Kittenna

Oh man. When steeped right, this is just delicious. It’s a touch more astringent than I would like… I should go for 1.5 minutes, but the irish cream flavour is sooooo good. I was intending to add milk and sweeten this, but opted to have a sip straight first, and I’m glad I did, if only to remind myself how tasty it is. There’s enough astringency for me to still add both, though (and I remember it tasting divine when doctored up). This will definitely be on the re-purchase list in the future.

Whoops, missed logging this from a few days ago. I brewed it extra-strong hot, diluted it with cold water, and chilled it. It tasted kind of gross lukewarm, but once it was cold, it was great! Could have stood to be a bit stronger, though. It looks like this is another to add to the summer cold-brew pile, which is completely fine given that I’m capable of gulping down quite a lot of cold tea when it’s available. I’ve actually even been finding myself selecting cold tea over juice (aside from breakfast OJ), as the sweetness is a bit much for me. (Of course, then I went and bought 4 2L cartons of refrigerated juice because it was on sale…)

Sipdown! 787.

Sad to see this one go. It was tasty as a summer cold-brew but it’s time to move on to different teas! I wish I had hot-brewed and chilled the last batch, though, only because cold-brewing does seem to bring out some undesirable bitterness for me.

Sipdown! 788. You know, this is more pleasant on its own that mixed in with other ingredients (although that said, it does work well in some blends). It’s lemony and a bit grassy (not vegetal). I’m curious how it might work cold and sweetened, as a pseudo-lemonade. Perhaps something to try in the future. (I’m now craving cold Coco-Lemon Thai. Must locate and drink tomorrow.)

Thanks for letting me sample this one, Indigobloom!

ETA: I cold-brewed the used leaves for probably about 36 hours, and the result was fairly flavourful. I do prefer lemon juice to things like lemon peel, lemon verbena, lemon grass, etc., so it was only ok for me. I didn’t bother sweetening it, but perhaps would have liked it better had I done so. Quite refreshing, however.

Tea #2, and another sipdown – 789! I wonder if I can reach 775 before the end of the long weekend?

Anyhow, this tea is obviously also hibiscus-heavy. However, it is a bit less hibiscusy than Raspberry Blackcurrant, and I can pick out the flavouring a bit more. That said, the flavouring is coming off to me as kind of artificial, so I’m not entirely certain whether I prefer it to a hibiscus overdose. Ah well. Always fun trying new teas even if they don’t work out! :D

So at my sister’s wedding reception, there was a chest with a bunch of individually wrapped Higgins & Burke teabags. I tried one, an Apple Cinnamon herbal tea (if I haven’t logged it, I will do so shortly) – it was kind of icky. I didn’t want to drink 15 cups of tea, so I squirrelled away two teabags to take home – this one, and a different herbal.

So, I think I perhaps should have looked at the ingredient list before nabbing this tea… does’t sound all that appealing, honestly. Hibiscus, chicory, lemongrass, licorice root… none of which exactly fall into a category of my favourite flavours.

Unfortunately, this is a definite miss. Even with a short infusion of somewhere between 2-3 minutes, hibiscus is dominant in the cup, which was obvious by the colour even before I tasted it. It’s fairly sour, and although I can almost taste raspberry, it’s not quite there. Raspberries are not that tart. I would know; I grew up with bushes of them in my backyard. Perhaps this would be ok with sweetener, but to me, it’s too much like Tazo Passion, which I find rather unappealing now.

Sipdown!

Even brewed for 2 minutes, this tea is sadly still astringent. A tasty candy-strawberry flavour, but way too much astringency, and since I’m very aware that astringency is entirely unnecessary, I’m not particularly tolerant of it. I think this tea could be pretty tasty with a better base, but unless that happens, I probably wouldn’t pick it up again. Perhaps I’ll add some milk and syrup to this cup; I can see it being pretty tasty if I can mask that astringency, but it’s a little difficult to drink otherwise.

ETA: I do like the second infusion of this one. There’s some flavour in it that I really like… I just so wish there wasn’t astringency!

Sipdown! 792. Thanks to Mark B via Indigobloom for a sample of this tea.

I definitely agree that this tastes like a milk oolong. The flavour isn’t super intense, but it’s certainly there, and therefore I’m quite enjoying this tea. It doesn’t taste flavoured (whether or not it is, I have yet to quite understand that whole thing), which is a positive thing for me. I think I brewed it a touch too strong – it would probably be slightly more enjoyable if it was diluted a bit, but it’s still quite a tasty cup! It isn’t significantly better than any other milk oolongs I’ve tried, however, so no need for me to acquire more of this specific tea.

ETA: Mmm. As predicted, deeeeelicious second infusion. I truly don’t think I can ever live without milk oolongs again.

Thanks to Lala for a wonderful surprise sample of this tea!

I’m not getting much oolong (ok, any really) from the flavour, but what I can taste is a delicious, lightly spiced tea. A bit citrusy, primarily orange, with cinnamon, and what tastes to me like either fennel or anise, but at a very agreeable level. It reminds me of Christmas, although it’s not a series of flavours I can recall tasting in a tea before. There’s some creaminess too, at the end of the sip.

This is probably not a tea I need more of, but it’s actually surprisingly delicious. As indicated by the fact that my cup is also now empty! I have another cup’s worth left, and I don’t imagine it will take very long to finish it off!

Thanks again Lala!

ETA: Oversteeped second infusion was surprisingly not at all astringent, but the spice wasn’t quite to my liking. I preferred it to be a bit more subtle. Still drank it, though!

Sipdown! Thanks to Raritea for a sample of this one.

This basically tastes like a standard coconut green. So fairly tasty, but not really a tea I’d go for too often. However, I think it would be great cold-brewed and sweetened. Since it tastes much like the coconut green I just got in my Amoda tea box, I think I’ll have to try it with that one soon!

Sipdown! 794.

I’m assuming that what I have is a sample of the old version of Irish Breakfast, not the newly re-envisioned blend. Either way, it was a generous sample in my recent order from Stacy – thanks!

I haven’t found myself to really be a fan of many black tea blends, mostly because I don’t like a lot of straight black teas. However, this one’s not too bad. I’m getting raisiny flavours, as if it has Premium Taiwanese Assam in it, combined with other black teas that I can’t identify that give it a bit of a hay-y yet sweetish flavour. It’s not too robust to drink straight – after a three minute infusion, I’m not experiencing any astringency at all. I imagine, however, that it would hold up well to milk.

Honestly, I just requested a sample of this one out of curiosity, which has now been satisfied :D For a black blend, it probably deserves an 85+ rating, though I’d probably rate it myself closer to about 65 as that’s where it falls for me.

Sipdown! 795.

Eh, this one smelled way better than it ever tasted, unfortunately. I’d rather have a different chocolate tea, so not too sad that it’s gone.

Travel mug! Tastes delicious, as expected. I think I may prefer it in a regular mug though (but most teas taste better that way).

ETA: Yum. This lasts for one amazing second infusion, and a decent third.

Second-last cup of this one. Of course, it never made it into my spreadsheet, so it won’t even count as an official sipdown D:

Anyways, it’s a little too peppermint-heavy for me tonight. I need more black tea and/or chocolate flavour, personally. I like the minty-fresh taste, but I’m getting some gag-inducing peppermint leaf flavour as well. Perhaps sweetener would fix it, but it’s bedtime, so perhaps I’ll try that in the morning. Perhaps not. We’ll see!

Uhhhh. So, I’m drinking the “newer” version of this, which includes goji berries. I’m not really sure where this entry belongs… there are two Laoshan Village Chai listings, but neither is the version currently being offered…

Anyhow, I just got a sampler packet of this, and haven’t had the older (summer??) version in a while, so I can’t compare the two, but this one’s not bad. Unfortunately, I think I underleafed as I wanted my packet to last for two sessions… and I think the cup needed closer to a full tbsp of tea. However, it’s still okay with milk and syrup, just a bit difficult to pick out the spices. I think I prefer Chocolate Phoenix Chai though; this isn’t my perfect blend of chai spices, even though the blend is heavy on cardamom pods. Perhaps I need to try a longer infusion/infusing in milk… plans for another day!

Sipdown! 796. Sigh… it’s never-ending!

This is a touch strong tonight, probably because I forgot and didn’t brew it in an extra-large mug. Oops. It’s still pretty tasty though. Kind of a fruity EGC, although only just a bit of creaminess, which I assume is actually honey. This is certainly not a tea I’d turn down if offered; it’s a great example of a good flavoured black, especially for a bagged tea.

Thanks again for sharing this, whatshesaid :)

ETA: A bagged tea that lasts for 3 good infusions? Colour me impressed.

Mmmm, a random pick from the tea I have downstairs. Delicious!

Mmmmmmmmm. I have missed the deliciousness of this one!!

Sipdown! 797. This tastes a bit funky tonight… I think it’s due to the baggie-storage. Still has the tasty bakey notes, but almost a bit of a stale-ish flavour. Sigh. Oh well. I’d still order this again, just be a bit more careful in terms of storage.

I’ve decided to tackle my Den’s sampler, that I’ve now had for over a year and barely made a dent in! Shouldn’t take long to get through most things :D

Anyhow, I hadn’t previously tried this one, but thankfully, it seems that age has not hurt it too badly. The flavour is roasty and sweet, and definitely kind of seaweedy. So not quite like genmaicha, especially as the toastiness is coming from the tea itself, not toasted rice. It’s certainly pretty tasty, however! I’d definitely be happy to add this into my “comforting evening teas” rotation. I suspect it would also suit a travel mug well, though I don’t think I have enough to try that.

Sipdown! This tea makes an excellent case for drinking greens when they are fresh, because, uh… it kind of tastes juuuuuuust a bit like cat pee :P Not that I know what it tastes like, but just the smell… you know? So now I get why my dad made the same comment about a green tea I once gave him :)

Anyhow, I will hopefully try more teas of this type in the future, as my previous note indicates that I was pretty impressed, and for the most part, I’m enjoying the chewy, vegetal flavour. It just goes a teensy bit too far into a funny flavour, for me.

Yeah…. I don’t quite understand how people can’t tell a difference between this and straight Laoshan Black. To me, they are quite different, and both delicious. Oh well! Finally got my cup of this today… this is another bag of tea that ended up very misplaced during the move. Also, I’m sad because I think there’s only about a cup’s worth of this left. I’ll definitely be restocking this at some point, but I think I’ll hold off until fall, as it’s really a cold day sort of beverage for me.

Ooh! This tea is definitely better than I expected! Thanks Boxermama!

I had to keep this one separate from the other teas from my swap since it was kind of potent (and everything else was unflavoured… didn’t want everything flavoured like peaches/ginger!) Didn’t end up brewing it up until today, though, as it got misplaced in the moving shuffle.

Anyhow, this tea certainly does taste like peaches and ginger. The peach taste is fairly light but identifiable, and the ginger adds just enough kick without being overwhelming. I feel like this could make a fabulous iced tea – I have enough left to try at least a small cup of is that way, so may do so if I remember. Either way, this is pretty good, and I think I actually like it a bit better than S&V’s Ginger Pear. The ginger is more kicky here, and the peach less artificial than the pear. Of course, I have far more of the S&V version, so will drink it anyhow, but just for future reference!

Whoops! Forgot to log this from a few days ago. I’m down to nearly the bottom of my bag (I think some’s promised in a swap, so this may have been a technical sip down for me, although I think there’s enough left for one more cup for me). I kept the infusion to 3 minutes, which I think was a good idea – tasted quite mapley and nutty, without astringency. Really quite enjoyable! I added a bit of syrup to the last of it, but should have added more to make it a bit sweeter.