August Uncommon Tea

I dislike rooibos, but I really like pumpkin so I decided to give this a try. It has a sweetness to it, not quite stevia and not sugar. Monkfruit? I’m not detecting pumpkin. More of a dark fruity mix. I’m not getting any of that dry mouth rooibos thing and I’m glad for that. This reminds me of a fruity rooibos mix with sprinkles that a couple of companies used to carry. Black Cat may have been the name of one. Either way, I think I like this one better, but I’m not 100% sure what to make of it.

I like the cardamon. The usual cardamon bite is mellowed out by the vanilla. The green base seems really light to me. I’m used to black tea leaving me with a sense of fullness that I’m not getting with most greens and it leaves me unsatisfied. Glad I tried this, but won’t reorder.

Had the first steeping of this earlier and recall the cardamom being strong. On my second steeping now, which has gone cold, and can taste the gram tea base this time. The cardamom has mellowed out and the vanilla notes are present. I could see the addition of sugar being helpful to bring the vanilla out some more. I’m liking this tea well enough, but I’m not over the moon about at the moment as it’s the way with me and green teas.
Can’t add steeping parameters on my phone. :/ 175 for 2m, 175 for 3m

I didn’t enjoy this last mug nearly as much as I did the rest of them. Not sure if the ingredient proportions were off, or my tastebuds were not feeling it today. But, I didn’t even feel like finishing the cup off.

I guess I’m the target audience for August Uncommon, because I’ve loved nearly all of the their teas that I’ve tried thus far. The aroma of this one is definitely smokey (leaning towards the BBQ/savory side of things, but the addition of the banana makes for a pretty well-rounded sip. I’ll definitely be adding cream next cup, as I think it will bring out the caramel/banana notes a bit more.

Very glad I have more of this on hand, because I love it. The aroma vs. flavor is so drastically different, and I love the experience of enjoying a mug.

Wow, another incredible blend by August Uncommon. What a surprising tea. A deep, chocolatey smell, but an immediate candy-like pineapple flavor, that’s deepened by the black pepper.

t’s everything I’ve been looking for in a black tea that boasts of chocolate notes. They’re usually boring or otherwise uninspiring. But, Leatherbound is something else. It’s dark and has prominent molasses notes, but the chocolate rounds everything out. It’s smooth and creamy and I absolutely adore it.

Haven’t had any of my August Uncommon blends for a while. Saw that they were having a sale and was tempted to purchase, but decided to shop my own stash instead. Good idea- I realized I have a ton AU blends that I need to get through.

This is still tasty- smoky/caramelized sugar. I think I prefer Golden Arrow over this one though.

Had this again yesterday. Still delicious. Still getting me through Black Friday weekend.

Black Friday. Yeesh. I work retail, so I always dread Black Friday…especially a 6am shift. Many, many cups of this got me through the day. I still love it. Smoke and burnt sugar and wonderfulness. I actually think I’ve grown to like Golden Arrow a bit more than this (which I was going to stock up on, but it’s completely sold out on the AU site sigh).

First of all, I have to compliment AU for their shipping speed. I received my sample order within 2 days of placing it. Impressive.
I was quick to brew this up and I was absolutely not disappointed. It’s rich and dark (I only get a mild smokiness), but the burnt sugar notes really shine for me. It was an incredible cup. So good that I actually went in for seconds.

Happy Halloween! This tea is the perfect autumny dessert tea for the occassion. Even from the aroma it is so sweet… caramel apple, burnt sugar/toffee, vanilla… it smells like melted down candy corn in a cup to me. Very sweet and indulgent. Not the sort of thing I could drink every night, but hits the spot when I have a strong sweet craving.

I’ve been seeing this one pop up this month as appropriately festive and though I’ve had it for ages (and shared it out a few times!) I have yet to even try it myself yet (the story of my life…) So I am making a cuppa as my nightly herbal tonight, even though I have a migraine and am tempted to just grab a boring ol’ cup of mint or ginger tea…

Used a heaping teaspoon in boiling water and left the teabag in the cup to bathe well past the five minute mark. The aroma coming off the cup is amazing! I’m smelling caramel apples, burnt sugar, vanilla cream, and a hint of pepper. And I have to say, after taking the first sip, that I feel I’m actually getting all those notes coming out in the flavor, too. Mostly I’m getting a warm caramel apple flavor, with a darker burnt sugar/creme brulee note, and some more subtle notes of vanilla and spiced pumpkin bread. It’s very sweet so this is definitely a sweettooth/indulgent/dessert sort of tea, but I know I certainly (cough frequently) have moods for that, especially in the evening, so having a caffeine-free option that hits that spot is great. And though it does encapsulate autumn flavors well, I can’t imagine finding caramel apples and pumpkin desserts less appealing (at least for me!) any other time of the year, so I appreciate that August Uncommon Tea doesn’t treat the flavor as a seasonal and yoink it from their line-up at certain times of the year.

My head may be unhappy tonight, but my mouth certainly isn’t.

A pleasant gift from Mastress Alita.

I haven’t had rooibos since early this year in the winter. It’s Halloween eve and I’m lounging around in a drawn-on moustache (I’ll be genderbending as Gomez Addams at work tomorrow. We have the whole Family), so I made a pot of Psychocandy for the house tonight. All 14 grams in a 1000mL teapot. Steeped with boiling and forgotten about.

So the dry leaf smells rich like butterscotch with medicinal rooibos but the medicinal aspect does not come through in taste at all. Woohoo! That aroma! Rich but a little hollow buttery caramel-butterscotch, vanilla milk and something darker — that rooibos aroma. I let the tea cool a bit and the caramel-blackberry leaf sweetness really comes out on the sip followed by the dark red rooibos and a bit of apple tang that hangs out after the swallow. Pumpkin is always a difficult flavor to pin down in food and drink but I think it’s there. What else… something reminiscent of the scorched sugar topping of crème brûlée. Long butterSCOTCH flavoring aftertaste. Later, there’s some dryness in the throat.

I couldn’t see myself drinking this often because it’s so sweet but the flavor is just awesome. As far as flavored tisanes go, this is bumpin’.

Happy Halloween tomorrow!

This has been my morning brew for the past several days and it serves that purpose well in terms of what I look for — full flavor, decent body, dark, robust, high caffeine but not so much that I get the zoomies.

The aroma of the dry leaf is overpoweringly boozy, like a chocolate liqueur mixed with amaretto. It reminds me a lot of Silencio’s aroma. The leaf itself is very chopped. It’s uniform in size with the cocoa husks.

Steeped up, the boozy aroma is still strong and it transfers lightly into the mouth as a much more pleasant undercurrent of amaretto. The sip is thin but it really thickens up in the back of the mouth with an impression of creaminess from the Assam black tea base. I have a hard time figuring out if the cocoa husks and/or flavoring are the main culprits for the cocoa flavor or if it’s part of the base tea but it’s present mid-mouth along with dense maltiness and the citrusy and rye-reminiscent high note of the caraway seeds that weaves its way around.

I wouldn’t say the tea is sweet; if it is, I feel like the natural flavoring is responsible for the impression of liqueur-like sweetness that’s present in the aroma. The overall vibe is more malty-savory-brisk but creamy. There also seems to be a bit of spiciness but not in the heating way. Unlike other reviewers, I found this tea to possess no bitterness and only a little astringency.

Overall, I’m happy with Leatherbound as a morning brew but I still prefer teas without flavoring added and probably won’t purchase again. I think it would make a great gift, though!

[Western, 3.5g, 212F, 10oz, 4 and ? min both stacked in a 20oz thermos]

Finished up the last of the sample I got of this and it failed to grab my attention. I got a bit of choco-hazelnut flavor in it, but not enough to make an impression.

Huh. I guess the name of this tea was shortened to “Passage” some point after this tea was added to the Steepster database. I had to google Passage du Desir, thinking it was one of the passages in Paris, alleys often with glass ceilings that have turned into shopping strips with cute cafes and shops lining them. A quick google search turns up reference to one passage with not much detail, but most of the results are of a sex toy or “adult novelty” shop. Was this tea named after a street or an adult toy shop? My curiosity is peaked.

Dry, this tea has that rich dark chocolate scent that reminds me of prunes for some reason. It is a deep chocolate smell. I drank most of this cup absentmindedly while running morning errands. As I sit with the rest of the cooled cup I notice the dark chocolate in the sip and finish. It is subtle and might be made more substantial with cream, but I’ll have to test that theory out on my next cup. There is a slight barley scent when I’m sipping and I’m not able to pick out the hazelnut in the flavors. Overall I’m still undecided on exactly how I feel about this tea.

First sip was chocolate, second was cinnamon. After several more sips there is a hint of chili and a sweetness mid sip. It has a hearty quality. As I sip further the chili creeps in a bit, but stays lingering in the background. It’s nice, but there is room for it to grow on me.

Finished up this sample yesterday and in trying to sipdown the last two cups worth it kinda grew on me! Reading over my previous notes makes me wonder if this is a tea that does well with age. Sitting in my cupboard for 6 months or more seems to have taken some of the strength out of the clove and let the citrus and plum come through. It was really nice with some cream. A little sad to see it go and might think about ordering more in the future.

I’m liking this better today. I get the bergamot clove combo really clearly and a little plum in the background. Drank my first cup while running morning errands. Second cup has mild clove on the front of the sip mixed with fruit, mostly plum and floral plum on the finish.

I’m not sure about this one. It tastes like I’ve bitten into one of those Xmas decoration oranges. The ones that are covered in cloves. It tastes a lot less bergamot to me and way more orange peel. It’s hard to get past the orange clove combo and taste anything else. Clove can be dominating that way. Adding cream killed the flavors. I’d like to try different steeping parameters next time.

This was way better than expected! A delightful surprise. Caraway always rubbed me the wrong way. Those everything bagels? Seeing those little dried up wormy caraway seeds instantly spoiled the breakfast fun. But here it’s more mellowed out, and I’m not being slammed up against the wall with bitterness, plus it pairs beautifully with the dark chocolate notes. I’m tempted to order more but as you can tell, I have rarely been touching my tea stash. The sale email from these guys is the very reason I decided to fire up the kettle on this obnoxiously cold day.