1711 Tasting Notes
Sipped on this today with my breakfast. I was a little distracted with all I was doing and eating (making and eating egg fried rice) so I didn’t pay too much attention to the tea. I recall it being okay, but not phenomenal. The flavor was true to it’s name sake and a little raisiny, but I wanted more of something. Not sure what that something was, but it didn’t stop me from downing the whole thing before I could reflect much on flavor and experience.
Preparation
Sipping/choking down this tea that AmandaStory shared. I seem to have forgotten how humans drink and got some of this down the wrong pipe! If only there was a point where we outgrew that!
I’ve been so busy lately with running my small business that I haven’t had time to log my tea or take notes while sipping on cups between filling orders, shipping orders, making more product (casting, finishing, soldering, polishing), ordering supplies, updating my website and a slew of other things. It’s also swarming season for bees and I’m on the local beekeeping association’s swarm list. Getting free bees is a very competitive thing, so I have to be glued to my phone to catch the alerts before another beekeeper does. Life is busy and I just want a nap!
Onto the tea! Overleafed this a bit so I didn’t have half a serving left and it’s pretty delicious. I’m getting less of the earthy notes this time and more pumpkin spices with something a little more buttery in the background. I’m not super familiar with snickerdoodles other than a cinnamon association, so it’s hard to tell what part of this is supposed to be snickerdoodle like. The cinnamon/clove action is nice, but not overpowering. I like this, but I’m on the fence on if I’d order it or not. I might have to be in the right mood to buy it and right now I’m trying to hold off on buying more Arthur Dove tea as my cupboard is overflowing and starting to intrude on an adjacent cupboard. Tea priorities and problems. :/
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What sorts of things do you make for your business?
If I had a nickle for every time I sent hot tea into my lungs…
I predominately make components for a jewelry system used in body piercing. Tiny little gold pieces that display on the front of the piercing.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t figure out how to consistently drink tea the right way!
My husband is currently obsessed with videos of beekeepers capturing queens and moving unwanted swarms! I think he wants bees…
Ladies, you aren’t alone. It happens to me as well. I always blame myself being old enough to drink properly. Apparently not.
My neighbor’s hive swarmed a couple weeks ago and stopped at my house long enough for me to put a bait box out and get them to rest so we could scoop them into a new hive. It was a fun day interacting with neighbors after we have all been shut in our houses for a year. It’s very meditative working with bees because I’m constantly having to ground myself and resist the urge to let anxiety creep in. If you have the room in your yard I vote bees for the Ashman!
My dad was just mentioning yesterday about a lady who goes around collecting bees from neighbors without a bee suit on that he saw on TV. (Is it common not to use at least a netted hat?) I guess he (or I?) didn’t know this was a thing. But it makes sense now, that you kind of have to “catch” the bee swarms.
When bees swarm they are super docile, so a lot of people skip using the suits. Two things are going on to make this happen. First is the bees are homeless, so they don’t have any turf to protect like when you mess with their hive. Second, they fill up on honey before they leave knowing it may be days before they find a new home and when they do find a new home they are going to have to start making comb quick. When you use a smoker on bees it triggers them to feed on honey and their full stomachs is what makes them more docile.
WHOA, that is awesome info, Dustin. I will report this to my dad. :D
Sipdown from my AJRimmer advent!
I overleafed the hell out of this cup, but I don’t regret that decision. I had the first steeping yesterday and returned to it today. It’s tasting very gingerbread like today! I don’t recall what I thought it tasted like yesterday. I noticed it has little pine like needles in it and I’m kind of bummed I can’t pick them out in the flavor, but maybe that is just a testament to it being well blended.
Trying to remember to relax as I sip this and unwind from shipping label/printer hell that I have found myself tangled back in. Sip. Breathe. Relax. Repeat.
Preparation
Having another cup of this and I think I’m done. It’s going to the get rid of bag. It’s not that it’s a bad tea, it’s just not a great tea and I don’t have time or cupboard space for ok tea. There is a little bit of roasted coconut taste that merges in with something vaguely sweeter like a hint of caramel. Not getting any salt and I wish the flavors were more intense.
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I get that completely. At the moment, most of my tins are filled with teas I feel pretty eh about, and I need to do the work of deciding which ones to power through and which I should just pass along.
Same! I have a bag of “get rid of teas” and I feel like there is probably a lot more I could put in it.
Satanic tea?! Where has this been all my life?! LOL! A friend gifted me a bag of this today. She knew my little goth pumpkin loving heart would adore this and she was right! The company is hilariously spooky, has great graphics, most of their teas have fun ominous names and they have a tea club!
This tea is brisk! The leaves are chopped into a fine consistency and the mix was a little powdery from how fine it was chopped. I don’t get pumpkin, but I do get a ton of ginger! It was almost more of a gingerbread chai flavor than a pumpkin spiced one. I enjoyed the cup and look forward to more!
I have a very tentative relationship with oolongs. We have not come to a general understanding are are still treading around the edges. That said, I’m probably not the best person to rate or review them. I’m glad to try them, but I feel lacking in understanding and appreciating the bulk of them. This once seems okay. I’m not getting the cardboard flatness that I usually find plaguing oolongs. It’s smooth and I can get a hint of caramel in it. There isn’t much more to it that I can find. It’s something I’m able to sip without thinking much of or being distracted by it.
Thanks goes out to AmandaStory for sending a sample of this tea!
Preparation
National strawberry day and my mind immediately goes to this tea. It’s been a staple in my cupboard for years and I don’t see that changing. I cut open a fresh pack of this and was greeted by the familiar comforting scent of chocolate and strawberries. The puer adds a really nice depth and malt to the strawberry choco combo. Another great cup!
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I have a package of this one that I haven’t opened yet!
I have it too, last session worth; I think I will finish it tomorrow, as it’s 7.30 pm already and I am not looking forward to drink another caffeined tea. But its certainly delicious one.
Love this one – the strawberry is so juicy and it really reminds me of chocolate covered strawberries. Much yum.
I feel like Lupicia does really good strawberry flavors in general. :D
I’m almost out of this one so I’ve been debating making a cup of it today or not.
Turns out I don’t have this one! I have Cinnamon Cookie and Sunny Fruits. Harrumph!
When you said you were going to make a cup of this, I pulled a strawberry-choco pu’erh (not Lupicia, it’s a catalog blend from a local teashop, though I still haven’t quite begged which supplier makes it…). Been drinking my thermos at work, really hits the spot on a cold day!
I still haven’t tried the cinnamon cookie, just their regular cookies.
Lupicia has a green strawberry tea that is well flavored too. I recall it being similar to Kusmi’s.
I wonder how the not Lupica blend compares to this one!
This tea is really cool! It’s really like you are sipping all the scents in the forest! It’s a little bit of pine, maybe some spruce… cedar? I have no clue, but it’s really great! The scent is very light and deceiving when it comes to the flavor that comes through when I taste it. It’s strong, but smooth and vibrant. The finish is slightly sweet. It’s also a really magical looking tea, meaning that it’s made up of little bits of green plants that all have different shapes and textures. It’s pretty to look at! I can totally imagine while sipping this tea walking through a forest and nibbling on little bits of the various greenery I come across. I’m really taken by this tea!
Thanks so much to AmandaStory for the sample of this!
Preparation
Back from a lovely week up at the barn! I found so many interesting plants to try steeping on my nature walkabouts! Usnea and Monk’s Head lichen (monks head tastes like a puerh!), cedar, spruce, pine, mint and a garbage bag full of mistletoe! There was a huge clump that fell from an oak, just as I was about to leave. Score! As relaxing and amazing as it was to be out in nature, I really missed my tea cupboard and was so excited to get up this morning and pick something to drink! I really need to get a better selection of travel tea put together.
I love banana and smoke, but I’m still perplexed about this tea! It has this depth to it that is almost hot cocoa like and blends well with the smoke and banana. It’s a good tea so I don’t know what is holding me back from loving it. I do hope my feelings change. :/
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Wow! Not this tea but your herbal treasure hunting sounds amazing.
That nature picking sounds great; especially the tree goodies. I never tried it and won’t in this country, though I thought about using spruce needles back then.
I was trying to think of what company this reminded me of and I just found them https://www.wellrootedteas.com/shop/bee-well-2 Unfortunatly though they are currently out of stock because of all the ridiculousness that went on in MN in 2020.
It was SO nice to be out in nature. Aside from being reunited with all my tea, I’m grumpy about being back home in the city. I’m looking forward to trying to blend all my forest finds and see if I can make something interesting.
Why would you not try picking plants in nature in your country, Martin?
That blend does look interesting, Skysamurai! I totally missed MN 2020 stuff. Probably too distracted by CA burning and turning orange among other pandemic things. I hope they are able to restart their business!
Dustin: because I don’t feel it’s much safe here. At least in my surroundings. And if I go to “mountains” — it is usually protected.
I would consider that though!
