August Uncommon Tea

The third of my Uncommon Tea haul, I was happy to discover upon opening the pouch that this contained some real orange. The first two on my Uncommon Tea tryout were just flavoring on top of flavoring.

The tea itself had much more of an orange smell than I’d expect, but I took it as a good sign. The tea itself has a more “normal” aroma.

As August Uncommon goes, this is the best of the three, so far. But I may be damning it with faint praise. The orange and black tea seem balanced, but there are hints of “other” that are difficult to discern, and probably unnecessary. The saddest part for me is that I really enjoy a citrus black tea, but this is what I’d expect if I went to a small chain coffee shop that keeps a few “just in case” sachets around.

Another from my December haul at August Uncommon, and I’m feeling like the outlook is kind of bleak.

While this was a lot better than the Low Country, it’s another one that’s just too artificial. Even sweeter than Low Country, the advertised toffee flavor is there, but backed with a heavy cream / butter note that just doesn’t make sense.

It “makes sense” in the context of knowing that it’s been flavored, but otherwise, there’s nothing you’re scooping in that should normally have that flavor. So, I’m finding that to be a bit off-putting. And I know that’s weird, because I don’t have the same hangup with flavored coffee, but here we are.

Like Low Country, Golden Arrow hangs its hat on flavoring, without the underlying tea having a whole lot to offer. I guess it’s what you give someone who doesn’t like tea, when all you have is water and tea.

Instead of buying a sampler, I went ahead with a small bag of this. The description made it seem like a no-brainer. Turns out, that was a bad call.

I picked up several different blacks from August Uncommon, and this is the first one I tried. Hopefully, the others turn out better than this, because despite enjoying bourbon and vanilla, I don’t see myself ever returning to this.

As I would with most black tea, I did a boiling steep for about 3:30, and liked the deep color. The aroma said “butterscotch” more than anything, and I like butterscotch, so I thought I was in for a treat.

Sadly, the flavoring is just far too cloying for me. It’s like someone dropped a couple of butter rum Life Savers in otherwise bland tea. The flavors are so artificial, I’d swear I could probably take a stab at what they mixed in from FlavourArt, and not be too far off.

I finished it about 30 minutes ago, and I can still sense the sticky-sweet flavor on the back of my tongue, along with an unpleasant scratchiness.

Sipdown 67 -2024

Really enjoyed this and will probably repurchase at some point. Mostly creamy caramel and candied orange. I didn’t get any rosemary.

Not a fan. Super medicinal, and the fruit flavoring+smoke combo does not work.

Sipdown 64 – 2024

Tasty- caramel, apple. Nice for fall and something I would consider repurchasing.

This was a sample included with my recent August Uncommon Tea order. I was glad to get this one as I’m especially fond of flavored rooibos teas. I bet it smells heavenly, but I don’t have a sense of smell. And due to my current ongoing chemo I have a lot of mouth sores, so anything hot is painful, but so is anything cold. I brewed this at boiling and waited until it was at a lukewarm temperature to drink and I think I got some black licorice flavor from the anise. No almond/amaretto unfortunately. I will try it again when I’m done with chemo and see if I get anything else from it. Life sucks right now but it will get better.

Not bad, but different. I’m trying to find more decaf options. There’s a bit of chocolate and certainly the Roobios. Will have to do more sips – almost a bit of caramel to me. I did expect a few more strong flavour notes to come through.

I really enjoyed this tea, but on second thought, I have had better rooibos with chocolate flavor. I definitely could not taste the nutmeg. I plan on drinking the full pack that I recieved, but there are better chocolate rooibos teas out there.

I’m always on the lookout for more coffee alternatives but this one didn’t do it for me. It kind of reminded me of popcorn-flavored water. It didn’t have the body that I associate with good coffee alternatives, as it really didn’t have much of anything at all except for artificial buttery flavors.

I didn’t care for this. Like many flavored teas, it has a waxy mouthfeel to me. To me this just tastes muddled and I can’t pick out any of the individual falvors.

I have the opposite complaint of another reviewer: I don’t think this was bitter enough. It’s bitter enough to make bitter haters dislike it, but not bitter enough to please someone who loves bitter/real Negronis.

I like cocao teas and the spices in this one were a welcome addition, giving it digestif qualities. They remind me a bit of the candied spices that some Indian restaurants give out (Mukhwas). However, it doesn’t quite have the flavor and body of other cocao teas like Crio Bru.

Homemade Advent Exchange Tea #10

This is an interesting blend. While I go understand the blend is supposed to be a negroni that uses bitters in it, I find this blend way too bitter. Not in a bitter melon way but more like orange rind (marmalade?) or that white pithy stuff on a Mandarin or tangerine. The rooibos is nice, but even milk couldn’t save this one. It did brew up very orange in colour though! I can taste a herbaceous kind of flavour, especially in the after taste. It isn’t quite sage but is some sort of plant I can’t identify. Overall just not for me at all. It also doesn’t taste like any Negroni cocktail I’ve ever had (no sweetness or acidity)

Inkling Advent Day 18. I actually bought a bag of this last year which I was only able to drink one cup of before somehow losing it. I assume my cats kicked it somewhere. I have some notes saved from that time, but I never posted them since I prefer to try a tea several times before posting. I’ll include my notes from both batches here:

My sister makes tasty rosemary caramels, and the first time I had it, this tea reminded me of those. It was good before I added milk, but I think milk brings out the flavor even more. It’s a fun combination of ingredients, and the black tea is a good base for it. I do wonder if rooibos would have been an even better base for it (thinking about the awesome rosemary caramel rooibos from Plum Deluxe). The next time I had this, I tasted orange and something else, but it was totally different from my last batch! I didn’t taste the rosemary or dessert flavors. The orange wasn’t juicy, just kind of dull. Something in there was adding a twang that I didn’t prefer. I still want to buy a new bag because I really enjoyed this the first time I had it!

Going with 73 on the rating. A good tea but not my favorite from this company

Last Sips by tea for September!

This one was highly disappointing. It had a nice apple smell in the bag, but I’m struggling to find the apple when it comes to the taste. Mostly it just tastes like a roasted oolong, maybe with a tiny hint of apple in there somewhere. Not bad, just not the apple tea I was hoping for, especially when August is usually a bit over-the-top with their flavorings.

Will probably just toss this one, have given a few chances.
Something weird with the the blend that puckers as you keep sipping.
I will say Daybreak, on the other hand, is one of my favorite Decaf offerings ever and I’m about to order more of that stuff. Nightfall sounded like a good companion, but unfortunately not.

You do have to take care with the steep of this one as it’s pretty strong – and it still has that drying end touch in the throat, I don’t like high astringency type. This is all herbal and the fruit notes are great, but there is something about the mixture that can be overbearing. This time I brewed less than 1 scoop in a large mug for 4 minutes. Herbal generally encourages longer steep but not with this one, something in it is simply too drying.

Says – Tastes like strawberry, ginger, lemon verbana
Feels like: Strawberry field dreams

This tea did not help me sleep but I adored the name and love ginger when done right. Same for lemon verbana. The strawberry makes a nice note – a strawberry tea background touch, not the tart jam. The main ingredient is chamomile, which I am super picky with, but there are many ingredients in this one that definitely balances it out, including turkish apples, fennel, blackberry. Natural licorice root adds some natural sweetness but nothign artificial that licorice tends to do if applied too heavily

Another keeper – this one for “Nightfall” and caffeine free modes

Company says:
Daybreak: Sweet Roasted Coffee Alternative
Tastes like Buttered Popcorn, Pecan, Marshmallow
Feels like Tennessee Summer

I included this one in a large recent order. It is a confusing tea because it is a “coffee alternative” with dandelion and chicory root – but they left out caffeine, so it’s caffeine free. As a coffee tea and called “Daybreak”, leaving out caffeine is a bit odd.

The smell of this one dry is not pleasing, and I was not looking forward to a buttered popcorn taste

To my surprise, I very much enjoyed this sweet and delightful tea. Steeped five minutes with some sugar. Very good and vibrant. It is creamy and buttery. I will definitely keep Daybreak as a keeper, although with the caffeine free it would be a great evening tea despite the name.

Company says:
TASTES LIKE: bitter orange zest, neroli flower, tart black plum, blackberry, clove
FEELS LIKE: sparkling conversation on a city terrace

This is definitely a….unique tea. I decided to try another after working late and playing some Sims 3 – my Sims was about to finish his first semester of University, and the game takes forever to boot up even on my new computer, so I got to know this one in the meantime.

And mainly, yech.

The dry smell, first of all, reminded me a little of bubble gum for some reason. The taste was not bubble gum but was not earl gray or orange zest with plum that I could tell either. I did a five minute steep. It came across almost very, very vaguely of a pepto bismo tea for me. I think the bergamot they used, or else they way it blended with the other stuff, made it almost pepto, almost cheerios, very odd tea. Not to my liking unfortunately.

Company says

Tastes like: Baked apples, burnt caramel, and Petricho.
Feels like: Warm Summer Rain"

So….my supervisor is back from vacation and annoying me greatly. I am wanting to work late this evening. Time for some stress relieving mini tea break, eh?

This one is lighter than I supposed. Still get a tickle that my electric tea brewer has an oolong button. I’m so easy to please sometimes….and sometimes not >:( It’s hard to be such a creative mixture of “high maintenance” and “easy going” in life.

I steeped it four minutes. Next time may try five. Especially for August Uncommon it’s a bit mild, but I really like it. The color and taste do remind me almost of apple cider tea. I am trying to find the caramel but I have weak taste buds. Have no idea what petrichor is supposed to taste like.

This is a sample bag but will keep playing with it. And of course I love their tea names and descriptions. September is an awesome month and I’m a rain kind of gal, and the name, “Avalon” is just ridiculously cool.