August Uncommon Tea

Oh how I love this tea! So grounded— so very very grounding when on the edge of overwhelm with things.

Thank you, Sil, for sharing this one with me.

Sipdown (628)!

Happy to clear out another green tea from my cupboard. This one is a little bit bitter; I over steeped it by just a touch. It doesn’t make a huge difference though, even if it wasn’t over steeped I know I wouldn’t like it. Profile is rather umami overall with lots of green bean, lawn clipping, and moss sort of notes. Not as nutty as I’ve experienced in the past, either. It is made better by the fact I’m drinking it while also eating some matcha white chocolate. I’ve been putting a square in my mouth, and then taking a big sip of hot tea – it melts the chocolate, and the whole thing just becomes this sweet and creamy bomb of green tea chocolate in my mouth. Big improvement, in terms of flavour.

Farewell, tea.

I’m really, really trying to have an open mind when drinking these sort of green teas since I know they’re something that usually isn’t up my alley, but it’s very hard for me when they taste like this one. I mean, I totally think you’d be all over this if you liked green tea but for me it was just so insanely buttery with these really thick, robust creamed spinach and seaweed notes that I just could NOT get into.

Not for me.

This is a queued tasting note.

- Undertones of hazelnut throughout
- Top note is really distinctly nectarine/peach
- Body is more of this weird buttery, artichoke/asparagus combo w. hay and straw
- A little grassy, but leans more on the vegetal side of things
- Finish is a bit more generic nutty: hazelnut/almond
- Really creamy mouthfeel
- I think this is definitely a very nuanced and unique green tea
- I can see it GREATLY appealing to fans of green tea
- Personally I appreciate everything going on, but didn’t love the flavour combo

Over steeped this a little bit so the black tea base was a little more tannic and bite-y than it usually is, but also more of the fennel and caraway came out and that natural licorice-like sweetness of the fennel did balance it out a fair amount. I think the only thing that “suffered” was the brightness of the apple. It did still taste heavily of crisp green apples, but it just wasn’t quite as lively as I know it can be. Still, adore this flavour combination and even steeped harshly it’s a very, very good tasting tea.

Had this last week and really enjoyed it! Sweet, bright green apple with pleasant undertones of fennel, that ever so slight hint of savory from the caraway, and almost a burnt sugar type of top note. Definitely still one of my all time favourite AU blends!

Geek Steep S2E23 – Shel Silverstein

This is the tea I chose to drink during my read through of the three stories we covered! It was a pretty easy choice for me – not just because I love the green apple and fennel notes in this tea but also because I was able to connect those flavours to The Giving Tree and because the name of the tea also felt appropriate for the simple shapes used in The Missing Piece. Kind of just worked all around, except for Lafcadio – though I covered that with my tea selection from recording.

I didn’t mention this on the podcast, but in addition to my tea I was also snacking on a rainbow bagel with a caramel mascarpone spread and some diced up green apple. So really pulling out all the stops to make this tea moment as fun and colourful as the many childhood memories I associate with Shel’s works.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaNiPyoOe57/

If you listened to the podcast episode, you will appreciate the irony of the tea table that I happened to be using here…

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2TK5u50LXs

Having another “episode” where I simply just CANNOT focus enough on one task to accomplish it; in this case it’s writing tasting notes. I just keep getting distracted by other small things…

Anyway; this was a nice mug – I had intended to sip it over the course of catching up on notes but I finished it by the time I’d written just one note. Not my finest hour, but a delicious tea. Sweet and crisp green apple dominate, complimented by warming clove and fennel. So unique, smooth, and coating in the mouth with a rich and full bodied flavour I’ve not seen anywhere else. Always a favourite!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CB0uXl2gn_M/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DT-C-ZThlE

I just really like the line “I feel like I’m down to be a weirdo and a loser…”

Finally dipped into the larger bag of this that I purchased with my last AU order. It’s probably in my top three favourite blends from AU; not my favourite overall but my overall favourite isn’t carried by them anymore, so the best of what they’ve got…

I’m happy to report that this new batch tastes as amazing as I remember my first one tasting. Arguably better, even? It’s so bright, sweet and refreshingly green apple tasting without that tartness that I hate in actual green apples, boosted with the delightful combination of licorice-y fennel and just a hint of black tea. It’s exactly what I wanted today, and I didn’t even know how much I wanted it!

Sipdown (603)!

Another sipdown that definitely hurts. However, if AU releases a new collection of teas any time soon and this is still up on their site I’ll definitely order a tin worth of it for myself since I greatly enjoyed this one – and haven’t seen anything comparable from any other company.

This cup was more cooked/baked green apples with a touch of cinnamon/malt from the tea base to strengthen that comparison. Then plenty of fennel/anise deliciousness! Man, I freaking love this tea. It was so tempting to just hoard the last cup of it for forever…

Oversteeped mug of this.

Surprisingly didn’t go bitter on me, maybe a touch astringent? Mostly what happened was that the intensity of the apple notes increased tenfold to the point where I felt like I was biting into a bright, shiny cartoon level of green apple. The fennel provided sweetness, but in a non-distinctly fennel way.

It was actually still very good.

Breakfast tea! ^^

I ordered another sample packet of this one with my last August Uncommon order. At the time, I couldn’t financially commit to a large size of this one, but I definitely wanted to have more of it in my stash because it was just so good/unique. So, sample size it was!

I’m just really obsessed with the combination of crisp, tart green apple notes and sweet fennel! It’s pretty simple, and there’s actually not much else going on here flavour wise besides those two key flavours, except maybe some equally yummy clove undertones, but it’s WICKED GOOD – and just a stroke of brilliancy in terms of even coming up with the flavour pairing. Bright, sweet, fruity, lively, spicy, warm, whimsical, balanced, tart, crisp – take your pick of adjectives.

Sipdown (338)!

Wow, my cupboard has just exploded…

With how much my cupboard has expanded, I knew it was time to get in some sipdowns and while I’m personally quite sad to see this tea go, this was a very enjoyable sipdown flavour wise. I just need to have some self control now, and not go out and buy more of it.

But yes! Deliciously strong fennel/anise notes contrasted by a super vibrant pop of candied green apple flavour! I think this tea is so unique, and distinct tasting and I absolutely love the flavour combination. At times I think it can tread a little too much into that overlap of astringent/bitter but the sweetness of the ingredients used generally saves it. It’s also one of those teas that I badly want to share with other people, but also that I feel the need to completely hoard for myself.

It’s a good thing that my boyfriend can’t drink it anyway; the apple in this would kill him. That makes me feel a lot less guilty for not sharing…

This was a really interesting, refreshing iced tea!

I mean, not much to right about because the way the flavours came across and interacted with each other was pretty well the same as when I first tried this one hot – just maybe with the slightest bit more astringency? Not unreasonably so, though.

Now, do I like the hot or iced version better? MAYBE the hot, just slightly. That doesn’t take away from it still being a really unique and great option for an iced tea though – especially for a black tea, something that I find is a little more fickle when it comes to making iced drinks.

Definitely still tempted to get a lot more of this one…

So, I ordered the summer collection from AU almost faster than I actually read all of the tea descriptions – but I saw this one right off the bat and instantly I knew I needed to try it! Something about the flavour combo REALLY jumped out to me. Maybe because it’s an apple tea that’s purposefully apple with an actual tea base? You know, NOT a herbal with just lots of apple as a filler…

- Dry leaf smells AWESOME! Lots of sweet, candied green apple notes and hints of licorice
- Reminds me a lot of the green apple Jelly Belly candies

I steeped it up in a large mug, which I drank early in the morning sitting outside on the porch before work – it was a very tranquil and pleasant experience.

- Tastes very smooth, with a really beautiful and CLEARLY defined green apple note
- It’s got the natural, realistic sweetness of apple but finishes in a near candy-like way
- Likely from the extra boost of sweetness from the fennel
- The black base is very faintly malty, and a touch floral with hints of spice
- Some of that spice may also be from the clove, though I didn’t find it that defined?
- That floral characteristic only adds to the nuance/realistic nature of the green apple
- Arguably the best green apple tea I’ve had
- Partially because it’s green apple without being sour
- The faintest bit astringent on the top of the sip
- But in a pleasant way that mimics apple skins

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a19ZNSGwko4

Anyway, I deeply loved this one right off the bat! I’m gonna rate somewhat conservatively because I think part of that might just be new tea excitement but I could see this one definitely being something I’d want to purchase in a larger quantity.

Well, this tea originates from Chiang Rai, Thailand, another tea-growing place I visited some years ago— well before I began obsessing over and drinking mountains of tea. What a damn shame. I am certain that I drank a good bit of tea when I was there, but probably opted for the strong punch slow drip Thai coffee with condensed milk given the opportunity to choose one or the other. No regrets as the coffee was good. Really good. But it is sad that I squandered the opportunity to drink tea such as this, and have a bit of a clue as to what exactly I was drinking, so close to its origin, if that was indeed even possible. So many countries in the developing world which produce or grow fine things, sadly, only export them and they are not available for purchase in their country of origin. I don’t know about whether that is the case in Thailand, and more specifically, in the case of this fine oolong. I’m just tripping here.

Quite enjoy this buttery floral oolong. It is aging now, but I haven’t noticed much flavour deterioration. Sweet custard moving further towards vegetal notes with subtle tartness in later steeps.

Like others have mentioned, I am not certain how I feel about straight tea being packaged in and rhapsodized over to create a high end product on top of being a fine tea. And the price for that up boosting. I suppose this kind of approach, which DTs is also guilty of, allows people who favour such glossy packaging to be exposed to tea in general and that is a good thing, I suppose, but still…

Just peeked out the window and the ground is covered in snow. Wow.

Steeped: 6

Buttery, custard-like, and a wee bit tart. Vegetal with the slightest whiff of coconut in the second steep, or am I dreaming that up?
My tastebuds may be clouded with vanilla chocolate.

Subsequent steeps ensured that no, I was not dreaming up the coconut. It’s there with the butter and the vegetal nature of the tea. Six or seven steeps later, it’s all still there. Gently, gently, but there.

This may be my first experience with tea from Chiang Rai, Thailand. I do so wish that I had had enthusiasm for tea exploration when I was there. Yeah, nope. No recollection of tea drinking adventures there. At all.

Sipdown (331)!

There’s really no reason for me to hold onto this one, so sipping it down this evening. I was worried it was going to taste bad because the last little bits in the bag were pretty broken up and flaky…

However, I think this might be the best cup of this thus far! Its very creamy, and figgy: in a way I find myself reminded of Fig Newtons and other light, buttery pastries with fig notes and soft lemon. It’s a powdery sort of lemon; creamy/buttery and confectionery and not at all acidic or tannic: its very complimentary with the rest of the buttery notes and fig. Soft grassy flavours from the green base are a nice background to the rest of the profile. Its just very peaceful, and smooth.

Oh, also! Notes of powdered icing sugar!?

And yes, these aren’t really flavours unique to this particular cup; I’ve experienced them the other times I’ve tried this tea for sure – however, they haven’t come together as nicely in those cups as they are right now. It’s a good send off for this one, since it’s still something I wouldn’t order again. Best to end on a positive note!

Cold Brew.

- More “figgy” than the iced cup I made was
- Has an almost creaminess to it; like a lemon sugar cookie with vanilla icing?
- A touch grassy in the undertones
- Overall a big improvement upon the first iced cup I made: it’s smoother!

Iced at work today.

In concept this one sounded really nice to me, other than the green tea base. I’d have been a lot more thrilled to see the flavour pairing on a black base, but that’s just me.

I actually think I totally understand the idea behind the name of this one though; it’s very light, refreshing, bright and sunny – sort of just like someone with a good sense of humour is? Like, just one of those people who’s presence is just super uplifting and pleasant! So in that sense – I think AU’s more artistic/creative marketing actually reads really well/clearly. I instantly made that connection.

Flavour wise, mostly this is a strong lemon flavour! It’s both bright, sunny and sweet but also oddly creamy? Like, not overtly so but it finishes with the same sort of delicate pastry like creaminess that I get from DAVIDsTEA’s Lemon Pound Cake. It’s also got that distinct lemongrass flavour, too. Pretty tied into that lemon note is a strong apple flavour too; not overly tart but not overly sweet either. Just sort of generic apple? Though in hindsight that creaminess COULD possibly be a ‘buttery apple’ sort of taste and I’m just poorly attributing the buttery flavour to the wrong ingredient?

Anyway, those are the strongest flavour notes – but apart from those, there’s also a bit of a sharp, grassy undertone. I don’t know that the sharpness is inherently from the green tea itself, but maybe just exaggerated by the lemon/lemongrass in general. The top notes are a bit more fig-like, and I think the fig also just adds to the overall pastry flavour too. The finish is more rosey, with some other general floral vibes to it.

I honestly think this tea could grow on me/might be more of an acquired taste sort of thing but as is I’d say it’s maybe just slightly above average for me? Like, good for a green tea and just kind of alright for a tea in general.

Sipdown (249)!

I think I need to channel my inner Sil and step up my sipdown game, because soon I’m going to find myself crossing the 250 tea mark and that is NOT a route I want to go down.

I finished this one off last night at work and I have to say that I found the contrast on the intense peppermint and the sweet, juicy watermelon a lot less abrasive this time around. I mean, I still think there was a degree of discord between the flavours but certainly not to the same extent. I can’t help but wonder if that’s because, even after that one cup, I am already just slightly conditioned to the weird overlap of flavours though.

Bottom line, this one isn’t bad but it’s just really quite weird too. Maybe spearmint would have been a better mint pairing? Spearmint is naturally a little sweeter, so maybe it would have tied in better to the sweeter melon which still having that cooling/refreshing aspect. I don’t know; I doubt I’d purchase this one again but I’d probably drink it if offered.

New August Uncommon Teas!

I’ve been waiting for what feels like ages to see if AU was going to do a summer collection, and a few weeks ago I got an email asking if I wanted to preorder the new teas before they officially launched on the website and, guys, I jumped on that shit so quickly. The collection came yesterday, so of course I had to try something immediately.

I went with this one because it’s the herbal/caffeine free one from this collection and by the point I was ready to make a cup of tea after work it was pretty late into the evening.

So, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the tiniest bit sick of melon teas; we’ve just had so many come out at work this summer than it feels a little played out to me. However, honeydew/mint? That’s a bit more different so I definitely WANT to get on board with it. I cracked the bag though and was a bit disappointed; something about the dry leaf smells VERY weird to me. It’s maybe a bit too harshly minty and the watermelon smells off. I can’t place it; it’s just off.

I brewed it up anyway though, and I’m glad I did because the steeped tea is definitely a step up from how the dry leaf smells. The peppermint actually IS very strong; however as strong as it is it’s also quite soothing. It’s very cooling/refreshing and definitely has the more herbaceous sort of taste of natural/actual peppermint versus flavourings. The juicyness of the melon is a bright contrast and I think that contrast actually pleasantly highlights the cooling elements of the mint and then the sweetness of the melon. I will say that it’s arguably more watermelon like than honeydew, though. Not that I particularly mind.

Of course this IS August Uncommon we’re talking about so the packaging is filled with all sorts of artistic imagery tied into what flavours and moods are supposed to be evoked by the tea. Supposedly this one is kind of like ‘sunbathing on a boat’ or some such similarly worded thing. I don’t think that’s it at all though: I certainly found myself strongly thinking of something specific when drinking it but for me it was a lot more ‘having a picnic in the middle of a thunderstorm’ like.

Overall? Not bad! The “herbal” teas from AU have been a bit hit or miss for me and I think that trend sort of continued with this one – though I definitely didn’t dislike it either.

GCTTB6

Consider me surprised when the first thing I tasted was roasted chestnuts. I decided to look up this tea to see if that was supposed to be there and googling “Passage du Desir” produced some pretty interesting results, non of which were this tea. When I did finally find this tea, it seems that flavor was indeed purposely present. Unfortunately some flavor notes were lost on that I really, really wanted to taste and so if I am being honest, I was a bit disappointed. Still I am grateful to Sil for adding this to the TTB because I heard great things and probably would have blindly bought this and not really loved it. Not that it was bad, just not my preference. Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/04/11/passage-du-desir-from-august-uncommon/

I checked out this company because it was getting good reviews on here, has interesting tea descriptions, and was on sale over the holidays. However, I find this company’s marketing off-putting and unnecessarily pretentious. Ok, yes, the name should have tipped me off, but for some reason I had been reading it as August the month rather than august the adjective meaning “majestic”. The first descriptor on their front page is “Tea so modern it’s like nothing you’ve tasted before.” I was originally going to do a line-by-line breakdown of what’s wrong with their FAQ, but at a certain point that’s just free labor. My point is that the things this company claims are uniquely theirs – fancy blends, seasonal batches, and single-cup brewing – have been around for years and are already being done quite well by a number of other companies large and small. A Quarter to Tea, 52teas, Whispering Pines, and Lupicia come to mind off the top of my head. Meanwhile, a more-than-cursory reading of the booklet that comes with your order (and the website) suggests that this may be a dilettante effort: “Tea is unlike coffee in that cold-brewing does not yield flavorful results.” Ahem. Hands up if you’ve enjoyed a fine cold-brewed tea in the past year. Since the weather is getting nicer now, I might try it out with their own blends just to underscore how misguided this is. If a company is going to talk themselves up this much while demonstrating a failure to grasp or respect the basics, their product better be transcendent.

Ok, I’ll concede that it’s good, but it’s not transcendent. This is certainly no Butiki-level excellence. This particular blend tastes a lot like a sweeter version of Lupicia’s Momo Oolong. That one is a more delicate peach oolong but the blends share a distinctive fruity peach flavor. The lime note comes out in the aftertaste, lingering long after the sip is through. I’m not picking up on the pistachio taste, which is unfortunate since that was what attracted me to this blend in the first place. I am picking up on the white chocolate flavor, both creamy and sweet. As the brew cools, the white chocolate and lime flavors become dominant. It’s a nice combo but not quite what I was expecting based on the ingredients.

Ultimately, I will happily finish off the sample and the others that I bought. However, they are not so good as to override my concerns with how the company presents itself. I am probably not their target audience anyway. The marketing seems pretty clearly directed at people who want to be part of the hip, new thing, not people who are into tea for its own sake.