Jet Black

I bought this tea for my sister, and I tried a few sips. The coffee flavor is very present and authentic. I don’t get much flavor from the black tea. If I concentrate, I can taste a little hazelnut. I’ve preferred the DavidsTEA coffee blends so far since those are more heavy handed with their supplementary flavors.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Saturday, November 20th: National Absurdity Day

While it’s not unheard of, there’s something odd about coffee flavoured teas (who wanted this and why). For one, All the coffee drinkers in my life dislike every single one I’ve ever showed them (this one being no exception).

The coffee beans in this are nice ones and when I got the steeping parameters right my cup tasted like a coffee cake, which is alright. Maybe. Unfortunately for this sipdown, the mate in the blend is coming through in an overly earthy way today. It tastes like dirt coffee compost. I do not love it. I want tea.

I thought this tea might be a good one for days I want coffee but my stomach doesn’t think it’s such a great idea. It really smells like coffee dry. While it was steeping I could smell something sort of toasted grain-like. I wasn’t completely sure if that was the barley malt or the mate. I have very little experience with mate (just a couple of flavored bagged teas from grocery store brands) so I’m not sure I could identify “mate smell”. I usually taste my tea before deciding if it needs milk/cream or sugar, and I probably should have done that with this one too…but it’s been a grumpy day of spring allergies and stressed out sewing procrastination (feeling a bit in over my head on a project) and it looked and smelled like the kind of tea I’d want to add something to so in went the sweetened condensed milk right away. I don’t teally taste the coffee. I can still smell it a bit but it’s not nearly as strong as the dry tea. It kinda just tastes like roasty black tea. I may have buried any of the more subtle flavors in sugary milky goo. It’s not bad this way but it doesn’t make me think coffee. Oh well, will taste it first next time and maybe use plain milk if it needs additions. It feels astringent in a way I’m not sure I’ll like plain but always good to try it anyway.

2021 sipdown no. 16

This is another coffee blend, but it’s really good. It reminds me of a hazelnut creamer you’d add to coffee. There’s a subtle hint of chocolate in the background as well. It somehow achieves a lot of depth as well, making it even more coffee-like. I really enjoy this one, and would definitely order some now and again for my own cupboard.

Thanks for such a great share Cameron!

Mastress Alita, I found a geeky tea for the sipdown theme! Sipping on a potful of this in honor of the Cowboy Bebop character of the same name.

This has a nice coffee flavor, but the Assam base is a little too brisk in combination with it. I can taste the toasty autumn leaf sort of profile from the roasted maté as well. The barley is adding a lovely somewhat sweet grainy note. There’s definitely a touch of creaminess, and something a bit caramel-y and rich.

It’s good, but not the best coffee tea I’ve had. The briskness is a little bit too much, and I would love more of the supporting cream and caramel notes. I definitely prefer Fairytale of NY. Still fun to try, though!

See you space cowboy…

As a black coffee drinker, I really liked this one. Coffee flavor is subtle. No need for sweetener.

Iced Tea Sipdown (1076)!

I kept my steep time a little bit shorter for this iced tea and the result was a smoother infusion with dark, full bodied and round coffee/espresso notes and less of that almost sourness to the roast that I got in some earlier cup of this. Not really a “sweet” coffee flavour either, but sweeter than it’s been in the past. Easy sipping!

This has a strong scent of coffee when dry. Once steeped I don’t get much coffee on the sip. About half way through the sip mate and coffee creep in and last through the finish. It’s an okay cup, but I feel like it needs an extra element. If there was orange or something bright included to make it more interesting I think I’d like it better.

It’s really a shame once you discover that your relatively new neighbours have little interest in whether they disturb you or not by exercising at the crack of dawn on wooden floors in a newly converted open concept space in an old house. When as a neighbour you are already tolerating 24/7 of their infant and their other child. Yeah. Well then.

Sorry. Needed to get that out.

Selected this one from the bag that Dexter gave me when she was in town. I haven’t made up my mind beyond the fact that I like it and am enjoying it. It confuses my tastebuds a bit because it is much like a coffee-caramel favourite of mine except that after the very similar hit of coffee, instead of switching to caramel, it moves towards the slightest green of the mate.

Did I add my coffee-caramel favourite to your bag, Dex?

Thank you for this, Dexter. It is pleasurable, but currently not enough to take me away from this newfound understanding of my neighbours.

Another one from Dexter this one isn’t bad. I wish it was a littler richer – i find that mate tends to thin things out for me. I’m never a huge fan of mate. I do like the coffee flavour that this one has, but i’ve had other coffee/teas that i prefer. Really happy to try this one.