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Lemonade Cold Brew Sipdown (270)

I didn’t have enough of this to make a tea lemonade. I DID have enough to just cold brew directly in a mix of water and lemonade. At least I thought I did. But this cold brewed for 4 hours and it mostly just tastes like lemonade. There is a small touch of mango but it is not quite the same as the tea lemonades I made with this previously.

Vanilla Oat Milk Latte and Plain Tea Sipdown (271)

A little while ago I asked my BIL to buy me Oat Milk so I could make a latte with Dessert by Deb’s Pumpkin Pie Tart. I was worried the apple in it would curdle the milk but Deb recommends it as a latte. However, after talking to Roswell Strange about it, she said I could probably get away with using my usual milk since the apple pieces weren’t acidified.

That left me with the vanilla oat milk. Since I haven’t had it before, I was worried about using up all of a tea on a latte with it in case I didn’t like the flavour of the oat milk and thus wasted a tea. Or if I did like it, I wouldn’t know if it was because of the milk or the tea. Sorry if that’s confusing.

Anyways, when I decided to make this tea today, I realized it I used the whole sample, I could make a small latte and also have a plain cup to use as a control in my vanilla oat milk latte experiment. So that’s that I did. I also tried the vanilla oat milk plain and if I’m being honest, I didn’t love it. When I froth almond milk, I find it gets a sort of cardboard taste to it and this oat milk had a touch of that right from the beginning. That also came through in the smell of the frothed milk. With that said, I was shocked at how well the oat milk frothed. It basically was all froth. That’s a point in it’s favour.

I started with the latte. It’s sweet, which I’m guessing is the brown sugar in the tea. And oat-y, which would be the milk. It kind of tastes like brown sugar oatmeal which is fine, but definitely not what I wanted from my latte. Personally, I don’t think I’m a fan of oat milk from this very limited experience.

I don’t think I’m a huge fan of this tea in general either. I tried the plain tea and it was more of that brown sugar sweetness. Not much beyond that though. Well, honey notes from the honeybush base and brown sugar. Maybe a touch of cinnamon but sweet cinnamon, which I don’t love. Definitely not saying snickerdoodle to me in either plain or latte form. Boo!

Sipdown (272)

I always had this as an (iced) latte and its definitely better that way when compared to their plain cup. With that said, this was always sort of just ok for me. It’s got maple and coconut. The rooibos seems unnecessary and out of place. And without the latte prep method, it’s flat. I am ok with saying good bye to this one.

Sipdown (273)

I found steeping instructions online for this. My cup was slightly overleafed but ultimately I think I stayed pretty close to the recommended steeping parameters. That definitely improved this cup from the last but I am still not overly enthused about it.

I get fruit. Subtle and soft fruits. Nothing really stands out though. I can arguably get either strawberry or kiwi but if I am being honest, I think it is more because I am looking for them and expecting them to be there. It’s fine but there are so many better fruity tea/tisane offerings, even just from 52 Teas so this won’t be a restock for me.

Sipdown (274)

This is one of my older teas and even past its best before date.

I made it earlier and then dumped it into a travel mug when I decided to go for a walk with my sister. I then forgot it and am only getting to it now, hours later. The travel mug had a scent of a previous tea in it and I think that is impacting the flavor here.

It’s smooth and a little malty and then there is almost some smoke to it, which I have never experienced before.

I packed some of this tea up for Sil who I swear I shared this with before and even read a tasting note by. However, that tasting note is gone and neither of us can recall if she liked it so I figured I would share (possibly again) since it seems like her sort of tea.

Once I had it out again, I decided to make another tea lemonade after the success I had a couple days back. Once again, it is really good. Like a mix of a creamsicle and an orange julius.

Sipdown (275)

I was doing my random tea generation to help pick a tea and this was the one I ended up pulling out. It’s another Floragold so like all others, it’s from Roswell Strange! Thank you!!

First off, I walked past my BIL with this tea and he commented how good it smelled. Because it does smell good. It tastes nice as well though the coconut is a little past it’s prime as this is a touch lotiony. Also, ginger was like a subtle warmth in the mug but I found myself wanting more. So this one was good but not great, partially due to age though.

Sipdown (276)

Thank you Evol Ving Ness for sharing this. It is a bit on the older side so it doesn’t really taste like anything. So this is just being finished because it’s hydrating and that’s about all it has to offer.

Sipdown (277)

I have made this 3 times now and every time I didn’t really get to try it hot. And when I did try it, it would be like one distracted sip and then I would fall asleep or need to attend to something else. So, with this being the last serving, I made a conscious effort to get to it hot and now that I have, I have to say, I am indifferent.

I get cherry, apple, sort of cranberry. Hibiscus, though its not overly tart. Honestly, it might have been better when it was cold. It’s meh.