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Sipdown (211)

B is for…Blissful Harmony

This is one of my oldest teas so it is nice to get this sipdown in. I am grateful to teakruthi for sending this my way but this remained in my stash the longest of my teakruthi teas because of the combo of black and white bases. I don’t love mixing bases and this is no exception.

That said, it’s not a bad tea but it’s not for me. It’s a touch coppery on the tailend of the sip. Before that though, I get stonefruit flavors and the slightest bit of honey today. It’s also fairly nutty with a touch of hay from the white tea. Now I am cutting the note short because my nephew has both grabbed my tea and my laptop.

B is for…Blueberry Muffin

My morning cold brew for today because I think this is my only “B” fruit tisane, which is my preferred tea/tisane to cold brew.

Today this is super sweet. Like super jammy blueberry notes. Honestly, it makes me think of Blueberry Jam…but with a bit of hibiscus. This is really throwing me but in a good way.

Cold Brew and Plain Tea Sipdown (211)

A is for…Almond Papaya

This is the second of the two almond teas today. This one I made both as a cold brew and as a plain tea since I only had one serving left.

As a plain hot tea, this tastes like an almond-y rooibos. No papaya. Just sort of sweet almond with rooibos.

As a cold brew, it’s a bit fruitier and a little less almond and rooibos. No distinct flavour though.

Overall this is super meh – tolerable but I don’t need this again.

Check out the pics of all the “A” teas here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ9bUyMh44z/?utm_medium=copy_link

Sipdown (212)

A is for…Assam Gold Summer Black Tea

I am listening to an audiobook for the first time and I don’t love it. I don’t really like when people read to me and it’s a bit odd having one author doing different voices. I also am unsure how into the actual book I am. I’ll finish though since I borrowed it from the library via the Libby app and don’t like leaving things unfinished.

As for this tea, it’s pretty good. It’s smooth. A bit of a date flavour to it. Not much else though. Maybe it’s just me but the few black teas I’ve had these past few days have been boring. This is no exception. Probably for the best in this case though since I don’t want to purchase it again so this one cup being good but not great makes for an easy good bye.

A is for…Ambrosia Fruit Salad

I’ve never actually had ambrosia fruit salad but I have tried this tea several times now and it’s quite nice. Today I’m having it cold brewed and I’m getting a lot of coconut and marshmallow. Also green Rooibos base and a bunch of citrus and cherry notes. The citrus is a creamy orange flavor.

A is for…Amaretto Blush

2/4 of my “A” teas are almond-inspired – this being one of them. I have a weird time with almond teas because I like the nut, don’t mind amaretto, and dislike marzipan. So it depends how the flavour comes through as to whether I’d enjoy the tea or not. Usually almond reads marzipan so I’m normally not a fan and as such I tend to go in with low expectations.

This tea ended up being better than expected. I think the cranberry helps a lot. Plus it’s definitely more nut/amaretto than marzipan. It almost a cherry quality to it between the amaretto and cranberry combining. The base tea also rounds this out nicely, though is a touch brisk. I’m surprised at how much I’m enjoying this but also don’t need more than the sample I have.

French Vanilla Sweet Cream Latte Sipdown (213)

The past few months have been terrible for sipdowns. This month is my last free month before I start back at work. I decided to take advantage and get sipdowns in – in order to do that, I recalled both the tea tournament and the alphabet teas helped get a lot of sipdowns (both inspired by Mastress Alita, thank you!) so I asked Instagram what they suggest I do again. It looks like alphabet teas is winning so I decided to check for an “A” tea I could cold brew for the morning. This caught my eye and I decided it would pair well with the last of my French vanilla sweet cream.

This tea is definitely best made on the stovetop but this is the first time I made it not on the stove and it’s still enjoyable. It’s got a lot of pepper and cardamom. The Assam gives it a full base that hints slightly at dark chocolate. And the vanilla sits in where this tea falls flat.

Sipdown (214)

We had family visiting today and they asked for either a vanilla or coconut tea. Weirdly enough I didn’t have a lot of plain vanilla or plain coconut teas but I did have this. I was able to divide this sample from Sil into 2 servings so I could share.

While Sil didn’t really love The Tea Girl’s coconut flavouring, I enjoy it. It’s not as good as her vanilla flavour but this is a simple and clean vanilla flavour that pairs nicely with the smooth black base. Thank you for sharing, Sil!

I owned the Spring 2019 harvest of this blend and Sil was kind enough to share a sample of the Spring 2020 harvest so I am trying the two side-by-side today.

I started with the 2020 sample, which is a sipdown. It is a very smooth tea. Smooth but no malt. A bit of chocolate maybe. Also like dark rye bread. It’s nice but a bit boring.

The 2019 harvest has more smoke to it, which was certain unexpected. Smoke and a touch of pepper. It also is more brisk but not astringent. Underneath all that, I get a similar smooth dark rye/chocolate. Weird how it varies from harvest to harvest but these are definitely different.

The 2019 harvest certainly had more happening in the cup but I am not convinced that makes it better. Neither is a favourite but I think I liked the simple smoothness of the 2020 harvest. Thank you for sharing, Sil!