6106 Tasting Notes
Sipdown! 6/365
I was going through my AQ2T box yesterday and found a plethora of tiny samples that I’d picked up, most half gone but some untried. So these have been added to my sipdown pile! However – I felt guilty because most of them are on the newer side (max a couple years old?), so although they will count as sipdowns, I still have to have one other “older tea” sipdown each day. Haha.
Anyhow, this tea. I drank the first cup paying very little attention, but I did enjoy it. Second infusion is mostly lavender, which I admittedly was rather pleased with. I think it could probably have a bit more bergamot to make it more earl grey, but I like the amount of lavender here. I’d drink this again in spite of its rooibos base!
ETA: I see I figured I’d oversteeped the first time I had this. That’s definitely true. My first cup was not astringent in the least today. As for the lavender, it may have just been an imbalance of flowers from one cup to the other. This was certainly a better experience.
Sipdown! 5/365
This was presumably a sample from Sil, since it’s my writing on the sample bag – thanks! This is dang good. Malty, creamy, bold, smooth. Really quite delicious. I did not expect this! I would drink this again in a heartbeat. I did notice that the flavours were better after the tea had cooled, but I drink most of my tea cool anyhow.
Random tea pick for the day, as I poked through a bin of teas from various companies. This tea presumably has lost some flavour, and I unfortunately can’t really taste any strawberry at all – but there’s a hint of ginger, and a light spearmint. I can see why I was interested in picking it up when I did, and it has all the makings of a tasty blend, if only it actually tasted like strawberry! I don’t usually like mint in teas, but I think it’s done well here, making it all the more disappointing that there’s no strawberry.
Have I made my point yet? Ahaha.
Sipdown! 4/365
Sadly, I think I waited too long for this tea. I may have overleafed slightly, but time and temp were bang on, and it’s just not great. There is a bit of a nice sweetness in the aftertaste, but the aroma is kind of weird and grassy, and the flavour is tannic and sharp. Familiar, but I can’t figure out what to liken it to. So basically, what I want to do here is quickly gulp a bit and then sit, savouring the aftertaste, because it’s growing on me.
Anyhow, not rating this since it was a multi-year-old plastic-bagged sample. I’m also not sure who it was from (Raritea??), but thank you! I wish I’d tried it sooner so I’d know how it really tastes.
12 Belated Teas of Christmas – #5
Another tea I have a bag of somewhere, as I’ve tried it before (although this one I believe I had at work, and actually drank multiple cups of. It’s possible that I finished it, or it was destroyed by the work mice of doom). Anyways, I recalled liking this when I first tried it, and liked it again this time! I’m fond of this particular base tea, and the flavouring here is delicious. I badly want to eat the plump blackberry sitting in my infuser over on the counter… I have to say that I don’t really taste custard or tart here – but I think this tea might be a bit sharper without those flavours, even if they aren’t overly recognizable.
Wish I didn’t already have this tea, but it’s definitely not a bad one to have more of!
Jeepers. I’m sad that there are no notes for some of these new teas. Anyways, I didn’t look up what this is supposed to taste like, and I honestly can’t quite figure it out. It tastes a little… buttery? And sweet? It doesn’t taste like a version of Marshmallow Treat, which is probably a good thing (depends), but I really can’t put my finger on what I’m tasting.
Checked the description, and am a little surprised – I definitely am not picking up on any chocolate here! I think the butteriness may be from the white chocolate chips or the cake essence. I wonder if I failed to adequately shake the packet? I’ll have to try again in the future, but as it stands, this is an okay tea, and it could pass for a “cake” tea – but IMHO not a chocolate one! I’ll re-rate if I can eke out a chocolate flavour later.
Smells like lovely watermelon, tastes very strongly of roasted barley (coffee, roasty, almost a slight fishiness?). But once cooled, the melon definitely comes out a little more. I had forgotten that I wanted to try this as a latte – maybe a good way to send off the rest of this!
How are there no notes for this?!
When I first looked at this tea yesterday, I wasn’t super stoked to try it. It looked, at a quick glance, like a cinnamon black. Bleh. But then I remembered that I’d had a similar thought until reading Anne’s description of it, which made me order it. So, I lazily opened the package and instantly was much more interested in trying this tea – it looked like the sticks/straw on the end of a broomstick! So cool! (I believe this is mentioned in the description, but I had forgotten). But the novelty of a tea base I hadn’t tried before wasn’t the only thing – it also smelled really tasty! Cinnamon-spiced but creamy/caramelly. Actually, quite similar in profile (scent and flavour) to the AQ2T blend I’d just had (Eggnog Cheesecake) – but also unique. And really tasty! Definitely far from just a cinnamon black. It reminded me a little of Butiki’s nutmeg black tea, I think, although that one was quite sensitive to oversteeping.
Anyhow, quite delicious, and I’m looking forward to drinking the rest of this tea.
interesting. I didn’t get it specifically because i’m tired of cinnamon in teas. Sad that i didn’t get any now, but maybe variaTEA will let me sneak a taste of hers lol
Did I order this?! If so, you’re welcome to try it
oh…haha you totally didn’t. i was getting confused with 12 days of christmas. this was the HP month…which we didn’t do
I think we should make a case for this to be reblended. Had I picked up more than a sample size, I’d have enough to share around, but I’m already sending a sample in Roswell Strange’s direction! This was actually the tea I wanted to pick up more of, but I see it has now sold out :(
I totally don’t need more tea….though there are alr1dy a few more teas I want from Anne and i JUST ordered….
Sipdown! 2/365
I’m not even sure why I didn’t bother finishing this off the last time I had it. There was barely enough for a small cup. Oh well, it’s still a sipdown! It smelled like delicious milk oolong when I steeped it, but I’m sad to say I drank the cup without realizing what it was (it was in a small cup I usually use for resteeps). My actual thoughts: “this is a nice resteep, and I’m thirsty.” So at least I enjoyed it, even if not realizing what I was having.
