Sirocco

Sipdown (2984)!

This was very nice but not very special, if that makes sense!? Medium to full bodied black tea with some maltiness and a subtle floral undertone and then just a very straightforward and classic tasting lemon note with a little natural sweetness and brightness. Super smooth, and sippable but not something I haven’t tried elsewhere before.

Sipdown (2966)!

I had no idea what to expect from this tea based on the name, and the overwrap for the sachet doesn’t list ingredients. So, I guess I was feeling adventurous when I picked this tea out yesterday afternoon. Turns out, it’s a pretty mint forward blend with some other herbs like nettle, apple mint, and I think lemon verbena? Definitely some kind of slightly lemony/citrusy herb. Overall cup was super fresh and fragrant though with a soothing, cooling and crisp herby mint flavour with those gentle fruity undertones from the verbena and apple mint. I really, really like apple mint as a flavour and personally think it’s very underutilized in tea blends outside of Europe.

Honestly this was great! Though I’ve had some nice teas from them, this is the first tea I’ve had from Sirocco where I’ve felt like I wished I had more teabags of it. Just a super solid peppermint blend.

Tea Pop Sipdown (2946)!

This is a teabag but I ended up steeping it up as a concentrate instead of as a hot cup, and then I mixed that with sparkling water to make a tea pop. It was refreshing with a really crisp, clean tasting citrusy and hebaceous flavour. Nice and refreshing with a brightness to it. I think it would have been so good as a cocktail foundation. Little splash of aperol or gin? Ooh, that would have been good!

Sipdown (2948)!

The dry leaf aroma of this is really candy-like to me and makes me think specifically of the red starburst candies, which I think are cherry flavoured? Steeped up it’s definitely more tart and hibiscus forward, but still has a very rich and deep feeling red fruit flavour that kind of ride the line between cherry, strawberry, and maybe like a fruit punch kind vibe!? Not the world’s most unique blend by any stretch, but as far as the all too common red fruit category of European teas goes I think this was a pretty nice execution!

Sipdown (2925)!

I liked this a lot. The lemon flavour is really, really bright and lively with such a pleasant mix of sweetness and light acidity/sourness. It’s not too artificial and certainly not cloying, but it did make me think a bit of lemon gummy candies or something like a lemon lollipop. Just really juicy and lemonade-like in a way that immediately made me wish I had more of this in loose leaf format (this was a tea bag) so I could make it iced or cold brewed. Delish!

Sipdown (2925)!

Is this a unique lemon ginger blend? Nah. Is it a good one? Yeah, pretty solid! Mostly I was just impressed by how fresh and zesty the bold notes of lemongrass and ginger were. There was a lot of brightness to the sip, but then it finished with a warm, tingly heat and earthiness from the ginger. Dynamic, and full of life and flavour. Would have been quite good with some honey, I think.

Sipdown (2902)!

I loved the dry leaf aroma of this blend. Just so, so juicy smelling! Steeped it was good too, but quite rooibos forward and more of a cooked orange sort of note versus something more sweet, lively and fresh. Though, the quality of the rooibos used was very nice. I really appreciated that it was a little honey and nutty. Were it more mineral I think that, combined with the orange notes, it might have come off as very medicinal and vitamin-like. So, I’m glad that was avoided even if the taste wasn’t totally the same vibe as the dry aroma smell…

Sipdown (2903)!

For a tea sachet, the quality of the leaf seemed pretty nice. Very bud heavy, and wow all those golden tips were sure beautiful. Taste wise this was full bodied and very smooth with a really intense malty flavour with undertones of walnut and graham cracker. Not, like, a mind blowing cup or anything but just really quite solid. I felt like it showcased a lot of my favourite tasting notes of a stereotypical Assam black really well – especially the graham notes. I think it would have likely really popped with a bit of milk and sugar, too.

Nothing special

Good bagged oolong.

Rose hip and and hibiscus of great quality.