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Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Saturday, June 12th: National Red Rose Day Tea #3

additional notes:  Started steep #1 last night, to do steep #2 tonight!  Like Mastress Alita’s note for this mentioned, the flavor here is fading fast.  Sadly these bright magenta raspberries aren’t imparting much raspberry flavor anymore and I’m mainly just tasting a hint of rose.  But the blend idea is so nice and visually, it looks amazing.  I wish the flavors were better.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Saturday, June 12th: National Red Rose Day Tea #2

additional notes:  Another good one to have today!  Honestly, the tuochas look small for the amount of puerh leaf I use, and the first tuocha I took out of the pouch looked smaller than the others, so then I found another smaller one and decided to brew both up at the same time, as an experiment.  Then the leaves just exploded in the steep basket, so yes, I forget how compact these little guys are.  Was two tuochas too much tuocha?  Not for me.  I like my puerh super dark like a coffee!  Which this was.  Though the rose doesn’t age as gracefully as puerh is supposed to age which means the rose is hardly in the cup anymore.   Would I use two tuochas again?  I would have to try one again soon to see if there is much of a difference in flavor. 

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Saturday, June 12th: National Red Rose Day Tea #1

Perfect time to make a note for this!  I was crossing my fingers, hoping this was good, ordered two ounces since it wasn’t one of the teas that was on sale.  Sadly, not steeping up as the tea I dreamed. (I think I might be thinking of a Davidstea blend that I sampled that I wish this was like?) But who ever gets cherry tea right?  There should be actual cherry pieces in the blend – I don’t see any. There is rose at least, but mostly this is a ton of sencha.  The scent of the dry leaf is a bit odd.  I’m not really smelling or tasting cherry or rose.  I hate to say it, but it’s more like that dreaded bubblegum flavor that I sometimes find in flavored teas.  The second cup almost tasted like plain green, and very bland at that.  I don’t think it gets more flavorful from here… this is such a fresh tea! Too bad, and I was really trying to be delicate with the steeps too.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 40 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 min

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – June Theme: A June Wedding Tea #3

additional notes: Fits for OLD and BLUE. Sipped this down with a fantastic bowl of maple blueberry oatmeal which I thought was perfect. The flavors in the oatmeal made up for the lack in the tea. But you lived a long time, tea, a long long time… the perfect sendoff anyway!
2021 sipdowns: 81

Thanks very much, AJRimmer! This seems like a summery blend. The blend looks mostly rooibos but I’d rather that than mostly hibiscus. I like the flavor! Interestingly, there are only TWO blends called Eton Mess on Steepster. It does remind me a bit of Bird & Blend’s Eton Mess which is going neglected. sigh. OR EVEN their Jelly + Ice Cream blend actually. Maybe a mix of both blends…. which doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Very sweet, hint of cream or vanilla and some berries. A bit tart but not too tart. A nice lingering flavor. The second steep as well, very spot on flavor that I imagine an Eton Mess would taste like. Sweet berries and cream, tartness is gone in this steep. Lots of flavor here! I would DEFINITELY use this as a replacement for Jelly + Ice Cream, plus this blend doesn’t have that pesky coconut, so it has longer shelf life. A favorite from Pudtea so far! (I have a handful remaining to try.)
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 min after boiling // 3 min

Yep, a coconut tea, which I don’t like to stock up on these days, but this was $1 and only an ounce.  I woke up this morning thinking this blend might be a disaster so I wanted to drink it today just to check.  It’s very good though!  I didn’t think the  green yerba mate flavor would work with the coconut flavor, but it tastes seamless here. I actually had to check to see if this really was yerba mate – and it is.  Maybe yerba mate tastes earthier the older it gets?  It’s very mellow here!  I’m sure it being mixed with a black tea helps balance the flavor.  And I can really appreciate a FRESH coconut tea.  It’s so good here.  Tastes just like a coconut macaroon and I’m not sure how mixed with black tea and yerba mate!  Even the second steep is lovely at boiling, maybe a slight bit of the base flavors more present.  I’m glad I spent that dollar on this. 
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

additional notes: I woke up today wanting 1) a coffee tea and 2) a melon tea, so this was the perfect fit for today. I’m glad I thought of it. The flavors are of course by now fading, but the lingering memories are lovely enough. This is still better than 98% of fresher teas. Have I said lately that I REALLY wish Butiki would come back? triple sigh.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – June Theme: A June Wedding Tea #2

  This one fits for NEW and also BLUE.   It’s from my newest order (the only order this year!)    Some of these teas, I just wanted to try because they were $1.   I drank this yesterday.  The description says “tropical” and citrus flavors,  the dry leaf had a very strong grapefruit flavor, drowning out whatever “tropical” flavor notes… I could tell there was another layer to the flavor, but not specifically what it was. The description said the mug should have had “specks of blue”? Didn’t notice/wasn’t looking for them.   A tiny amount of hibiscus is there too, which is all well and fine, nothing overpowering.  The second steep might have been overdone, the flavor was a bit offputting…a bit more like a cleaner than the fresh grapefruit of the first steep.  Of course, I finished the cup anyway.
Steep #1 // 1 1/3 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – June Theme: A June Wedding Tea #1

I might try finding a bunch of teas to fit this theme all month.  I thought finding a tea old, new, borrowed, blue would be too easy if I was looking for a tea to fit only ONE of those categories!  So my rule is that each tea must fit TWO of those options. This tea fits for OLD and BORROWED.  It’s one of my oldest teas.   I think it was part of the first ever teabox I participated in, and then when the teabox was done, there was some of this remaining, so I liked it so much the person who ended up with the teabox actually sent me the remainder of this tea and another one I liked!  So it is “borrowed” on multiple levels.   Flavors are fading now but it still has the most unique smoky flavor of any smoky tea I have ever had. Next time a sipdown.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Tuesday, June 1st: World Milk Day Tea #2

additional notes: An actual sipdown with ‘milk’ in the name!  Not What-cha’s finest tea but it’s still a lovely oolong.  I have sampled this tea before but this sample was from Kawaii433 – thank you!
2020 sipdowns: 79