336 Tasting Notes
Sip Down
This was nicely roasted, but the leaves were a bit smaller than most other Dancongs I’ve had. I’m guessing that this is meant to be Western brewed based on leafage. This isn’t the highest quality of Dancong one may hope to get, but it’s a good tea as a daily drinker and/or whenever you’re wanting something with a moderate amount of roast.
I was getting tired of Lipton becoming the only tea option at the office. My boss wouldn’t allow me to order any other tea on the account, “Lipton is familiar,” so I took it into my own hands to bring a box of Tetley into the office. It has become a crowd favorite! Now, there are two reasons why I purchased a box of teabags for the team. 1. I’ve tried loose leaf options, and it was a bit complex for most non-tea heads working there. That’s fair; and 2. I wanted a step up from Lipton, but easy for the team to make a cup at work.
What inspired this specific tea was the accidental dive into How to make English cups of tea videos that the YT algorithm sent my way. There was a reviewer who tasted plenty of tea bags that were offered, and Tetley was one of the top 3 or 4. I let curiosity win, and my local Walmart had one box left! Is it the best tea? Not by a longshot, but there’s something familiar in brewing this tea.
This was a favorite of Ashman long ago, recommended to use in our pre-loose leaf days by a British woman who said it was the closest thing she had found here to what she drank in England.
It’s not bad! I wouldn’t drink it on the daily, but it’s a good tea for the 1-2 office days. It’s definitely one BIG step up from what they had.
Sip Down & Backlog
A coworker was trying to get into tea, and they said that they grabbed everything that sounded interesting while visiting Ohio tea Co. Unfortunately for them, this was something that they purchased, only to discover, it has cucumber in the title. They asked if I was interested in taking this off their hands, and while I love cucumbers, I typically don’t like to sip cucumber drinks (e.g. water or tea). To my surprise, this was a refreshing tea with more melon notes than cucumber. It was better iced, as I suspected, which made for an excellent tea on a warm day!
Sip Down & Backlog
This reminded me of Girl Scout’s Thin Mint Cookies, with an odd aftertaste. Not such terrible flavor but may have been due to the age of the tea. Considering it sat unopened in my storage for such a long while, and quickly sipped down after discovered, I’d say it was a solid cup!
Sip Down and Backlog
Despite having sat in the bag for two-ish years, the candy cane notes were still there. The snowflake pieces added more texture to the cup, but the black tea base seemed muted, which isn’t an issue considering the final dregs worth of tea were sitting for a long time.
Backlog
1st and 2nd Infusion (20 sec.): Light flavor & heavy texture.
3rd and 4th Infusion (45 sec.): Florals, mildly sweet, & lighter texture.
5th and 6th Infusion (1 min.): Mouth puckering, floral, & incense
7th and 8th Infusion (2 min): Astringent, green peppers, bitter florals, & malty.
