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I’ve had this for years but never really tried it because I didn’t think it would be my thing. Spoiler alert: it’s not. It’s named for a Forest I believe and that’s fitting because this makes me think of a forest floor. Petrichor is the word that comes to mind as I drink it. It’s a bit coppery as well. It’s not bad but I also don’t want to drink it again because it’s just not to my tastes. It’s going into the swap box.

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I’ve been drinking this all day and am now finishing it off while eating skittles and attempting to watch the new Mulan.

This morning I swore it was a whole lot of rose. This will sound odd but if someone named a kombucha flavor “pink” that’s what I got this morning. Now, paired with skittles, the rhubarb is coming out more and it’s a touch more sour. I’d say this is better than the Cherry but not as good as the Lemon Ginger or Peach Rosemary.

This has been sitting in my stash for a year. I have been dumb to overlook it because it’s good. Creamy is the operative word here because this is extremely creamy. Creamy and honeyed and floral. It actually has the same vanilla pudding quality that Vanilla Orchid has.

Rosemary has been growing on me because the rosemary is strong in this one and I don’t mind at all. Plus, at first I didn’t think I was getting peach but what I realized as I kept drinking was I was not getting the overly sweet peach flavor and instead got a peach flavor that was true to the fruit.

The other day I put fresh peaches on a sesame bagel with maple cream cheese. After I finished, I thought to myself that it would have been improved if I used one of our rosemary sea salt bagels. This kombucha is sort the tea version of how I thought that would taste, minus the maple of course. I am a fan.

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I was worried about the cedar in this one but honestly there isn’t a lot of it. That wouldn’t be an issue for me personally except there also isn’t as much sour cherry as I hoped for. It still tastes good but the lemon ginger was better.

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The September Sipdown challenge today is to drink a tea you forgot about. I tried to pre-plan the Sororitea Sister posts for the challenge and so for this day, I used the randomizer I have on my tea spreadsheet and picked teas at random until one popped up that I forgot. This was the tea set to be enjoyed today.

I also picked a second tea for today’s post by sorting my steepster cupboard by recently added, going to the last page, and flipping backwards through them until a tea jumped out at me as forgotten. That was Watchmaker’s Brunch and for some reason I posted that on the Sororitea Sisters instagram and this one wound up on my personal one.

As for the tea itself, it is nice. Standard white tea profile of corn/hay. This one had an almost caramel/honey quality as well though not distinctly so. It’s good for this cup but I don’t think I will be seeking out more of this.

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This was shared with me by Roswell Strange whose ex-boyfriend customized it with her guidance. Is this the one that sort of took on a diaper-vibe to it? Is that why I forgot about it?All I know is something in the smell of the steeping tea didn’t sit well with me – either the thyme or the nettle.

Ultimately, this one is not for me. I am not a herbs in tea person and this has a lot of herbs. Herbs and hazelnut. Also, not a huge fan of breakfast teas in general. So I am drinking this and it’s fine but just not to my tastes. Still fun to try something made by a friends so thank you for sharing Roswell Strange!

I’m always on the lookout for local companies and cool offerings near where I live. Those were super easy to come by when I lived downtown Montreal or worked downtown Toronto. Now I am in a small city near Hamilton, Ontario which makes things a little harder, but I have found some interesting stuff. A cupcake bakery, chocolate shop, and hamburger joint springs to mind first.

One interesting find is Escarpment Kombucha Co. I am not actually a kombucha fan but I have a friend from school who loves it and Roswell Strange has been into it for a while now. That, plus the company uses locally sourced ingredients in small-batch brews and delivers them right to your home, peaked my interest. I bought all their flavors, except for Raspberry Lavender because I don’t like Lavender. So the list of flavors I do have are: Haskap Honey, Blackberry Sumac, Rhubarb Rose, Peach Rosemary, Blueberry Mint, Sour Cherry Cedar, and Lemon Ginger x 2.

The Lemon Ginger is what they recommend for those who have not had kombucha before so it seemed like a good place to start. It’s good. It’s really fresh. This is what I feel like super fresh ginger infused lemonade would taste like…if someone used lemon vinegar (which is very much a real and tasty thing) as the base instead of lemon juice. I am doing a shitty job at describing it but I promise, it’s good.

As far as kombucha goes, this is the best of the few I have tried. With that said, I don’t think I am suddenly a huge kombucha fan now, but I won’t have an issue drinking this (and the other bottle of this flavor I have as well). It also has me excited to try the other flavors. I was worried I would have one mouthful of this and then dread having to have anymore and I would regret buying them. As it is, I am happy to explore the other flavors and can see how someone who already enjoys kombucha would love this. Roswell Strange, I wish I could send you a bottle (though maybe not of this flavor since the ginger is definitely present and I know that is not your favorite)!

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This was a freebie sample with my most recent My Tea Box box and it was meant for iced tea. The entire sample was meant for a pitcher so I dumped the whole thing into my cold brew bottle. However, I think it was overleafed.

I then let it sit overnight but two sips and this got dumped. It was like play dough. It was just bad. Very bad.