August Uncommon Tea

I picked this one up even though it’s a green tea because i love vanilla teas, and i love cardamom. August uncommon has fantastic customer service. I highly recommend folks give them a shot. My only beef? Give me actual steeping paramters for how YOU think the tea tastes best. Nearly all their teas have the water temp but then they all say 5 mins “longer is stronger” Well yes, i know this. Do they really mean ALL their teas should be steeped at 5 mins? I suspect not, but that’s the way it seems, though the way it’s worded makes me think not. Especially since all the teas have it, and there are no steeping paramters on the website except to say: “Once the water has been poured over the tea, cover the mug, and set a timer for 5 minutes. A shorter infusion will result in milder tea and a longer infusion leads to stronger tea. Use a timer so that your tea will always taste the way you like it.”

anyway, i digress…. I steeped this one for 2.5 mins and i think it wasn’t long enough. I can taste the vanilla and the cardamom but it’s not coming through very well. Still a smooth blend and i can taste the potential, but this wasn’t quite it. I’ll have to play with it a bit more before rating it.

Sipdown! Finished this off as a cold brew which really brought out some melon notes (honeydew at first, which merged into a juicy cantaloupe). Hints of another fruit (still can only assume it’s the dragon-fruit in the background with the eucalyptus giving it a unique undertone. Again, probably wouldn’t repurchase as I’m not totally sold on the eucalyptus, but it’s nice and refreshing.

Well the snow has finally come, so logically I wanted a light tea. I kind of wanted Cool Cactus but also wanted to try something new, and this seemed like a good compromise.

There’s a lot of flavours in this tea (dragon-fruit, eucalyptus) that I’ve never really had elsewhere so I can’t speak for how well it’s been done. Overall it’s green, light, and fruity. There’s a pretty strong honeydew aftertaste and a hint of pine. The (what I can only assume was) dragon-fruit tasted kind of similar to strawberries—a red fruit to be sure. I enjoyed it, but it’s not a reorder.

Sipdown!

Rich, malty, and pretty much like drinking multi-grain bread (which is nothing to complain about — you can’t go wrong with bread). Heavy oat notes and a hint of honey. This cup was heavier than I remember, which I found surprising as I shortened the steep time. Still more astringent than I would like. It’s similarity to Nepal Black means I won’t miss this one, but it made for some nice cups.

This is good, but nothing to knock your socks off. For a black tea, it’s impressively light. Sweet with that lovely bread and butter feeling and a hint of floral notes. There’s a slight astringency here; next time I might give it only 4-4.5 minutes. It reminds me of DAVIDs Nepal Black (which makes sense, as it is from Nepal) but, of the two, I prefer DAVIDs’. This would be a nice compromise if you’re debating between a black and a white tea, as it really is that light.

The first time I had this I followed the recommended steep time of 5 minutes and well I enjoyed it at the time (according to my tasting note), I remember feeling kind of sick afterwards. More experience has shown me that this was probably because I found the tea over-steeped as I’ve had it happen with other teas that I otherwise have no problem with. So, long story short, I decided to give this go only a two minute steep time.

Bacon is still the prominent note here. I can see how this would be off putting — it’s certainly something you have to be in the mood for — but I actually kind of enjoy it (and I’m not even a huge bacon fan). It is coming off as sweeter this time — more of a maple bacon. In fact, the more I sip the more a maple note comes out of it. There’s still a cheese note too, but something less sharp than cheddar. Something creamy. I’m not really a cheese expert so I can’t really go further on that.

Something new on this steep, however, is a rather strong blackberry flavour. It blends well with the orange notes and manages to lighten up what would otherwise be a ridiculously savory tea.

Boyfriend’s review: “It tastes like campfire cotton candy.” This pretty much sums it up. Smoky and sweet. In fact, now I can’t get that image out of my head.

All in all, I still really like it. Fingers crossed the reduced steep time helps with feeling gross afterwards.

Well, this sure is different. I’ve never really had a smokey tea before, and boy, is this smokey! It starts off of a light orange note, and pretty much stays that way until you swallow. After that, it’s a delightful smokey intensity that reminds me of smoked bacon/cheddar. In fact, it’s oddly similar to eating a Starbucks double smoked bacon breakfast sandwich (which doesn’t sound that appealing as a tea, but it works!). My boyfriend really seemed to like it too (it’s hard to tell as he’ll say it’s good even if he doesn’t like it, but you can pretty much judge it by how much he drinks and I had to stop him from drinking all of this!).

I’d frankly kind of forgotten about this until I stumbled upon it while searching for a herbal tea that would be good hot/I haven’t had recently. I’m glad I found it because this is a really good evening blend. Very, very sweet — it reminds me of a sticky bun with raisins, cinnamon, and LOTS of brown sugar — yet it manages to not be sickly. Slight notes of melted dark chocolate (prominent at first, but faded as the cup went on) and dried apricot. In my first tasting note for this I mentioned a slight woodiness from the rooibos, but I didn’t get any of that in this cup. I probably wouldn’t even have guessed it was a rooibos if I didn’t know better. Very enjoyable.

Next one to try from my August Uncommon Tea order. This was the one from the fall/winter collection I was least interested in (because of the rooibos), but I had it tonight because with all the Christmas mayhem I haven’t had a chance to try anymore of my teas but it’s too late for any caffeine (especially since I was up all night after having two cups of black tea at 9pm).

Luckily this seems to be another rooibos I actually enjoy. It’s definitely not my favourite base, and I’m not 100% in love with the woodiness it adds, but it didn’t really detract from the other flavours. Speaking of, this tea tastes primarily of shortbread wile you’re drinking it, with a hint of creamy chocolate, but the after taste is pretty intensely chocolaty. It’s a fluffy chocolate note too, so I can see why they would describe it as chocolate mousse. How could any amount of rooibos ruin a tea that tastes like shortbread and chocolate mousse?

Sipdown (122)!

So, I was eating popcorn earlier today and now I have that super uncomfortable feeling of having a kernel stuck along the inside of my throat and it’s driving me absolutely insane. Anyway; finished this one off at work today! And what a work day…

We closed at five today because of the holiday, but obviously like 90% of the people who came shopping today didn’t seem to get it was a holiday and the staff wanted to go home so come 4:45, when we should have been ringing through the last few people, we were still trying to get people to stop coming into the store. I was scheduled to leave at close (5:30) but it was so crazy busy that we didn’t even have the last customer out of the store until around 5:45 – and then the staff wasn’t finished cleaning the store until 6:30. It was a miserable work day. And I couldn’t go to the pet store because of that, either: they closed at 6PM today so we ran out of time…

This cold brew was pretty delightful though; a shining ray in a dismal day! As a cold brew it’s not overly sweet or jammy and the combined notes of the rosemary and thyme are extremely dominant but it’s such a unique and outside of the box ‘iced’ tea to be drinking that the lack of sweetness makes up for it. Remember, when I first had this one of my largest criticisms was that it didn’t commit to being either a sweet or savory tea, but this is definitely more in line with the savory flavour I’d initially expected/craved.

I probably wont order this again to be perfectly honest; but it was such a unique tea and a pleasant experience with each cup so I know it’s going to be one of those blends that sticks with me for a very, very long time.

Take #2

Starting off boxing day with a yummy cup of tea and some breakfast wraps; eggs, cheddar, hashbrowns, and Asian pears all rolled up in one yummy crepe! Now that I have a better feel for what this tea tastes like I can say I’m enjoying it a lot more. I taste the rosemary and Pu’erh base in particular which is an interesting flavour juxtaposition. I wouldn’t think that they’d work together but they actually do in a wonderful way. The juniper comes through in the front of the sip and the finish but less so in the body; that’s more reserved for the herbs/spices.

Anyone do any Boxing Day shopping yet? I’ve placed orders with Teavana and Red Leaf Tea thus far; should Bluebird miraculously restock Cola & Lime Guayusa I’ll be ordering with them as well but apart from that I think I’m done for the year. I nabbed a tea cook book from Teavana; even with the shipping the cost of the book w. their sale was cheaper than it would have been at the regular price. I’m excited for more inspiration to put the skills I learned in my last Sommelier class to work. No sale from RLT, just needed more matcha. I went with Apple, Grape, Bubble Gum, and Butternut Pie! I’ve only tried one of those (bubble gum) but I’m really excited for the others. In particular, I think Grape will be good!

This is such an interesting tea; any time you encounter a ‘savory’ tea with different kinds of unconventionally used herbs and spices, such as the rosemary and thyme in this blend, you know you’re going to be getting an outside of the box tea drinking experience. The dry leaf of this tea certainly has a very pungent aroma of thyme which is quite enticing. There’s also a slight earthiness which adds depth right off the bat, even before pouring any water!

The aroma of the brewed tea is surprisingly smooth with both a familiar, comforting aroma and air of exoticism. However, I just feel like once you begin drinking the tea it fails to deliver the level of flavour that you’d expect from all the wonderful aromas that have been experienced at this point. Not that it tastes bad! It’s just that I feel like this blend doesn’t quite commit to being either sweet OR savory. I taste a distinct flavour of thyme with hints of rosemary but not in the potency I expected or wanted. The sweetness comes from a hint of jammy flavour provided by the juniper berries; I’m missing the distinct pine flavour of the junipers though and that’s a slight disappointment too because I think that flavour note would have really sold the title for me. The whole thing is supported though by a very smooth, earthy base though and I’m REALLY loving that element of the blend.

And of course, like I said, it truly isn’t a BAD blend. On the whole, I actually find it really delicious – I’m just having to mildly adjust my expectations while drinking it. I absolutely recommend trying it if you get the chance. And for people who haven’t had savory teas before I think this would be a really good way to branch into that type of flavoured blend.

Aimed for a shorter steep time today as I’ve found it almost too “thick” in the past but maybe I took it a little far by bringing it down to only a minute (vs. 5) as I’m not really getting any chocolate or nuttiness here. Overall taste is hard to place. Kind of boozy, maybe. Nothing special.

I’m getting the feeling that my rating of this might have been inflated by my excitement to finally try it, as it doesn’t stand out in my memory as being THAT good. However, I think I’ll give it another go before I adjust.

Latte time! The chestnuts really shine having it as a latte. Delicious, creamy, chestnutty goodness with a hint of chocolate. Perfect for a “blizzard”.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m super excited because my mom got me a bunch of teas from August Uncommon Tea for Christmas! I’ve been wanting to try these for a while. First to test is this one, because it just sounds so good! Not disappointed by this at all (which is good, because I don’t know what I would do with 100g of a tea I don’t like—it takes me a while to get through 100g of teas I love!). It tastes very similar to a Kinder Bueno chocolate bar, which creamy hazelnut and milk chocolate notes. I’m excited to give this another go, because I had it right after having some pretty intensely garlicky dip at a Christmas party (I was so eager to try the tea that I ended up bringing it with me XD ), which may have hindered the experience slightly, but so far, so good!

The flavors of this sounded amazing. The black teas have been very strongly flavored and blending very well with the base, but with this blend, chocolate and nutmeg, the rooibos medicinal taste is hitting really strong for me. I did not add sugar tonight. Alot of times a tad bit of sugar helps tame this flavor from the rooibos. First impression is meh. I will have to experiment with this one.

My August Uncommon order arrived last night. I ordered the Winter/Fall 2015 starter for BF along with a bunch of samples of the other teas. I had been looking to order a new infuser for traveling so when the starter sets went on sale I thought it was a good opportunity to get to try some tea and get a new infuser.

This is good. I like the combo of flavors. sweet, fruity and eucalyptus, but it is very bold. I guess I was expecting a calmer tea. I don’t know if that description makes any sense. I like to drink some of my flavored green and white teas before bed as a calming cup and this tea is bold enough in flavor that I wouldn’t consider it a pre-bed tea.

This tea, wow! My first impressions is amazing. I would compare this tea to eating french chocolate covered pretzels or french fries dipped in icecream. Its the savory sweet combo. It has a good hearty base, with some cocoa flavor and then there is something in there that adds this “leather” feel to it. Something that brings it to the savory side. I steeped this twice this morning which is something I do not always do with flavored teas and both infusions were great. I am looking forward to seeing how my opinion holds up on this one with time. I may have to put in an order for a tin, yep that good.

Cold Brew!

I love how extra crisp and cooling the mint in this blend is when you drink it cold – there’s something so elevated yet playful about the way the sweet pink grapefruit notes and subtly creamy white chocolate undertones get tied up together with this menthol bow. So, so few teas like this – it’s just visceral but really well balanced!

Several years back August Uncommon reduced their product assortment and discontinued a bunch of teas. For the most part I was okay with the ones they chose, but this one absolutely broke my heart. I hoarded a full tin of it for quite some time, but eventually I finished sipping through it and at that point I really believed that I was never going to be able to taste this tea again…

That sadness of losing one of my all time favourite rooibos blends stuck with me up until a couple months ago when they brought it back! I was soooo ready to stock up, but unfortunately in the time since my last order AU has stopped shipping to Canada. Which is completely devastating in its own right.

The Tea Gods were looking down on me kindly though because eventually this tea was added to the online store assortment of Sipsby, who do ship to Canada. I haven’t ordered from Sipsby in about five years after a very negative experience that was had by myself and a close tea friend. I reaallllyyyy wavered on whether I would place that order, but as you might have assumed given the fact I’m now writing a tasting note for this tea…

Well, I caved and ordered it.

I’m trying to tell myself that this is more about giving Sipsby a second chance because the company has grown a lot since that last order and with growth has come new staff and new internal policies. What I experienced many years back (and for those curious, the threads documenting still exist on Reddit for anyone who wants to take the time to dig for them) likely would never happen again today, and people deserve grace and forgiveness. But if I’m also being really honest with myself, it does still feel a little bit like I compromised on some of my morals. I’m doing my best to deal with that feeling.

But a silver lining is that I recently got to taste a freshly brewed cup of this incredible creamy grapefruit and mint blend and it was every bit as delicious as I remembered it to be!

Sipdown (593)!

Super upset to have finished this tea off – but I also acknowledge that it’s practically ancient at this point and that has 100% affected the flavour. I also forgot about the mug of it that I had steeped up because I got distracted by household tasks & when I returned to it the tea had completely gone cold. It still tasted nice; almost a chilled peppermint/vanilla with a hint of grapefruit. I don’t feel like I got the full satisfaction and emotional moment I expected to get from finishing off that hot, cozy mug that I had envisioned…

Drank this one yesterday;

It’s beena really long time since I last had this tea and you can definitely tell because the flavour of this one has deteriorated considerably. For example, hardly all of the grapefruit flavour has been lost to time now. It’s still a nice tasting tea though; I’ve always found the rooibos to be good quality and that continues to ring true – and the creamy white chocolate/vanilla and mint notes are present even if they’re less intense than they used to be. It’s hard for me to get angry with a vanilla/mint combo – it’s just such a nice pairing.

I don’t think this is one that AU has restocked/continued since it’s original launch – which is a shame. I think it is EASILY my favourite tea that they’ve ever produced – just a touch abut Dots & Loops/Psychocandy. I’ve got one or two cups of this left. I’ll be devastated when it’s gone; but the fact that’s its deteriorated a lot over time has definitely helped with easing that blow.

Cold Brew!

Set this one up to cold brew like normal, but then when I strained it today I very lightly crushed/muddled some fresh mint leaves in the glass beforehand to add some extra mint “oomph” to the profile and create a more refreshing/cooling profile.

I mean, this was great! Really intense but fresh mint notes with this great cooling, crispness to them. However, also notes of vanilla and grapefruit from the blend itself. I’m very happy that the added mint didn’t drown out the profile of the tea itself and only elevated it by adding a new intensity and natural quality to it. Plus, there was the added effect of it looking REALLY FUCKING PRETTY.

10/10 – would add fresh mint to again.

Iced Latte.

I thought this would be a really good iced latte, but it was a little… blunt?

Like, all three main flavours WERE represented here – mint, vanilla, and grapefruit but it just didn’t have the creamyness or sweetness that I’ve experienced from this one in the past. It was very, very crisp and clean and almost had a little too much of that menthol/mint quality. I just wanted a little bit of softness, and a silky smooth mint/grapefruit/vanilla trio and I felt a little bit assaulted by the profile. I think a little sweetener probably could have fixed most of those issues but I just wasn’t feeling added sweetener that just so I just left it and drank it as it was.

Just a touch disappointed, still, though.