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Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2023 Tea #1 – Groundhog Day: drink the same tea (or type) twice!

Forgot to post this tea note yesterday!  I went with my recent running theme of mango teas and went with two mango teas in the same day for the prompt.  I guess I haven’t written notes for many of my mango teas yet because they seem to run into that “generic fruit flavor” problem I mentioned recently, and maybe they never quite meet the expectations I have for them. So I’m usually flipping between thinking it’s “mango” or “generic fruit” flavor and then not leaving a note when that mystery isn’t solved by the time I finish the mug. But this tea!  Is quite good!  The only fruit pieces are tiny orange peels for some reason, but that mango flavoring is in there.  Also, the black tea is a full leaf that is quite tasty and not some sad flimsy black tea base they are adding flavoring to.  This one is from StarFevre (thank you!) and quite old, so any flavoring remaining at this point is appreciated.  I still can’t tell if it’s the generic type to me, but the base is acceptable.  I’d buy this again.  However, it looks like Teajo is gone now.  Sad, as I liked the few teas I tried from them.   The other mango tea I had:  Fusion’s Smoked Mango oolong!  Good stuff. (Huge mango chunks!)  I already wrote a note for that one!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full big mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 3-4 minutes

From my summer order! I thought this sounded quite unique with mango, barley, roasted rice and maca root powder on an oolong base. It sounded both fruity and whatever barley might bring to the table. The description said the maca root powder might taste like butterscotch — which probably enhances the mango flavoring. The flavor is mostly mango! Which is too bad as I wouldn’t mind more of the barley or roasted rice coming across to balance the mango. The brew color in the mug is bright yellow. It could ALMOST taste like stevia, but I think that is the mango flavoring, or maybe even the maca. I’m starting to think that tea makers just find a generic fruity flavor and say “we’ll just call this mango”. I do miss the starchy quality of mango in some mango teas. But this tea could have been worse. It is very thirst quenching and disappears right quick.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 2 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // many minutes

additional notes: Ah, so THIS was the tea I have been craving. Just haven’t had it in so long I forgot the flavor profile! It’s like a pineapple coconut smoothie and it’s almost gone!

additional notes: Wouldn’t mind if David’s brought this one back! I always loved it but it was time to see it go today. I also wanted to get ONE more sipdown in for January.
2023 sipdowns: 11

additional notes: This one just isn’t as fruity fantastic as even the TeaHaus – Mango Pineapple yesterday, yet this one is much fresher (years) than the TeaHaus. Maybe the pineapple and mango of the other is just a better balance. But this one has a tangy note, or an odd flavor to the fruit which isn’t really mango to me. And the black tea just isn’t as good as the malty black yesterday. I tried to figure out the flavor before eating some canned pineapple.

Feeling tropical lately in the depths of winter, so beware I might have a string of tropical tea notes!  I already dug a bunch of tropical teas out of the “cupboard” so they are ready to go! This is from StarFevre a while ago. Thank you!  It’s even more aged now, since I received this years ago, so I wasn’t expecting much.  But I like that there are small fruit pieces here – supposedly pineapple and mango.  Sometimes mango teas are simply “sweet” but there is some fruit flavor here on a malty black tea. It’s actually a nice base for these flavors and makes me miss their Key Lime tea…  I imagine it was much better back when it was fresh, but this is enjoyable.  The second steep was even better.. the black tea melds great with the fruit.  I bet it would be a good iced tea.  I also drank Tiesta’s I Gotta Colada today.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 12 minutes after boiling // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 //   just boiled // 3 minute steep

Taking a whiff of the dry leaf – oo boy.  Very HEALTHY earthy scent, which is probably mostly the turmeric.  The flavor is much the same, but also stevia.  The stevia and the turmeric are a BIT much together — like the stevia is supposed to make up for the earthiness.   The stevia and turmeric is about all I can taste here.  I can’t even taste the mint, let alone the cardamom.  Good to find out though:  fresh stevia is still really bad for these tastebuds and it isn’t a matter of aged stevia.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug // 33 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 30 minutes after boiling // 2-3 min

From Michelle! Thanks so much! An apricot tea on a black base with some matching colored (to apricot) safflower petals. And the apricot flavoring is not lacking — plenty of it here, and then some of that apricot left over in the second steep! It’s a bit of a candy flavored apricot. The base tea seems to really just be a background for the flavors, a little bit of a thin black tea. However, I didn’t see any actual fruit chunks in my sample like the photo shows, so maybe it would have made it even more apricot delicious? But if you’re craving apricot, this suits. Pretty straightforward here.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

additional notes: Been breaking out some older teas lately, including this solid assam. Probably one of my favorite assams! (My last note - eight years ago- said “the perfect assam”.) Rich, never bitter. Great cold leftovers the next morning. Basically a note to say: I’m still loving this!

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2023 Tea #9- A tea by candlelight

Anyone else a fan of those Yankee Candle scenterpiece things?  It’s not really a candle, it’s cups that set in a device that warms the scented cups of wax for a couple hours, and they are easily changeable.  Anyway, I received one of those scenterpiece systems as a gift years ago, so that gets stoked up once in a while.  Honestly, it was better when the scent cups were WAY cheaper a few years ago (especially on sale), but what wasn’t cheaper back then? However, I might yet actually light an actual candle at some point!
The tea!  This is very old now and yet still wildly different from any Dan Cong I have ever had!  It is not charcoal AT ALL.  It’s grapefruit and lemon myrtle and probably other bright fruits. It’s completely opposite from what I expect from a typical Dan Cong.  And this is why Steepster is wonderful:  my first tasting note years ago, I made sure to note to use very short steep times and very cool water and it made a HUGE difference.  Only the last steep had a hint of charcoal. I’m glad I took a chance on a sample but if anyone is looking for a unique light Dan Cong, this is definitely worth trying!  Next time a sipdown.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 50+ minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 50+ minutes after boiling // 1 min
Steep #3 // 22 minutes after boiling // 1 min