It's Snowing!

A strange time of year to be drinking this, I know, but it ticked the box for my Ode to Tea I Entry, and I figure it would be more prudent to drink this coconut tea now than wait longer when it is more seasonally appropriate and the coconut has likely gone rancid by then.

At least the coconut still has a lovely aroma in the package when I unsealed it! Brewed up, it smells like a richly coconut chai; coconut hits my nose first, with an undertone of clove. And that is mostly what I’m getting on the mouth as well. The coconut fills out on the sip first and foremost, with a crispy/toasted coconut left lingering on my tongue after the sip. About mid-sip and toward the end of the sip, I taste the spice — I see there is no clove in this blend, but that is definitely what I’m tasting… perplexing! I do pick out a little of a cinnamon note in the aftertaste left on my tongue.

It’s pleasant. Mostly this is a smooth coconut black tea, it has enough boldness to make this a nice morning cuppa, but it is sweet and smooth, with only a hint of drying after the sip. It is not a spicy tea, but it is a warming tea, and at least here, my house still feels quite chilly in the mornings and evenings despite the nice, warm, clear spring weather, which adds to the appeal of something like this for breakfast. I think it would go nicely with milk, since the flavors seem to fit a thick and creamy sort of profile, so I may try a latte next. I’ve been in a latte phase lately!

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge: Saturday, March 13th: National Coconut Torte Day Tea #1

additional notes:  I said I’d finish this when it was fresh, so coconut day seems like a good choice!   It wasn’t snowing today – sunny but cold.  Is this why this tea is less cozy today?  Does snow bring the magic here?  Not sure.   Though the water smelled particularly like more chlorine today.  sigh.   It’s just an example of all the steeping parameters need to be on point because I didn’t have this too long ago for it to have changed in flavor dramatically.  Second steep was more like I remember.
2021 sipdowns: 29

Day one of AJRimmer’s advent!

What a day! Woke up at 6am to take a friend in for surgery at 7:30. Steeped up a cup of this tea, had a few sips of creamy coconut and put it in my travel mug. Left it in the car at the hospital thinking I’d be back for it in a couple hours, not wanting to have to remove my mask in the hospital to sip my tea. NINE HOURS LATER of pining for my tea we find out surgery is definitely not happening today. This is the second time in a week they have canceled this surgery. My tea is lukewarm, but I’m back home decompressing. So this is how December in 2020 is going to start. Fine.

I didn’t realize it before, but the paper each tea is wrapped in is a note! This one talks about snow. It’s such a fun personal touch to the advent! Thanks, AJRimmer!

Coconut is what I notice first and foremost in this cup. I can taste some spice behind it… cinnamon? Nutmeg? It almost has a subtle sugar cookie flavor to it. This feels like such a mellow relaxing tea, which is exactly what I need right now.

This blend was much milder than I anticipated. Mild coconut on a mild base. I didn’t get any spices the first time I had this tea, but I noticed them much more the second time. It’s a nice mild chai that doesn’t need milk. I’m saving the rest of the pouch to enjoy over the holidays.

Sipdown (257)

Sil mentioned a potential 52 Teas order which of course got me browsing on their website picking out teas I may want to sneak into her order. This one caught my eye but in the past I would order blends and realize I already owned them and had never tried them. So, this time I checked and turned out Sil was kind enough to share a sample of this with me. Thank you, Sil!

I figured since I owned this I should try it before ordering more blindly. That’s the story of how I ended up drinking a tea called “I’m Snowing” at the end of June on a day where the sun is shining and the temperature is in the mid 20s.

If I’m being honest, this is a bit bland for me. There are so many teas made by 52 Teas that I enjoy with these various ingredients so while I know Anne is awesome at making each ingredient shine, this fell short of my expectations. Maybe it was the mixture of ingredients that ended up in my spoon but mostly I get a flat black tea with the slightest, slightest hint of ginger and coconut. It makes me want to reach for ginger cola or Anne’s gone bananas…

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 39)

Eh, this should check all the boxes for me, but for some reason I’m just not a big fan. It’s lightly spiced, perhaps ginger the most prominent? A bit creamy from the coconut. I’m not sure what I’d want to be different; maybe it needs some sweetening?

Finished off the last of this the other day except for a little bit that will be going off to variaTEA. It’s an interesting flavour combination. I love ginger teas and the addition of coconut and vanilla makes it a little different.