August Uncommon Tea

Dry leaf smells SO incredibly boozy! Brewed, the tea itself; oh my goodness, wow. Smacked in the tastebuds with salted caramel, golden syrup, butterscotch, brown sugar, and a splash of navy rum. These flavours dominate, of course, but the baked pumpkin is there too, emerging slowly in the background. It is very sweet, and so I’d say you definitely need to have a sweet tooth to enjoy this; fortunately I do so that’s okay. The rooibos isn’t too detectable, so if you’re not a fan then don’t let that put you off. Definitely no medicinal vibes here! This one is unbelievably decadent, and absolutely the perfect dessert blend for Halloween.

My second pick from the August Uncommon sampler. Initial sip is all natural strawberry; delicately sweet and a touch juicy. Underlying is the deeper, honeyed sweetness of chamomile, freshened with a hint of lemon. It’s smooth and creamy; possibly the smoothest herbal I’ve encountered in a while. The liquorice root ultimately destroys this for me, though; it’s just too cloying and adds an artificial sweetness that builds with each successive sip and becomes throat-coating in a way I don’t enjoy. This is personal preference of course, but to my mind this tea minus the liquorice would really allow the strawberry its moment in the sun. As it is that moment is disappointingly fleeting, but delicious while it lasts.

Breaking into my August Uncommon sampler this morning, and picked this out as my first tea to try. I have had a few from here in the past, but a long time ago now. The Library (or Leatherbound, as it used to be known) wasn’t one of them, but I love books so it has always intrigued me.

The dry leaf smells like a Quality Street Strawberry Delight. In taste terms, very prominent almond – but sugared rather than plain. Lots of dark chocolate, and a lick of navy rum. The buttered toast the packet suggests? Not so much, although it is smooth in a buttery kind of way. If we’re talking bread then this is more reminiscent to me of rye bread. Very malty and creamy overall, quite sweet. A great tea to start the day with, and one I’m glad to have finally sampled!

I can’t recall if I’ve had this one before. It’s a little bit herbal on the sip, with a complexity that reminds me of bitters if they weren’t bitter. Definitely a smokey dark profile to it. I was getting more of the bright orange when I started drinking this cup, but it seems to have faded. A little sweetness from the blackberry leaves. It’s a nice cup. Not something I’d rush out to buy.

Smells very caramel apple like when dry. The flavor is much lighter when steeped. I get apples, caramel and oolong. It’s a little buttery in the sip with that milk oolong flavor in the finish and a touch of sweetness. It’s nice, but I wouldn’t run out an buy it.

I don’t know why the scent makes me think of kombucha. It doesn’t taste like it, but it triggers some scent memory, maybe of a rose kombucha. The rose is very present and dominant on the start of the sip. The clove kicks in pretty quickly, mingling well with the rose. I don’t get a strong cocoa flavor, but I think it’s there in the background rounding things out. I really like this. If I were doing an AU order and not trying to sip down my massive cupboard, this would likely make it into my basket.

Steepster TTB 2025

Too intriguing not to try, and worth the sample. I’m mostly getting a candy green apple flavor with a bit of chamomile and hay, but gentle hay, not overpowering. There’s maaaybe a smidge of grassiness from the green base, and then I guess the unidentifiable note (to me) is the sweet woodruff. I wouldn’t say this is bubblegum-y, but I can understand why they included that descriptor, if that makes sense (it doesn’t)!

This might be a keep from the TTB.

Sipdown 24 – 2025

This was good, but I don’t know that I need to purchase it again.

Made hot, and it’s surprisingly delicious. Not a trace of bitterness, and a nice balance between the orange and vanilla.

TTB 2025. I’ve gotten on my soapbox about this company before, so I’ll spare y’all the screed this time. Suffice to say, I find their framing extremely pretentious and disrespectful to the history and tradition of tea as well as other companies that have been innovating in the fun-flavored-tea realm long before August was even an idea. I’ve had some good blends from them, so I’m not opposed to trying one that’s new-to-me, but I have no interest in giving them my money or space in my cupboard.
That said, this blend is pretty tasty! The strawberry note hits first, followed quickly by an apple-y chamomile. Some gentle tartness at the end of the sip. I don’t know what kind of bubblegum they’re chewing, but I’m not getting anything bubblegum-like. I also can’t really pick out anything about the base green tea here. A very easy drinker.

TTB tea! This tastes strongly of jasmine with undercurrents of honey, which is what it’s supposed to taste like, so they did a good job! I like having jasmine tea maybe twice a year, and this one seems like a good option to fulfill that craving. It tastes high quality, and I enjoy that there are other ingredients in there to keep it interesting. It was refreshing cold!

Smells strongly of green apple candies, but I don’t actually get much apple in the flavor. Actually has a strong coconut flavor.

Super floral. Really strong jasmine with just a touch of marzipany almond.

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.