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This one is the second of the Curtis Cocktail trio, first one was Irish Cream I tried 2 days ago. Not sure how much that one is a cocktail, but whatever.

This one is quite straightforward orange tea, with a little bitter orange flavour than I am used to drink. Maybe a bit fizzy, but I am not really sure if it is not just my imagination. Sadly, the base tea isn’t great either and overall it keeps rather short longevity of flavours.

I must have neglected this tea for long, as label from derk says harvest May 2020; and we have here almost November 2023. Thank you derk!

Prepared all 3 grams I had, so not a sipdown in my books, but finished tea nevertheless.

I have preheated the gaiwan and right after I knew I prepared one unique tea. The aroma was so familiar, lovely, vivid, but what is it? Nothing exact cames to my mind.

Brewed with, close to boiling, water. Lovely flavours again… very vivid and lovely notes of raisins, sweet potatoes, grapes. Aromas come across with some rye and sweet potatoes and surprisingly menthol.

Steeped 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 60 seconds and in the middle the flavours have moved from that “dark” ones to more refreshing, almost oolong-like notes with another descriptor — floral, both in flavour and aromas. Never tannic, always smooth. And lovely complexity even for 3 and half years old tea.

There are a few teas that I bought just because the TTB, but some didn’t make it even though I haven’t tried them before. This is one of them. Vendor had two lovely trios of teas of 5 pyramids each and this is first of them.

My limited experience with something called Irish Cream, Irish coffee or anything Irish at all (but my English teacher); says this tastes like an Irish coffee you have tried once, the sip you took and let other family member to drink it (who ordered it for themselves anyway).

It is nicely creamy, there are caramel notes and tea base was quite nice; but overall, a bit longer mouthfeel would make higher marks for this tea.

A sipdown! (M: 12, Y: 62)

I am just logging a sipdown (an office tea), I haven’t added it to Steepster cupboard. But all things I wrote about this tea are still valid (tea bag without outer wrapping).

Logging swap-downs (put to TTB):
(M: 7, Y: 57): No. 325 Tiger Rock Wu Lu by Paper & Tea
(M: 8, Y: 58): No. 313 Kumano by Paper & Tea
(M: 9, Y: 59): No. 328 Yuzu Midori by Paper & Tea
(M: 10, Y: 60): Irish Cream (formerly Fairytale of NY) by Bird & Blend Tea Co.

Log of regular sipdown:
(M: 11, Y: 61): Kaneroku Matsumoto Tea Garden: Yuzu Wood Smoked Black Tea 燻製紅茶 ゆず

TTB packed!

This tea is from Michelle who got it from Rich and now I am drinking it here. 17 years old. Older than my oldest niece and cousin. Thank you both!

I prepared it western, 4 granms and roughly 4 minutes steep and it was one of the finest shu puerhs I prepared in this method. It was smooth, clean and dark as expected from shu; quite fermented and quite long mouthfeel. But it wasn’t so heavy for my stomach as many other shu puerhs making it acidic and unsettled.

Maybe it is not really complex in flavor, I will find out once I prepare remaining 7 grams with gongfu method, but I liked it. Also there was no foul odour or taste.

Just afterwards I have decided to descale our kettle. It is better than nothing, but if I used stronger method than citric acid in high concentration, I am afraid it would start to leak. But teas will be hopefully better now. I already thought that some teas are pretty same regardless their origin.

I have received this US tea from postcrossing and today evening seems to be a great time for that. A bit of sore throat appeared, so extra dose of ascorbic acid won’t hurt and it’s caffeine free, so, yep, evening is great timing.

When I have sniffed the tea bag, I noticed strong lemon aroma, so sour it tickled my nost and spearmint. I wonder if it is that peppermint which is in (is it hat strong?) or lemon verbena (but that’s a different aroma than mint).

When sipped, I thought I bit a lemon peel. Not that strong lemony note and lemongrass dominates here to me. Also, it is a bit medicinal for me, definitely in the aftertaste and powdery like.

Definitely expected more zingy lemon from this tea, almost sour like, but my throat is much better and that’s at least something positive, while the flavours fall a bit off to me.

A sipdown! (M: 6, Y: 56)

I won’t lie, I wasn’t paying attention to this tea at all. That’s because I had all family around. And why? My brother turned 30, so yep, naturally quite a big party was held.

Actually, it was just a perfect tea for this occasion as I didn’t had to care about it too much. Pleasant and malty-cocoa sweetness was there, but not much complexity in here. Perfect for times you can’t care much about tea itself.
I will keep the rating on 60, future harvests (if I get one) can be better or… worse. Definitely not a reorder tea for me right now.

A sipdown! (M: 5, Y: 55)
Recently I am focusing on sipdowns and it seems there are results…, though 5 sipdowns in two thirds of month aren’t much, but I have here the TTB, so maybe it’s not that bad.

Anyway, this tea will be missed for it’s lovely flavour, mellow hojicha and nice level of popped and toasted rice. Autumn leaf pile, meadow and floral aromas combined with roasty, sweet and nutty flavours is just a gem in a cup.

Used 3.8 grams for my 300 ml mug with approx. 3 minutes steeping time. Boiling, but about 10 minutes rested water.

What? I haven’t written a note for this tea yet?

Winter is coming! That’s quite expected pun, I guess. Anyway, indeed teas with spices are coming to my intended flavour profile more often than in summer. This tea have got strong tangerine note when opened, followed with almonds and spices.

When brewed, it reminds me rather a hot cocoa with almond notes. But when sipped, it’s back black tea base (which is pretty basic), with cloves and sweet citrusy note. Afteral it contains tangerine flavor and aroma. The cinnamon is sweet one in this blend and sometimes as well quite distinctive. Almonds could be stronger.

Does it say winter to me? Definitely yes. Would I drink it during winter? Definitely. Is it perfect? Sadly not. Just good and enjoyable… but I miss something in this blend. Maybe it is stronger almond note isntead the spices.