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I made this this morning at the same time I made my matcha and had full intentions of drinking it while watching the Tomb Raider episode of Geek Steep. Then life happened and I didn’t get a chance so I just ended up drinking this. I liked it and sort of remembered chocolate notes but was distracted. I will drink it again soon though because this mug didn’t last long.

Iced Latte Sipdown (310)

I didn’t have high hopes for this one because I when I tossed the powder into my chawan, I immediately got a huge whiff and artificial peach and grass. Unfortunately, the flavor was just that. It was not good. I got through 1/2 the cup and the rest got tossed. Thank you for sending this my way Roswell Strange but this was a no go.

Sipdown (311)

I made this with all intents of drinking it and then ended up in a TikTok black hole. Specifically I was distracted by this one particular audio about girls having frizzy hair their whole lives, not realizing their hair was curly and then changing their routine to get really nice curls. I think that may be me so hours and one Amazon order later, it’s 3 am and I should be going to bed as I wait for my new curly hair products to arrive so I can test the theory. This tea is cold but from the few sips I took, it tastes like Harney’s Vanilla Comoro. A great vanilla flavor with no weirdness from the decaffeinating process. Well…now I want more and regret wasting this cup by neglecting it.

I spoke too soon because my brother-in-law did find more eggnog. It does expire in about a week though so eggnog lattes, here I come! This seemed like the perfect one to make and each year I revisit this, I’m surprised by how much I enjoy it all over again. It’s just the perfect mix of mint and vanilla sweetness.

Sipdown (312)

One 2018 tea down, one to go. I have 3 days to finish that one off to start 2021 with a cupboard of teas from 2019 or more recent.

This tea was always nice. Just not one I would pick over my many other options. That’s how it ended up being one of the older teas in my stash. It’s just not something I ever reached for until I was sort of put in a position (albeit by myself) to drink it. It has great blackberry flavor. And the slight astringency that usually reads alcohol in this tea is not at all present in this cup. It’s a nice way to end off and say good bye.

Iced Tea Sipdown (313)

This is the iced tea I made last night but never got around to drinking it. So it sat in the fridge over night in my iced tea press. I pulled it out this morning and had a couple of mouthfuls during my gong fu session.

This is a pretty nice fruit tea. It’s light but packs a lot of flavor. I recall seeing a note that said it reminded them of Hard Candy by DAVIDsTEA and that is spot on. Plus I really liked that tea so I can assure you this is one I am enjoying as well.

It is definitely like a sweet hard candy. One that is a red flavor. Like a red jolly rancher or the strawberry hard candies that look like strawberries. I am a fan. Yum!

Gong Fu Sipdown (314)

Prior to drinking this today, it was one of the 4 teas I had in my focus box of old teas. The box had 2 teas from the last half of 2018 and 2 teas from the first half of 2019. This is part of the latter category because despite being a 2018 coin, I only received it from Roswell Strange in January 2019. So I mark my teas from when I receive them (unless I know specifically when they came from). Nevertheless, what I am getting to is that this was a nice sipdown since it was 1 of my 4 oldest teas. Also, thank you Roswell Strange for sharing!!

I read in one of Roswell’s notes that she used the whole coin in a 100 ml teapot. I figured I would follow suit and use the whole coin in my 100 ml gaiwan. However, I maybe shouldn’t have done that since this is a particularly robust tea.

My first 3 steeps were very tannic and drying. They mostly tasted strongly of leather and bitter astringency. In fact, the first steep I jotted down notes such as “very dark, looks like black coffee, tastes like it too”. The second steep had a touch of smoke. Mostly, they were just very drying and bitter so they got tossed for the most part.

The 4th steep is when I started getting some good steeps. I cut the steeping time right down to 10 seconds and I took a mouthful of a different/fruity tea to get rid of the drying flavor from the tannins in the first 3 steeps. I could actually see the bottom of the cup on this steep since the liquid wasn’t quite so dark and I got a leather flavor, like before, but with no tannins this time. I also got a touch of what could have been bitter chocolate.

It was at the 5th steep that I started to get a little bit of malt and more clear bitter chocolate notes, but they weren’t dessert-like or really rich flavors. The 6th steep was similar but had some leather and smoke as well. It was also a smoother steep.

My 7th steep was similar to the 4th in that it was leather without tannins. However, this steep was better because it was smoother and even a touch of that maltiness crept in. This was my final steep because after I finished, I was called for lunch. I definitely think I could have pushed this a bit more though.

I could see the later steeps of this pairing well with fruits or cheese. The sweet or creaminess of those foods would cut through the tannins and provide a nice balance to the more bitter notes of this tea.

I finished my eggnog today and who knows if my brother-in-law will be able to find more post-Christmas. So this may be my last eggnog latte of the season and it seems rather fitting that I both started and ended with Cranberry Pear eggnog lattes this year.

I first tried eggnog as an eggnog latte at DAVIDsTEA. And Cranberry Pear was the first tea I truly loved as an eggnog latte. Then it retired and I finished my stash and I was sad. Until magic happened and by magic I mean Roswell Strange and Cranberry Pear came back. So I am a happy, happy person and this eggnog latte is just as good as the ones made in store! Yum!!

I started making teas about a 1/2 hour ago and I realized I had not made anything from my focus box of old teas yet. Oops. So, in addition to the iced tea I was making and the eggnog latte, I grabbed this and made myself a cup.

For the first time today I decided to make it by weight, as recommended by Lupicia. I think I have been oversteeping this in the past since this is less flavorful than usual. Granted, it could be a flavour deterioration problem due to age but I am thinking it is the leaf amount. Also, I think I like this iced more so than hot recently.

This particular cup is hot and in addition to being less flavorful in general, it seems to have more base flavor than anything. Boo.