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additional notes: This ANCIENT tea is quite good for having old coconut in it. I’d say it ages very well! I love the mix of spice and coconut here, but I could never truly love it for the weak black tea base. Chai needs a strong base! Next time is a sipdown. I’m raising the rating from 73.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2024 Tea #10 – A blend made in your home country
I managed to fill all ten prompts this month!  Nice.  I’m assuming this was made in the USofA, since it uses ingredients from California!    It’s so old now, I remember when it was fresh it was SO strong.  Glad I was able to try it. 
2024 sipdowns: 11

Thanks so much for sharing this one, Tiffany! I have had this one a few times and it’s pretty good for a grocery store tea. The blend looks like it has at least two types of black tea in it, finely chopped. So I made sure to only use one heaping teaspoon, while also getting some of those lavender pieces in the infuser. I wouldn’t say there is an abundance of lavender in the tin, but it’s flavorful enough! I like it though. The base is strong enough to stand up to these lovely flavors — a balance of a decent bergamot and fragrant lavender. The rich and robust, brisk black tea with the decent bergamot would be enough for me and the lavender is a bonus!
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug // 23 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2024 Tea #9 – A blend made in another country
I wanted to try this with two teaspoons to see if the flavors that were supposed to be there actually made it into the mug (even though this tea is older now, the blend never really had the flavors it was supposed to.) I saw a HUGE piece of vanilla go into the teabag… which actually made me steep this for three steeps.  I didn’t want to waste that pricey vanilla!  Honestly, all three steeps tasted the same.  I steeped the third quite long.  This tea is mostly maple, definitely vanilla, with a hint of oakiness.  If I had ever had bourbon, I might think it was similar to that.  However, there is still zero sense of pancakes or bacon here, or even smokiness from the lapsang, or even anything that hints that there should be puerh here.  So if I want a maple vanilla flavored cup, I can go for this one.   Overall, two teaspoons didn’t really make a difference, but I’m very glad I steeped it three times.  That huge vanilla made it extra tasty.

But re-reading my original note, I noticed marzipan that is now missing, and was not tasting any maple back in the day. Otherwise, in the past it was only that vanilla!

MAY have said upon taking the first sips:  “This is so so good and it’s only the first steep.”  The dry leaf here doesn’t have hints of gold — maybe hints of dark red more than the other shu samples.  The fragrance is rich and wonderful. The taste is also rich, especially for the first steep!  Very sweet with hints of fruit. But also having my favorite qualities of coffee while being 1,000 times better than coffee.  I think I might like the darkest shu because it reminds me of unsweetened dark chocolate — meaning it’s healthy chocolate, right?   Somehow the first steep seemed the strongest of the four?  That is unusual.  I feel like I was VERY tame on that first steep and didn’t overdo it at all, so I’m not sure why the first steep was so strong.  There were no negative flavors here at all, while also not really being very distinct other than reminding me of coffee and unsweetened chocolate on a very basic level. It’s so so weird that first steep was the most flavorful! All of these great shu samples have made me realize shu is my second favorite tea to have in winter — second only to chai.
Steep #1 // half sample (5grams) for medium sized mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 7 second rinse // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 11 minutes after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min
Steep #4 // just boiled // 10 min

additional notes:  Drinking this one today as I’m reading a properly themed book — ‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon — in which two friends in ancient Sicily want to stage the Medea play with a bunch of trapped Athenians in a quarry they are imprisoned in.  (The golden fleece being associated with Jason and Medea.)  The cover of the book made me laugh, made me read it, so I’m thrilled the book itself is awesome and not just the cover.   The tea is faded now, but it’s a good reason to steep it up and enjoy it while reading an awesome book.  At least the tea couldn’t be more golden or more fleecier. 

From Kawaii433 a while back!  Thanks so much!  I recently saw a hojicha genmaicha mentioned, so I remembered that this is the closest thing I have to that flavor profile.  I’m surprised there aren’t more roasted genmaichas around!  That seems like an obvious combination rather than with fresh green tea.  The flavor here isn’t as quite as amazing as I would wish it to be, as it is mostly stems and not true hojicha.  But there ARE some flavorful stems available out there.  But these aren’t those.   I will definitely be on the lookout for a more flavor filled  genmaicha hojicha though!
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 8 minutes after boiling // 10 min

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2024 Tea #8 – A CTC tea

Still my only CTC tea, I believe.  And every time I drink it I’m always surprised the rating is at a 71.  So I’m raising it!  This little tea sure has some longevity… it’s over eleven years old now.  yikes.   A nice strong flavorful breakfast tea.   It seems it’s actually hearty and filling, like the qualities the best breakfast teas should have.

Another from CameronB!  Thanks so much!     Very intrigued by this one.  Strawberry!  Cream!  Milk oolong!    I used half a sample for the mug.  I was hoping for more strawberry — there is a hint of something red here but it reminds me more like beets… I don’t mean the color of the cup, as this is in a dark mug so I can’t tell what color it is anyway.  I was a little scared at the mention of the stevia, but it isn’t overdone here — I can’t really tell it’s here.  I’m also glad the hibiscus isn’t overdone.  The cream aspect is almost more in the texture of the tea than the flavor.   The cream does linger through all the steeps but whatever the berry aspect should be keeps changing.  By the third steep the “berry” is mostly a hint of hibiscus.  The milk oolong is the perfect base for this blend though.  The flavors do tend to get even better as the mug cools.  I like this blend but don’t love it. If only there was a great strawberry flavor here…  I’m not sure I would buy a bunch to stock up, but an occasional sample would be great.   I bet it ends up being one of those blends that likes to linger in my mind though….
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug  // 22 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2  minute steep
Steep #2 // 11 minutes after boiling // 2 min
Steep #3 // 1 minute after boiling // 3 min
Steep #4 // just boiled // 5 min

additional notes: wow. Amazed every time at the flavor here. Spot on. Raising the rating from 90.