August Uncommon Tea

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.

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.

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.