Featured & New Tasting Notes

Sipdown

This is one of the rare occasions where I drank a tea more with milk and sugar than without. This is my kind of chai, and cardamom really is the front runner in flavor and aroma here. I can just smell it now….It stays with you, that aroma.

This was an afternoon- keep-the-munchies-at-bay chai latte this summer, especially on teaching days when I couldn’t just snack whenever I wished.

So I couldn’t resist ordering from Seven Teahouse after seeing them recommended by Kelly, and also I love Lupicia’s fruity oolongs, which is a category that Seven seems to specialize in. I got a build-your-own sachet box with one of every fruity oolong they carry, along with some flavored black teas. And then I also picked up their fruity white tea sampler, which has two sachets each of five different varieties.

This is the first one I’m trying, and it’s nice. It’s a shou mei base with lychee flavor, and the shou mei is deep and flavorful without being too woody or autumn leaf-y. Some nice dried fruit notes pop out at the end, something like apricot and maybe a bit of golden raisin. The lychee is a lovely complement, not overpowering and even not noticeable on first sip, but it makes itself apparent midway through, and adds a lovely refreshing sweet and floral top note.

Off to a good start for sure. I think I’ll try the other sachet cold-steeped, I saw that they had instructions for it on the package, and I bet lychee would be the perfect flavor for it!

This past week, I’ve been craving plums basically non-stop so today I’m reaching for Cinnamon Plum – one of my favourite plum flavoured tea blends. It’s arguably pretty autumnal feeling in terms of flavour profile, with the sweet and syrupy notes of jammy plums and very warming, cozy cinnamon bark – but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from this bright and lively photo set. There’s just something really satisfying about quickly flipping through all of these pouring photos and seeing the liquor of the tea in motion. Definitely hit the spot!!

Do you have a favourite plum flavoured tea or straight tea with plum notes?? This is such a tricky flavour to capture, so I’m always looking for a recommendation!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-IhzjZOqXv/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1iTHh1zQY4

August Sipdown Challenge Prompt – tea with the smallest amount left

Sipdown

I had only one sachet left so I got a prompt fulfilled and a sipdown!

I have been drinking this for breakfast regularly. The black tea base is really the main thing here, and the orange flavor is the second to me with a little vanilla on its heels. I don’t think I detected much of the ginger at all and I did not find it floral.

This is a good strength for breakfast for me, landing shy of builder’s tea and yet it isn’t one of those flavored teas that make you ask, “Where’s the base?”

Quick note just to mark the sipdown. I made the last of this as a cold brew. This falls into the category of 52teas blends that I like well enough but don’t love. The strawberry flavor is almost candy-sweet and works with the hay note in the white tea. Not really getting anything cake-y though. This tastes pretty similar cold as I remember it tasting hot, just maybe a little sweeter. I wouldn’t say no to this blend but also wouldn’t go out of my way to get more.

Backlog Sipdown from a few days ago. Soooo goood. Fruity, dark, and honey sweet with the cool starflower floral. I personlly wouldn’t buy more than a sample of it it, but definitely worth trying. Thank you DERK!

This is turning out to be surprisingly tasty and reliable for a store brand tea! Enough rose that you get it, not enough to make it taste like perfume, just a teeny bit sweet. Moderately strong tea base underneath that stands out well, either iced or conventionally steeped.

The funniest thing about this tea was when I was trying to add it to the data base, the moderator kept changing the “no name” to unknown brand. Hahahaha!!! I finally had to add “Loblaws Brand” so they would know that “no name” was actually the name of the brand! Here in Canada, the “no name” brand all comes in plain yellow packaging and is a lot cheaper than the name brand products that are their counterparts.
This tea is just okay but I am not going to complain because it cost me a whopping 49 cents for the box.
Very weak and watery but like I said, you get what you pay for.

This was a little more average tasting than I had hoped. I taste the too-herbaceous coriander and other things that belong more in a health tea than a fun tea. I’m a lemongrass fan, but here it’s just too healthful seeming mixed with the peppermint and everything else. At the end of some sips, my throat catches a bit of the red pepper, which I don’t love here.

Sipdown 54 – 2024

Oof this is savory. Really savory. There’s also a salinity that is off-putting. Super brothy and slightly bitter.

Finally and definitely a sipdown! (M: 7 Y: 61), and tea with two prompts… just see my previous notes.

I am sad that I couldn’t finish this tea faster; I thought that one month it shouldn’t be a trouble, then another month… and now I just finished it. Probably too good to get rid of it, and yes, I am definitely sad finishing it, but life goes on and, note for myself, it’s not so unacessible as it may look like.

Rye bread base, with malty and sweet — cane sugar body, finished with long aftertaste, never bitter or astringent, smooth and round. But it’s gone. For now.
Raising a rating from 86 to 92. And giving recommendation. Courtney, your turn :)

A sipdown! (M: 6 Y: 60)

Just marking a sipdown.

The sample I have is from the Intermediate Japanese Global Tea Association class. However, there are very few companies that sell this tea and I didn’t see this company listed so I decided to make a steeper page for it since I was impressed with the amount of detail they used. The tea has been open and ready for me to use for a bit so the dry aroma is somewhat diminished but there are notes of pan-fried leaves. Some leaves are glossy, some dull. Twisting and curling. Went with a one-minute steep to start. The initial aroma coming off the leaves is lovely. Notes of pan-fried corn with a bit of butter and a bit of asparagus. Smooth mouthfeel with just a touch of astringency. I think I actually over-steeped this one. Round two fight. 30 second steep now. Much better. Good vegetal notes. My egg and rice breakfast with furikake sprinkled on it might have been a bit too strong for this one though. Better to sip on its own. Third steep. Even less time. Still vegetal notes. The furikake is just destroying the other flavors though. It’s all over my palate. Point taken with that one.

On a side note. I am looking to start nitro brewing teas at craft fairs. But the hurdles I am going to have to jump through to do it are a bit daunting. I broke down a bit yesterday but I am picking myself back up today and hoping for the best. Pray things will come together for me because I would love to see this work.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – July 2024 Tea #10 – An iced tea

Bonus points for hitting all ten prompts this month!  I have been enjoying this one a few times this month.  One steep session left after this.  It really does taste like cola and lime.  One of my favorite cola varieties I wouldn’t be buying, even if I could find it in stores.  The prices are ridiculous these days.   I remember the day you could buy 3 twelve pack of cans for the price of one now.  yikes. Probably better for the health of everyone anyway, to have soda be so expensive.  But I do like an occasional soda.  I’m drinking the leftovers of my Gram’s 12 pack of root beer this summer. (It will take me way longer than summer.)  But this tea will suffice for soda cravings!

Hihi, well in such short time I have this tea twice; once in café and now at home… as it was a part of my Joy of Tea box.

Well, I have nothing to add to my previous note. Not so nutty, but grassy tea indeed. Refreshing in hot humid day. Somehow standard green tea in sachet á 2.4 grams.

This tastes too earthy for my preference. I’ve had a bunch of good root beer teas, and this is one of my less favorite ones due to that. I do taste the root beer vibe as well, it’s just overpowered by earthiness. Cold with sugar, it’s not bad.

This tea was a gift from Nicole – many thanks!

This tea is no longer listed on the Verdant website, and the more recent Full Roast Wulong Revival says that the maker used a new process, so it would not be accurate to just use the description from the new one.

Dry leaf aroma is chocolate and the thing I can’t remember the name of..I think MadHatter knows. It is the smell of the art class in acrylic painting that I took as a child. I think sometimes people describe it as latex that makes it sound like a bad thing.

I was expecting this to be much darker and toastier, maybe even smoky, with full roast in the name. It is rich tasting even after all these years, so maybe this is a wulong that ages well.

I made three steeps by their parameters, using 5 grams of leaf per 200 ml boiling water. First steep was 10 seconds, second was 12 seconds, third was 14 seconds or so. The steeps were combined into a single pot and enjoyed with and after breakfast.

This is not at all smoky and full roast is a good description. It is a little reminiscent of the Tung Ting we buy from Tin Roof Teas. We will probably finish this one this weekend as it is one of Ashman’s favorite profiles.

This is a sample sipdown and was part of the huge box of Adagio and other teas that Nicole sent. Many thanks!

I thought Scottish breakfast teas were stronger than English, so I thought this might have a real punch to it. I was also hoping it would be very similar to Brigadoon.

This is milder than I expected, but good. The aroma says Assam first. The flavor is a real mix of exactly the teas they say are in it. The raspy, malty feel of Assam coats the tongue lightly and the Chinese black teas make a silky swirl that tones down the Assam.

I am a wimp when it comes to black tea from India and have to make it just so or my stomach hurts. This one sits well.

I did steep it for four minutes, pour that tea in a pot, then steep again and combine the two. I am sure mine is a little weaker because of the mixing but it is plenty strong enough for me as I don’t add milk or sugar.

Drinking more after breakfast, the Assam is more prominent. The body is creamy, which is nice.

It isn’t Brigadoon, but it isn’t bad. It is a serviceable breakfast tea, and a good afternoon tea for those who want a KAPOW cuppa in the mornings.

Sipdown! (38 | 104)

Not my favorite from Tealyra. I didn’t get any kiwi, mostly this tasted like a combination of pineapple gummy bears and bubblegum. I added a palmful of hibiscus flowers to the last bottleful, which did help it taste a bit less cloying. But still, too artificial and candylike for me.

I taste the orange and some nuttiness. It’s not the most unique flavor combination, but it’s decent cold. It’s a refreshing combination, but there’s something I can’t put my finger on that I’d prefer tweaked a bit. Maybe I need to underleaf this one for my preferences. I just feel like I’ve had better versions of this tea.

Sipdown! (36 | 102)

Finished off a 100g pouch of this one, cold-steeped. Definitely high on my list of favorite cold teas, it has a nice sour cherry sort of flavor without being too tart (and with no hibiscus actually). There is coconut, but thankfully I don’t really taste it. Mostly just a nice sweet and tangy Jolly Rancher sort of cherry flavor mixed with apple.

Definitely plan to reorder this one, and a few other winners from Tealyra.

This is tart, but in a nice way, like sour candy. They serve it warm, but I bet this is really refreshing cold. It needs some sugar to smooth it out. I don’t think I’d seek this out specifically among a sea of red fruity teas, but this isn’t bad.

Thanks to Teavivre for the sample! I think I’ve tried and enjoyed this tea before, though it’s impossible to find my note in the huge list of reviews. I wish they’d put the most recent ones at the top so we don’t automatically see things written twelve years ago! I steeped 2.5 g of leaf in 250 ml of 185F water for 3 minutes, refilling the cup as needed.

The dry aroma is of chestnuts, butter, artichokes, and green beans. The first steep has notes of chestnut, butter, light roast, artichoke, spinach, and green beans. The next few steeps are sweet and nutty with artichoke and asparagus. The tea is smooth, nutty, and sweet, and the vegetal notes don’t take over until the final steeps. I get green beans, lettuce, and grass at the end of the session.

As expected, this is a much nicer longjing than Teavivre’s basic version. It’s nutty and smooth, without the vegetal bitterness of lower-quality dragonwell. The only thing I miss is the florality that sometimes features in this type of tea.

Y’all know me … I’m too antsy and impatient to coddle oolongs much. However, a delicious, unseasonably cool and cloudy, sleepy afternoon encouraged me to take it easy on this one, with a very pleasant result. Smells a little flowery in the cup, but it doesn’t taste perfumey; with a lighter temp and steep time (didn’t use a thermometer; western style for just under three minutes) it had a creamy consistency that I hadn’t noticed before. Very pleasant, especially while doing hummingbird watch near the zinnias. (We’ve got some neon red ones that have been catching their little eyes.)