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015/365

This was a work freebie, one of the only perks of an extremely frustrating job. It’s not the best rooibos blend; very woody, with that classic “sawdust” flavour. There’s a decent splash of vanilla, though, which comes through better as it cools. Hot, it’s just scratchy rooibos. I added a splash of milk to try and round things out, and that helped a little. I think it brought out the creaminess a bit more.

Ultimately, I’m fairly indifferent about this one. The rooibos is very prominent, and the vanilla isn’t as strong as I’d have liked it to be. Worth a try, though, because you never know.

014/365

My Bluebird order just arrived, and as part of it I picked up samples of this year’s Christmas collection (except Christmas Cake, which has been around for several years now). I decided to break with tradition, and make a start on trying them straight away. That way, if there’s one I really fall in love with, I’ll have time to get some more. Jack Frost was the one that jumped out at me this evening – it’s a herbal, so great as a pre-bedtime treat, and probably the most unusual of the four.

The ingredients are spearmint, eucalyptus, coconut, ainseed, and pine needles. The scent, dry, is predominantly eucalyptus. Usually I’d try a new blend straight first, but I’d seen Bluebird’s recipe for a Jack Frost Latte and was feeling that, so I went with it. Basically, it’s 300ml hot water and 2 tsp tea, 100ml milk, 1tsp honey, and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence. I brewed the tea for 5 minutes, heated up the milk and added that, and then stirred through the honey and vanilla. At this point, I wasn’t entirely convinced.

I was wrong, though. It is sweet and creamy, from the milk/honey/vanilla, and that is a big part of the flavour (as you might expect). It is possible to taste the tea, though – the coolness of the eucalyptus really cuts through, and the spearmint is easily discernable. There’s a hint of aniseed in the aftertaste. If I were going to be poetic about it, I’d say it’s like taking a sip of frosty morning. I like how it contrasts warm and cold, sweet and clean. It’s both comforting and refreshing.

There are a couple of downsides – the coconut is lost completely, similarly the pine needles. Both of those are disappointing losses, because they’re the things that really make this blend unique. I will try it straight over the coming weeks, though, and hopefully they’ll make more of an impact then.

On the whole, I’m pleased with this one. It’s a great winter blend, without being overly christmassy, and a pretty unique combination of ingredients. I’m looking forward to experimenting a little more with the rest of my sample.

013/365

I was obviously feeling very inspired this evening, because I did something with chai that I’ve never done before. When I think of chai, I think of milk. That’s my stock, word-association response. Today, I paired it with…apple juice! It was one of those things that I was convinced wouldn’t work, but it actually really does.

I used 250ml cloudy apple juice – the good stuff – although I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary. I added 100ml water to thin it a bit, and heated those up together in a pan until almost boiling. I turned off the heat, added 3 bags of this chai, and left it for 6 minutes with the lid on. What you get when you return is Christmas in a pan. It smells delicious.

It also tastes delicious. The apple juice becomes a solid background for the chai spices to play on, and it’s possible to pick out the cinnamon, ginger, and clove. I chose this blend particularly because it’s supposed to be on the stronger side, and I figured it would need to be to compete with the juice. I’m pleased with the balance I achieved, for a first attempt.

I will go back and try this one straight, and probably with milk, because obviously I can’t comment super-reliably on the tea just from drinking this. I love it, though, and I can totally see myself making a timolino of this for the walk to work on a cold morning.

It’s my new favourite thing.

012/365

I know why I kept this one back. It’s because I love Bi Luo Chun. It’s my favourite green. This is from the 2015 spring harvest, so demonstrates how far behind I am with my cupboard if nothing else. This one was worth keeping, though. It’s deliciously vegetal in the best possible way – savoury, green-beany, just a touch grassy. It’s also super-smooth, with absolutely no astringency.

The first one of these I tried was from Butiki, as far as I recall, and it was that cup that made me realise instantly that I’d found “my” green. This Bi Luo Chun perhaps doesn’t have quite the same depth of flavour, but it’s pretty excellent just the same. Maybe next spring, if I’m more caught up, I’ll allow myself to buy some of the 2018 harvest. Then I can go back to hoarding it again.

011/365

I’m almost done with my box of this, and I feel at this point it’s appropriate to give this tea a nod. After all, it’s been my constant companion for the last 18-ish months.

As bagged blacks go, this is one of the better ones.

010/365

More peach! I’ve had these samples sitting around for goodness knows how long, so I figured I’d continue with the small (tiny) start I made the other day. This one called to me out of those remaining – peach, lime, pistachio, and white chocolate sounds like a good combination to me.

The initial sip is very bright lime, not quite artificial in its intensity, but definitely on the way there. The mid-sip is all peach, and it’s good peach – sweet (but not overdone), juicy, pretty true-to-life. The end of the sip has a lingering floral note. I suspect it’s all supposed to come magically together and taste like iris, but I would say rose. And it’s a flavour apart from the rest, like it’s not really supposed to be there. It struck an odd note with me, but then floral isn’t really my thing anyway. I was happy with peach and lime.

I’m not getting any pistachio or white chocolate, which is disappointing, but according to the description that requires milk. I don’t have any at work right now, but that’s something I’ll have to try. I’m not sure that I’ve ever added milk to an oolong before (at least, not on purpose), so that’ll be an experience in itself. Speaking of oolong, that really isn’t a presence either, I suspect because the flavouring is so strong.

On the whole, though, I like this one. I just wish the company weren’t quite so… [no words]

009/365

I picked this one up with my first White2Tea order, partly as a novelty as I’ve not tried a compressed pu’erh before. It’s a pretty young sheng, with greenish leaves and a lightly perfumed fragrance. From what I can gather, it’s supposed to be a convenient way to brew pu’erh while travelling, and I imagine it could be (depending how quickly the ball unfurls…) It’s still pretty compact after the first steep (around 1.5m, western-style.)

The first steep is sweet and mostly smooth, with a hint of floral. It’s a little grassy, with just a touch of astringency towards the end of the sip. It’s not remarkably distinctive or flavourful, at this point.

Second steep for 1 minute. The ball disintegrates completely at this point, and so I’m not entirely sold on the suggestion that this is supposed to be much more convenient than a cake. I wouldn’t find it so, but I don’t typically attempt to lug around a whole cake anyway. I’d take a fragment on holiday, in a ziplock bag, and use an infuser – but I’m using an infuser for this also, so it would make little difference to my personal set-up.

The flavour this time is more distinctively “sheng” – earthy/grassy, with an edge of bitterness. It’s still mostly smooth, more so as it cools, but there’s just that bit of “bite”. This one reminds me most of Teavivre’s Fengqing Raw Cake from 2006, which I seem to possess in quantity but don’t particularly enjoy. It’s pretty hard to describe, but it has the same brassy, almost-metallic background flavour.

Third steep for 50 seconds. The flavour, at this point, seems fairly fixed. Once again, it’s earthy/grassy with a background brassiness, and just a touch of bitterness. It’s still very easy to drink, although it’s not particularly distinctive. There are definitely more exciting sheng pu’erhs out there – this one strikes me as very routine.

I might try one more steep after lunch before I call it a day with this one.

008/365

More Yunnan, which is always a good thing as far as I’m concerned. I said most of this in my last tasting note, but I love the chocolate/pecan/brown sugar combination showcased by this tea. I also love it for its depth, and layers, of flavour – it’s more complex than it first appears (and so very fittingly named.) I’m sad that LP doesn’t blend any more…he’s put some good stuff my way.

Tried this one as a latte first thing this morning, and it was as good as I’d hoped based on yesterday’s shot. Smooth, creamy, slightly nutty deliciousness. I’d like to get back to some kind of matcha routine, if I can, because it does make me feel more awake over time.

Unfortunately, once my sample of this one is gone, then it’s gone from my cupboard for good. Last time I looked, Matcha Outlet’s shipping prices to the UK had skyrocketed. Fortunately, Bluebird and Teapigs are beginning to come out with their own flavoured matcha, although I doubt they’re in quite the same league as these. Guess I’ll find out!

007/365

I’m drinking all the peach things at the moment, and here’s another. This is one of the three David’s teas I have left that’s languished in my stash, and I don’t really know why. Perhaps because oolong historically hasn’t been a favourite of mine, or perhaps because the name isn’t particularly suggestive of the flavours? Once I realised it was peach, I was in there – and with all the more enthusiasm because David’s peach is a peach flavouring I can get behind.

The main flavour I pick up initially is oats, reminiscent of flapjack, but a little toastier? I imagine that’s the oolong, combined with the almond slivers. Then comes the peach; sweet, juicy, but not overdone. A hard balance to strike, but struck well indeed. The end of the sip contains a creaminess that I really wasn’t expecting, not quite at the level of a milk oolong, but heading in that direction. It works really well, as you might expect, with the peach.

Overall, I’m getting a kind of peach/cream/breakfast cereal vibe. Not what I expected, but I like it.