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Sipdown (282)

Now that my battle is out of the way, on to drinking more festive teas – which based on my current stash is mostly just green teas or alcohol themed (if I even have those). This tea stood out as it had green in the name so I decided to make myself a cup.

It’s really nothing special. It’s meant to be a high quality green tea with rose and while I doubt this is high quality, I’m also so confused by it. For some reason it tastes a little like a savoury bagel. That makes no sense and I understand that, hence the confusion. It’s like a bagel with some rose seasoning – not sweet rose, just rose. Definitely not what I expected or something I need again.

In other news, please see my nephew in his wonderful St Paddy’s Day outfit here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMiWu3oBHmU/?igshid=1b6ya026zu98a

I guess we can say I entered the semi-final rounds of the sipdown tournament inspired by Mastress Alita. My first of two battles in this round is this tea against Genmaicha by Palais des Thes. You can see the tasting note for that tea here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416534

The black tea is contributing a bit more malt today than usual. That is making for malty marshmallow and I am still a fan.

Both teas are consistently good and neither are overly complicated, which makes them suitable for everyday drinking. So, this battle boiled down to personal preference and while I love genmaicha, it doesn’t compare to my love of marshmallow. This tea moves on!

Entering Round 3 of March Sipdown Madness – this tea is facing off against What the Fluff? by 52 Teas. I think I have an idea which tea is not only going to win this battle but which tea will win the whole tournament. Still, I will work through the blends and enjoy my teas.

I don’t have a lot new to say about this one – it’s consistently very roasty without much flavour from the green tea base. As I mentioned several times, that’s my preference but I know others enjoy green tea and would want that more present in their tea. That said, this is one consistently good tea against another and at the end of the day, even though I do enjoy genmaichas, I prefer marshmallow.

Check out the flavor for What the Fluff? here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416535

Today’s battle became a battle of the lattes between this tea and Fantasy Island by DAVIDsTEA. I was surprised to find Fantasy Island was actually a really bad latte and that set this tea up as the clear winner. Check out the tasting note for Fantasy Island here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416516

This, on the other hand, is surprisingly good as a latte. I was worried the subtle flavour of this might have been drowned out by this prep method but I think it actually boosted the flavour. It’s got such distinctively sweet corn flake goodness but coupled with a super creamy and sweet vanilla/coconut note. It’s really good and I’m a big fan.

Today I paired this tea against Cereal Milk by Dessert by Deb and decided to make both as lattes. Unfortunately this tea, while an okay iced latte, did not take too well to the latte prep method. The smell of raspberry is strong but it’s not present at all in the flavour. Instead, it’s sort of muddy and the coconut is a bit off. This was not a good cuppa and as such, Cereal Milk definitely won. I expected that, if I’m being honest, but I didn’t expect this to fall so far behind. Check out the tasting note for Cereal Milk here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416517

Today’s battle is this tea against Chocolate Pear Cake by the NecessiTeas. I thought for sure this tea would win because I iced both and didn’t think that would do much for the flavour of Chocolate Pear Cake. I was surprised though when I took my first mouthful and got an awesome pear flavour. Better than expected but I do enjoy this tea a fair bit and ultimately it takes this round. I just love the juicy fruit notes, and specifically the passionfruit flavour. Check out the tasting note for that tea here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416452

Today’s battle pairs this against DAVIDsTEA’s Tie-Dye Butterfly and since I didn’t love this last time, I thought for sure it wouldn’t be much of a competitor. I decided to ice both since I once again forgot to cold brew them early enough and my first couple sips of this iced were surprisingly good. It highlights the sweet pear which is sort of tasting like the sour apple gummy rings – the green and white ones. The chocolate is weird here and it doesn’t scream cake but that was my issue with this last time as well. So it’s better than expected but still suffering from some flavour misses and that’s why Tie-Dye Butterfly is moving on. Check out the tasting not for that tea here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416453

Cold Brew and Iced Tea Sipdown (293)

I went to make my two teas for my sipdown battle, only to realize one of my iced tea presses missing. That’s when I remembered I made this both iced and as a cold brew yesterday and never ended up drinking it.

The cold brew is definitely better because it has a lot more blueberry flavor. It’s like a blueberry Pom. The iced tea is sweeter but less distinctly blueberry. It’s just thinner when it comes to flavor.

Sipdown (284)

It’s Pi Day. Today I had a banana cream pie eclair (an early birthday treat for me since the bakery isn’t open on Mondays) and now this tea.

This is cherry pie again today but with less crumble/crust and a touch kore astringency from the base. Perhaps it was just near the bottom of the package and so the broken bits are having that effect.

This tea battled Milk Oolong by Asiatica in the Round 2 battles of my March sipdown tournament. Check out the review for Milk Oolong here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416406

This marshmallow deliciousness takes the win. It’s also smooth and simple but awesome with its marshmallow flavor.