my nasal passages were assaulted by the plethora of tea blends, peppercorns, curries, and whathaveyou which lined the wall. It was a very tidy store, the herbs and spices (and even flavored sugars!) were available in 1oz. packets, or you could fill up a larger container from the large sealed jars that were under each packet.
One section was strictly devoted to salts from all over the world. They even had SLABS of salt, several lovely chunks of pink "Bolivian Rose" caught my eye. Exotic salts such as Brazilian Sea Salt, Cyprus Black Lava Sea Salt, all kinds of goddamn salt. A snail's worst nightmare, and a foodie's dream.
The next section was devoted to peppercorns and chilis. Much of the chilis were only available in ground. Bird's Eye and Chipotle chilis were the only ones available whole.
The spices all smelled amazing, but what caught my eye was the Bloody Mary mix. "Blended with fresh black pepper, sea salt, celery seed, garlic, horseradish powder, Worcestershire powder, tomato powder." I'm drinking one with the seasoning right now, and man, is it tasty. MUCH better than the mixers!
The fresh herbs and tea blends were enough to make your brain melt, they smelt that good. I picked up a packet of their Bombay Chai and Marrakesh Mint (I love iced mint tea).
The proprietor told that the sugars were a recent addition. I took a whiff of the Raspberry Sugar and thought "Holy shit, I need to make a Desert Pear margarita and rim the glass with this!"
Now, while it IS a franchise, it's independently owned, and there are only a handful of locations here in the South. Tony, this would be a great place to buy some rubs for your cookouts!
http://www.spiceandtea.com/
_________________________
"Where we're going, we don't need eyes to see."
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#26462 - 06/30/09 12:45 PM
Re: Spice & Tea Exchange
[Re: Nemesis]
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fakepropht
Big Slick
active member
Registered: 08/29/07
Posts: 980
Loc: Virginia
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While reading your post, my head exploded! Give me a minute to clean the walls and floor of the goopy bloody mess.
Yes, I would have went stupid in there. I've never heard of them. Somehow, I think the scents alone would have been better than sex. The chili powders alone would have set me off. You have no idea how many hours or days I have searched for that one chili powder that I need. I've found myself in the rankest of Latino markets, speaking the worst spanish I know, trying to find that one powder.
The flavored sugars sound incredible. I would surely have bought a ton of "sampler" packets to test at home. And the salts. Brings a whole new dimension to rubs and sauces. Salad dressings, baking, and yes, even mixed drinks. The link has been saved in my "favorites" and will get overused.
Back to the smells. There used to be a store that would make custom blends of incense and oils here. When you walked into the shop, your nose was assaulted with a variety of different scents. It was nasal bliss. I once had them create a "dungeon" scent for me. That dank, moldy, concrete, type of smell. We played with various oils for hours. Too fruity, to icky, a drop of this, and finally hit on something I liked. I can only imagine the smells when you walked in the door. Thanks.
_________________________
Beer, the reason I get up every afternoon.
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#32946 - 12/15/09 06:28 PM
Re: Spice & Tea Exchange
[Re: Nemesis]
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Choronzon333
stranger
Registered: 11/05/09
Posts: 20
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
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The first time I went in there was in Windsor Ontario Canada. I wanted to try all of them, they all smelled so good.
I want to get them closer to me dang it 
They do some shipping here.
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