August Uncommon Tea

Home – 10:00 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 27

I’m actually running out of caffeine-free teas to try in the evening. I only have a couple more untried ones to go, and then I suppose I’ll allow myself break into the swap samples in the evening.

I actually ended up using the whole sample packet of this for my 16-ounce pot, because the fruit chunks were huge and heavy so there wasn’t that much volume for the weight.

This is… not what I expected. It’s barely sweet at all, and there’s an interesting slight tartness. I suppose it must be from the apple and pineapple? I guess I was expecting it to taste more like melon, since that’s the primary flavor mentioned. There’s definitely mint, but it’s more of an herbaceous peppermint which isn’t my favorite. It tends to taste a bit… musty? Or something? I’m not even sure how to describe it besides “sort of like a wet dishrag”.

This one is a bit disappointing to me. I feel like the apple overshadows the melon too much, and that it would be nicer with spearmint in place of the peppermint as well as a bit less mint in general.

Nice light melon flavor with a touch of mint. I would’ve liked even more mint, but it was still good. I basically drank this one every day, and now it’s gone, so I’ve been adding mint to my various other fruit teas to get my minty fruity fix. I’ve had better teas of this variety, but I could see myself repurchasing this one day.

Sample Sipdown! (24)

So I kept thinking about this tea after mentioning this one in my note for Arabesque yesterday. It’s such an interesting and unusual combination…

I really love it though. The strongest note is probably the melon, and it’s a ripe honeydew sort of flavor. It blends perfectly with the cooling, minty eucalyptus, even though that sounds like an odd combination. I suppose melon and mint is a fairly common pairing, but eucalyptus just sounds so weird. Luckily, the eucalyptus doesn’t taste medicinal here, just almost minty with touch of pine.

I don’t really know what dragonfruit tastes like, but there is another fruit flavor here. If I had to guess, I would say something like kiwi-strawberry? It adds a little more sweetness and a different, slightly tart fruity note. There’s also a smooth herbal flavor from the lemongrass that melds slightly with the eucalyptus flavor and tempers it slightly.

I’m not sure I really get much from the base tea here, other than a bit of body and slight sense of grassiness. But I’m not complaining, as the added flavors really get to shine.

This one is definitely on the list to order a full-size pouch! I bet it would be fantastic cold-brewed as well.

Home – 5:30 PM

For some reason, I have had a headache all day. It’s very unusual for me, and quite unpleasant.

Anyway, I added this tea to my sample order from August Uncommon because it sounded so unusual and intriguing. Plus most of the order was black teas, so it was nice to add a green in there.

This is not at all what I expected. It tastes mostly of melon, which is not one of the two flavors mentioned in the short description. It tastes juicy and ripe, and perhaps with a bit of cucumber mixed in. There’s also a creamy grass flavor and slight hint of umami that remind me of matcha. I’m not sure what dragonfruit tastes like, but this does have a touch of tropical edge. The eucalyptus is light, thankfully, and somewhat piney.

Overall, I dig it. I bet this would be amazing as an iced tea.

Sample Sipdown! (34)

Whoa, there must have been a lot of blackberry leaf in the bottom of this sample packet, because this is way sweet. In fact, it’s too sweet.

The buttery and creamy caramel is still enjoyable, but the overly sweet quality of it is making me rethink my plans to order a full-size pouch of this one…

Hmm, what to do…

Home – 10:30 PM

August Uncommon Tea blend of the day!

This is one of only two herbal blends I chose in my sample order. I don’t tend to love red rooibos blends, but I’m trying to give them a chance.

This one is quite good! I can taste the woody rooibos, but the other flavors compliment it very well. The strongest flavor is the caramel – it’s sweet and rich with a nice buttery taste and has brown sugar and maple notes. There’s also creamy vanilla bean that reminds me of custard. It tastes a bit boozy as well, perhaps dark rum?

I’m not sure I get pumpkin at all, which isn’t surprising given the strength of the other flavors.

I find this is similar to Lupicia’s Caramel & Rum, which is also a rooibos. I haven’t had that one in a while, so I’m not sure how similar.

In any case, it’s yummy! I would describe it as a boozy crème brûlée rooibos.

Oh boy oh boy White Puer!

Full passing points in white tea blends done right in my book. I appreciate it so much because white tea is rather difficult to process, so not only was this one completed pu-er fermentation style, it was done with a well selected combination of flavors.

When hot you can enjoy a bold white that holds interests yet keeps its mellow elegance. In a cold brew or iced tea its a lightly refreshing guessing game of fruit varieties. (those cucumber notes really balances things well). It’s pretty loud and has personality for a white without compromising the nature of the tea- a perfect blend of east meets west.

Home – 6:00 PM

I realized that I forgot to try an August Uncommon Tea blend yesterday. Oopsies!

It’s interesting to me how they don’t really mention the lapsang in this tea in the description. I looked at the ingredients, so I knew to expect it, but anyone who didn’t might be quite surprised by the scent! XD

To be honest, I could do with a bit less lapsang in this blend, it does dominate the Yunnan and Assam a bit (even though it’s listed last).

I think a bit more toffee flavor would be nice too. I do get a burnt brown sugar sort of note, but to me toffee has to taste buttery. This is closer to molasses with its dark and toasty sweetness.

The base tea blend does have some nice notes of tobacco, wood, and malt, and it’s definitely rich-tasting. However, I think the smokiness is a bit heavy-handed and it masks some of the other subtleties present here.

Not bad, but could definitely be improved.

Another sample sipdown.

This is a strange one. I find the tart stonefruit flavor to be rather cacophonous next to the creamy and smooth flavors. They work against each other and the overall result is rather diminished.

Also, there’s something weird and soapy, and I also got the same flavor last time. I think it might be the tartness combined with the cream? It reminds me of rancid coconut unfortunately…

Nope, not for me! Thank goodness for sample sizes. ;)

Home – 6:30 PM

August Uncommon Tea blend of the day!

Hmm… I’m not sure about this one. The stonefruit flavor is more tart than I would like, which kind of takes away from the richness of it all. I definitely get the booze notes, maybe brandy or even rum. I’m not sure I get white chocolate – there is some cocoa and some creaminess but they don’t really translate into white chocolate for me.

Last but not least, there’s something soapy and combined with the tartness and cream notes, it makes me think of rancid coconut. Not a great association to have…

Overall, it’s a miss for me. I wish the prune flavor were richer and less tart, I think that would make a big difference. And I’m not sure what’s going on with that soapy taste…

365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 24

Sample Sipdown! (55)

This is absolutely my favorite so far from August Uncommon.

The base tea is smooth and a bit malty with some bread notes. The apple is crisp and refreshing – definitely a green apple but not the candy sort. And then the fennel just adds a nice unexpected savory anise flavor that somehow pulls the whole thing together.

It’s like some sort of interesting seeded dark bread, pumpernickel-esque, with thinly sliced green apple on top. Admittedly, that doesn’t even really sound good, but the tea is really good!

I will it’s somewhat savory, and there’s quite a bit of fennel, so not a good choice if you’re not a fan! I’ll definitely be picking up a pouch of this sometime in the foreseeable future.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtCJyIkFrR_/

Home – 5:30 PM

Yay, I just got my order from August Uncommon Tea. They have so many interesting flavors, I ordered several samples and there were a few more that I wanted that were out of stock. I love the free shipping idea, especially since their teas seem reasonably-priced.

Anyway, after giving all of them a good sniff, I chose this one to try today. I’m really diggin’ it! The fennel/caraway is the strongest note here, and it reminds me of rye or pumpernickel bread. Then there’s cooked green apple and some nice malt and bread notes from the base tea.

It’s unusual but tasty. I’m excited to try my other samples.

The flavors go so well together. I add a bit of sugar because…I add sugar to all my teas! So it’s a pleasantly sweet and spicy combination. I’ll be sad when this one is gone, but I don’t know if I’d order again at its current price. I’d be more likely to try to make my own. I’ve got some dried sage leaves, so I’m partway there!

I need to abstain from caffeine for awhile due to surgery, so all the herbals in my cupboard are on heavy rotation. I’ve said in the past that I really don’t care for rooibos, but August Uncommon has such great teas I thought I’d give this a shot. Brew smells like vanilla pudding, and the vanilla flavor was the most prominent for me. A tiny bit of burnt sugar smokiness from the rooibos. A very nice tea, but not in love, despite it being warm, sweet and comforting. Dang, I really miss my black teas!

This starts off nice, creamy and sweet with a booziness to it that blends with the stonefruit flavors that make up the body of the tea. However, as you keep drinking, it starts to take on a burnt quality I just don’t love.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2018/03/27/breathless-from-august-uncommon/

Sipdown…sorta (241)

I think something in this soured because when I scooped out the leaf something smelled a bit weird. Not off, but savory which seemed out of place. There is also a drying/sour quality that I think is from the rose. I am just not pleased so this mug got dumped and the last serving got tossed

I went to what I thought was going to be a chill talent show put on by my law school. Sit in a chair and watch talented people perform. I should have known better because my school is the party school of Canada and everything is about drinking and clubs so it was basically a really loud concert of mediocre singers in a club. That means to talk to anyone you had to scream. My throat was angry about that this morning.

In light of my scratchy throat, I made this tea since green tea is supposed to be helpful and this is the first I noticed. I think used a shitton of honey in here as well. It tastes a bit like bubblegum. Hubba bubba…and citrus. It’s weird. But it is helping my throat so whatever.

I drank this rather distractedly but I do recall the fig flavor at the end of the mug which came as no surprise given the large fig in my filter.

Honestly love this one so much it just smells so good and tastes just as good. Very elegant feeling. Honestly can’t ever imagine running out of this one. Drinking this as a Mood Booster today. It feels very 1920’s glamorous and smoky.

I really wanted to open something new and opted for this tea. I got 4 cup sample quantity of this for 99 cents+ free shipping during a promo that the company was doing. I haven’t tried any teas from this company before but their uniqueness of their blends intrigued me. After This came I looked on Steepster and was disappointed to see that the reviews weren’t very good.

I drank this plain with no milk or sweetener. I actually really liked this unlike the other reviewers. The taste is more complex than just a lapsang souchong tea. It’s smokey but not in your face smokey. The toffee gives it a natural sweetness. It’s definitely hard to describe because it’s so complex. I pick up on some wood notes as well. Overall it has a very luxurious feel to it. I really like the mood of it too if that makes sense.
If Roswell_Strange’s perfume tea pairing didn’t have to be just Davids Tea’s this one would be a great pairing for one. It might lean more towards a cologne pairing though.
I definitely want to buy a tin of this.