15915 Tasting Notes
Hot cuppa with a splash of coconut milk.
I didn’t feel like this was quite as sweet and rich as I remembered though it did get more so as it cooled down – notably so. What I did love was the hint of almost ‘salt’ that accompanied the buttery toffee notes and kind of offset that sweetness and created more depth to an otherwise simple flavour.
Cold Brew!
This was a holiday gift from my boss and, truly, it was such a thoughtful and well selected tisane. Definitely different than anything else I own, but really showed a solid understanding of the flavours and unique ingredients I love.
It’s a simple blend but with massive visual impact since the leaves and herbs are large and whole as much as possible – also foraged! The taste leans really wintergreen prominent but is supported by all of the forest-y notes of pine that I love and find so unique. The combination of pine and wintergreen is both sweet but cooling and camphorous too – maybe a smidge woody. It reminds me in a brilliant way of Birch Beer or Spruce Beer.
Really loved it!
Cold Brew!
Happy to report that I’m still loving this tea so much! The body and overall flavours were a little lighter as a cold brew but the representation of sweet and creamy banana, coconut, and strawberry are all still there and lovely. I found that in this format it almost tasted sort of like a tutti frutti flavoured beans from JellyBelly – but only when I didn’t really think very hard about what I was drinking and just let all the fruity flavours bleed into each other.
I believe I had this on Sunday as a Western style cuppa. Though it wasn’t actually raining the afternoon had a similar feel to a more grey and stormy day which made it perfect for curling up with a good tea and some manga – very low key and cozy. This tea is nice with some pleasant sweet floral notes. It leans greener than I like my yancha, but on a more drabby afternoon that green quality certainly isn’t hurting!! Plus it still had some roast and an almost plum skin undertone as well which are a little more at home for me.
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYhdjpWO9K7/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ1EVMOlVI0&ab_channel=antiherovideo
Gongfu!
This tea was really, really different!! Is it heicha or is it yellow tea!? After brewing it up I can really understand why this is a tricky tea to class. Everything about the profile sort of just screamed “raw” to me. Not in the sense of sheng/pu’erh but more just like very, very raw cacao nib and dark baker’s chocolate notes mixed with unsalted & unroasted peanut butter, fresh green beans, and just a bit of molasses. Not bitter, really, but a decidedly unsweet and peculiar mix of these more typically decadent notes with the greener vegetal elements. I’m definitely a bit undecided on how I feel about this one, just based on this one session…
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYkGRw4OkWi/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRWtWTPiRFk&ab_channel=EdMount
Gongfu!
I love how robust and full bodied this yancha is – the aggressive roast and mineral flavours of charred mixed nuts, dark chocolate, and wet rocks that gradually break and give way to sultry and elegant notes of dark plums, orchids, and other dried fruits is lovely to taste over the span of the steeps. Definitely one of those oolongs that has grown on me a lot over tim e and subsequent tastings! I also snuck in this almond and matcha chocolate mid tea session and the way the very creamy taste and mouthfeel of the chocolate mingled with the heavy roast was such a textural and tasty delight!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYmr—FO39m/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00f2kSnIxfw&ab_channel=AngeloDeAugustine
Decided to give this a try since I like to stay on top of the different teas offered in the RTD space, and a “Sweet Tea Energy Drink” definitely is an interesting/commercial profile that I could see having a lot of appeal with a particular customer base…
Very classic “RTD Iced Tea” flavour in terms of a nondescript black tea with a hint of lemon. Think Nestea or Brisk. For a drink with no added sugar, I found this realllllyyyyy sweet tasting. Which, you know, it’s Southern Sweet Tea inspired so it’s definitely gonna be sweet and it’s crazy to assume otherwise. It was just more than it was the kind of lingering sweetness that feels sticky in the back of your throat. I didn’t much enjoy the taste on its own, but when I was drinking this while eating food (Indian street food in particular, in the moment) I thought it actually worked surprisingly well. Flavourful and with food in between sips that sweetness in the finish was cancelled out.
Ooooh… I liked this a lot!
Very full bodied and brisk black tea with a whole lot of nuttier and grain oriented notes and just a hint of natural smokiness as well. It felt like such a beautiful and grounded based to layer on top this hint of more woody warming cinnamon, bright sweet green apple, a gentle fennel sweetness, and a lovely simple caramel note. It all clicked together and just seemed really balanced. I could taste intention in the way this was composed which is just a lovely feeling to get when you drink a tea. A marriage of artistry with beautiful, delicious flavours.
Cold Brew Sipdown (1595)!
Oooh! This was kind of an interesting cold brew. The pu’erh was so round and clean tasting; still distinctly earthy and mineral in flavour but just so even throughout in a way that felt more refreshing and impressive than flat. I think the mint helped because it just had this cooling undertone that almost conveyed this camphorous sense to the tea. Maybe it would have more so if it wasn’t for the equally smooth and medium bodied clean notes of chocolate/truffle throughout as well. Really refreshing and way more interesting than I’d anticipated it being. Almost felt like an entirely different tea compared to that first time I’d tried it.
Sipped on this one Thursday evening during the Critical Role livestream.
Does anyone else know Viva Puffs? They’re like a cookie that’s a marshmallow with a small amount of jam inside (usually strawberry or raspberry) encased in a thin shell of chocolate. If you remove the chocolate component, I couldn’t help but think this tea tasted like a raspberry viva puff while I was sipping it – only with the addition of the grassy and mineral green mate.
