3496 Tasting Notes
March 1 Sipdown Challenge Prompt – World Music Therapy Day
The name of the tea shop prompted me to choose the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. It was a good choice!
My daughter is surprising me with a new tea each day post-surgery. This one was needed today as the antibiotics are making my tummy a little queasy and I am hoping the ginger will help, and the song went well with it for a nice cheering effect.
This was perfectly fruity and the ginger was just right for me. Blueberry is the number one star here but on the back of the sip I am getting a nice warm flush of ginger warmth that is not too hot for me. I really like the black tea base, too.
February Sipdown Challenge Prompt – your oldest black tea
At 15 months, this is my oldest black tea! It isn’t yet past its best by date.
Deliciously grape candy as before. Love it. Muscat is good, too, but this is extra special. Nice strong base to go with the nice strong flavoring.
Sipdown
This was one of my gifts from my daughter who lives with us and I thought I had reviewed it before, but no note here.
We really enjoyed this new blend from S&V. The base is nice, not too strong but not anemic which is something that really irks me with flavored teas sometimes. I still want to taste tea even with flavors!
There is a vanilla icing vibe to this, with light berry flavor – no terribly prominent but it is there.
The rest of this is winging its way to gmathis to experience the glommy icing vibe! (As per another note and comment!)
February 24 Sipdown Prompt – World Bartender Day: drink a boozy tea
This is probably my only boozy tea, other than a peach tea that just has boozy notes but isn’t really supposed to taste boozy.
This is not my first pouch of this and probably won’t be my last. It is so rich and chocolate-y, plus you can taste the base! I am so disappointment when a flavored tea has amthin, weak base.
I think of this as a cool weather tea so I don’t drink it all that often, but I do love it. It would make an awesome latte, and I wonder if it could do a cold latte well? This spring or summer might be time to find out.
Sipdown
The first time I had this, I noted that I would like to try with Bordeaux cookies sometime, and I realized today that I have some stashed away! I said in the original note that I had trouble finding the lemon flavor but the berry and lavender flavors were there.
Today the lemon and berry were more front and the lavender was present as well, but perhaps a little more subtle. The lemon almost came across minty to me.
While it was a good tea, the pairing with Bordeaux cookies was not the best choice to me. It is possible that the mix of ingredients in the infuser had changed or that the cookies changed my perception of the tea, just as cheddar cheese can make unsweetened tea taste sweeter, but lemon and these particular cookies didn’t make my heart sing.
The bottom line – the first time the lemon was hiding, this time the lemon said, “here I am!”
Today I want to revel in quiet gratitude. I wasn’t in the mood to look for a sipdown or fulfill a prompt. I just want to drink a tea that makes my heart feel happy.
This was a gift from Superanna. I usually have black tea at breakfast but I was organizing tea yesterday and putting some things in tins and noticed this one and just wanted a sniff and the aroma has been on my mind ever since. I decided it would be my breakfast tea today.
There is bergamot in this but it does not resemble an Earl Grey or an Earl Green in any way. This is floral and fruity for dry leaf aroma, and mostly fruity in the steeped cup. The first time I had it, I was not yet a fan of violet or lavender tea or violet candies. Now I adore those things. If you are put off by floral flavors in tea, you may still like this because the taste is mostly fruity. It has a lot of flavor but none of them are aggressive. It is simply delightful and perfect for watching winter rain fall with a warm shawl around your shoulders and your prettiest tea cup.
Sipdown
Somehow it wasn’t in my cupboard? I think I have had three packs of it so I must have removed it before they were all finished.
As soon as the water hits it, a sweet orange soda aroma fills the kitchen. So sweet, so good, so fresh and citrus-y. Perfect for summer, or for wishing summer were already here.
Sipdown
This is a pretty tea to look at. There are red safflower petals and when you pour the water over the leaves a layer of tiny red bits floats to the top of the infuser. I smell almond, not nearly as strong as their plain Almond Black, and vanilla. It does smell sweet and cookie-like.
It is very good and I think Ashman would prefer this one whereas Almond Black just slightly edges over this one for me. Both are great and if I didn’t have both on shelf right now I would think they were very similar, more similar than they actually are.
As a latte, I bet this one would be straight up dessert cookie.
Sharedown
My son has been cold steeping tea a lot lately so I offered to bring him a tea specifically created for that. There is only enough left for one carafe. Now I can move on and try broken Cloud Iced Tea. I have liked the first two I tried and I am pretty excited for that one!
