Featured & New Tasting Notes

There appears to be at least a little bit of hard research supporting the idea that caffeine delivered hot is stronger than caffeine delivered cold…which would explain why I’ve been drooping for a week: it’s been too hot to drink anything that isn’t iced.

However, after a nasty day-long headache yesterday, I resorted to stronger measures this morning and steeped a bag of this extra-caf variety from Bigelow and drank half of it hot before adding ice. Performed as expected; I’m at least partially awake today!

Since my preferences lean to the strong stuff, I have no complaints about bitterness, though I’ve seen at least one other review that tags it as harsh. On my scale, it’s decently balanced and does very well both hot and cold.

The TTB 2022 is here and I pulled this one out of the herbal ziplock to try for a nightime tisane. Boy the lemon here is underwhelming. I added lemongrass to the second steep and that made it slightly better? Not sure I want to give this a rating as it would be dismal.

I just finished off an old package of this I had received in 2018 from a cupboard sale by Ost. Thank you, Ost! Using for the July sipdown prompt, “A peach tea.”

I’ve been drinking this cold brew. The apple pieces come through pretty heavily for me in this one, but there is a gentle, sweet peach candy note to the tea. It’s actually a bit sweeter than I prefer, but it makes a nice ice cold drink.

I had one scoop left in the bag after the last liter of cold brew I’d prepared, so last night I decided to use it up as a very late night cuppa. I actually liked it a little better that way, because it had a slightly tart edge that I personally prefer in fruit teas that smoothed out some of the sweetness. I think, however, that this was due to the fact that what few white tea was actually in the blend sifted to the bottom of the bag, and I had just left the bag in my cup while drinking (my go-to for herbals) which caused the tea leaf to get a bit astringent/bitter.

Not a favorite… I’ve had other peach herbals that were more potent on the peach and tangier in the mouth that I prefer over this. However, this could be a good herbal peach for those that are hibiscus-averse.

The first time I had this, I had it cold with no milk to try to evoke the soda feeling as much as I could (I make my butterbeer with a cream soda base). It was good, but I could tell it would be better prepared differently. The next time, I had it sweetened warm with milk, and it was quite nice. I get a tasty butterscotch flavor that’s great with the black base. As I finished my packet of this, I found the last serving to be much too mild unfortunately even though it was overleafed. I just wish the flavors were stronger.

This Teeccino blend always seems to get so much praise around here, so I ordered a box during my decaf buying bonanza. I love Teeccino when I’m wanting the taste of coffee. It never disappoints. This blend is certainly chocolaty, no doubt. I’m not sure I can tell a huge difference between some of the others I’ve tried, but that chocolate note is definitely there. Looking forward to comparing this to the Amaretto Teeccino I bought as well. I think this is the third flavor I’ve tried so far, and I haven’t found one yet that I don’t like.

Sipdown theme: Oceanic flavored tea
Sipdowns and tasting notes have been much slower and less lately. The packages are larger and I have been drinking an older matcha and the nozomi a lot lately. For herbals, I have been enjoying this one, Peach Parfait, Keylime Sublime from TeBella and a couple 52teas. All have been nice so far and are lasting longer than expected especially the herbals. (Maybe because John isnt asking for tea as frequently?)

Anyways, I chose this one for the sea buckthorn in it. I don’t really know if it is a Oceanic flavor but it has sea in the name so the reminds me of an ocean… haha :)

Prep: Western
Tasting Note: Hot this one has that sour taste of chokeberry. Not as intense but definitely there. I think all the other ingredients work to mellow it out. The package reccommends this tea as iced but I have yet to try it like thst. I kind of like this sourness, it reminds me of a sour soup and that it soothing somehow.

When I bought this tea though, I thought it would taste more like P.O.G. which is heavy on the sweet pineapple orange which it definitely does not taste like that. I think I have come to terms that the ingredients are definitely doing something different.

Okay, I’m ready to rate it. Given how much I paid for it and its terroir, this tea’s too weak. I like lighter blacks, but this one doesn’t have a lot going on and I feel like it lost flavor. It’s got more character in the dry leaf aroma before I brew it, and the leaves are gorgeous. Then when I go with shorter steeps, more leaf, I get a darker Bai Hao adjacent. When I use less leaves and brew it longer, I get a vaguely fruity black tea that’s flat.

I might change the rating when I figure it out. I’m disappointed anyway.

Thank you very much for this sample, Kawaii433!  I thought this would work for the “oceanic tasting” sipdown challenge, and no, NO it does not.  It is sweet creamed corn all the way.  Nothing oceanic about it.  These dark grass clipping leaves mostly resemble a lighter flavored, less nutty Laoshan green.  But I do love a creamed corn green tea so I am a fan of this one.   The second steep has a bit of dry quality to the mouthfeel, maybe a bit of smokiness but still more of the creamed corn.  It’s a very light brew, which is always so unexpected from such a dark grassy leaf.   But I like it.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 35 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep

This has a nice strawberry candy flavor, balanced perfectly with the matcha. With some sugar to bring out the sweetness of the strawberry, this is quite tasty and refreshing. I only had the advent sample, but I’d totally drink this again. One of my favorite DT matchas for sure.

Hello everyone! Oof, June was a wash in terms of me writing tasting notes. It was a busy month. (The anniversary of the death of my father, both of my far-flung siblings being in town, preparing for my boss to go on paternity leave, auditions and early rehersal for a play, and coming off a week where the low temp was 103 all week).
I shall try to be here more. I do love it so.
So I ordered this tea from Curiosa society, which is a shop full of “extraordinary goods”. I’ve ordered cool cards and gifts from them before, and when I saw they were selling teas, well, I jumped.
This is a strawberries and cream type blend, which always sound so lovely, but this came out a touch bitter to me. What is the steeping secret for this sort of blend? Further experimentation is needed.
On a heat related note- what is everyones preferred method for making iced tea? I have decided this is the year I really get the hang of it, but advice would be appriciated!

This is from Tiffany :).  Thank you!  I really tried with this one and I just am not a fan of Dessert By Deb’s bergamot.  To my tastebuds, honestly, sad to say, it tastes like bug spray.  I’m not sure if these other garden elements are enhancing that bug spray flavor or being overpowered by it.  Such a shame as I really wanted to like these blends.  Luckily Tiffany only sent me two Earls by Dessert By Deb so that was enough for me to try them and say I will pass on Dessert By Deb’s other Earls.  So now I know. At least the black tea is dark enough and offers some sort of caffeine.   But I couldn’t even boil a second steep of this, which is rare for me.  It’s a pretty gardeny looking blend anyway. 
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep

Do you ever have one of those moments where you are so engrossed in reading that you completely forget you are steeping tea? I have no idea of how long it was sitting in my gong fu but despite that this brew has turned out well. Soft mouth feel. A bit of minerality in the finish. Tropical florals in the aroma. Orchid, plumeria, a bit of jasmine. It very much reminds me if the air in Kauai. The flavor is subtle. Softwoods. Melon bits. Cantaloupe. The floral notes dance around like a slow tango.

Steeping the last bit that Vallhallow gave me. The first sip is very herbaceous. Thyme, oregano, Greek Mountain tea. About 3-4 minutes in the herbecous starts to dissipate and you find soft floral notes. Summer flowers in the dry field.

A July scavenger hunt checkoff and I wasn’t even trying! This has been hanging around in my kitchen so long I had to check to see if Turyaga was still around (it is). Not all the varieties in the gift assortment from which this came were notable, but I think the Ginger Peach was the best of the bunch. Nondescript black tea base holds up the flavoring, a nice even 50-50 on the peach and the spice. Very good iced.

Still in my cold foam kick and the best pairing is mint tea and white chocolate cold foam. Thanks Roswell Strange for the suggestion!

I’m running low on Candy Cane Crush but i have this tea which fits the profile. This is a touch too medicinal/strong so CCC is better but it still works really nicely.

I thought I would hate this since I don’t love smoky teas, but actually, I’m finding this to be quite delicious. The flavor is mild, but also complex. I wouldn’t necessarily even call this flavor smoky…I wouldn’t know what to call it! It’s almost lightly desserty, but it’s difficult to describe. I may taste a hint of mint? The black tea doesn’t show up too much. I enjoy it sweetened with a little milk. I left this to steep for almost an hour by accident, and it was super forgiving. Probably my favorite find from the most recent TTB. The resteep is lighter, but still worth it.

[Spring 2016 harvest]

A good yan cha whose aftertaste is the most intense and memorable aspect. Unfortunately, it only lasts for 6 infusions.

It has an aroma with notes of vanilla pudding, chocolate cookies, and cherries. Taste-wise it reminds me of tobacco, sweet wood, blood, and black currants. The finish is savoury at first, then turning more sweet and woody with a buttery flavour. The body is light and the cha qi mild and warming.

I mostly just taste oolong, which isn’t my preferred tea base. After refrigerating this, more fruit flavor comes out, and I like it a little more. I’m not sure it’s distinctly cranberry, but it’s close enough. I don’t really taste any chestnut. I prefer fruity teas on an herbal or green base, so this one isn’t really for me, but it’s not bad. If you go in expecting an oolong with some subtle fruitiness, you won’t be too disappointed.

Genmai = love. Perfect for anytime of day on any day. Today the high will be 32 C. Iced tea afternoon. This makes quite a pleasant tea when iced. Okay, I lie. It’s not iced. I just put cold tap water in the cup and off we went. The umami and grassiness perfectly complements the brown rice. The dusting of matcha on the rice and tea was the right amount and the coloring was an eye pleaser. Now I’m going to sit here on the grass and enjoy it while reading Infused by Henrietta Lovell. I’d love to drink tea with her someday. Also have tried it hot and it is as good as many I have tried but it is not the best.

Has anyone else ever left fruit teas sitting in an infuser after steeping, for so long that they go moldy? (2 days is all it takes in the summer.) It gets this unmistakeable, rotty smell. Quite gross. Same smell happens if you have a matcha latte in your travel mug and forget to wash it for a day or so. All this to say… this tea very very unfortunately smells exactly like the aforementioned smell. Immediately when opening the packet, I was hit with it and it made me quite sad. I think it’s the sarsaparilla root? And I think I’ve had 1 or 2 DavidsTeas with a similar resulting aroma (and gave them very negative ratings).

Decided to be brave and brew it up. Now my house house smells gross :/ Also braved a sample, and while it does taste better than it smells – kind of creamy with the same flavour, though muted – I cannot get over the fact that it smells like decomposition to me. Blech.

This can be a little tart and bitter, but with enough sugar it’s decent. The orange is pretty authentic, but it’s not really something I would reach for over an herbal orange tea. This just doesn’t have a place in my cupboard. I shared it with someone, who wasn’t able to taste the orange and found the floral flavors to be much too strong. I shared it with someone else who loved the orange flavor and didn’t notice the bergamot. My final cup of this I drank cold, and I thought the orange and bergamot complemented each other very well. The bergamot definitely shows up in a very floral way, but it sort of works. I guess my opinions have evolved slightly over the course of my 2 oz bag.

Wonder why they decided to call this faintly roasted instead of lightly roasted… My guess is that there is a percentage of roastedness. A percentage of roast that made this below lightly. Then again their website does say lightly roasted so…. marketing. The roast is indeed light. You can barely perceive the charcoal. At least at first; it comes more in the aftertaste. STOP! If you are drinking oolong and you have yet to pull apart your leaves do it now. How many leaves are on the stem? Is it twisted, curled, rolled? What colors? Okay. Continue your steep. The aroma is slightly buttered biscuit. The flavor is delicate. It has a small amount of minerality, a bit of grassiness when it oversteeps, floral notes.

Iced tea with salted caramel cold foam sipdown (215)

The cold foam really highlighted the caramel element here and of course boosted the creaminess to sell custard. Otherwise, the rooibos in this unsettled me as it seemed to be strong in scent. I’m glad it didn’t come through strongly in taste. I don’t know if I would have liked this without the cold foam but with it, it was a lovely way to send this off.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – June Tea #1: – An orange tea

This tea, bleh, glad it’s gone now.
2022 sipdowns: 70
I’m back from visiting family. It was… rough. The most bizarre thing happened. My aunt is around my grandmother all the time so she would know… my aunt thinks something happened to my grandmother and it seems she had overnight Alzheimer’s and the sad part is, it seems to be focused on her direct family members. Like she has no map of her family tree at this point. She asked who my aunt was the day before we went for the visit, her main caregiver, then she didn’t recognize three others of her closest family, including me. The last time I saw her I distinctly remember her saying to me “I’ll never forget this lady.” She thinks we are all hired caregivers or long lost children she didn’t know she had. It’s terrible and hard to process. Not sure if it was consistent the entire time we were there for three weeks. She might have been embarrassed to say she didn’t know who we were, so she could have been pretending to know most of the time. I just kept pointing to the quick dial numbers on her phone. It was all of us on the top row. :( She did just recently survive covid so we are all hoping it is a temporary covid fog. I have heard covid ages everyone 20 years, so there you go. But to survive covid and then a month or two later this happens? uh. So sad. Watching someone go through memory loss has always been one of my greatest dreaded fears.

Made this iced and topped it with a white chocolate cold foam. It is delicious. A candy cane and white chocolate cold foam really is the perfect Christmas drink for those celebrating Christmas in July…or in my case, June. Just a classic Christmas flavor profile but cold and refreshing.

Check out the pic here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfUh5RouNu-/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=