THEODOR

From my Theodor splurge, I am trying a few new things, including a few I had tried in tired samples.

This came on an hermetically sealed pack and it smelt absolutely heavenly when first tried. Vanilla-ish, and like Irish Cream maybe a bit? Very very decadent. According to site, the notes are biscuit, and it has does have these buttery-caramel-vanilla notes. Also vaguely boozy, like Irish Cream or rum. And a very very smooth rooibos underneath and the flavouring is there, but feels natural and not over the top artificial. I think it has staple and rebuy potential.

Carrot?! Really?! Huh! Okay. You know how some companies call their flavored teas perfumed teas? Well it seems really fitting for this tea. The flavors are very light and aromatic, but have a depth that balances them. Theodor is so good at blending. It’s fruity, but I can’t pinpoint what fruit. It’s not berries and I’m not familiar enough with yuzu to know what that flavor is. I’m reminded of the flavors in Theodor’s Cours Mirabeau. Maybe I can cross reference the ingredients in that to figure out what I’m tasting here. This cup was good hot and it’s also just as nice as it has cooled.

Thanks to kind Steepsters, I get to try all but the rooibos Laponic teas.

The red currant and juniper berry both brighten and meld with a savory-piney-earthy base taste. Both times I brewed this it did taste somewhat soapy-alkaline. I suspect I could use 1tsp versus 2 to mitigate that flavor. Otherwise, it’s a masterfully flavored green tea that truly makes me think of Christmas and northern coniferous forest covered in snow.

Thanks for sharing Dustin! The Laponic black is on board for Wednesday when the heavy rains come.

Side note: I bought a skateboard today. I’m overjoyed.

I had mentioned I wanted to try this and Derk kindly offered to send me the rest of a tin to try! Thanks so much, Derk!

This has the strangest steeping directions I’ve seen yet. 80C for 10-11 minutes! It’s very lightly flavored. The scent is a wisp of my spice cabinet, a faint mixture of many herbs (must be the dried basil in the mix). I think the strongest bit that I’m getting is the blackberry leaf sweetness, but it’s not over powering. It almost has a minty coolness. Hard to pick out anything in the sip aside from the light mix of herbs I mentioned smelling, but the finish has a faint perfume to it. I can’t say I can taste the sandalwood, which is what caught my interest in this blend in the first place. I’m not taken by this tea and I really appreciate the chance to try it without having to commit to a 125g purchase. That would have been a disappointment especially after liking two other Laponics that Theodor has.

Sipdown 180-2021

I’ve been holding onto this share from Dustin. Such an interesting blend- this cup is more herbal than the last.

Thank you to Dustin for sharing this with me! I love the smell and flavor of juniper, and it’s usually drowned out by other flavors when included in a tea blend. Not here! The juniper is the star of the show, with a bit of pine to round everything out. Drinking this is like being transported to a snow covered forest. Love!

What is Laponic? I don’t know. A made-up French word?

Here’s a tin of tea, the last from a long-ago swap with ashmanra. Why did I not try this last holiday season?

This tea evokes many memories of my first job at 15, a wrap we made, specifically the pinto beans we put in it. The tea’s not at all beany, though. Basil is the strongest note for me, dried, savory. Cedar flavor provides a cool, woodsy tone. The blackberry leaf is very mellow in its flavor and sweetness. The base white tea is also mellow and slightly vegetal. There’s a very light tang I think provided by the berries.

Gentle tea, rejuvenating like a light broth. I like it. It reminds me also of Ohio and hiking in late fall through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Forest understory, maybe? Hemlock growing in secret locations atop sandstone ledges, narrow, silvery waterfalls disappearing down beech ravines, brambles lining meadows. God, Ohio has some modest beauty.

Whatever Laponic means, it’s a comforting, gentle tea to have on Christmas day as the rain falls in straight lines from the low, grey sky.

Merry Christmas :)

Sipdown 24-2021
Finishing up some of the teas from Dustin’s advent. This one is lovely. A nice, strong black tea with a very present marzipan flavor.

Advent from Dustin Day 19
Mmmmmmm marzipan. Smells super strongly of marzipan, so I’m excited. The marzipan flavor is on point! There’s a bit of a cocoa flavor as well, but it’s extremely muted. Tastes like a marzipan cake with a layer of chocolate ganache in the middle.

Sipdown 34-2021
Another sip down from Dustin’s advent. Smoky, bold. The citrus is mild and works well with the smoke.

Advent from Dustin Day 12
The smokiness is the most dominant scent, but the spice and light citrus are both distinguishable as well.
I can taste lots of cinnamon and a bit of lemon as well as the smoke. Very surprised by the balance of flavors here!

Advent from Dustin Day 1

So excited to start advent season, especially the wonderfully spooky Dustin created for me (thank you!).

Dragonfruit generally tastes like nothing to me, so I’m not sure if I’d be able to pick out that flavor here. But, there’s definitely a goji/red fruit thing going on as well. A bit of a creamy, sweet finish. This really does have a bit of a cola flavor going on as well, which makes no sense based on the described ingredients…but I’m into it!

Very happy to have been able to try this blend.

I’ve been trying to acquaint myself better with this tea. I acquired a large bag of it in last year’s generous Theodor advent calendar. I have had it a few times and it wasn’t really something I was into. It’s not a bad tea, just not something I’d turn to or crave. I can’t recall the nuances of how I felt about it hot, but I’m having it cold steeped over night, on ice and with some cream. It is light and floral. Pleasant, but not something that grabs me. It’s smooth on the sip and has a tinge of that grassy bite in the finish, but I did steep the hell out of it. Not being a fan of champagne, I’m glad I didn’t pick up on the association that it is described as having. I’ll probably have several more cups of this, then it’s off to the trade pile. Maybe I’ll do a cupboard purge and start a traveling tea box.

I’m not a fan of mate. It often has an ashy tobacco note that I dislike, so it’s not a surprise that I would not have considered it before. A friend received a sample of this with her recent Theodor order and gave it to me. It definitely has a bright melon/peach flavor to it! It also seems to lack the mate notes I don’t like. It does have a hint of slight smokiness or earthiness that rounds out the flavors well, giving it nice base notes that tame the bright fruit. They blend together well in the sip and then seem to take turns in the finish with a hint of hay. Theodor surprises me. They manage to blur many of my harder lines of what I don’t like in tea with teas that I unexpectedly find good. I’m not quite sure if I’d want to order 125g of it, but I would be pleased to try it again.

Having this again today having cold steeped it overnight. It was a concentrated brew so I could add a bunch of creamer and still have a strong cup. It’s delicious! Creamy cold strawberry with an almost genmaicha flavor on the finish. I think this how I’m going to finish the entire bag.

Trying to get through another day in this burning world one cup of tea at a time. Today it’s J’aime. I get the perfume and flavor of strawberries for sure. After reading CameronB’s tasting note I was able to pick out the sour cherry and almond notes. My brain wasn’t able to make the taste to name connection on it’s own today! I’m having it straight and it’s nice, but not amazing. I don’t recall what led me to choose it. The scent? It is very similar to a strawberry Lupicia tea that I enjoyed cold steeped, so I might try that with this one too.

I had this two days ago, so it was at the forefront of my mind and cupboard prompting me to drink it again today. It did not disappoint. I feel like I noticed some deep mellow dark cherry notes in there this time. Looking at my tin of this, it’s one of the Theodor teas I’m starting to get lower on. I’m still far from a sipdown, but if this becomes a favorite I might need to keep it in stock and add it to my permanent collection.

I have been drinking this all day! I drank two cups during out 2.5hr family yoga class on zoom today. My cousin runs a long class, I’ll likely be sore tomorrow from slow motion squats. I releafed after class and am on a second steeping of that releaf, so cup 4 at the moment! This tea is really hitting the spot. It’s different than Melange teas from other companies. They all have orange, but the other all seem to have a more preserved orange peel flavor. This one is more orange than peel. There is a caramel like flavor in there too that melds well with the base and the orange. Overall I really like this tea. Theodor does such a good job balancing their teas.

Another tea I picked up last summer at my visit to Theodor. It looks like I have been enjoying this quite a bit the past year or so judging by the amount left and have neglected to make any tasting notes for it.
It is citrusy, that’s for sure, but it’s a deep citrus and not bright, sharp or with a bite like fresh fruit. Almost a baked nature to it. The tea has lots of light floral notes on a solid deep base. It gives it an aromatic almost perfume like flavor, but not in an obnoxious sort of way. I might have oversteeped this cup, but all it shows for it is the slightest tinge on the sides of my tongue at the end of the sip. It’s a really lovely tea, but it’s so hard to describe accurately! Theodor makes a great tea once again!

Long time, no posts! Been busy watching and dealing with the world falling down. Looks like Steepster was doing a bit of the same. Glad to see the site back up again and am crossing my fingers for a good revival.

I got a sample of this from a friend’s recent order. It has a nice mellow minty flavor with more depth behind it. I’m not quite able to pick out the bergamot in it, but I bet that’s part of the elusive background. I’m having this hot, but I think I’ll do a second steeping as a cold brew. I’m betting the flavors will morph quite a bit with temperature. As it is, it’s nice, but not something that is captivating.

Update: Cold steeping did nothing to bring out an epiphany with this tea. :/

Grapefruit isn’t my thing. When I saw it in the ingredients I almost traded it for another this morning, but decided to steep it anyways. It’s actually an alright cup! There is a mix of citrus and I can’t pick out the grapefruit. The tea base adds a nice depth to it that counters the high notes of the citrus, balancing it out nicely. I don’t think I’d buy this, but if I came across it as an option for a single cup while out, I wouldn’t turn it down either.

I’m not sure what is up with this cup, but it’s hugely disappointing. I just washed my travel mug that I’m drinking out of, so maybe I didn’t wash all the soap out? It’s just really bland and there is very little flavor to it. Did I let the tea get too old… casualty of tea hoarding? I need a cup of something else and I’m going to rinse the hell out of my cup white I let the next tea steep.

I was thinking I’d like to have a cup of an old favorite today, but the ones I reached for were smokey teas and I just couldn’t do it with the five days of inescapable smoke from all the California wild fires burning. I look forward to being able to enjoy those teas again when the air is fresh. Instead I decided on vanilla.

I think I went through a bit of this tea a while back, but didn’t write any steeping notes so I don’t recall how I prepared it. I’m having it plain today. It was a little better when it was hot and takes on a touch of flatness as it cools. Still, I do get a bit of vanilla. It does seem well balanced with a slight leaning towards base flavors. I feel like this tea is growing on me a touch.

I love vanilla in baked goods, ice cream and soda. I want to love it in tea as well, but it often times ends up too bland for my preferences. When I sip this tea, it seems very bland and flat. At the start of the finish it changes to a very lovely vanilla flavor that has depth, then it morphs back to flat. There must be a secret to steeping this that I haven’t yet mastered. I can tell that there is potential for an amazing cup in it, I just don’t know how to coax it out.