PIPER & LEAF Artisan Tea Co.

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Recent Tasting Notes

Almost gave this to Superanna since she loves mint and I usually don’t reach for it, but decided to make it today because a student of mine dislikes almost all tea except mint tisanes.

Did not like. Yes, it was purple. The mint was muddy. Tongue is still muddy minty tasting long after even though I didn’t feel like the mint taste was clean and fresh, so I would have thought it would have gone away by now. No fruitiness.

Not for me.

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71

Strange. Thought I had reviewed this one already. It’s hot out. So this one just made sense. Thank you Shae for the sample! It’s a good blend for a hot day. Brisk black tea along with hints of lemon and slight varnish under tones that linger with the bits of astringency. It was okay hot this morning but I’m liking it better cold.

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February Sipdown Prompt – National Pancake and Sticky Bun Day

I thought I had written a prompt that I couldn’t fulfill! I finished Eleven and Mornin’ Waffles and wasn’t sure what to drink for this, so I went with tea the flavor of a pancake or sticky bun.

We haven’t made pancakes in ages, but I do make Dutch Babies, which are also called German Pancakes around here. (Maybe everywhere?) I make caramel apple or blueberry ones, so this tea fits the bill nicely. To boost the correctness of my choice, I ate French Toast Girl Scout cookies with it. All breakfast themed!

I like this tea, and it will be a sipdown next time I drink it. It is over a year and a half old but tastes much the same as when I first got it.

It is a deep, dark, rich tasting tea. This is a burnt caramel flavor to me. The apple hides a bit while the tea is hot, but comes out more as it cools. I did make a second steep (and got a second cookie) and I think I liked the second steep even better. It was still a dark burnt caramel flavor but slightly lighter and with more discernible apple.

Martin Bednář

Well, honestly it is a prompt for me that I couldn’t fulfill! I have no pancake/sticky bun tea. Well, happpens. And maybe it will appear later in the year and I will be able to mark it later as a sipdown?

ashmanra

You can do any tea with the flavor of a pancake, too, including toppings! A cream tea for the whipped cream, blueberries for blueberry syrup, any fruit topping you would add! It is all open to your interpretation!

derk

You’re making me hungry, ashmanra! Never heard of a Dutch Baby. Sounds like something I need to try making.

ashmanra

derk: I prefer making Dutch babies because you put the skillet in the oven instead of standing at the stove flipping pancakes and burning five of them. It puffs up so nicely and then deflates when you take it out, a bit like a popover. They are so good just topped with fruit and a sprinkle of powdered sugar, or whipped cream, or whatever your heart desires!

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Another one I could have sworn I had made a note for.

I had this for breakfast and thought it was pretty good, lots and lots of rich, burnt brown sugar flavor and a decently strong black tea base. But I kept wondering where the apple was. I only drank half of the small pot.

Late in the afternoon I wandered by the pot and gave it a sniff. APPLE! There it is! A little sip confirmed that the apple was really there. Whether the flavor was covered up by the food I was eating (just oatmeal) or whether the apple doesn’t come out while the tea is piping hot, I don’t know.

After supper, I decided to rock out back and have some graham crackers. I heated the leftover tea to just above warm but definitely not hot, and the apple is quite apparent now. I will have to keep playing with this one, as I like it, and I wouldn’t mind having the apple flavor and not there, depending on the circumstances.

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70

I’m beginning to suspect I’ve become the home for unwanted teas. Another friend gave me a packet of teas the other day. She could not identify this one but said there is a strawberry hint to it. After checking out the website, I figured out it is lemon berry blush.
I’m definitely saving this one for early summer. I think it will make a fabulous iced tea. I first taste the lemongrass and then I taste the strawberries. Definitely a fruity flavor. I think even the kids would like it.

Flavors: Citrusy, Dry Grass, Lemongrass, Strawberry

gmathis

Ooh, that does sound like summer just waiting to happen!

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I have made this as iced tea twice and finished it off by making by the carafe. It is nice, fruity, and made me think of Pomegranate Oolong from Harney and Sons somewhat. I don’t know that I would like it hot but it was quite serviceable cold. We go through a lot of iced tea in summer.

Enjoyed it, but not a re-order for me. There are so many good options that cost a lot less. Piper and Leaf just seems a bit expensive for the amount of leaf.

Although I haven’t posted notes for them all, I have finished off a number of samples lately and my cupboard is getting almost manageable! I do not add samples to cupboard, so there are probably at least fifty additional teas over what is listed for my online cupboard here. Working on it! (So I can order more tea…)

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I signed on, excited that I get to remove something from cupboard. Except that I not only never added to cupboard, but there is no tasting note here, so I guess if I ever wrote one it was just for Sororitea Sisters? And here I am finishing it off.

While you have all been doing your amazing sipdowns and I am cheering you on because you are amazing, I have managed to finish off a few sample packs and swaps as well as a small tin or two. The problem is that I never added them to cupboard to begin with, so I don’t really count them.

I got this one around Christmas time, maybe a little before? I am not a chai lover, so it was going to be either latte or iced and sweetened for me, and in respect for the name I chose iced. And I actually really like it! It has great sparkle and the spices make it seem extra cold somehow. I do resteep it and mix the two steeps together with sugar and then chill it in a glass carafe. After working outside in the yard most of the day, it was very refreshing on the patio with supper.

Mastress Alita

To me, it is getting back the physical space in an actual cupboard that is the satisfying part of a sipdown!

ashmanra

Mistress Alita: Oh, how right you are! My shelves are neater but my boxes still need lots of help!

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65

Happy National Strawberry Day! Pulled this last P&L sampler from my stash to drink today, prepared cold brewed.

The green tea itself has a deeply vegetal, spinach-like aroma. I get a bit of a berry fruitiness on the nose. The taste, however, is coming off strongly of the beets in the blend, and I’m wondering if that was a “luck of the scoop” from my little sample bag… I do taste some strawberry, but with the highly vegetal note of the green tea coupled with the strong beet note, it doesn’t really taste very fruity. Grassy, vegetal, a little metallic/earthy, bulldozing the subtle strawberry sweetness in the background. I’m not getting any sassyfras, which is disappointing…

I think I may have just overleafed this, adding to some of the strong green tea notes, and if I’d split the sample into two batches it might have been a little less intense, a little more fruity, and been more subtle on the beet. Ah well, I wanted to use up the full sample packet in one go. Not a particularly good cup, but I can see the potential in it and am chalking this one up to my preparation. That said, I’m still keeping my rating lower than I’d give otherwise since it is called “Sassyfras Strawberry” and I’m not getting one of those ingredients at all.

Flavors: Astringent, Drying, Earth, Grass, Mineral, Spinach, Strawberry, Tangy, Vegetal

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 7 g 17 OZ / 500 ML

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74

Steepster Freeze 2021 #3: 02/14/21

I swear the Dashboard freezes are directly coorelated with the Sipdown Challenge days… of the three outages already this year (seriously, it’s only mid-February!) two of those have fallen on those “fun theme days”, of which there are only five a month… what gives?

So, whenever the site is working again, I guess I’ll post this. It’s Valentine’s Day (a holiday that I, as an aromantic asexual person have never celebrated anyway) but I will gladly drink a chocolately tea. Especially as I’m trying to finish off these little Piper & Leaf samples…

This is a black tea with bits of fig, coffee, and lots of cocoa shells/chips. Steeped 3.25g to 350ml for 3 minutes at 205F. The brew has a strong coffee aroma, but also a dark chocolate scent that, together, are making me think of a mocha only darker and sans the creamy milk. Smells a little like spices as well, sort of a mixed chicory/pepper/cinnamon aroma.

Flavor tastes much like the aroma. May be “luck of the scoop,” but I’m getting coffee first, cocoa second. I’m fine with that, as I like the rich and slightly bitter flavor of black coffee, and with the cocoa, the cocoa is presenting more as an extra dark, bittersweet chocolate, rather than something really fudgy and sweet. It also veers the tea away from having that waxy “thin artificial chocolate” sort of taste like most chocolate teas. Still getting a sort of chicory/peppery flavor though neither are in the blend… not sure where I’m picking up that particular spice note.

It’s a nice cuppa, one I’d consider more of a “coffee” tea than a “chocolate” tea, but I’m digging that not-too-sweet-not-too-bitter balance of the flavors.

Flavors: Cocoa, Coffee, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Spices

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
AJRimmer

Valentine’s Day just seems like a weird commercial thing to celebrate anyway. I’ve been with my partner for many years and we’ve never done anything for it. Ideally one does nice things for other people throughout the year and not just on the day it’s mandated!

Mastress Alita

Meh, I think my major disdain is that we will manufacturer and market a holiday for romantic love, but not any other kind of love… and since coming out as an Ace (several decades ago now) it’s made me a bit bitter cause it just feels like one more thing that isolates/hides asexuality from the world. shrugs and doesn’t want to get on that soapbox…

AJRimmer

That’s a really interesting perspective, and so true! Ay if there’s a national pizza day, we could definitely make another more inclusive holiday!

White Antlers

I find it stupid that one day of the year is set aside for folx to ‘show their love’ to a spouse/partner. If you are in a good, solid relationship, be it a married one, a live together one, a monogamous but not living together one, a deep, solid, platonic/asexual one, a really good friends with benefits one-or whatever your definition of love relationship is-then you do NOT need one day out of the year to do anything out of the ordinary. The real, nitty gritty stuff that keeps you together or in the same orbit happens all the time and does not demand candy, flowers, cards, expensive food and drink to prove anything. To me, a bouquet of flowers or a bar of good chocolate ‘just because’ on any day of any week in any month means far more than an obligatory tribute on a specific, manufactured day of a month.

derk

Y’all are just a pile of wet blankets. I am in good company.

derk

The freeze pattern I’ve noticed is Saturdays in the western hemisphere. That’s when we used to get bombarded the most by spammers from across the world.

mrmopar

Yep, everyday should be a Valentines day with someone you deeply care about.

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88

Happy National Pizza Day!

I’ve been working through what has been left of my little samplers from this company, and this was a milk oolong with some additions (including pineapple) so I saved it for today. I often get “buttery vegetable” notes from milk oolong, particularly spinach (one of my favorite pizza toppings), and the pineapple chunks in the blend are reminescent of another of my favorite toppings (yes, I’m one of those people).

A get a strong buttery milk oolong aroma from both the dried and steeped tea, as well as a fruity aroma from the steeped tea that wasn’t present for me in the dry leaf. It’s giving me a tropical vibe, but I don’t think I could place a specific aroma. Now that the tea has cooled enough to sip from my work thermos, I’m really digging the flavor! A warm and buttery milk oolong base, with a distinct pineapple flavor on the sip, which has just the slightest bit of tanginess to it from this citrusy undertone from the dried persimmon. There is a bit of a citrus zest aftertaste. Also a subtle but indistinct florality. It’s really enjoyable! Warm silky, buttery texture, fruity pineapple, and tangy citrus… doesn’t sound like it should work but it oddly comes together nicely.

This may be a minor thing, but I don’t like that the Piper & Leaf website claims this tea “includes dairy” because the leaf is “steamed with milk”… does this myth really have to continue to be circulated? (I mean, sure, from the flavor this is probably a flavored milk oolong, but my understanding is those flavorings still don’t include dairy? This “warning” seems entirely incorrect and unnecessary and would serve as nothing more than to drive Vegans away from a very nice tea…)

Flavors: Butter, Citrus, Citrus Zest, Creamy, Floral, Fruity, Pineapple, Tangy, Thick

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 5 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
AJRimmer

I’ve somehow never had pineapple in pizza, but I like it in curry, so I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it!

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79

I still have a few samplers from this company in my stash I’ve been trying to work through. The company suggested this one as an iced tea, so that is how I prepared it — I used the full 7.5g sampler to make a quart of iced tea. I steeped it hot, then chilled it in the fridge.

At least with this preparation, I’m getting a rich malty flavor but no drying/astrigent qualities (though I have a feeling it might be a bit bitey if it were steeped hot and drunk right away). This isn’t the sort of bold Earl Grey I was imagining, though I do taste the bergamot; it feels a bit gentler than I’ve seen in some blends (though it could just be the preparation, this may be my first time drinking a bergamot-flavored tea iced!) and is reading more as a vibrant citrusy note, as if I added lemon and lime wedges to my pitcher. What I really enjoyed about this, though, was how the bergamot was blending with the flavor of spearmint; the spearmint was so crisp and refreshing, and made a lovely flavor pairing alongside the citrusy bergamot, bringing out a slight mojito effect. I didn’t get any floral notes from the tea, despite the addition of jasmine in the ingredients.

Not sure how this would compare if taken straight up and hot, but it does make a refreshingly solid iced tea!

Flavors: Bergamot, Bread, Citrus, Citrus Zest, Malt, Mint, Spearmint

Preparation
Iced 4 min, 0 sec 7 g 32 OZ / 946 ML
Shae

I know not everyone loves this blend, but I enjoy this one (especially iced). I’ve never really thought of this as an Earl Grey, so that could be why I like it so much – no expectations. My brother usually adds a bag of Twinings Earl Grey to his large pitchers of sweet tea and, even though I probably wouldn’t be able to pick out the bergamot if I didn’t know it was in there, it does add something special to the tea. I think of the bergamot here as more of an accent in that way.

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82

Steepster Freeze 2021 #1: 01/12/21

Happy National Kiss a Ginger Day!

I grabbed this chai sampler I still had in my stash, which I should be able to sipdown relatively quickly over today and tomorrow as there was just enough tea inside for two double-sized cups (perfect for the work thermos). It includes the typical pumpkin spice ingredients (including the titular ginger for today!) as well as pumpkin and vanilla on a black base.

The dry leaf aroma of this pumpkin spice chai is mostly vanilla, which gives the spices a very “sweet spice” smell. The aroma isn’t as potent on the brewed cup; I’m getting a bit of the vanilla note and sweet cinnamon, but it seems much more subdued on the nose against the breadiness of the black base, and now there is a distinct spice aroma wafting into my nostrils: clove.

Mmm. This is a tasty chai, and reminds me of Tea Chai Te’s “Pumpkin Spice Chai,” though I do think I prefer that one a bit more. If that one suddenly disappeared, I think I’d be happy with this as a sub, though. The black tea mixed with the sweetness of the vanilla and cinnamon tastes like a warm cinnamon bread, and there is a warmth left at the back of my throat of ginger and clove. The clove, in particular, leaves a lasting aftertaste on my tongue. The flavor is smooth enough to drink sans milk, and the spices, while warming, are not burny/uncomfortable on my spice-sensitive tongue.

I am not one of those people that thinks that “pumpkin spice” (a spice blend) should “taste like pumpkin” (though I do love the flavor of pumpkin). I find pumpkin is one of those flavors I rarely, if ever, taste in tea regardless, and adding pumpkin pieces rather than some syrupy sweet “pumpkin pie” flavoring usually doesn’t do it for me. This doesn’t taste like that particular flavoring (and I’ve had run ins of both good and bad regarding that flavoring over the years, so I’m not very particular about it being present).

I find this a solid vanilla-forward chai, much sweeter than a typical masala-type blend. I would not recommend it to those particular about pumpkin spice “tasting like pumpkin” or those that are clove-sensitive.

Flavors: Bread, Cinnamon, Clove, Cream, Ginger, Spices, Sweet, Vanilla

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 17 OZ / 500 ML

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81

I was saving this tea for hot summer days (as iced, cold tea), but they didn’t come this year. Okay, a few hot days were there, but otherwise it was pretty much okay and I didn’t wanted to drink any iced teas.

It was a very nice tea, indeed. Quite sweet, bold and refreshing. I couldn’t notice much of jasmine in particular, but it was some generic floral. Not bad!

Citrusy note was a bit muted today — maybe the age, or just I wasn’t noticing it today. The base was brisk and nice, so a winner for the morning.

Flavors: Floral, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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81

Shae’s ADVENT CALENDAR, December 5

Where to start? I am writing this note about 3 hours after finishing my cup. I was in hurry making a picture, so it’s pretty much simple (I like it anyway), but there isn’t any view of blend today. The official image is right though!

I read a note from Shae it’s great iced/cold. I was quite confused as I preapred cold brewed tea once and well, it was pretty much okay.

It’s not plain tea which is a plus and honestly it surprsied me how many notes are already here on Steepster. It seems quite average, so let’s see. The aroma of dry leaf indeed reminded me iced teas available here (read: sugary drinks which aren’t with tea at all, I wonder if it is different over there). On sweet side. But I really like blue cornflowers in the tea. They made me smile right in the morning.

I have used only one teaspoon, to avoid bitterness and too much tannic note.
I think it went great and after 3-4 minutes steep (till I finished the photo session) it was just right. The aroma was same, just stronger and taste was indeed like iced teas! I really think it can work perfectly as iced/cold brewed tea. It was mellow, yet brisk, like with added sugar/stevia maybe and bit citrusy. Not really sure about the bergamot (it wasn’t calling me I am like an Earl Grey), but it was nice. The mint didn’t get any cooling effect for me, but maybe it was too little for me or just not that prominent. I didn’t get any jasmine.

Notes to self: To re-try iced/cold brewed. Keep an eye on clock more carefully.
Photo: https://flic.kr/p/2kdxGyy
Song pairing: https://www.jamendo.com/track/896970/reality-bites

Flavors: Citrus, Sweet, Tannic, Tea

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML
White Antlers

Your Jamendo track reminded me of Bill Bragg:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uNeMY89wxs

ashmanra

I like the photo, Martin! I find it hard to get good ones. I tried taking some for Sororitea Sisters reviews but I am not good at it. Plus I always ended up seeing dog hair somewhere in the scene! Ha ha! The song is nice and sounds like something I would love to listen to in summer for the uplift!

White Antlers

ashmanra LOL! I sell on Ebay and am always checking my photos for cat hair.

AJRimmer

Ha, when I was selling on eBay, I just gave up on getting rid of the cat hair and put a note in each auction saying that there would probably be hair on the product.

ashmanra

You guys are so funny! I guess if I sold things I could say it came from a home with a non-smoking dog, but that is about the best I could promise.

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65

Decided to brew this sampler tonight after my Thanksgiving tradition of ordering gobs of Thai takeout (typically on the Wednesday before when things are open) and then reheating the leftovers, which last me days, for dinner.

This is one of those “turns blue because butterfly pea flower” herbal blends. I don’t really care about “color novelty” in tea, but I actually like the taste of butterfly pea flower and will drink it straight (I particularly like it the traditional way with some lemon juice and honey). I’m mostly used to it paired with citrus, though this is a minty/fruity blend. My blue cuppa smells heavily minty, with a touch of an herbaceous element, but I’m not getting any fruitiness in aroma. And honestly… even though there are blueberries and blackberries in the blend, I am not tasting them either. I am getting a very nice tasting mint tea, with a fresh and tingly sensation from the mints, with the spearmint being the most dominant minty flavor. I am also tasting the ginger in the blend, but it isn’t really spicy; more, it is adding to some of the earthy notes I’m getting in the tea, as well as a slight warming sensation at the back of the throat. It’s actually interesting, as I’m getting a cooling feeling more on my tongue, and a warming more on my throat… despite being conflicting, it isn’t unpleasant. Usually butterfly pea flowers have a sort of vegetal flavor to me, but I’m not getting that, either… instead, I’m getting more of an “earthiness” beneath the mint that reminds me a bit of echinacea or tulsi.

This is actually a nice “I’ve gorged myself” chaser considering the mint and ginger, which are my two main “help my poor abused GI system” teas. In the end, the butterfly pea flower really is just a “color” gimmick as I don’t think it’s doing much of anything for the blend… just a way to try to make a mint blend “more interesting,” really. But if you like mint, I mean… it doesn’t really need to be interesting?

Anyway, I’m fine with it, mostly because I’m not adverse to pea flower flavor. But since pea flower can be one of those easily aversive flavors, really no reason to recommend this over any other mint / mint and ginger / tummy tea sort of blend.

Flavors: Earth, Ginger, Herbaceous, Mint, Peppermint, Spearmint

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML
gmathis

Our day before Thanksgiving tradition used to involve chili dogs and Frito pies from Stogey’s Coney Island (a local dive), but two of us can’t handle that any more. We did slightly more civilized Mexican take-out Wednesday instead. Sounds like you chose a good antidote.

Mastress Alita

I see no point in cooking a big meal when I live alone. I also have always hated cooking. This has been my “thing” for quite some time now, heh.

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68

From this weekend during the Steepster freeze.

Another of my samplers from 2018. This blend has also changed to what it is now currently, and much more significantly; the version I have has black tea included, even though it is “advertised” as an “herbal blend,” while the updated blend is a proper herbal tea. However, the blend I have says it actually includes honeysuckle flowers, while the new blend does not (it lists chamomile instead). I certainly don’t want black tea in my “herbal” type blends, but the novelty of something like this, to me, is the honeysuckle (it’s even in the name!) so it’s a bit of a shame that they took two steps forward and then another step back when they updated the ingredients list on this…

Anyway, on account of the black tea I have in this older version of the blend, I brewed this pot of tea in the afternoon, before my “caffeine cut-off” on a dreary day where I’m feeling rather nasty. The brew is a muddy brown color and smells earthy and minty… it reminds me of the aroma of tulsi, actually (which is in the new blend, but not my version). It also smells sweet, like a sticky sweetness… (licorice root? Again, an ingredient in the new blend, but not my version).

It tastes minty, but with a sharp herbaceousness to it, and a slight earthiness as well… I think the flavor is coming more from the echinacea than the mint. I’m also getting a cinnamon sort of note, which I can only guess may be a flavor coming from the black tea in the blend. There is a hint of florality, but it is actually pretty subtle. I’m also getting a slight citrusy aftertaste.

It’s an easy drink that reminds me mostly of tulsi in flavor, but nothing I would feel I need in my cupboard.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Citrus, Earth, Floral, Herbaceous, Mint

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML

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75

From this weekend during the Steepster freeze.

Usually I make fruit teas cold brewed and drink them ice cold, but for some reason tonight I had a strong craving for a deeply fruity hibi tea, warm and deliciously puckery and tart, the sort of red cup that is the nightmares of the majority of Steepsterites. Found this sampler in my stash and brewed a small pot of tea.

I got this back in 2018 and notice the ingredients on their website are slightly different than what is on my packet, but not by much… the description does say it uses “seasonal berries” and the main difference I’m seeing is my packet lists raspberries which is replaced by elderberries on the current website ingredient listing. So I’m not sure if the blend itself has just been (slightly) updated, or if the difference is a seasonal one and has to do with whatever time of year it was that I happened to have ordered back in 2018. In any event, I don’t think there is going to be much difference to the flavor.

This is a deeply red pot of tea, that smells divinely fruity. Has that lovely thick mouthfeel and sweet-tart berry flavor I was craving so deeply. I think I’m mostly getting a blueberry flavor, but the tanginess of blackberry and currants, and a bit of that warm and thick fruit punch flavor from the hibi base. I can barely make out a hint of sage toward the end of the sip, but it is very subtle (I wish it was popping just a bit more).

Came for warm red berry tea, got warm red berry tea. Nothing particularly different or special about it, but it ticked the box exactly for what I was craving. Not recommended for the hibiscus-aversive or those that don’t like drinking tea that resembles a mug of blood.

Flavors: Berries, Blueberry, Fruit Punch, Fruity, Herbaceous, Hibiscus, Sweet, Tangy, Tart

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML

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Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
May 2022 → A tea with a creative blend of ingredients

The ingredients in this blend seem so odd together but it works. It’s smoky and minty and smells like rosemary (I think it’s actually pine). The last time I had this I commented that it tasted like a chai-spiced blend, but I don’t get that this time around. It’s so strange with all the individual flavors coming together in one cup, but it still manages to mesh together quite well.

Flavors: Evergreen, Mint, Smoked

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Perks to working from home include making a legit breakfast and hot tea any time I want. Granted, most days I have cereal or forget breakfast and tea altogether, but today I made oat bran with a miso brown butter + a fried egg + red pepper flakes. It’s so delicious. And this tea, of course.

This is quite an interesting mix – lapsang, pumpkin, cedar/juniper/oak/fir, spearmint. The taste isn’t as complex as the ingredients would suggest though. It’s a light chai-spiced tea.

Flavors: Spices

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 15 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML

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My friend dropped off three Piper and Leaf samples this morning. I steeped a sample, resteeped, added sugar, and put it in the fridge to chill. I waited a few hours to try it, but honestly all sweet tea tastes best after it has chilled for a whole day to me, minimum is probably eight hours.

Though it is called Front Porch, I am actually drinking this on the back carport which never has cars in it, just rockers. A huge fan is blowing on me because it is 94F with a heat index of 103F.

I will see how this tastes tomorrow, but my assessment now is that it needs more flavor, so I probably should not have combined two steeps. My husband said he tastes the mint mostly, but I barely noticed it. I got more bergamot, but it wasn’t a lot of bergamot. Mostly high notes without a lot of middle and base.

I try not to add much sugar but I think this could have used more just to up the flavor. It isn’t bad, but at the prices they charge I expect it to be absolutely stellar.

Tried it again tonight now that it has had more time to “meld” as my Mother always said. It is better. I think the problem is I don’t like bergamot on Ceylon, and the Earl I enjoy much is with a Keemun base. I think most people would enjoy this and it isn’t bad, just not quite living up to my high hopes in this sticky summer weather.

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There is hibiscus in this, but I thought maybe oat milk wouldn’t curdle since it’s not actually milk. It curdles. There are nice big plumes of oat milk in my tea now, so lesson learned. Lovely.

This was part of a Christmas gift from my boss and his wife last year. He knows I love tea, though he misunderstood and heard 50 teas when I said 500. He thought 50 was ridiculous, so I decided not to correct him.

I’m guessing the hibiscus is here to boost or accent the cherry, but I really do hate when companies add hibiscus to black teas. I like a cold hibiscus brew every now and then and in some cases I have enjoyed it hot, but mostly it just leaves this dusty/dry feeling in my mouth like it’s old and stale.

That’s a thought – maybe I could try this one cold.

It was really hard to finish the last couple sips. This is not a favorite for me. (Let’s be honest – I chugged the last half to get it over with.) I mentioned to my husband that I didn’t like it, and when I told him it was cherry hibiscus his eyes lit up. I might have found a way out of drinking the rest of this after all.

I’ll hold my rating for now until I can try it without the oat milk curdle clouds.

Flavors: Cherry, Drying, Dust, Hibiscus

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
anutea

I feel the same way about hibiscus in teas! It’s over used in most teas.

Shae

Exactly! It has its place, certainly, but it seems to be in everything, lol.

tea-sipper

Yeah, non-tea people just don’t understand the necessary 500. muhaha

Shae

Haha, nope. When I first told him about my minor tea obsession, he guessed 25 and was surprised when I told him it was a few more than that. :D

anutea

Also 500 is not that hard to reach when you fall into the rabbit hole of teas :)

Shae

It’s really not! Especially when I need just a few more to reach that free shipping. ;)

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80

ashmanra’s monthly sipdown challenge
May 2023 → a limited edition or seasonal tea

Oh gosh, this is not good today. I don’t know what happened, but it’s going down the drain. I don’t even know how to describe it.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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