1443 Tasting Notes
This one smells very breakfast-y, leaning more Irish than English with some sharper notes of what I expect to be some astringency. There’s also subtle hints of honey. I steeped the low end recommendation of 3 minutes as I’m not big on astringency haha.
Well, the taste is incredibly smooth without astringency at this steep time! There is an almost creamy aspect to the cup that is different from maltiness and actually better. There are also subtle hints of sweetness that I would categorise as brown sugar-like. Wow. Thus far, these Georgian teas are knocking it out of the park!
Preparation
A huge thank you to Martin for organising this order!
Also my apologies for the long-winded note. The second paragraph is a story and the first paragraph is about the tea for anyone who may want to skip over anything!
I naturally ordered every black tea from this company and decided this morning was the perfect time to try one. I went to the website to ensure I got the parameters correct, but I did adjust them slightly — it just seemed like a lot of leaf (for me)! The dry leaf immediately made me think of Teavivre’s Bailin. The steeped scent also has vibes of that mixed with hints of honey sweetness akin to a Taiwanese WMB. The first few sips are really lovely. A medium-bodied tea with some (I’m not sure how to measure this: it’s more than subtle, but less than ). There’s a light sweetness at the end of the sip as well. As the tea cools, there are hints of cinnamon and the most subtle floral hints are coming through.
Also, we have a visiting fellow from Taiwan in our lab area and I had a brief chance ahead of the holidays to chat with him. We had a lovely chat about tea and he was so, so happy to hear that not only did I know the difference between Taiwan and China, but had knowledge of Taiwanese teas. I wanted to share since I’m sure many of you will also understand the difference between Taiwan and China (despite the political disputes) and I can’t describe how happy it made him for someone to not assume he was Chinese. I naturally passed on a few companies to him from the area and he said he’ll be checking them out when he’s back home next month.
Preparation
Another delightful share from Martin :) And thank you for sharing the tidbit about the UNESCO city and gingerbread museum in your note — that was very interesting!
The dried and steeped tea has a very heady gingerbread scent. There were full cloves in the dry leaf! The clove is there, but not as intense as this essentially pure clove tea from A.C. Perch that I now measure clove against XD. The cinnamon seems to be complementing the clove in a great way where neither overtake the cup. A great balance for sure. There is a whisper of sweetness at the end of the sip that could potentially be the Morello cherry as well. A really lovely cuppa!
Preparation
2023 sipdown no. 2
Thank you Martin for sharing this with me!
This one smells really lovely. Blueberry and fruity without being cloying or fake. The taste itself has a musky kind of fruitiness that I would say is reminiscent of blueberry. I just noticed there is also meant to be a champagne flavour — that could be the muskiness here.
Preparation
2023 sipdown no. 1
A sample from Martin!
This smells really lovely! Very currant-y, fruity. The base is unassuming here, but I’m not bothered because the flavour really shines. I’m not adept enough to decipher the black vs. red currant, but hopefully in time. There’s a lovely sweetness here that appears to come from fruit as it doesn’t have that cloying stevia or blackberry leaf excess flavour. There’s also the subtlest hint of chokecherry sourness on the end of the sip that’s almost imperceptible. I have been loving blackcurrant for the last few months and I’m so happy to have been able to try this tea.
Preparation
Martin generously picked up some Teerausch teas for me when he was last in Germany and I’m finally getting around to making some notes!
This one is a really lovely green oolong. It’s got hints of floral and creaminess with whispers of sweetness as the end of the sip. The second steep still has a creaminess to it as well.
1st steep: 2 minutes
2nd steep: 3 minutes, 30 seconds
Happy New Year everyone!
Preparation
2022 sipdown no. 65 Curtis Truffle
2022 sipdown no. 66 Capital Tea Ltd. Kairbetta Estate Nilgiri TGFOP (never did manage a proper note for this one, but thank you Cameron for sending it!)
2022 sipdown no. 67 Paper & Tea Milk River
2022 sipdown no. 68 Paper & Tea Muse
2022 sipdown no. 69 Simpson & Vail Snickerdoodle
2022 sipdown no. 70 Simpson & Vail Strawberry Cupcake
2022 sipdown no. 64
Tante really does fruit green teas amazingly well. For someone who isn’t overly fond of green teas, I find myself reaching for their single fruit green teas a lot. This one has to be my least favourite of the ones I picked up, but it’s still delightful. The pomegranate is at the forefront with the complementary green tea background as a very calming aspect. I don’t know that I’d re-purchase as I’m not overly fond of pomegranate in teas (though I love fresh pomegranates), but a tasty cup nonetheless.
Comparison: Mon Petit Chocolat & Mon Petit Praliné (apologies as I’ll be posting the same note on both teas)!
MPC (notes: chocolate, cocoa, biscuit, almond): At first sniff, this one smells very chocolate-y. The taste comes through as chocolate, albeit quite thin (though I more or less expect this of DF). Then there is the ‘biscuit’ flavour – which is one of my favourite DF flavours. It adds a complexity that makes me think of having biscuits and tea. Lexa says she gets all chocolate. We both prefer this one!
MPP (notes: chocolate, hazelnut, caramel, honey): At first sniff, this one smells nutty, but I can’t pinpoint anything more specific. I don’t get as much chocolate flavour here, if any. There is the scent that translates to the taste that’s also difficult to pinpoint. I don’t eat a lot of hazelnuts on their own, but my guess is that it’s a raw hazelnut flavour. It’s not bad, but it would be nice to have more chocolate with it. Lexa says she gets hazelnut followed by hints of caramel.
Preparation
Comparison: Mon Petit Chocolat & Mon Petit Praliné (apologies as I’ll be posting the same note on both teas)!
MPC (notes: chocolate, cocoa, biscuit, almond): At first sniff, this one smells very chocolate-y. The taste comes through as chocolate, albeit quite thin (though I more or less expect this of DF). Then there is the ‘biscuit’ flavour – which is one of my favourite DF flavours. It adds a complexity that makes me think of having biscuits and tea. Lexa says she gets all chocolate. We both prefer this one!
MPP (notes: chocolate, hazelnut, caramel, honey): At first sniff, this one smells nutty, but I can’t pinpoint anything more specific. I don’t get as much chocolate flavour here, if any. There is the scent that translates to the taste that’s also difficult to pinpoint. I don’t eat a lot of hazelnuts on their own, but my guess is that it’s a raw hazelnut flavour. It’s not bad, but it would be nice to have more chocolate with it. Lexa says she gets hazelnut followed by hints of caramel.
