August Uncommon Tea

This is an interesting tea, certainly different from most of what I’ve tried.

For once, I’m relieved the scent doesn’t come through as much in the flavor. The scent is overwhelmingly sweet – a little bit of something bitter, but a lot of butterscotch candy vibes.

The taste continues to fascinate me. I definitely got the smokiness and something bitter, and the sweet was a nice edge to the flavor. It felt almost rich, especially when steeped a longer time. The tea reminded my partner (not a tea drinker, fwiw) of a pipe tobacco.

I don’t know if I’d buy it, but I’d be excited to drink it again.

I was intrigued by the August Uncommon brand and the idea of a violet tea named “metallic”. The scent did remind me of something metallic, though also bright and fruity. The taste is something more subtle, but pleasant. Each sip felt a little bit different at first; there’s more going on than my limited palate can discern! I’m excited to try more from this brand and hope to get more of this tea soon.

Sipdown of this one.

It’s bizarre tea can taste so different with different steepings. When I first had this, it was overwhelming in cherry cough syrup flavor. Perhaps age has mellowed it. Now the smoke comes out, but it’s more of a cigar type smoke than a campfire lapsang type smoke. The ending pot of this one was much more pleasant and cozy.

I really thought I’d like this one and was excited to try, but sadly did not enjoy. To me it’s slightly bitter and cherry tasting like the same cough drop or candy type flavoring that I don’t want to see in my tea. Not my thing at all.

I wasn’t sure I’d like since the primary note is listed as Pine Needles, and then Maple Sap. I do like it well enough, but likely not for a reorder other than this sample.

Steeped at 4 min. I can see a tendency of this tea, and a few others I’ve tried from this company, to be easily bitter.

It’s a strong tea, and I added two sugar cubes to help offset. May try rest of sample at a weaker 3 minutes.

My third of the samples, and the one I enjoyed the most. Two other two are reviewed on notes on my phone, will have them up soon (it’s charging). I havent’ been that impressed so far with the samples, but I have a lot to try fortunately. This one is delicious!! Sweep and reminds me of maple syrup, sweet luxury, warmth, and pleasant nights. I added in two sugar cubes to really heighten the sweetness. It’s pleasant and not at all bitter. Brewed 4 minutes at boiling. Will be a keeper and a re-order.

Not getting any smoke in this first brew, though.

Happy National Apple Turnover Day! Today the sipdown prompt is to drink a tea with apple flavor notes!

I have been pretty much exclusively drinking cold brews and tea pop from the fridge, but brewed this as a warm cup with my breakfast this morning. 3.5g to 350ml 205F water, steeped for three minutes. The cup has a pleasing green apple and spices aroma, particularly of the peppery licorice scent of fennel.

Perhaps a bit autumnal in flavor profile for this unending heat wave, but I really enjoy the flavor. I’m getting two different apple flavors; a sweeter red apples baked in cinnamon and a tarter, juicier green apple that is more prominent at the end of the sip. There is a strong fennel flavor in the tea which lingers in the aftertaste, which does add a layer of pepperiness/black licorice to the flavor. I personally really like how the fennel tastes in combination with the apple.

A nice tea to lazily sip on during my “faux Sunday” morning, while munching on a breakfast rice bowl.

I made the last sample of this as a latte with a good amount of almond milk. It’s definitely suited more towards this prep which makes sense since it’s a take on Mayan hot chocolate.
As a kid I used to love going to spice shops and getting bulk flavored hot chocolate blends. One of those ones was a Mayan hot chocolate and I didn’t particularly love it given the darker chocolate used and spiciness from the chili. I think if I were to try it now I’d appreciate a less sweet hot cocoa offering a lot more than when I was younger.
Anyway, this tea-prepared latte style reminds me of Mayan hot chocolate but isn’t quite thick enough or rich enough in feel. The chili warms the back of your throat along with the cinnamon and dark cocoa. It makes a really lovely latte and probably would be closer to hot chocolate with milk or a different non-dairy milk. I prepared this with almond milk. This one was a no for me when I tried it plain or just with milk so latte prep is essential.

It was one of those mornings where, actually having the time to properly prepare a cup of tea without having to be in a rush out the door for work, I stood in front of my massive tea collection and couldn’t decided what I wanted. When I saw my two sampler pouches of this in the (almost empty now) flavored black teas sampler bag, I decided I really was in an Earl Grey mood.

I actually do smell the plum and clove from the dry leaf… and something coming across peppery? Lazily scooped one perfect teaspoon leaf instead of measuring grams like I usually do, steeped in 350ml 205F water for three minutes. The steeped leaf smelled more strongly of a lemony/bergamot citrus. The brewed up has a very appealing aroma; beramot, plum, and spices.

Mmm… this is interesting, and I like it! To me, it tastes like an Earl Grey and a Mulled Wine tea had a child, and those are both tea types I really like. There is a deep fruitiness to the cup; I do taste plum, but it is also reading a little like lychee to me, since I’m getting a slight floral undertone. The bergamot is pretty pervasive and fills the sip, with a crisp, citrusy, and slightly tart/sour lemon note. When the berg settles on the touch, there is a strong aftertaste of spices; I taste the clove, but the nutmeg is reading to me as more of a black pepper taste.

Perhaps a strange combination of flavors but it’s working for me… and it feels nice to get to lazily sip on a warm cup of tea, taking my time and savoring the sips!

In other tea news, I recently bought one of those CO2 infusing “soda” machines to experiment with my cold teas. The first one I tried (B&B’s Peppermint Cream) tasted questionable, but I looooooooove TeaSource’s vanilla black, Moon Over Madegascar, that way! Looking forward to experimenting with other teas (I have some of Lupicia’s Ramune tea to try next!)

I’m trying to finish off my open samples from AU so that I can open some of the other samples from them. I Tried brewing this one at a lower temperature and still don’t love it. I Don’t need to repurchase this one as I prefer AU’s Golden Arrow and H&H Black Cask Bourbon tea.

National Superhero Day Tea!
I don’t watch marvel movies or shows with the exception of Jessica Jones which I loved. I chose this one because it’s described as a “strong” black tea with “Bourbon”. (I actually thought Golden Arrow would work for Jessica Jones in terms of her office and desk with the mahogany. I also thought Black Metallic would work as well with the purple flowers and elderberry for Violet from The Incredibles.)I’ve never had Bourbon before so I can’t comment on if this tastes like it or not. I realized that I actually have had this tea before and just had forgotten since there was no tasting note on it. It’s quite smoky and does have a kind of burnt flavor that’s left on your tongue and isn’t pleasant. I’m not liking this one so far but maybe I just need to brew it at a lower temperature next time. I love Golden Arrow and thought this one might be similar but it’s just not working for me. Maybe this one does better with milk.

April Sipdown Alphabet Challenge: “C” Tea
This one has a nice and authentic dark chocolate flavor. It has the bitterness and fruitiness that the darker chocolate bars have. I also get some of the booziness but unfortunately, my sample didn’t have any pieces of cherry in it. It’s also somewhat drying on the tongue. Something to note is that my cup did have quite an oil sheen to it on top and I know that bothers some people. It’s a nice chocolate tea and I bet it would be even better with the cherry. I just noticed that they recommend trying this tea with milk so I’ll do that next time.

I’ve steeped my other August samples following their instructions for the first cup just to see if I like their recommendations and if it helps bring out the flavors listed in their descriptions, but I’ve never had an oolong brewed western style that really wow-ed me so I’m skipping straight to gongfu with Eventide. I’m still quite an oolong newb but they’re growing on me. Water about 200°F, a few little balls of tea leaves sprinkled in the teeny baby gaiwan ‘cause I’m too lazy to weigh it out, steeps starting at 15-ish seconds.

The first couple steeps were mostly just roast flavors and aroma. Nice toastiness, not one of those that smells burnt until the other flavors start coming through. The package lists steamed banana leaf as one of the flavors this tea is supposed to have. I have no idea what steamed banana leaf tastes like but I taste something that could maybe be green leafy something. And something fruity…tropical fruit? I’m so bad at picking out specific flavors. There’s a little bit of floral too, but I only get it while my cup is hot. Once the tea cools the floral vanishes. Weirdly, one sniff of the gaiwan lid smelled exactly like my mother’s caramel cinnamon rolls. The corner rolls, specifically…the ones that start to get a little hard on the edges and the goo is aaaaallllllmost a tiny bit burnt. I don’t know if this tea would be good with baked goods but it has made me want delicious cinnamon rolls and croissants.

The packaging mentioned Guinness-like flavors so this seemed like a good choice for St Patrick’s Day. The dry tea smells kind of like boozy raisins to me. There’s an alcohol-ish (the drinking kind, not the cleaning kind, but I can’t really pinpoint what kind specifically) scent I get from several of the darker cocoa-y type flavor August teas. Maybe it’s something in their flavorings or maybe it’s my allergy-addled brain (yay, springtime) not knowing what I’m smelling, I don’t know. The brewed tea smells like dried cherries and spices. I taste a bitterness that sort of reminds me of the bitterness of coffee but the flavor isn’t anything like coffee. There’s some dried fruit flavor. I guess I could maybe see how if you stretched your imagination you could get pumpernickel but the dry smell was probably closer to pumpernickel than the flavor. Nothing reminds me much of stout beer like Guinness. It’s not a bad tea, I just don’t really taste the flavors listed on the package.

I thought this tea might be a good one for days I want coffee but my stomach doesn’t think it’s such a great idea. It really smells like coffee dry. While it was steeping I could smell something sort of toasted grain-like. I wasn’t completely sure if that was the barley malt or the mate. I have very little experience with mate (just a couple of flavored bagged teas from grocery store brands) so I’m not sure I could identify “mate smell”. I usually taste my tea before deciding if it needs milk/cream or sugar, and I probably should have done that with this one too…but it’s been a grumpy day of spring allergies and stressed out sewing procrastination (feeling a bit in over my head on a project) and it looked and smelled like the kind of tea I’d want to add something to so in went the sweetened condensed milk right away. I don’t teally taste the coffee. I can still smell it a bit but it’s not nearly as strong as the dry tea. It kinda just tastes like roasty black tea. I may have buried any of the more subtle flavors in sugary milky goo. It’s not bad this way but it doesn’t make me think coffee. Oh well, will taste it first next time and maybe use plain milk if it needs additions. It feels astringent in a way I’m not sure I’ll like plain but always good to try it anyway.

Creamy cocoa notes reminiscent of hot chocolate. Sweet anise flavor as well. This tea is nicely balanced. I would like this to drink occasionally but with the anise I don’t see it as being an everyday cup. It’s definitely a unique blend true to the brand’s name.