Auggy

The Final Sipdown: Day 16
Decupboarding Total: 32

Apparently I needed to catch up on my sleep after this Thanksgiving. I spent most of today napping. Which makes it kind of hard to decupboard teas. Fortunately, I had one more Tea from Taiwan sample, which is good because they can be a single serving pretty easily so I’d still be able to make my quota for today.

The dry leaf of this one smells pretty awesome – fruity and honeyed and kind of sexy, actually. The taste is a little fresher than the smell but it’s still got that rich sweetness about it that makes me roll it around on my tongue. I think this tea is trying to seduce me.

Flavor-wise it really doesn’t strike me as a ‘milk’ oolong (which tend to bring up thoughts of Juicy Fruit gum for me… in a positive way, I promise) but this is still very good. There’s a touch of dryness that sometimes pops up in the middle of my tongue at the end of a sip but it’s just a flash and it’s actually not unpleasant. It gives the tea a bit of a sparkle which it might otherwise lack with the heavier flavors it’s got going on.

It’s heavy, silky, sweet, a little fruity, a little floral, honeyed, creamy but with a dash of fresh crispness that keeps it all from being too heavy. It’s all very attractive and seductive and pretty darn sexy for a tea. I don’t know if a tea can be sexy, but this one seems to manage it.

Honestly, I thought I was going to get through my Tea from Taiwan samplers without finding a ‘must have’ tea. But I think this one just broke that streak.
^8g/10oz

The Final Sipdown: Day 16
Decupboarding Total: 31

And it’s another sample gone! I really like this tea – it’s got the sweetness and smoothness of a yunnan but there’s a little bright Darjeeling-like kick to the end of it that shows up sometimes. It’s a nice tea to drink straight, which can be a challenge for non-Chinese blacks (at least for me). If I had a larger container of this it would be very easy for me to drink though it is missing just a little something that would push it into the ‘must run out and get more of this!’ category. Still, a good tea that is definitely worth a try!

Previously when I had this one, I added sugar and half & half. This time I wanted to see how it went straight.

I’m actually a little torn. The bergamot is a bit strong and edges on soapy, but it never quite hits there because there is a spiciness to it that makes it fairly interesting and full-flavored. The tea base is pretty much non-existent here – this is all about the bergamot – but I’m kind of okay with that. The bergamot flavoring is interesting so it doesn’t seem flat.

But there is a note at the end of the sip that throws me off a bit. Sometimes it strikes me as peppery, which is good and interesting, and other times as a bit acrid/burnt/bitter, which is not so great. It’s sort of weird. But even with that weirdness and the strong flavoring, I think I like this one straight better than the Upton Supreme but not as much as the Arbor Teas Earl.

The Final Sipdown: Day 15
Decupboarding Total: 30

I’m definitely going to have to pick some of this up when I made my Arbor Tea Earl Grey order. It’s nice and smooth and sweet and very forgiving – I meant to steep for about 35s but kind of forgot about it…. A minute and a half later and it was darker than normal, but still smooth and tasty. I think I can say I’m definitely a fan of the green pu-erhs. So good.

The Final Sipdown: Day 15
Decupboarding Total: 29

Apparently no tea is safe from my rampant decupboarding! Goodbye, my darling Thomas! I shall always think upon your bakey, malty flavor with fondness but I’m afraid it is time for us to go our separate ways.

The Final Sipdown: Day 14
Decupboarding Total: 28

I slacked yesterday and today with The Final Sipdown but honestly? I’ve been too busy cooking, eating and napping to worry much about what teas to finish off. However, tomorrow is a new day and I’m back on The Final Sipdown wagon. To show my determination to decupboard, I’ve finished off this not-tea tonight.

I went a little heavy on the leaf just to finish this off and the smell is even more rooibos-y than normal. The taste isn’t as bad as the smell though, so it ends up drinkable and a little orange-y. But I’m still not that hot on this one. Thankfully it’s gone.

The Final Sipdown: Day 12
Decupboarding Total: 27

I’m staring to like when good teas are caught up in The Final Sipdown. It’s a nice break from teas that are still around only because I don’t like them enough to drink them up. This is one of those good teas. I’m not dying to reorder this but, depending on the state of my pantry, I can see myself picking up more of this the next time I order from CTG. It’s quite tasty and I like the variety of flavors I can get from this.

This time I went the ‘high-flavor brew’ (11.5g/12oz) and it really is flavorful. The sencha aspect is really highlighted. The pan frying gives it a nice, somewhat nutty note that makes it feel more like a fall-mood sencha instead of a spring or summer one. Perfect for today with a cold front stalking us!

The Final Sipdown: Day 12
Decupboarding Total: 26

What a productive day! I’ve mopped, made turkey brine and ‘cranberry’ sauce, done some laundry and decupboarded a tea! Sure, I still have to vacuum, make a cheesecake and decupboard one more tea but I’ve got time. Yay!

And speaking of tea, I like this one enough to think about getting a non-decaff version to see if that really pops for me. Mostly because I love Kasugai Muscat gummies. And this is a less-sweet tea version of those gummies. Honestly, the smell is my favorite part. It brings back such good memories! But now this tea is gone, so I’m moving on!

Okay, okay, I know I’m doing The Final Sipdown to try to clean out my tea pantry. So it goes a bit against that goal that I picked up a new tea while out grocery shopping yesterday (me and half the world – Central Market and William-Sonoma = pre-Thanksgiving PLACE TO BE). But it’s just a sample with about three mornings’ worth of tea and it’s part of the EG hunt, so I figured it was okay. Yes, I’m justifying my tea addiction. Let’s move on. I was a little concerned when I got home and saw the Steepster reviews of it. Not too much love. But what the heck, I have to drink it sometime, right? So this morning it is.

I actually quite enjoyed it. Now, I did give it a good dose of sugar and half & half (I’ll have to try it straight some other time to see how it competes with Arbor Tea’s Earl) but this is really pretty tasty. The citrus is bold but doesn’t have a perfumy or soapy note to it at all. It’s not quite a juicy, fresh fruit style bergamot but it definitely hits on more that end of the spectrum. And if the slight tremor in my hands right now is any indication, looks like it has a fair caffeine content.

I’ll admit, I didn’t really do a lot of study of the tea to find any nuances. First, the half & half probably smoothed over any nuances that were there in the first place and second, it was just a tasty tea so I sipped on it while checking my email and somehow the cup was empty before I knew it. But that’s always a sign of at least an enjoyable tea so thumbs up there.

Right now I’m going to rate this a little under Arbor Tea’s version and tied with Upton’s EG Supreme. This is as good as the Upton’s with additives so the real deciding factor of where this ranks in the EG showdown will be to see how this tastes straight. After all, Jean Luc Picard didn’t get his tea. Earl Grey. Hot. With milk and sugar.

The Final Sipdown: Day 11
Decupboarding Total: 25

The Final Sipdown will be great for my few remaining Tea from Taiwan samples, of which this is one. I’m not exactly sure why I haven’t tried this in the ages I’ve had it. Typically, I’m a big fan of this type of oolong. And yet this sample has been sitting, lonely, in my pantry. No longer!

The smell and flavor are a bit less intense than I expect from greener oolongs, but that could be due to the length of time it has been in my pantry, vacuum-sealed or not. There seems to be a little spicy bit to the green note. It’s also darker, heavier and a little… roastier? than expected. But there’s also a sweet, light orchid-ish or some other floral note that begins to come across as the tea cools.

This really reminds me of a lighter, greener version of Samovar’s TKY or Chicago Tea Garden’s Zealong Dark. But instead of making it a dark-ish oolong that I like (green oolong fan that I am), it seems a bit indecisive to me. Not a creamy, floral, soft green oolong but not a sweet, honeyed, roasty wonder of dark oolong. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. It’s just a hint of confusing.
^8g/14oz

The Final Sipdown: Day 11
Decupboarding Total: 24

Today is the day for drinking (and decupboarding!) the (not-)teas that scare me. That’s right. Rooibos. Yuck.

This one… still not good. It tastes like pear and sweet, slightly rotting wood. Don’t remember the pear from before but totally remember the rotting wood. Meh. Glad this one is gone.

The Final Sipdown: Day 11
Decupboarding Total: 23

Okay, I was afraid to try this but The Final Sipdown made me. It smells horrid – rooibos and tart. Yuck. But compared to the smell, the taste is divine. I let it cool quite a bit (fear, you know) but it worked out well. The rooibos really backs off when it is lukewarm. Then I only have to contend with the tartness which is somewhat phlegm-inducing but otherwise not horrid. Sort of like if they made a red-fruit Theraflu.

Mmm. Theraflu.

The Final Sipdown: Day 11
Decupboarding Total: 22

Decupboarding. Not a huge fan of this one myself but the husband really enjoys it so I’m sure we’ll be getting more.

The Final Sipdown: Day 10
Decupboarding Total: 21

Oh no! How did I decupboard this one? I wasn’t supposed to decupboard this! I just wanted a cup of my favorite non-tea ever! But now my tin is empty and I’m starting to feel a little itchy. I’m not even done with my last cup of this but I feel the need to place a Samovar order for a refill right now. Especially since winter is almost here – the toasty warmth from the ginger and the pretty orange zest flair of this is perfect for winter. Actually, it’s pretty much perfect any time, which is probably why my tin is now empty.

The Final Sipdown: Day 10
Decupboarding Total: 20

I like this tea. Maybe I’m starting to like Chinese greens because I’ve hit on a few lately that are tasty. This is one of them (Chicago Tea Garden’s Lu Mu Dan is the other one I am thinking of when I say this). It reminds me of the sweet, slightly green hay notes in Rishi’s Jade Cloud, another Chinese green I enjoy but which can end up a little rough/salty if I do anything other than a fairly short steep.

Jade Cloud tends to be the staple Chinese green in my pantry – mostly because I can get it at the grocery store and it’s nice for the days that I need a green tea but don’t want a stronger sencha profile. This one is a bit smoother and sweeter than Jade Cloud and for that reason, I could see it easily replacing Jade Cloud as my Chinese green pantry staple… if only I could pick it up at the grocery store.
^6.8g/12oz

The Final Sipdown: Day 10
Decupboarding Total: 19

Not much to say about this one that I didn’t say the other day when I finally rated it. But I had to log it to make the decupboarding count official.

The Final Sipdown: Day 10
Decupboarding Total: 18

Since I slacked yesterday (though not intentionally), I plan on decupboarding three teas today to keep my goal of two per day. So let’s all just pretend that it is yesterday for the next few minutes.

I was waiting to see how this tea went with additives before I rated it, hoping some sugar and creamer would help perk it up. Well, this morning I had it with additives and yeah, not a fan. It just tastes so flat and cardboard-y. Not even good cardboard but boring, slightly dirty, uninteresting cardboard. There’s a bit of a nutty-bitter taste at the end but it’s not even a strong enough nutty flavor to be interesting. It’s just flat and boring. I’m sure there is some caffeine content to it and if I think about it, I might be able to agree with the “clean” bit of the tasting notes so the tea isn’t a total loss. But frankly, I can pick up more interesting and tastier blends at the grocery store.

The Final Sipdown: Day 9
Decupboarding Total: 17

Today has been a whole lot of suck since I woke up in the middle of the night with a full-blown migraine. Finally at 11pm, I’m over the migraine and the worst of the hangover from it, so it’s time for my first tea of the day. Uhm, night.

I wanted something gentle and soft. Whites typically call to me post-migraine, but I did want to attempt to keep up with The Final Sipdown. This one is nicely mild and, if I shared it with my husband, I’d be able to finish off the tin. Not quite a sample but since it is a decupboard, I’m counting it.

What a wonderful final cup. I used two flowers (which amounted to about 16g) for 22oz. I gave it a quick rinse to see if I could ‘wake up’ the flowers a bit before steeping, then I gave it a 3minute steep with the teapot lid off.

It worked perfectly. I think this one really benefits from heavy leaf and I wouldn’t be surprised if the rinse helped, too. The flavor is still mild but it’s so sweet and pretty. I still don’t get the smoky of the tasting notes but it’s such a pretty Chinese green (with zero of the salty end note they normally give me) that I really don’t care. I’m actually giving this tea a gentle bump up since I feel like I’ve cracked the code a bit on this and would totally get it again.

The Final Sipdown: Day 8
Decupboarding Total: 16

I’ve had a number of Upton samples lately and think I’ve just gotten it in my head that Upton teas don’t sparkle for me. I’ve tried too many samples for me to have coincidentally only picked bad teas. There have been a few teas that are quite good but still nothing that has changed my developing view of the overall lack of wonder Upton provides.

This one is one of the few tasty teas. The dry leaf has a very malty smell to it – it’s surprisingly strong. The tea tastes smooth and malty and has a bit of dry hay note. It’s very tasty and I like it. It reminds me a ton of Teavana’s Golden Monkey and so which would be a great tea… if I hadn’t tried Teas Etc’s Golden Monkey.

Still, it’s strong and bold but smooth and sweet with perhaps a bit of a peppery tingle that’s left on the end of my tongue. It’s not overly nuanced and I’m not detecting any milkiness to it, but there would be worse things to buy if you had to buy tea from Upton.

The Final Sipdown: Day 8
Decupboarding Total: 15

Today, The Final Sipdown feels a bit like a beating. Mostly because it seems like I have all of these meh to okay teas that I have to finish off – and I have a lot of them left (a lot of each tea more than a lot of tea… well, actually I have both). Anyway, I’ve decided to do something that is leaving me feeling a little mixed: Decupboard a good tea.

No, not just good. A great tea.

So in some ways, I’m all “Yay! One more tea decupboarded! One more step closer to allowing myself to make a Kusmi order! YAY!” But on the other hand, I’m all “But, but, but! This means this tea is gone. Why can’t I save this tea forever and ever and then I’ll never have to worry about being out of it? WHY?”

So yeah, mixed.

Finally rating this one today. If I needed to buy pu-erh for some reason or another, I’d probably pick up this one (or Samovar’s Blood Orange pu-erh, but since that’s flavored I kind of think that would be cheating). I don’t think I’m going to run out and get some of this RIGHT NOW but I do like it and won’t have a problem drinking up the remainder of the sample (which will probably be soon given all the decupboarding required by The Final Sipdown). It’s got the ‘normal’ pu-erh taste (dirt) but it’s not so thick or overpowering so I like that. It makes it an easy drinker for me.

Just a little note to say how the face off between this tea and Arbor Tea’s Organic Earl Grey went.

This one wasn’t the winner. It doesn’t have the astringency Arbor Tea’s version does, but it doesn’t have as much bergamot either. What’s there is mostly on the aftertaste. There’s also a flat, woody note in it that makes it kind of unexciting.

In defense of this tea, I do like it a lot with additives. I forgot to doctor the Arbor Tea’s EG before finishing off the sample so it’s possible this one still might win the ‘With Milk and Sugar’ taste off battle. But it doesn’t with the unadulterated battle so I’m lowering the rating just a tad.

The Final Sipdown: Day 7
Decupboarding Total: 14

Per the husband’s request we are having this one again, which works out nicely since it can then be my second tea decupboarded today. However, if he likes it without additives as much as he liked it with additives, I’m thinking this one won’t stay gone from my pantry long as I will be buying a big tin of it.

Honestly, this one is such a nice relief from the Upton samples I’ve been trying to get through. This has a nice smooth and full tea taste with some light but pleasant astringency to the end of the sip. The scent and flavor is lightly but noticeably Earl Grey. And the EG bit is very nice – not perfume-ish, not frou-frou. If I can call a tea ‘manly’ without making it sound like it’s a nasty b.o. type thing, this EG is manly. Masculine, maybe? Strong. Not as in strong tasting but the strength that confident men seem have – noticeably masculine without being a muscle-bound bully. Perhaps because the astringency makes it nicely bracing even with the flavoring, making it not a girlie or soft tea.

Sigh. I need to just face facts. This is an Earl Grey that a man like Jean Luc Picard would drink. Which is pretty much exactly what we were looking for. So win!

The Final Sipdown: Day 7
Decupboarding Total: 13

Because of the less-than-stellar interaction I had with this one the other day, I tried to think of what to do to make this final experience more satisfactory. I bumped up the steep time by a minute and added a pinch of sugar.

It sort of worked. The sugar is mild enough that I really can’t tell any added sweetness but I’m not having the bitter wrong taste at the end. Instead, I have a raw Nilgiri type taste a few beats after I sip. But it’s not near as distracting as the bitter was so I’m able to focus more on the taste of the tea.

Yeah, still just not quite my ideal lapsang. It’s not tarry (which is good because that’s usually a little too rough/thick for me) but at least tarry is interesting. This one is just tasting… thin. Almost like I didn’t use enough leaf or I massively understeeped it. (Which yeah, I didn’t on either of those.) It is smoky but it’s not an interesting smoky. It doesn’t evoke thoughts of walking in the woods on a crisp fall day, it doesn’t make me think someone in the neighborhood is barbecuing, it doesn’t make me think the house is on fire… It’s just… smoke and tea. Kind of flat and straight-forward but not bold enough to be such a one-note tea.

Anyway, it’s just not a lapsang for me but I’m glad lots of others seem to like it. Every tea deserves someone to love it, even if it is only its mother.