August Uncommon Tea

I bought a sample in my last order but polished it off a couple weeks ago. All I recall is that this was vaguely sweet but lacked an obvious caramel note. The pumpkin was very mild? The good news is that the base wasn’t crazily woodsy. Quite well-behaved in that respect. Adding milk just made it taste like a sweetened pumpkin. Still no warm, browned caramel.

This is cold now and though it is not bad per se, it is not really great either. It is malty and cocoa powder-y with a tinge of bitterness that aligns with the cocoa aspect. It is a sort of chocolate black tea. Nothing special and I certainly have had better.

Sipdown:112
I revisited this one and this last cup was not good. Since it was the bottom of the back there was way too much blackberry leaf. Between the much sweeter than usual taste with the savory ingredients, it was rather unpleasant.
Definitely a strange tea but I wish it was tastier given that it’s a Twin Peaks-inspired blend. Though I didn’t dislike it to the degree that many others on here have. Excluding this particular bottom of the bag cup of course. Of course now that I just finished off my sample pouch of this I notice the recommendations. It seems that the company recommends adding milk or adding booze and making a hot toddy.(a hot toddy with this tea sounds odd to me though)

Silly me ordering tea when I have barely been touching the stash I have as it’s been collecting dust over the past while. But once I saw that August restocked on Passage, I just had to do it.

Sample size of this. The fennel is the most prominent note here, tannins quite strong, but the apple is on the faint side, which I don’t mind. I’m at the very least glad it isn’t a fake, strong candy apple flavour you get from other companies (I think we all know…). The mouthfeel is thin and I’m left with astringency.

This is one I’ve been looking forward to trying for a long time now, and I have to say – it was worth the wait! At this point, I probably have three other beloved orange-flavored teas in my stash, but this one still has a place! The green tea is mellow and almost buttery. The orange isn’t fake or overbearing. There’s a vanilla flavor that complements the whole thing. I sipped this cup slowly at work yesterday, and I loved every drop.

The main flavor here is eucalyptus. It’s light, cooling, and not at all bitter. I enjoyed it without sugar, and once I put the sugar in I kind of regretted it. Definitely a unique flavor! At first, I wished I could have tasted more of the melon, but the flavor was pleasant and interesting enough that I’m glad it just has its own thing going on. This is a good one! Best lukewarm.

Inkling Advent Day 9. I remember ordering this tea in one of my first AU orders 5+ years ago, and I didn’t love it at the time. I’m happy to say that tastes change, and I’m enjoying this a lot more. I liked it warm. The flavors were complex and different. It was tangy in a pleasant way!

Warm, I taste lime and peach with a bit of creaminess and some bitterness. As it cools, there’s more bitterness and I can’t find the other flavors anymore. I didn’t get any pistachios in my strainer, so that’s probably why I don’t taste any. I quite enjoyed the fun flavor combination, and next time I’ll make sure to drink it all while it’s hot!

Sipdown! (2 | 349)

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge (November) – “A tea the flavor of a favorite cake”

Okay, so it’s not really a normal cake flavor, but I looooove orange cake! Little Debbie used to make orange-flavored zebra cakes, and I miss them so much. The sweet orange just goes so well with vanilla frosting for those yummy creamsicle vibes.

Anyway, this is a nice enough lovely orange-vanilla tea. The orange is sweet, like those jelly orange slices. A little more zestiness or tartness would be nice, actually. The vanilla is decadent and creamy, while simultaneously reminding me of a marshmallow. I definitely get the aromatic woodiness that I guess is from the jatoba, and it does remind me somewhat of sandalwood (as the description promises).

I think my only issue with this tea is the base is a Chinese sencha, and it just tastes like slightly grassy nothing. It’s not offensive per se, it just makes the flavoring overall taste too strong because it lacks the flavor to support it. So I probably won’t reorder it, but enjoyed my pouch! Also, I could see this making a lovely perfume…

Sample Sipdown! (21)

This is probably one of my favorites so far from August Uncommon. They have a lot of strange combinations, but I have enjoyed a few of their offerings – like Tropic of Capricorn, Psychocandy, and Dots and Loops. I also have a few samples that I haven’t tried yet!

This one has a lovely creamsicle-like flavor. The vanilla is sweet and creamy and spot-on for vanilla ice cream or custard. The orange is perhaps a bit more of an orange zest flavor than it is orange popsicle, but it does work well with the vanilla. I’m not familiar with jatoba wood, but to me it’s quite similar to a sandalwood sort of aromatic wood note. It adds a nice touch of refinement while still melding well with the other flavors. There’s also a bit of floral here, and it’s a somewhat heady but sweet flower such as orange blossom.

The green tea base is forgettable, but I can forgive it for that as it’s still a nice enough foundation for the added flavors here without getting completely lost.

So for me, this is sort of like a refined adult creamsicle green tea. Which frankly sounds ridiculous, but there you are! :P

I’ll definitely consider ordering a packet of this one once my stash is bit more under control.

Home – 6:30 PM

Merry Christmas, my fellow Steepsters! ❤

I have been doing absolutely nothing all day. The boyfriend and I didn’t do anything for Christmas this year, as we’re moving into our new house in a couple of days. We’re not the type to buy each other presents either, as generally we buy things that we want throughout the year and don’t really have “wished for” items for Christmas. So we’ve been spending the day playing games, lounging, watching various things on the Fire TV, and doing some laundry. Yay for lazy days!

Anyway, the tea. This is from my second August Uncommon sample order, which was made specifically for this tea and Dark Iris. Obviously I threw in several other samples as well, because duh… My small sample had a giant slice of dried orange in it (just like the photo), which I promptly chopped up since I didn’t want the entire piece in one mug of tea.

This is very yummy… It’s super creamsicle-y, with sweet orange and lovely creamy vanilla flavors. I can see how the jatoba wood does give it a slight sort of sandalwood-ish flavor, but mostly it’s dreamy ice cream bar goodness. There’s maybe a slight floral note here, and it reminds me of orange blossom.

The base tea is very mild, though I do get a slightly grassy sencha flavor from it, with a hint of vegetal spinach. I would argue that the stronger flavoring could take a bit stronger of a base tea, and it would also be delicious with a black tea.

But I do love it. This might be my favorite from August Uncommon so far!

Sipping down the remainder of my sample packet.

This one never really came together for me. This time, I didn’t really get any caraway, but that could be from age. The base tea is fine but not good, and it’s quite astringent. I don’t really get much cocoa either, just a somewhat light amaretto flavor.

I’m sure this has degraded with age, but I wasn’t really a fan when it was fresh either. There are some teas I like from August, but this doesn’t seem to be one of them.

Leaving the rating as it was since this is now past its prime.

Home – 8:00 PM

So I made another sample order from August Uncommon. I mostly wanted to try Dark Iris and Arabesque, but ended up choosing several teas. I didn’t love all the teas I tried from them previously, but there were some I enjoyed and they offer samples with free shipping. What more can you ask for? The leaves here looked quite broken and I knew it’s Assam, so I only steeped it for 2.5 minutes instead of my usual 3.

Oddly, the dry and steeped tea both smell like either coconut or cherry cordials. Which is strange because neither coconut nor cherry is in ingredient here.

It’s a somewhat brisk and malty black base with a big hit of caraway. I do get cocoa as well, and it’s definitely the unsweetened variety. There is some bitterness even with the shorter steep, and also a bit of astringency. Honestly, it smells so much like cherry cordials that I’m disappointed it doesn’t taste like them. I get a hint of maraschino cherry or amaretto near the end of the sip. But it doesn’t really make sense with the caraway.

To me, it’s a bit discordant. Also, there’s too much bitterness and astringency, which takes away from the sweeter notes. I may try a 2-minute steep next time.

I think perhaps I would really like this one if it weren’t for the caraway flavor.

This has surprisingly turned into possibly my favorite caffeinated tea currently in my stash. Even when I oversteep it, it doesn’t turn bitter. The ingredients truly go together so well. The pineapple is sweet, and mixed with the lemongrass and flavoring, it ends up cakey, caramely, and delicious. I’m bumping up my rating for this one even more. I’m not a huge green tea fan, but I’m sure I’d be a bigger one if there were more blends like this!

Hot, this one tastes a lot like Teavana Pineapple Kona Pop. I wish I could taste more of the barley! As it is, it’s just a grassy, sweet, fake pineapple. I like it, but I wouldn’t buy more.
EDIT: Actually, as this cools, the fake pineapple fades, and it really does taste like caramel and cake. I think I’ll bump up my rating because I’m really enjoying this now.

Home – 8:15 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 8

This is the last of the samples from my August Uncommon order. I would really like to try their Dark Iris and Arabesque blends, but every time I check their website one or both of them are out of stock in the sample size…

Based on the other notes on this tea, I was expecting it to be horrible. In fact, I don’t taste truffle at all here, which is a relief. I do taste banana and an earthy smoke flavor. There’s a bit of very burnt caramel as well.

I think the ingredient that makes it weird for me is the blackberry leaf. It makes it oddly sweet and that in turn makes it taste artificial. I think if the blackberry leaf weren’t included, it would be fine.

As-is, it’s a “no” from me.

…what a weird tea this is.

It sounds good in theory, I love plum and enjoy bergamot. But the plum here is very odd and candylike, and a bit chalky. The bergamot and clove combination becomes very perfumey.

Overall, it’s a weird artificial and medicinal mix and the rest of the sample is getting tossed. A shame, this was one of their teas that I was most interested in.

Home – 3:00 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 25

Ahhh first tea of the day… Well, besides a matcha milk this morning. I slept in and then went to visit my house-in-progress for a bit. This is one of the teas I chose in my sample order to August Uncommon Tea. I admit, their teas have been extremely hit-or-miss for me. I really enjoy Dots and Loops, Tropic of Capricorn, and Psychocandy though, so hopefully this one is more in that vein.

Hmm. This reminds me vividly of these Japanese plum candies that I once bought at an Asian supermarket. They were almost like smarties in a way, sort of powdery and disc-shaped. But they were plum-flavored and somewhat tart, and they tasted exactly like this! Which is funny because it’s an unusual sort of plum flavor. It’s certainly very candy-like, and I’m not sure I would immediately guess it was plum if I didn’t know what it was meant to be.

I feel like they over-advertise the Earl Grey aspect of this. There is a little bergamot, but it’s very little and I’m not sure I’d notice it if I weren’t expecting it. It’s a bit overwhelmed by the strong, tart candy plum and the floral notes. I don’t get clove at all. Perhaps I missed getting a clove in the steeping basket?

I’m not sure I get this one really. To me it mostly tastes of candy plum with a bit of floral, and not much else. The base tea is very light, so I can’t really taste that either. I would like it better if the bergamot were strong, and the plum weaker.

Is it just me or are their Dark Iris and Arabesque teas chronically out of stock in the sample size…?