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085/365

The sore throat I thought was clearing up appears to be making a return, so I’ve decided to kick it to the curb. It starts with this one, made up as Hot Mama’s House Special Sore Throat Destroyer, which is a recipe from Bluebird’s website. Additions include lemon juice, turmeric, and honey. It’s bright orange.

It’s interesting in flavour terms. Not unpleasant, and not medicinal…just different. The chili is more prominent than I expected, and leaves a warming heat at the back of the throat. The lime is also pretty strong, which is nice. There’s also a background fruitiness – the pepperiness of mango, the sweetness of passion fruit, a little orange. The base is green tea, which I wouldn’t know from the taste alone. I actually brewed it in boiling water, so evidently the green tea is fairly low on the ingredients list because I just didn’t realise it was there. It strikes me more as a herbal/fruit blend than a green tea, and it tastes more like one too.

The honey I added has given it a little more sweetness than I think it would have otherwise, and perhaps a touch of smoothness also. The lemon, fortunately, hasn’t made it too sharp. Other than having a serious effect on the colour, the turmeric is undetectable.

On the whole, this tastes a little bit like tropical fruit juice, with a kick of chili. I like it, and I hope it’ll help some.

084/365

A crostata is an Italian baked fruit tart. I know this, because I checked. The pastry is buttery, and peach is a traditional filling (along with apricot, cherry, and nectarine). So far, so good. I’m wary of peach teas in general, because I’ve tried so many that have failed to live up to any kind of expectation. The fault in these cases, by and large, is with the peach flavouring. Usually, it’s artificial as hell.

Not so here! I can see why there are plenty of rave reviews for this one, because it’s so good. The peach is…peachy. On the sweet side, yes, but juicy and really just tremendously flavour-accurate. It’s even a little fleshy-tasting, like peach pulp rather than just juice. It has some substance to it. The pastry element is equally assured. There’s a buttery background note that’s spot-on freshly baked pie crust. It’s divine.

The base is yunnan, which makes this all the better in my book because I love yunnan. That’s no secret. It has a maltiness and a slight pepperiness that works really well with the peach and pastry flavours, and is metaphorically speaking the icing on the cake as far as this blend is concerned. Or, if you like, just another thing about it that’s perfect.

The sad thing is, I don’t have any more of this one. It came as a sample with my order, and now my cup is gone…

Perhaps not for long, though!

083/365

So behind with these, but I only have one more left from this collection so I’m nearly there! This is the only non-flavoured tea of the five that were part of this release, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about a “pure” tea being marketed in this way. It feels…well, not entirely honest. I can see why they do it, because going with the name of the variety isn’t half so poetic. But still…

I second Daylon on this, and I think it’s a Jin Xuan. The beginning of the sip is creamy, with very slight lemon notes (although less sharp/sour/acidic than actual lemon, and more lemon flavour frosting). The mid sip is quite heady, with a fairly strong floral flavour; to me, it’s reminiscent of orchid, or lily, and it really lingers. The end of the sip is more vegetal, with a grassy, sometimes-almost-spinachy flavour. It’s a little heavily floral for my liking, but that’s entirely personal preference. It’s clearly a quality oolong, however you want to look at it.

This tea on its own is one thing. When you pair it with August’s high aesthetic and almost visionary description, it becomes something else entirely. This is more tea as artistic experience than “just a drink”. As I said, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about that. I guess it’s adding something to the process, but it makes me wonder how much is real, and how much imagined, and whether that justifies a significant premium on the price.

082/365

I haven’t been drinking a lot of shou recently (or any pu’erh, come to that), but a rainy winter day like today strikes me as the ideal time to be doing so. There’s just something about walking to work across a muddy field and then drinking a tea that tastes earthy and muddy that appeals to my sense of worldly balance.

The first steep is exactly that. Earthy and muddy. It’s not too heavy on those flavours, although I kept the first steep fairly short (around 30 seconds, since I’m brewing western style.) There’s a background mineral note, but not much else just yet.

Second steep is slightly more muted; smoother and creamier. It’s still earthy, but there’s a more prominent sweetness and a light brown sugar flavour.

Third steep is very similar to the second, although with a more pronounced mineral quality in the way of wet rock. It’s marginally less sweet because of that, particularly in the aftertaste. The initial earthiness is diminishing.

Fourth steep is still primarily mineral, although that is also diminishing. The earthiness has all but vanished, along with most of the sweetness. A slight bite is emerging – not enough to call it astringent, but a little drying and catchy in the throat.

Fifth steep is lacking a lot of flavour of the earlier infusions. Up front, it’s primarily a sweet water kind of flavour, but there’s still a bit of a minerally/wet rock vibe towards the end of the sip.

It’s probably not quite over, and I could squeeze a few more resteeps out if I really wanted to, but I’m going to stop here because I’ve been drinking this one all day and I fancy a change. Sometimes I forget how much I love shou, and this has been a brilliant reminder!

061/365

I probably shouldn’t drink tea like this at work, when I’m having a horrible day and I’m feeling more than usually distracted. I’d brought it with me as my pick for today, though, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let someone obnoxious put me off my tea stride. So. I’m trying hard to concentrate long enough to form a coherent opinion, and maybe that’s exactly what I need to do in order to calm down some.

Anyway, this strikes me as another winner (and there have been a lot of those from Dark Matter.) Initially, it’s a lightly roasty, lightly nutty oolong. It’s none of the things I don’t like about oolong (again! I have clearly misjudged oolong…), and a lot of things I’m deciding I do like.

The second steep has a delicate honey-like flavour, and a touch of sesame, although not as much as I expected given that it’s called sesame. Still, that’s a minor complaint when what I’m drinking is so nice. I haven’t taken it any further yet, but I’ll probably resteep a couple more times before I call it quits. It’s a good ’un!

Tried this one cold, whisked into milk. I’d like to say it worked…but it didn’t really. It’s like someone accidentally tipped some cola into a matcha latte, and green tea isn’t a great match for that particular flavour really speaking.

I generally like cola flavoured things, so when I bought this I figured it’d be a hit with me. Sadly, not so much.

080/365

Obviously, given its inspiration, I had to make this up as a latte. There are no other options! I used 2 tsp of leaf, gave it 4 minutes in 300ml boiling water, and then added 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence and 1/2 tsp of honey. I topped it up with 100ml milk. Based on other “butterbeer” teas, I think I was expecting a root beer kind of vibe, but this one’s a little different. The main flavours I can pick out are vanilla and caramel, which are obviously helped along a little by my additions. The milk enhances the creaminess also. It’s a fairly straightforward tea, but delicious. There’s a nice balance between base and flavourings, and both aspects (vanilla and caramel) are distinct rather than just a sweet mush. It was kind of buttery, although some of that might be suggestion. Either way, it lives up to its inspiration and I’m happy with it. I’d make it as a latte again. And again, and again…

079/365

If there’s one advantage to having a cold, it’s forcing me to be a bit more creative with my tea. This isn’t a particularly exciting tea at the best of times, being straightforward chamomile and mostly dust at that. No whole flowers here! In an effort to try and help myself sleep and soothe my throat at the same time, I added the juice of 1/4 lemon and 1 tsp of honey to a cup I’d steeped for 3 minutes. It’s actually delicious, and breathed fresh life into a normally boring supermarket staple. I sometimes find chamomile too sweet, and I worried that the honey would push it over the edge, but the fresh lemon juice brings it back from the brink and adds some much-needed balance.

I still didn’t sleep very well, on account of not being able to breathe, but my throat felt soothed for a while at least.

Following my earlier success, I made another London Fog with Earl Grey Creme (always an excellent idea), and almond milk. I used two bags, but I think one would probably be enough – it’s strong enough not to be overpowered as a latte, which was my initial concern.

The creaminess of the tea is augmented by the milk, the bergamot is toned down, and it’s all just pretty much perfect. I’m pleased to have found a new way to drink this one…it’s my new favourite thing!

078/365

There’s something intensely comforting about Earl Grey. I find the scent calming on its own, and the flavour is so familiar I can drink it with a sore throat and not worry about missing something. I did do things a little differently, though, because (for the first time ever!) I made a London Fog. I’m not sure how I’ve managed to get this far through life without having done this, but there you go.

London Fog is basically an Earl Grey latte. I used two bags, and gave them 5 minutes in 125ml of boiling water. I added 1/2 tsp of honey, and topped it up with 125ml of hot milk. Some recipes add lavender, too, but I’m not a fan of floral tea so I gave that a miss. I can see it working, though, and it would definitely add an extra twist.

This is definitely my new favourite way to drink Earl Grey. It keeps the bergamot down at a manageable level, ramps up the creaminess, and the honey adds a touch of rich sweetness that makes the whole thing rather more dessert like than EG alone would be. What I’m wondering now is what an Earl Grey Creme would be like made this way…Definitely something to try!