Yay, time for non-advent teas again! XD I really enjoyed my tea advent calendars (and still have a couple of swap and DIY teas to drink) but also excited to get back to sipping down, as I’ve been feeling overwhelmed this month by the amount of tea I have. (Plus my tea count went up instead of down this year, oops!) :P
This is from the S&V subscription. For some reason I felt compelled to sign up when I saw it was four teas a month for $16 or so with free shipping. Plus they tell you ahead of time what the teas are going to be, so I figured I could skip if I wasn’t interested. I’ve never tried any of their unflavored teas, and they seem to include at least one every month, so I figured it would be fun. Anyway!
This is lovely, and a great start to the subscription. Very rich and flavorful, with that concentrated fruity character that I assume is what people mean when they call Qimen “winey”. There’s also a savoriness to it, and a heft like a dark whole-grain loaf of bread. And then in the background is that waffle-y flavor, sweet and a bit maple-y. Usually something I find in Taiwanese black teas but happy to find it here! All in all, just a really tasty hongcha to start the day with. And makes me excited to try some of their other unflavored teas in the future!
Flavors: Bread, Caramelized Sugar, Caraway, Creamy, Dried Fruit, Fruity, Grain, Hay, Malty, Maple Syrup, Raisins, Rich, Smooth, Sweet, Thick
I, too, have more in my cupboard today than when the 2024 Sipdown Challenges started. It’s not my fault, though! My kids keep giving me tea! Ha ha! (Okay, I bought a few, but not very many.)
Mine is definitely entirely my fault ha ha! >.<
I don’t know what was the number which I started with; but it is moreless same I assume. I wanted to be under 200; rather under 100… but I guess I mostly need to go through the teas I have and check their status. And I have been 4 months without access to my stash, and it was hard to resist to not buy any new ones… so I failed there too. But I am trying to work hard on these sipdowns, though December seems to be hardest month to do that!
uh oh, it looks like my cupboard count only went down by ten “unique teas” within 2024… ANNNNNDD I just ordered around that many from 52Teas. :X I will never regret ordering from the smaller tea shops though…