takgoti

The Final Sipdown: Day 26.1

The tea. The tea. The tea is on fire. We don’t need no water, let the…

This tea is smoky. Smoky in a way that has me on the fence between wood burning fire and cigarettes. It would be full on firewood, if it weren’t, maybe ironically, for the vegetal quality underlying the whole thing. For me it’s giving it that nicotine-y tinge that’s making me think I won’t be finishing this cup.

The other flavors in it are savory and salty. There’s also a peppery note that is hitting the tip of my tongue. This is one of the least grassy green teas I’ve ever had, and were it not for the lightness of flavor beneath the smoke [and the coloring of the liquid] I may have pegged it for a black tea.

The sweeter notes don’t come into play for me until the end, and then it has an almost fruity sense about it. That fruit, however, is lending a more sickly quality than sweet and fresh…until the aftertaste really kicks in and the liquid is completely gone. Then it’s like a Febreze commercial.

I don’t know. I don’t mind a smoky tea, but this one’s poking at my gag reflex. The combination of flavors just doesn’t make any sense to me, and there isn’t really anything enjoyable about the profile as a whole. A pleasant aftertaste alone does not a good tea make.

Ah well. I appreciate Carolyn sending this to me nonetheless. And now it’s gone! Good things all around.

Teas Downed: 32

The Final Sipdown: Day 20.1

I’m going to cheat, y’all. I can’t keep my eyes open and the snoring little dog next to me is making me further crave sleep.

I’ll be logging this tea tomorrow.

And, to further cheat, it’s getting decupboarded now.

BOOYAH.

ETA: Since this log is already all about The Cheating, I should say [and I have alluded to this, if not flat out said it before] that I am dumping entire samples into my strainer instead of separating them out into proportional bits per cup. The Final Sipdown would take MUCH TOO LONG otherwise, and seeing how far behind I am alREADY, well.

Strawberry Shortcake. This tea does not do well with a generous amount of leaf, it seems. It brings heaps of astringency to be lumped among the lighter, sweeter, tart, strawberry flavors. The shortcake, and the creamier aspects of this tea are still present, but much more difficult to find.

This would likely do well as a dessert tea in anyone’s repertoire who enjoys the namesake, but the ratio seems to be important. It could be fussy, it could not be; I’ve only tried it two ways. All I can say is that this time it was radically different from the first go and that my dumping an entire sample in for one cup isn’t exactly a fair way to compare two trials of tea.

Anyhow, astringency aside, this tea was still good. Not good enough to keep the rating as high as I left it though, I’m afraid, but I can see it wriggling its way back into my heart down the road. And so, with a small bumpdown, I bid farewell to Strawberry Shortcake.

Teas Downed: 31

The Final Sipdown: Day

Oh? Sorry. I’ve been so caught up in TFS that I’ve forgotten I have other teas to log.

Mark, the fellow behind Cloudwalker Teas, sent me a few samples of tea to log about a week ago. I’m getting around to it a bit late, but here we are at one of three.

When I was little, I was obsessed with white grape juice. No clue why, but it had a flavor that I craved and whenever I had options, it was my poison of choice. I think my mom didn’t really mind because white grape juice doesn’t lend itself to staining. Now, I don’t find myself drinking it nearly as much as I used to. I don’t know if something about the way it’s made has changed, or simply my tastebuds have shifted, but I find it too sweet and the aftertaste strange.

This tea propels me back to my memories of white grape juice. Which really, at this point, is more of a diffused haze; the essence of white grape. It doesn’t possess the sharp sweetness that fruit juices typically do, but I prefer it this way. In fact, it is rounded off by a soft saltiness – a quality that is more apparent to me in the first steep than the second [because yes, I’m on a second steep]. At times, I get a sweetly whispering nectary flavor that reminds me oh-so-much of honeysuckle. In others, I sense an almost yeastiness half makes me think of bread and half of a soft pretzel. All of this is underpinned by the fresh, juicy notes of white grape and that comes rushing through in the finish and aftertaste.

There is a sophistication about this tea that makes me feel as though I should be drinking it out of a flute, but sipping it out of my little bodum mug it seems to be doing just fine.

Finding myself on steep number three now with the flavor holding up just fine has cemented in my mind that I will, in fact, be purchasing some of this to keep on my shelf. Having apparently grown myself out of my white grape juice phase, this is filling the white grape shaped hole in my soul.

Light, springy, satisfying, and delicious.

The Final Sipdown: Day 19.1

Can we first discuss how the name Sunshine Green sounds like it’s some kind of strain of marijuana?

Great. Now that that’d done with, on to the tea. I’m not sure what I think of this one. I feel like I need a few more cups to decipher it, which I don’t have. And what’s more, it doesn’t seem to be available any longer from the vendor, so this one’s truly long gone.

The green tea is definitely in there, along with a strange, tangy astringency that only hits at the finish. Steeped, the leaves smell like they’ve been soaked in some kind of butter sauce, but the liquid does not reveal any of that decadence within its flavors. What it does reveal are tropical florals and a distinctly fruity sensibility. The fruit part reminds me of…orange pineapple juice. But without the acidity and the citrusy edge. I’m not sure whether this tea seems complex because it truly is, or because everything is coming through ALLATTHESAMETIME. You know?

There are other things going on in that cup, but the tea is gone and I’ve dumped the leaves. Interesting, yes. Is it something intriguing enough that I’ll want to search it out again? No. But it was unique enough that it shook me out of this funky stupor I’ve been in all day.

Teas Downed: 30

The Final Sipdown: Day 16.1

Lots of phone calls happening today. Could be because my throat is dry from a nearly one and a half hour phone conversation, but I am gulping this down right now. Need to slow down to log it, but can’thelpitmustdrink.

Phew, okay. That was a close one. Still got some left.

There’s a lot of bitterness in this cup even though I only steeped it for 30 seconds [ish] but I put a lot of leaf in that little strainer and so that might be the culprit.

That bitter taste is met with a high, sugary, fruity sweetness. It tapers off at the finish and is completely overwhelmed by the sweeter part of this tea. The aftertaste is actually quite lovely.

As for the apple, it’s definitely present in the scent [at one point I got the smell of rubber cement in the scent of the liquid, though, and that wasn’t so nice]. Though it remains in the taste it isn’t nearly as obvious it is in the aroma. The apple comes through most clearly for me in the finish.

Here’s what I find interesting about this tea. The closest thing it’s tasting like in terms of liquid apple concoctions is sparkling apple cider. What it really tastes like, though, is apple. Like real apple juice. As in the juice that squirts out when you bite into an apple; not that sugary bottled stuff. I’m finding it light and refreshing. Springy, almost.

In the wake of the fact that I came home to the lid of my kyusu being BWOH-KEN [mistakes happen, but that sucker was over fifty dollars], I am going to take what enjoyment I can get. While I don’t like the fact that I really can’t taste the green tea in this tea, it’s lightening my mood. Well, that and this episode of Sarah’s House that I’m watching. And the Christmas tree.

I’m just going to sit here, finish this cup, and woo-sah. And bump the rating on this a bit.

Teas Downed: 29

The Final Sipdown: Day 15.4

Drat. I was hoping to do a proper Showdown, until I compared steep two of Specifically Tea’s Lung Ching and was met by astringency. It’s very light, mind you, but it’s there. Glancing over Jillian’s logs, I see that I should have, perhaps, gone for the third steep, but there ain’t nothing that can be done because I’ve thrown the leaves out already to make way for this guy. Showdown fail.

But we must move on, because this tea deserves a proper send off.

Dragonwell has been a historically light tea for me, and this one is no exception. Light doesn’t mean without complexity, thankfully, and so I find myself having to pull away from distraction and concentrate on what’s happening in this cup.

This tea has managed to retain its flavor even though it’s been about a year since I drank it. One of those teas I was holding off on finishing because it was so tasty, but didn’t get purchased for reason x, y, or 72.

Drinking this, even warm, is simply refreshing. The flavors seep into my tongue in a breezy, carefree manner. A saltiness rounded off by a complimentary leafy sugary flavor almost reminiscent of a particularly sweet bite of iceberg lettuce. A flavor that softly hints at roasted pine nuts adds warmth and depth to what would be approaching a crystalline flavor profile. The aftertaste, almost tasteless but with just a touch of flavor to remind you that something was there, feels clean.

These two dragonwells are so similar, yet when given the amount of attention they demand present enough differences to make them both worthy of a space in the cupboard. I’m going to have to remedy the near absence of delicious dragonwells in my stash. And soon.

In the meantime, I will simply be grateful for the fact that I was kindly introduced to two different varieties of this lovely tea by Steepsterites. In the interest of marking their brief presence in my tea drinking experience, and also inspired by the onset of holiday goodness in our house, I leave you with a picture.

http://flic.kr/p/8WGW5L

Teas Downed: 28

The Final Sipdown: Day 15.3

Finishing off the last of this sample from Jillian and I’m fully regretting that I apparently didn’t rinse the cup out well enough because I can taste black tea swirling around in this.

Shockingly, however, the flavors in this tea are holding their own. It’s such a light, subtle tea that instinct tells me it should be wheezing out its last words while it is smothered by the remnants of the cup’s prior resident. But no, the grassy, salty, nutty qualities are still there and this tea remains just as refreshing as I remember it.

Also, I don’t know if it’s partially due to the black tea, but the nutty sweetness in this tea is fully reminding me of unsalted pistachios right now.

I’m going to need to wash this cup out properly and give it a second steep because regardless of how much gumption this little guy has, it seems I’m doing it an injustice by allowing my last experience with it [for now] to be tainted. Yes, I’m going to go wash it now.

Ah, yes. There we go. Mmm…delightful. This tea is likely in store for some kind of a ratings bump, but I am tempted to try it facing Dragonwell Spring and see how that goes.

Yes. Here we go.

Teas Downed: 27

The Final Sipdown: Day 15.2

A little bit late to be drinking black tea, but I was able to get to sleep at a decent hour last night and so I’m going to roll with it because I’ve been picking samples out mostly at random.

I’ve had enough black tea that I’ve become accustomed to certain scent profiles and feel that I know roughly what to expect when I take a sip. The aroma wafting up from this tea is malty and deep with a note of hay and old-book-mustiness. This tea completely contrasted with what I was expecting to taste [something dark and malty] and let me tell you, that was a really foreign experience for me. I think I actually made a noise when I tasted it the first time.

There is definitely a maltiness within this, but what I mainly get is something akin to caramel chews. Specifically, those Kraft caramel squares that came in the plastic packaging. It doesn’t really hit me anywhere on my tongue, it’s mainly in the slurp and then it dissipates rather quickly.

And then there’s this strange, lighter flavor. I had a lot of trouble placing it and spent a few minutes contemplating it and then it hit me: Raisinets. This tea reminds me exactly of Raisinets. Both the chocolate – that specific flavor that the chocolate coating takes on – and the raisin center. I don’t know how to explain it beyond that, because Raisinets have a distinct flavor to them, but perhaps those of you who have had them know what I’m talking about?

The only problem for me, and it’s a biggie I’m afraid, is that there is a lot of astringency in this and I’m not finding it pleasant. I very much think that this could be because I dumped the entire sample in. Maybe if I had gone with a shorter steep time I could have avoided it, but as it stands it’s making it difficult to finish the cup. The aftertaste is pleasantly sweet, however. The raisin taste really comes through in the end. And while the players in this cup are not particularly new-sounding compared to what I typically get out of black teas, it is combining in a manner that is making this tea both alien and familiar, and I’m finding myself quite intrigued by it.

I’m actually somewhat sad that the sample is gone, but Adagio samplers don’t hit the bank very hard and thanks to TFS [and the generosity of Steepsterites like Erin I’m finding some teas that may have me placing a small order with Adagio.

It might be time to try some milk and sugar in this to see if I can temper the bitterness in this cup. I’ll be sure to edit the end of this log if I do. But for now…

ETA: A little bit of milk and sugar did indeed lessen the bitterness of this tea. It also decreased the sensations of everything else involved rather dramatically, but that’s somewhat expected. I still get Raisinets and caramel, so I’m not really complaining and I’ve been able to finish the cup this way. I’ve also noticed that this tea is leaving my mouth rather dry. Ah, paper tongue. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.

Teas Downed: 26

The Final Sipdown: Day 15.1

This sample came to me from Micah right when I was beginning to build up a real appreciation for kukicha. I was thinking that all kukicha was universally magnificent, and then I tried this sample.

That sounds like a dig. It’s not meant to be. Because in the same way that superheroes are really only as impressive as their enemies make them out to be, having a relatively mediocre tea can only make the good ones taste even better.

Not-so-great teas save me from taking the good teas for granted. One cannot even near-accurately label anything to be the peak of greatness without a decent spectrum of experience in the matter.

Looking at my prior rating on this tea, I find myself not wanting to adjust it. The drink is not…the best. It’s got this dull bitterness about it and lacks butteriness. Curious, I find myself going back to read my log and comparing this to the pith of an orange pretty much nails how this tea tastes to me.

The aftertaste is full of chlorophylly goodness, but it can’t save the tea. It has been said that the journey is more important than the destination, and while I only half agree with this, the journey that this tea travels to get to the finish does not boost, complement, or do anything to positively affect the aftertaste of the tea. Which is unfortunate.

And so, I bid adieu to Den’s kukicha sans regrets and look forward to future encounters with eager eyes.

Teas Downed: 25

The Final Sipdown: Day 14.3

Hmm… Could drinking black tea at this hour have been a misstep? I GUESS WE’LL FIND OUT.

Ever smell something and have an image flash immediately into your head?

Here’s what I get with this one:

Staring at the hay covered floor of a county fair as a child.

Brewed, this tea smells unmistakingly of barn. It smacks of barn. Get a little closer to it, and it smells more of malt, but from about a foot away? BARN.

Erin was kind enough to send me a rather generous sample of this tea, but given that TFS is upon me, I dumped the entire thing into my Breville and hoped against hope that I wasn’t putting too much tea into it.

Luckily, the tea doesn’t taste overly astringent so I can only assume that my going heavy on the leaf was not a mistake [going light on the steep time may also have helped].

This is a pleasantly smooth black tea with a mouthfeel that sits somewhere between oily and silky. I get a nice, malty flavor from it rather consistently. Somewhat strangely, though, the taste of hay is equally present when I aerate and in the finish.

I’ve smelled hay in black tea before. [Jackee Muntz possesses it, for one.] But the taste of the tea hasn’t ever really possessed it before. And the taste of the hay in this tea is specifically barn hay. [Those who have been around fresh hay and been around a barn know that the scents, while related, are different. Those who have been around fresh hay and been around a barn also know what factors lead to those differences. The rest of you can probably figure it out on your own.] Meaning that in some bizarrely abstract twist, this tea tastes of barn. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

There is a starchiness about Golden Spring as well, but I can’t relay it to anything specific. The aftertaste, however, tastes a bit like a bagel. I’m not really sure where the meat comes into all of this, because I don’t taste it. Unless you count that there are animals in barns. Animals are meat, I guess.

Hardly any astringency, a smidgeon of sweetness, and overall what I would consider a decent black tea. Not overly complex, but sometimes that’s what you need in the morning. Is it leaping forward as something I’d prefer over Eight at the Fort, or some of the better Ceylons I’ve had? No, it’s not. But I’m not going to peg it as something that might not grow on me. If I find myself contemplating upon it during this week, I might pick up a few ounces to keep around.

[And let’s be honest – considering my relationship with Adagio, that’s really saying something.]

Teas Downed: 24

The Final Sipdown: Day 14.2

I’ll confess: I dumped my entire sample of this [thanks teaplz!] into the strainer. I figured it was honeybush, so it wouldn’t really make a difference and I’d just steep it at the shortest end of the recommended steep time range. The tea brew was dark, dark, dark which made me nervous, but I could smell strawberry from a few feet away, so I figured it probably wasn’t horrible.

And it wasn’t.

But it also wasn’t fantastic.

This seems to be a theme for me.

The smell of the strawberry was strong. It was accompanied by a strong smell of caramel. Both of these components were present in the taste of the tea, albeit the caramel was rather weak and only appeared at the front of the sip and at the tip of the tongue, and the strawberry was disappointingly watery.

Also present was a medicinal taste that seems to accompany a lot of these honeybush/rooibus flavored blends.

When I think about this tea, I keep thinking, “That wasn’t too bad.” But really, when I have a solid stack of really great herbals at my disposal, why bother?

Also, does anyone else think that Smooth Strawberry Dream kind of sounds like a race horse name?

Teas Downed: 23

The Final Sipdown: Day 14.1

Oh, brother. Only on tea 22 and I’m already using a save. [For those who haven’t read, I have allotted myself five saves so I don’t have to finish a sample I particularly like. You can probably guess where this log is going.]

It’s official, I’m a Japanese green fangirl. I can’t help it! And let me tell you, it’s funny to me because it isn’t even necessarily the taste of the actual tea that I am enamored with. Yes, the buttery, creamy quality that many of them [including this tea] encompass is absolutely deeee-LIGHT-ful. Especially my dear, sweet kukicha. [Would it be weird to name a dog Kukicha? It’s fun to say.] The vegetal, sweet grassy notes are ones I find quite tasty, especially in concert with the other flavors that Japanese greens tend to offer.

No, the thing that I most love about Japanese greens is the aftertaste. When I’m drinking a good one, it’s absolutely sensational. Sweet and refreshing, light and yet strong, it’s a study in distilled fullness.

I don’t think that I really have that much a sweet tooth, mainly because after those first few bites that’s usually enough for me; I get over saturated on sugar. But that moment right after swallowing a particularly good bite of cake? Oh, bliss. When all the little flavors linger and swirl into a sweet shadow of the essence of what used to be. It’s like a patronus of cake. [Sorry, I’ve got Harry Potter on the brain.] That is what the aftertaste of a good Japanese green is like to me.

This particular one has a distinct citrus note to me – specifically orange. The astringent note in it even reminds me of the bitterness in orange pith. All the regular players are present and accounted for – the grassy, vegetal notes are front and center. There is a light buttery, creamy component, though it is not anywhere near as noticeable as it is on kukicha. And I’m also getting a slightly nutty note. But it’s the citrusy note give it a refreshing lift. It’s making me think of the yuzu sencha I have, but the citrus note isn’t quite that pronounced. It’s much more subtle, and yet it has presence. Now that I’ve noticed it, I can’t stop paying attention to it.

Making this tea has not only led me to a second steep, but it’s made me break out my kyusu. Don’t you realize I don’t have time to dally about with second steeps right now, tea? And yet, I find myself not really wanting to hurry, and simply to breathe.

Breathe, and appreciate being home and having a day off tomorrow.

Breathe, and be thankful for the days I have left with my family.

Breathe, and marvel at the myriad of flavors that tea can provide while the sweetness rolls over my tongue.

And now, in the way that tea has of teaching me things I wasn’t necessarily planning on learning, I am beginning to realize something. Half of the beauty in Japanese greens for me might not even lie in the physical sensations it provides, but the natural inclination to slow down and ponder upon exhalation.

Teas Downed: 22
Saves Used: 1

The Final Sipdown: Day 13.1
[For the sake of clarity, I’m logging this one the day after. Blame the full stomach and the comfortable couch. Damn you, couch!]

Ugh, the only thing that rued anything yesterday was my stomach. I drank this tea, started to log it, and promptly fell asleep on my couch. So. Much. FOOD. I’m sure y’all can relate.

[That being said, I hope everyone had fabulous Thanksgivings.]

Grapefruit Green. If I liked grapefruit more, I suspect that I’d also like this tea more. Unsurprisingly.

The smell had a sharp grapefruit note to it that was tempered by the vegetal component of the green tea. Strangely, I got an overwhelming sense of cooked green beans at a few points while I was waiting for it to cool.

Not to be deterred, I drank. It was…kind of strange. The grapefruit didn’t appear to me for a while, and even when it did it tasted a bit of chemicals. The green tea was there, but eventually the grapefruit had it in a chokehold and I couldn’t taste it anymore, and there was a bizarre strain of bitterness that ran through the entire thing that I think was in part due to the fact that grapefruit has a bitter-sour quality about it and in part due to the strange chemical taste I was getting from the tea.

Also, at points I received a fleeting scent [and taste, but mostly scent] of fruit gum. Which is funny because Auggy, who was also the sender of this tea, mentioned gum in her log [I think]. Specifically it reminds me of Stride Gum’s Forever Fruit, which in turn reminds me of the one Japanese gum I have ever tried. It’s a unique flavor. This tea, however, is not playing out for me in a uniquely good way. It’s not something I’ll be buying. For the grapefruit lovers out there, however, it may indeed be worth a go.

Teas Downed: 21

The Final Sipdown: Day 12.2

Got this tea thanks to the ever generous Auggy and I must say it was one of the ones I was most excited to try. However, pretty descriptions does not a pleasant tea make, because…

This tea sounds a lot more impressive than how it tastes. Mostly, I am getting hay. Hay with maybe a hint of not particularly distinct floral. The tea itself tastes of the smell of hay, if that makes sense. And…I’m thinking raisins?

I dunno. I used the entire sample and, much like my prior log, am finding this not unpleasant, but altogether unremarkable.

Is it because I’m so tired? I feel slightly guilty that these teas might be served a light injustice via my fatigue, and so I’m going to call it a night and leave these both sans ratings.

In an effort to catch up, I am going to officially declare tomorrow Tea Day. Down with turkey! Up with tea! And up with being awake enough to pay attention when I’m drinking tea and cogent enough to log them without writing idiotic logs. Time to go to sleep to the dulcet tones of Vince Guaraldi. How is it that A Charlie Brown Christmas is so simultaneously dull and comforting at the same time? It’s a holiday tranquilizer.

Anyway, nothing, AND I MEAN NOTHING, is going to keep me from counting this towards my TFS total. Tomorrow, TFS shall rue my existence! For now, Christmas tiiiiiiime is heeeere, haaaappinesssss and cheeeeer… Zzzzz.

Teas Downed: 20

The Final Sipdown: Day 12.1

I thought time was flying, and then I realized I let six days slip by without logging something in for TFS. Crazy weekend, coming home exhausted [and falling asleep near immediately] after work, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving in these here United States already. TOMORROW.

Time isn’t flying, it’s apparating.

Why yes, that was a Harry Potter reference, don’tmindmethankyou.

Just about a month left in this crazy challenge and I’m filled with new determination to complete it [though, ironically, four separate tea packages arrived at my house today, only one of which was self-induced]. When it rains, it pours, right? Not that I’m really sad about it all…of all the things to be showered in, tea hardly merits a complaint.

But I digress.

The tea. It tasted like a darker oolong, but apparently it isn’t? Or maybe it is?

Wow.

Um, I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be but it had a kind of roasty quality to it. Nothing sparking any kind of major interest here. It’s not a bad tea, but it’s not a terribly interesting tea for me. And yet it’s not quite bland enough to be meh…it’s just above meh…

I should not be allowed to write logs tonight, despite the fact that I have clearly been endowed with a super-human ability for succinctness.

Right, try again. Darker flavors with a roasty quality. Maybe just a shadow of the honeyed, buttery, nectary tones I usually get out of the greener oolongs, but not nearly enough to be a game changer for me. Not particularly complex. If I chance across it later in life, I’d be willing to try it again, but I won’t be buying it. Nevertheless I appreciate the opportunity to try it, and perhaps even more so…

I appreciate the opportunity to [symbolically] decupboard it [as I never actually cupboarded it in the first place, it seems].

Teas Downed: 19

The Final Sipdown: Day 6.6

Funny that they should compare this to jasmine tea in the description, because that is exactly what this smells like. A the tail end of the scent, I get what I think might be magnolia, but I can really only identify it as something between rhododendron and artichoke because we’re not far south enough to get a lot of magnolias around here and I haven’t had much opportunity to acquaint myself with them.

Anyhow, this also smells like an oolong. Like Auggy [the giver of this tea] has mentioned, it also smells like it should be buttery. It isn’t.

In fact, it’s on the whole unremarkable, though it could be a decent starter tea for someone who’s never had an oolong. It’s lightly floral and a teensy vegetal with a wafer-thin buttery quality. I also understeeped this on accident, so that could be part of why I’m finding it rather bland, but it’s not something I’ll be seeking anytime soon. Not when I have so many good oolongs already shuffling for places in my life. It’s not a tea that has much going on in it, and so it’s not a tea I’ll be writing any more about.

Teas Downed: 18

The Final Sipdown: Day 6.5

This tea is incredible.

Can I say it again?

This tea is incredible.

Unlike flavored alcohol, I find that I really appreciate it when I can taste the derivative beverage in a tea. The taste of alcohol makes me cringe. The taste of tea typically has the opposite effect, and so I greatly appreciate it when the taste of the tea and any other flavors it might involve can play together nicely.

Let’s begin with the scent of the leaves, shall we? It’s got an earthiness about it, but mainly I smell dark chocolate. I have a large bar of Scharffen Berger sitting upstairs that I use for cooking, and that is what I immediately thought of when I smelled these leaves.

The smell of the liquid mimics the leaf scent almost identically, with a bit more of a sweet edge. The chocolate swings between dark chocolate and cocoa.

And then the tea…

The tea is delicious. Aside from the aforementioned flavors, I get notes of caramel, brown sugar, dates, and pecans. On the aftertaste, there’s just a slight, slight tingle of spiciness. Just enough to imply heat. And it feels like I just indulged in some dark chocolate.

Listen, I gulped this cup down before I could really pay attention to it, and while I’d love to go for a second steep I fear that I have too many teas to get through tonight and thus is one of the downsides of TFS.

I will, however, say that from what I’ve tasted, this takes whatever chocolatey or desserty teas I’ve tried have attempted to do, and it does it considerably better. It even takes what teas have not necessarily been attempting cocoa or chocolate [one that comes to mind is that dragon ball pearl tea whatever it’s called from Adagio] and it makes them look like chumps. Like chumps.

I will also say that I am immensely glad that Auggy decided I was worth parting with some of her sample from Angrboda so that I could try this. And also that I will be seriously looking into ordering from TeaSpring. And soon.

Teas Downed: 17

The Final Sipdown: Day 6.4

Soldiering on, I come to a tea sent by Auggy that has intrigued me ever since I got it. Catching a whiff of the leaves, this smells strongly of a combination of fruit gum, apple cider, and cherry [specifically sour cherry]. The liquid combines these same scents, and the more I think about it, the more I begin the realize the similarities between the three. I’m not sure what about it makes me think apple cider, but it does indeed remind me of sweet apple cider.

All these elements are in the taste as well, making it one of the most consistent leaf to aroma to drink teas I’ve ever tried. But the drink is far more complex.

Before I get into taste, the coloring warrants a note. It’s a deep, brown color that’s not quite coppery like most black teas are. Instead it has a red that falls somewhere between auburn and burgundy tint to it. It’s really very pretty and I find myself staring the highlights thrown into it by the light.

The black tea is there, but it’s super faint for me and comes out mainly right at the start of the sip. The astringency I get at the end, as well, is due to [I think] the black tea. What I find interesting is that it’s not difficult for me to find the black tea because the taste is so loud; it’s difficult to find because the taste has so much going on. If that makes sense.

For one, I get a cinnamon flavor that I think is part of what’s making me think of apple cider. Also, just a hint of juicy cherry more noticeable after aeration and in the finish. Juicy sweet cherry, akin to Luden’s cough drops, but also sour cherry like pie filling. I can’t taste the peppercorn that’s in it, really, though I think it might be lending itself to some of the fruity flavors in coming out of this tea. Oh wait, no. There it is when I swish it around. [At first glance, I thought those peppercorns were goji berries, but they’re not oblong enough. After scanning the logs, as the description is no help, thanks to Jillian I discovered that they are peppercorns. Funnily enough, though, I do get a hint of goji berry in the taste.] What else? Not enough for me to be able to dissect at the moment. There seriously is a lot going on.

The curious thing is that there’s not much of an aftertaste for me. Simply a whisper of sweetness that rides the breath. On occasion, I curiously [or perhaps not] get black cherry.

This is a flavor unlike any tea I’ve ever tried, and while I’m really not in love with it I could see it being something that grows on me. For the time being, however, it is unique and not crazy loud enough to be what I consider a flavored mess.

If I find myself placing a Lupicia order, I may pick up a small amount of this to play around with because it’s really making my palate feel challenged. Right now, it’s not enough to justify starting an order up on its own.

Teas Downed: 16

The Final Sipdown: Day 6.3

Another tea from Auggy that I received way back. As a person not enamored with artichokes, I was not super enthusiastic about trying this tea, but I decided to stop whinging about it and JUST. DO. IT.

The tea smells exactly like White Cucumber. Well, maybe not exactly, but exactly what I remember White Cucumber smelling like. Luckily, I had already developed a steely resolve towards finishing this sample and could not be deterred from dumping it in the Breville and sending it off.

The liquid smells of fruit.

It tastes of…I’m not sure. Fruit? Faintly. Blandness [because sure, you can taste blandness]? Faintly. Water? Yes. Bitterness? Yes, at the back of my tongue. White cucumber scent? Unfortunately, yes, in the finish. Artichoke?

…

Again, I’m not really sure. I think I get it a bit at the finish and in the aftertaste, but the taste of artichoke is rather distinct and I feel like it would be more obvious.

I think I put too much water in when I made this tea because it’s rather weak. Likely this was a subconscious effort to reduce the flavor of a tea I reckoned I wouldn’t like. Either that, or it simply hasn’t held up as well as the other samples I have tried thus far [though the smell would certainly protest loudly]. Regardless, the flavors I found were not fantastic.

As it cools, it is not faring any better, and so I will bid this tea adieu without regrets.

Teas Downed: 15

The Final Sipdown: Day 6.2

It’s a slightly overcast, though otherwise no less beautiful fall day. After momentarily debating over which tea to ELIMINATE next [sorry, I write a word like ELIMINATE and feel as though it needs to be said in all caps], Auggy reminded me that she had sent over some of Kusmi’s Caramel in the last package I received from her.

No brainer.

Using the entire sample [and it was sizeable], I made a large pot in the Breville and poured about a third of it into my tumbler to take while I took the dog out for a walk. Apart from the fact that the tumbler [I keep wanting to type that as tumblr] I have keeps the tea HOTHOTHOT for a long time [great when I’m drinking throughout the day, not so much in the short term], it was a delightful companion to my afternoon excursion.

That said, drinking tea whilst walking a very curious dog does not lend itself to paying attention to nuances within a tea. So I was happy that I had a near full pot waiting me when I returned so that I could log it properly.

This tea is smoooooth. It tastes of caramel, but not in an overtly flavored way. The black tea flavor is nearly always threading in and out of the caramel flavor in a pleasant, complimentary manner. At times I get notes of dates and cocoa, but the caramel is the star here and it is delicious. As the tea cools, I tend to get more astringency from it, but the aftertaste always is silky, part-salty-part-sweet caramel.

I have spent the majority of today sipping on this whilst Little Dog sleeps nearby, I catch up on DVR’d things, and I recover from yesterday. Thoroughly enjoyable, and should I find myself at Dean & Deluca in the near future, I hope I’ll be able to snag a tin of this [though I don’t recall seeing it the last time I was there]. Part of me is now wishing I had used one of my self-alloted five saves to keep part of this sample later, but it’s just giving me another reason to push through TFS so I can justify purchasing a tin.

Little Dog | http://bit.ly/cgMywy
Foliage | http://bit.ly/cb6e5y

And just to reiterate: I ABSOLUTELY ENDORSE THIS TEA.

Teas Downed: 14

The Final Sipdown: Day 6.1

I’m starting day six of TFS on the tail of a sadly empty day. Yesterday I spent the entire day sleeping [or trying to sleep] off a migraine that culminated in a bit of prayer to the porcelain god last night and this morning. Yes, yes, all together unpleasant but I’m feeling quite a bit better today and prepared to make up for yesterday’s lapse.

Hello, Rose Congou. I recall being told that you were “not the best” upon receipt via Auggy and therefore I’ve been unmotivated about trying you out. Today, however, is a day for vanquishing and productivity, and so – here we go.

Oh, and also, I lowered steep time and temperature on this by quite a bit because I used a lot of leaf on this pot.

The dry leaf smells of rose, but I can also smell the black tea and that gives me some hope. I’m not a huge fan of rose anything, and so that has probably added to my trepidation towards trying this guy. Smelling the liquid gives me that mix of rose and black tea again, along with a hint of lychee, so closing my eyes, I tip the cup and go in.

Hmm.

Not unpleasant. The black tea – which lends dark, malty notes and a smidgeon of astringency – is the main flavor until I aerate it a bit, and then the rose comes through, especially in the finish. Lots of sweetness in the front. The aftertaste is pretty light, but I get a hint of…is that dark chocolate? Yes, I think so.

This tea wasn’t nearly as scary as I was making it out to be in my head. It was actually quite pleasant. Is it something I’ll be buying? No, probably not. But that’s mainly because pleasant or not, I still am not a big rose fan. Even though it’s surprisingly close to lychee in flavor. Maybe it’s just a hump I need to get myself over. In the meantime, I’ll finish this pot and enjoy the rest of this episode of Cougar Town.

Teas Downed: 13

The Final Sipdown: Day 4.3

There we are. Delightful.

This tea smells of vanilla, and is that hazelnut? Maybe it’s because I’ve got hazelnut on the brain right now. I put way too much tea in here and tried to compensate by lowering the steep time. While it seems it could have stood [I just tried to use the word standed…what?] to have been lowered more, I can still taste the vanilla.

Not much to say about this tea. It tastes of rooibos. It tastes of bourbon vanilla [mainly in the finish and in the aftertaste]. Both flavors are fairly loud so if you don’t like one or the other, I wouldn’t bother with this tea.

Also, while it is tasty, as is bound to happen I’ve had better in the span of a year. And thus, a bump down is in order.

That’s all folks; I need bed. Bed needs me. Bed bed bed. And so on. I go to sleep on a cloud of vanilla. Not a bad way to hit the sack.

Teas Downed: 12

The Final Sipdown: Day 4.2

Y’all, we are in the middle of a RAIN. STORM. I can hear it coming down in sheets on the other side of my window shade and, oh yes, right on cue – thunder. Rain like this makes me wish I had a screened in porch to enjoy it from, but as I don’t I’ll settle for making some more tea and finding a blanket.

The wet…leaves?…smell of a strange melange of butter and cedar sawdust and [unsurprisingly] hazelnut. The tea is OUCH. Too hot to drink.

Sniffing the hot liquid, I get a whiff of butter + hazelnut again with an added note of popcorn, and that makes me excited to retry this tea. I’m catching up on last week’s episode of Castle, so I’ll wait patiently for this to cool so I can try again it. I’ll just sit here and smell it while the rain pounds down. Waiting patiently. Waiting…patiently. Watching a commercial about Djibouti. Djibouti is fun to say. So is

Argh, impatient. Going to try this again.

Hmm. Bother. I’m remembering why I rated this so low. It tastes like cardboard. Specifically…tongue depressors. Like the taste of a popsicle stick once the popsicle was gone. That’s what this tea tastes like. Except it doesn’t even seize that completely as it’s watery.

Blast. That was a disappointment. I’m going to grab tea number three. In the meantime, however, I’m going to continue to smell this. Mmm…

Teas Downed: 11

The Final Sipdown: Day 4.1

This came as a free sample the last time I ordered from Tavalon, which was [in congruency with the theme of my Final Sipdown run] a while ago. First, let me say that this was labeled as “Cool Mint.” Sniffing the bag, I was reminded yet again of Mr. Bubble briefly, but then…

Do y’all remember Fun Dip? I say remember, but it may very well still be around. For those not in the know, Fun Dip is essentially a long packet divided into four or so pouches. Three pouches contain flavored, colored sugar powder. The last pouch contains one or more sticks [think short tongue depressors] made of some solidified formula containing mostly, you guessed it, sugar. The point of Fun Dip is to lick the sugar sticks, dip it in the flavored sugar powder, and then drive your parents crazy before you fall asleep in a sugar coma. They used to sell these at the snack bar during swim meets, and me and my friends would always try to snag one of these and split it, figuring that between the group of us we could find at least one parent willing to buy one. Kind of disgusting, now that I think about it, both because of the germs and because of all that sugar, but that is what this tea immediately brings to mind. It also kind of smells like pixie sticks – a product very similar to Fun Dip – which the boys on our swim team once sat around snorting on a dare. Actually, it might not have even been a dare. They might have just been doing it for fun, which pretty much solidifies all boy vs. girl childhood stereotypes. I won’t bother describing what came out during the [much later] expulsion of said pixie sticks.

So taking a sip of this tea and uh, yeah. First, there is NO WAY this is Cool Mint. After looking at the tea in the bag, and searching the Tavalon tea base, I have determined that this must be Crimson Punch and so I will log it as so. Second, there’s pretty much no way I’m going to be able to finish this without sugar because, OHWOWSOUR. Reluctantly, I drag myself upstairs [I have spent the entire day going up and down and up and down and up and down stairs and pretty much hate them by the end of the day] and get some sugar because oh why the hell not. I can’t drink it anyway because it’s really that sour, so MIGHT AS WELL.

It tastes like Kool-Aid. Hot Kool-Aid.

This is just ridiculous. And yet, it’s not like I would throw Kool-Aid down the sink if it were given to me, so I’ll finish it. I can taste hints of cranberry and apple, but…I mean, if I were rating sugary children’s drinks this might get relatively high marks. As a tea though? Well. The rating shall reflect.

Teas Downed: 10