323 Tasting Notes
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I made the rest of this for the drive into work on Monday. I didn’t have time to sip this for tasting notes prior to leaving the house, so I brought the packet along with me to add my tasting notes on the back. Luckily for me, I only noted, “Awesome! Strong enough to awake the deepest of sleepers and have them ready in a jiffy. Malty, strong, and needs a touch of milk to cut the intensity.” Thank you, past self for making this easy on me. Ha-ha.
Backlog & Sip Down
I acquired a 25g sample from a vendor I met through Instagram. There was a time when I was researching teas for a potential side business, and this was a vendor that was recommended to me. I spent $75 around that time and the vendor showered me with tea samples (something ranging between 15 25g samples); most of the teas received were good quality leaf!
Dry leaf: Reminded me of a GABA Oolong (roasted, caramel, and a touch of fig/date), yet very similar to a purple sheng (mineral and earthy).
Tasting notes: Lightly roasted with sweet fig, honey, pecan, and dates. The longevity of the session was short lived—4 strong infusions—which lowers the rating due to the desire for more.
Flavors: Dates, Fig, Honey, Pecan, Roasty
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Opening the bag, I immediately thought of Captain Crunch’s Crunch Berry cereal! Thankfully, there isn’t the same type of waxy coating on the roof of one’s mouth, as with the cereal. I marked a few food items that this tea reminded me of, aside from the strawberry jelly donut, which include, Fruity Pebbles, Crunch Berry cereal, strawberry milk, strawberry milkshake, and strawberry ice cream. It’s safe to say this is a far better option over the actual jelly donut.
Flavors: Strawberry, Sugar, Sweet
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This was nicely roasted, but the leaves were a bit smaller than most other Dancongs I’ve had. I’m guessing that this is meant to be Western brewed based on leafage. This isn’t the highest quality of Dancong one may hope to get, but it’s a good tea as a daily drinker and/or whenever you’re wanting something with a moderate amount of roast.
I was getting tired of Lipton becoming the only tea option at the office. My boss wouldn’t allow me to order any other tea on the account, “Lipton is familiar,” so I took it into my own hands to bring a box of Tetley into the office. It has become a crowd favorite! Now, there are two reasons why I purchased a box of teabags for the team. 1. I’ve tried loose leaf options, and it was a bit complex for most non-tea heads working there. That’s fair; and 2. I wanted a step up from Lipton, but easy for the team to make a cup at work.
What inspired this specific tea was the accidental dive into How to make English cups of tea videos that the YT algorithm sent my way. There was a reviewer who tasted plenty of tea bags that were offered, and Tetley was one of the top 3 or 4. I let curiosity win, and my local Walmart had one box left! Is it the best tea? Not by a longshot, but there’s something familiar in brewing this tea.
This was a favorite of Ashman long ago, recommended to use in our pre-loose leaf days by a British woman who said it was the closest thing she had found here to what she drank in England.
It’s not bad! I wouldn’t drink it on the daily, but it’s a good tea for the 1-2 office days. It’s definitely one BIG step up from what they had.
Sip Down & Backlog
A coworker was trying to get into tea, and they said that they grabbed everything that sounded interesting while visiting Ohio tea Co. Unfortunately for them, this was something that they purchased, only to discover, it has cucumber in the title. They asked if I was interested in taking this off their hands, and while I love cucumbers, I typically don’t like to sip cucumber drinks (e.g. water or tea). To my surprise, this was a refreshing tea with more melon notes than cucumber. It was better iced, as I suspected, which made for an excellent tea on a warm day!
