6444 Tasting Notes
B is for…Bear Trap
The past few days I have been making a cold brew that steeps overnight and another that steeps through the day. I tend to drink the latter in the middle of the night while doing my school work after the family has gone to sleep.
I didn’t think about the Ode to Tea challenge by Mastress Alita when I set up this cold brew but it worked out anyways to fit in with the alphabet plan of drinking teas. So I am starting off with a B in the wee hours of the night as I finish school and watch the new episode of TFATWS. Yep, that means it is 3 am…well 3:05 am. So I am going to make this quick and say not much new to say about this other than its a nice berry tea and I am happy I get to revisit it since it has been a while since I last had a cup.
A is for…Applevania
Will starting my notes like that get annoying? Perhaps. But so far having a day devoted to a letter of the alphabet seems like a fun way to pick teas.
Grabbed this one out because the other A options were another almond rooibos, assams, or a more recent blend. This just worked for what I wanted at the time.
This tea throws me because it’s distinctly apple but not green apple like I expect it to be. Instead it’s a sweeter apple, though not overly sweet. The base oolong isn’t overly floral but does come off slightly that way when paired with the apple. It also gives it a baked apple sort of vibe but as if someone did that without adding sugar. It can also be slightly metallic at times but not consistently.
Sipdown (281)
A is also for…Almond Rocker
I only picked one alphabet tea per day but for most of the letters I had a lot of options. My spreadsheet is back in order of when I purchased the teas so I just scrolled down until I found the next oldest tea that started with the letter “A”. It was this tea from the Dollar Tea Club.
The package had a weird amount of tea that was too much for a 16 oz cup but not quite enough for another cup after the 16 oz cup. I decided to get a cheap sipdown and just dump the whole sample. Hopefully the overleafing doesn’t do bad things for the tea.
I was worried this would be too strongly marzipan since it advertises marzipan, but I am actually enjoying it today. It is marzipan but not offensively so. It has a lot of nice cherry notes too. Better than expected.
Sipdown (282)
A is for…Assam Mokalbari
Inspired by Mastress Alita and her sipdown thread challenge to drink a tea starting with each letter of the alphabet throughout April. I pre-picked my teas by organizing my spreadsheet by alphabetical order and choosing (one of) the oldest tea(s) for that letter. This tea is from December 2019 but has a best before date from back in November 2020, so it may not be at its best, thus probably good time to be drinking it down.
It’s very astringent and coppery. Brisk is how I would describe it and brisk, for me at least, is usually a bad thing. I am glad I got to try it but I am even more glad to be saying good bye since this is not for me. Thank you Roswell Strange for the chance to try it!
Aww I love your “A is for” ha ha! I don’t drink Assam often, I have a few from Capital Tea Ltd. that I still need to open…
Living with a baby has me thinking about the alphabet in this way lol
I wonder if you aren’t that used to drink black teas, or it isn’t that fine as What-cha version, but I just love Mokalbari. It never was too astringent for me. Either way, any sipdown is a good sipdown.
Latte Sipdown (283)
I have finally filled the TTB as much as I intend to and have divided up the Sil samples for me and Roswell Strange. That means the box is ready to go to Ros. And since that is ready, the other packages I have been filling were all to get closed off too so my brother-in-law could make one big run to the post office.
One of those packages is for one of my best friends who loves lavender earl greys. I intended to pull this sample out to make as a latte and send the rest off to her. However, my latte used the whole sample so this is actually my first empty of April – yay!!
This is fine. The lavender, as per usual, is not my favorite. It’s soapy but not overwhelming like it was in Cocoa Lavender Latte. However, its enough that I don’t really want this again. The bergamot doesn’t do much to improve it for me but that is because I am picky with my earl greys anyways. Basically this had a lot working against it when it comes to my personal tastes. What it had that was appealing was the tea cake aspect and I am not getting much cake. Like I said, it’s fine. It’s not for me though. Now I feel bad not just passing this on since my friend likely would have appreciated it more.
I can’t remember if I’ve had this one or not? (slowly but surely working my way through Deb’s collection) Anyway, looking forward to the TTB and my little package. :)
I am excited for you to get your package too. I will confirm once the post office run is done! I do need to mention I sealed your package and only then realized the little note I wrote for you sitting on my counter :(
Can you private message me on IG (it won’t let me message you through here)? Just want to make sure the address is correct [have mail issues] and you can send me a picture of the note if you didn’t throw it away already.
Sipdown (286)
I wanted a caffeine free blend because I haven’t had as much water as usual today so I wanted something hydrating. I also intended to make a hot tea and this flavor just seemed like it would work better hot (the first couple I grabbed seemed like they would be better cold).
The apricot smell is really strong so it sort of threw me when I drank this and it tasted like a peach ring gummy. I guess peach and apricot are similar but the smell and taste still had a disconnect that caught me off guard. It’s also a bit woody and a bit honey from the honeybush base. I think I like it but its not what I expected. Also, given the name, its not really clear what the tea is and I keep forgetting so I never reached for it or even thought of it before. I want to say I like it though and I would grab more in a Plum Deluxe order…if I remember it when (if) that happens.
