August Uncommon Tea

So, I ordered the summer collection from AU almost faster than I actually read all of the tea descriptions – but I saw this one right off the bat and instantly I knew I needed to try it! Something about the flavour combo REALLY jumped out to me. Maybe because it’s an apple tea that’s purposefully apple with an actual tea base? You know, NOT a herbal with just lots of apple as a filler…

- Dry leaf smells AWESOME! Lots of sweet, candied green apple notes and hints of licorice
- Reminds me a lot of the green apple Jelly Belly candies

I steeped it up in a large mug, which I drank early in the morning sitting outside on the porch before work – it was a very tranquil and pleasant experience.

- Tastes very smooth, with a really beautiful and CLEARLY defined green apple note
- It’s got the natural, realistic sweetness of apple but finishes in a near candy-like way
- Likely from the extra boost of sweetness from the fennel
- The black base is very faintly malty, and a touch floral with hints of spice
- Some of that spice may also be from the clove, though I didn’t find it that defined?
- That floral characteristic only adds to the nuance/realistic nature of the green apple
- Arguably the best green apple tea I’ve had
- Partially because it’s green apple without being sour
- The faintest bit astringent on the top of the sip
- But in a pleasant way that mimics apple skins

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a19ZNSGwko4

Anyway, I deeply loved this one right off the bat! I’m gonna rate somewhat conservatively because I think part of that might just be new tea excitement but I could see this one definitely being something I’d want to purchase in a larger quantity.

Buttery, custard-like, and a wee bit tart. Vegetal with the slightest whiff of coconut in the second steep, or am I dreaming that up?
My tastebuds may be clouded with vanilla chocolate.

Subsequent steeps ensured that no, I was not dreaming up the coconut. It’s there with the butter and the vegetal nature of the tea. Six or seven steeps later, it’s all still there. Gently, gently, but there.

This may be my first experience with tea from Chiang Rai, Thailand. I do so wish that I had had enthusiasm for tea exploration when I was there. Yeah, nope. No recollection of tea drinking adventures there. At all.

Iced at work today.

In concept this one sounded really nice to me, other than the green tea base. I’d have been a lot more thrilled to see the flavour pairing on a black base, but that’s just me.

I actually think I totally understand the idea behind the name of this one though; it’s very light, refreshing, bright and sunny – sort of just like someone with a good sense of humour is? Like, just one of those people who’s presence is just super uplifting and pleasant! So in that sense – I think AU’s more artistic/creative marketing actually reads really well/clearly. I instantly made that connection.

Flavour wise, mostly this is a strong lemon flavour! It’s both bright, sunny and sweet but also oddly creamy? Like, not overtly so but it finishes with the same sort of delicate pastry like creaminess that I get from DAVIDsTEA’s Lemon Pound Cake. It’s also got that distinct lemongrass flavour, too. Pretty tied into that lemon note is a strong apple flavour too; not overly tart but not overly sweet either. Just sort of generic apple? Though in hindsight that creaminess COULD possibly be a ‘buttery apple’ sort of taste and I’m just poorly attributing the buttery flavour to the wrong ingredient?

Anyway, those are the strongest flavour notes – but apart from those, there’s also a bit of a sharp, grassy undertone. I don’t know that the sharpness is inherently from the green tea itself, but maybe just exaggerated by the lemon/lemongrass in general. The top notes are a bit more fig-like, and I think the fig also just adds to the overall pastry flavour too. The finish is more rosey, with some other general floral vibes to it.

I honestly think this tea could grow on me/might be more of an acquired taste sort of thing but as is I’d say it’s maybe just slightly above average for me? Like, good for a green tea and just kind of alright for a tea in general.

Sipdown (249)!

I think I need to channel my inner Sil and step up my sipdown game, because soon I’m going to find myself crossing the 250 tea mark and that is NOT a route I want to go down.

I finished this one off last night at work and I have to say that I found the contrast on the intense peppermint and the sweet, juicy watermelon a lot less abrasive this time around. I mean, I still think there was a degree of discord between the flavours but certainly not to the same extent. I can’t help but wonder if that’s because, even after that one cup, I am already just slightly conditioned to the weird overlap of flavours though.

Bottom line, this one isn’t bad but it’s just really quite weird too. Maybe spearmint would have been a better mint pairing? Spearmint is naturally a little sweeter, so maybe it would have tied in better to the sweeter melon which still having that cooling/refreshing aspect. I don’t know; I doubt I’d purchase this one again but I’d probably drink it if offered.

New August Uncommon Teas!

I’ve been waiting for what feels like ages to see if AU was going to do a summer collection, and a few weeks ago I got an email asking if I wanted to preorder the new teas before they officially launched on the website and, guys, I jumped on that shit so quickly. The collection came yesterday, so of course I had to try something immediately.

I went with this one because it’s the herbal/caffeine free one from this collection and by the point I was ready to make a cup of tea after work it was pretty late into the evening.

So, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m the tiniest bit sick of melon teas; we’ve just had so many come out at work this summer than it feels a little played out to me. However, honeydew/mint? That’s a bit more different so I definitely WANT to get on board with it. I cracked the bag though and was a bit disappointed; something about the dry leaf smells VERY weird to me. It’s maybe a bit too harshly minty and the watermelon smells off. I can’t place it; it’s just off.

I brewed it up anyway though, and I’m glad I did because the steeped tea is definitely a step up from how the dry leaf smells. The peppermint actually IS very strong; however as strong as it is it’s also quite soothing. It’s very cooling/refreshing and definitely has the more herbaceous sort of taste of natural/actual peppermint versus flavourings. The juicyness of the melon is a bright contrast and I think that contrast actually pleasantly highlights the cooling elements of the mint and then the sweetness of the melon. I will say that it’s arguably more watermelon like than honeydew, though. Not that I particularly mind.

Of course this IS August Uncommon we’re talking about so the packaging is filled with all sorts of artistic imagery tied into what flavours and moods are supposed to be evoked by the tea. Supposedly this one is kind of like ‘sunbathing on a boat’ or some such similarly worded thing. I don’t think that’s it at all though: I certainly found myself strongly thinking of something specific when drinking it but for me it was a lot more ‘having a picnic in the middle of a thunderstorm’ like.

Overall? Not bad! The “herbal” teas from AU have been a bit hit or miss for me and I think that trend sort of continued with this one – though I definitely didn’t dislike it either.

GCTTB6

Consider me surprised when the first thing I tasted was roasted chestnuts. I decided to look up this tea to see if that was supposed to be there and googling “Passage du Desir” produced some pretty interesting results, non of which were this tea. When I did finally find this tea, it seems that flavor was indeed purposely present. Unfortunately some flavor notes were lost on that I really, really wanted to taste and so if I am being honest, I was a bit disappointed. Still I am grateful to Sil for adding this to the TTB because I heard great things and probably would have blindly bought this and not really loved it. Not that it was bad, just not my preference. Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/04/11/passage-du-desir-from-august-uncommon/

I checked out this company because it was getting good reviews on here, has interesting tea descriptions, and was on sale over the holidays. However, I find this company’s marketing off-putting and unnecessarily pretentious. Ok, yes, the name should have tipped me off, but for some reason I had been reading it as August the month rather than august the adjective meaning “majestic”. The first descriptor on their front page is “Tea so modern it’s like nothing you’ve tasted before.” I was originally going to do a line-by-line breakdown of what’s wrong with their FAQ, but at a certain point that’s just free labor. My point is that the things this company claims are uniquely theirs – fancy blends, seasonal batches, and single-cup brewing – have been around for years and are already being done quite well by a number of other companies large and small. A Quarter to Tea, 52teas, Whispering Pines, and Lupicia come to mind off the top of my head. Meanwhile, a more-than-cursory reading of the booklet that comes with your order (and the website) suggests that this may be a dilettante effort: “Tea is unlike coffee in that cold-brewing does not yield flavorful results.” Ahem. Hands up if you’ve enjoyed a fine cold-brewed tea in the past year. Since the weather is getting nicer now, I might try it out with their own blends just to underscore how misguided this is. If a company is going to talk themselves up this much while demonstrating a failure to grasp or respect the basics, their product better be transcendent.

Ok, I’ll concede that it’s good, but it’s not transcendent. This is certainly no Butiki-level excellence. This particular blend tastes a lot like a sweeter version of Lupicia’s Momo Oolong. That one is a more delicate peach oolong but the blends share a distinctive fruity peach flavor. The lime note comes out in the aftertaste, lingering long after the sip is through. I’m not picking up on the pistachio taste, which is unfortunate since that was what attracted me to this blend in the first place. I am picking up on the white chocolate flavor, both creamy and sweet. As the brew cools, the white chocolate and lime flavors become dominant. It’s a nice combo but not quite what I was expecting based on the ingredients.

Ultimately, I will happily finish off the sample and the others that I bought. However, they are not so good as to override my concerns with how the company presents itself. I am probably not their target audience anyway. The marketing seems pretty clearly directed at people who want to be part of the hip, new thing, not people who are into tea for its own sake.

Not only do my new neighbours have a regularly shrieking infant, noisily exercise at the crack of dawn on wooden floors in an old house, and see fit to position their television on our adjoining wall, but also they both charge and/ or leave their phones by the adjoining wall to ring, beep, and vibrate at all hours of the night. FML.

I, of course, am the complaining neighbour because I am the one who is repeatedly woken up and disturbed while they appear to be blissfully unaware, so I communicate politely when really I would like to rip their heads off and yank all of their electronics out from their sockets and hurl them from the window. Yeah, it’s really a challenge, really really a challenge to not go all up in their face because really what kind of moron do you have to be?

Right then. Whew. Had to get that out.

This is my cup of the morning after having been awoken at about three. I must have been woken before that as well because after the three waking, I wasn’t able to get to sleep for two or three hours or so. At this point, I don’t know whether it is the phone or the baby or both, but this being repeatedly awoken is torture. The carelessness and stupidity at fault is another layer on top.

I missed my yoga class to continue to sleep and still woke up feeling like hell, of course. Ouf.

Ahem, yes, about the tea. Roasty, toasty, cherrywood good. The slightest bit of coconut as it cools. This is only my first steep. More as things evolve.

Second steep. Far more coconut emerges in scent and in flavour. I am steeping in a clear glass canister and the leaves are so very lovely to watch as they begin to unfurl attached to their stems and teeny branches.

Third steep. Even more coconut as the leaves unravel further. The roastiness disappears slowly but a bit of heaviness remains.

Fourth and fifth steep. Some chocolate creeps in along w the coconut.

I suspect the tea had more to give, but I was on my way out to clear my head and calm down and decided to call it and toss the leaves.

Interesting procession of flavours. I am a bit curious as to what would happen further if I had continued to steep.

Thank you for the share, Dexter. I enjoyed it though at first I thought that the roastiness was on the verge of too much—just that line.

Sorry/not sorry for the rant.

It’s really a shame once you discover that your relatively new neighbours have little interest in whether they disturb you or not by exercising at the crack of dawn on wooden floors in a newly converted open concept space in an old house. When as a neighbour you are already tolerating 24/7 of their infant and their other child. Yeah. Well then.

Sorry. Needed to get that out.

Selected this one from the bag that Dexter gave me when she was in town. I haven’t made up my mind beyond the fact that I like it and am enjoying it. It confuses my tastebuds a bit because it is much like a coffee-caramel favourite of mine except that after the very similar hit of coffee, instead of switching to caramel, it moves towards the slightest green of the mate.

Did I add my coffee-caramel favourite to your bag, Dex?

Thank you for this, Dexter. It is pleasurable, but currently not enough to take me away from this newfound understanding of my neighbours.

I have strong thoughts about AU’s marketing, but this is a sipdown and I want to get the tasting note down now. I’ll get into the marketing another time.

This blend tastes like sweet pineapple and lemon to me. I’m not picking up on caramel, pastry, barley, or the base tea. I’m a little disappointed that the sencha base is so thoroughly drowned out by the pineapple and lemon flavors. On the other hand, those fruit flavors are distinct, gently tart and not cloyingly sweet. I actually think this would have been delicious as a cold steep but I didn’t have enough leaf or patience left for it. It’s nice as a hot brew too, just nothing special.

I don’t know what it is doing outside, but inside it feels chilly and damp, which to me is the ideal weather for something smoky.

This is my second day drinking Outlaw from the sample that Dexter so generously shared with me when we met up for our city walk. Yesterday, the cups didn’t leave much of an impression. It was just kind of ok. Perhaps I had steeped too briefly. Today, however, boom—I am definitely enjoying this smokiness and the faintest whiff of cherrywood. Nothing froo-froo about this at all. A solid masculine tea. Love this.

Sometimes, it takes a few cups to find one’s way around a tea. Delighted to have another cup or two of this to enjoy.

Thank you, Dexter. Good call, this.

I really didn’t expect to like this tea. When first opening the bag and also during the first steep, it gives off a very, VERY strong scent of peaches. Not the actual fruit, but the kind of tart, sharply sweet smell of peach rings. (D even compared it to peach schnapps.) It took a moment for me to get past the overwhelming candy smell. It does, however, make a very nice cuppa.

The oolong base gives off a buttery, toasty flavor that’s not too strong. It’s mild but it’s decidedly oolong. There’s a sweet fruitiness about it that pairs well with the peachy tones and the light flavor of lime. Underscoring it all is a lush and creamy vanilla note that makes me think of whipped cream or custard. I’ve never had creme fraiche but I can imagine this is exactly how it tastes. It complements the other flavors very nicely. Try as I may, I can’t pick out pistachio at all and the rose acts as a barely present floral note in the background. (I’m thankful for that. I’ve never been a huge fan of rose—or floral based teas in general.) The second steep is more mild on the peaches with the lime and cream notes dominating. It’s a little like key lime pie, without the crust.

Overall good impressions. If you’re wanting something more nutty-floral, you may want to look elsewhere. I think I might restock this tea. The sample is not going to last long. (:

Wow, hi guys. First review in a long, long time.

I’m in the process of moving so I don’t have all of my tea gear with me. It’s the ol’ tap water in a microwaved mug method for me. (The horror, the indignity!) I got a few samples from AU in the mail recently and didn’t feel like hunting through my boxes and half-packed belongings.

I haven’t been drinking a lot of tea lately. This is the first tea order I’ve placed in…a year, at least. My honey is trying to lead a healthier lifestyle and this means more tea, less coffee. Sounds like a win win win to me. (: Gives me an excuse to drink more too! My tea stock has dwindled slowly down to one little bin of old favorites and random samples I still haven’t tried.

On to the tea. This is so not what I was expecting. Like Dex, I thought the barley would give it a nutty, toasted genmaicha quality. I can’t really pick out the flavor on its own. The green tea doesn’t have a strong flavor of its own, either. Most of what I’m tasting is buttery, cake-like or donut-like pastry. It’s heavy but it’s smooth. There’s a lingering caramel sweetness. I’m a little picky about pineapple in tea and I prefer it blended with other strong flavors. (Butiki’s pineapple cilantro oolong was a good one.) Here the pineapple has a sour, kind of acidic quality that tempers the sweet pastry notes. It’s a little strong for me. I can see how others would love it; it’s like a pineapple-lemon pound cake. Dessert in a cup. The blend leaves a slightly sour, puckery taste in my mouth that I’m not fond of…so maybe I’ll try it with milk next time. Not as unusual as AU’s other offerings, but it’s alright. There are others I like better.

I’m a little rusty at this, so hopefully I did okay!

GCTTB

Is it weird if I say this tastes like rye bread with seeds? Because it does. I see people put blueberry and yogurt as some of the flavors they taste but I honestly can just taste rye bread with seeds. Now if only I could toast this up with some butter and cheese like I used to get when I was younger.

Thank you Sil for the share. This was certainly a unique experience and one that was also a bit nostalgic so thank you for that :)

A tasty tea for a fun song! Thank you Roswell Strange for the share: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/02/10/cocteau-from-august-uncommon/

Hello, Steepster, I am back from my vacation/hiatus! It was awesome to get away and see my family for the holidays, and also great to be back. :)

This evening I am drinking a new tea, one I pulled from the GCTTB. I couldn’t find much information about it on Steepster, only that it was a green tea, so I opted for less than boiling water, and steeped for only about 2 minutes. This one smells kinda weird: rather herbal and bitter, almost minty. Have no idea what to expect on my first sip.

I just looked up the tea on August Uncommon’s own website, and apparently this tea is with strawberries and silver linden. When I looked up that latter ingredient, I immediately get shown a picture of a large silver tree. Bingo. This is what I am smelling. I couldn’t place the aroma at first, but I would now say that it is very close to being a sharp pine-line smell. No sign of any strawberries so far. I didn’t have any pieces in the remaining sample (while they are shown on the tea’s picture on AU’s website), so I doubt there will be a detectable strawberry presence this time around.

The tea is not tasting as sharp as it hits the nose (which I am more than OK with). I was right about the strawberries: not to be found. This is mostly now a weak green tea with strong herbal notes. Not something I would drink again, but suppose it was an interesting enough experience. At least I learned what silver linden was.

This super-distinctive light tea is a weird delight.

It tastes like a county fair — a little bit of kettle corn; a little bit of salty, over-crisped chips; a little bit of wafted nuts drifting through the air into your nose.

It’s a gravelly voice, whispering.

It’s the setting sun over a carnival. The sideshow carnies are dancing in front of a fire. Spinning yarns about their lives before the circus.

It is outside in late summer.

This is a weird post, but this is a weird tea.

[ Edit: This tea started out as a 77, but the cup actually gets even better as it cools and I reach the bottom. So now it’s an 80. I might bump it up a few more points if I continue to like it in subsequent steeps.]

Muted fruity tones that would be served better cold than warm. The tea is made to feel like “winter holiday in brazil” and I would say it is just that.

A mild and appealing black tea with a smooth finish. Classic black tea flavor with hints of oats and grains.

I’ve been spending the morning catching up on my Steepster ratings, which means you’re going to be seeing a LOT of posts below this one from my work with the Sororitea sisters. I tried to grab a snippet from each post which indicates the general feeling each tea evoked. (Or a snippet that I think is funny. I like to believe I’m funny.)

This post, however, is a full post. A STEEPSTER EXCLUSIVE, JUST FOR ALL THE FANS OUT THERE, Y’ALL. REPPIN’ THE ORIGINAL STEEPSTER.

I bought a bunch of teas from August Uncommon on a whim. I had a lot of overtime money from work, and hey, gotta blow it on tea. Better than, like, um, hard drugs or more shoes. Or whatever it is other people spend their money on. (I don’t know how “hard drugs” or “more shoes” were the first options that came to mind. Am I okay?)

There’s a part of me that felt despair about ordering from August Uncommon. Am I cool enough to be ordering anti-establishment, edgy teas? What if it turns out I really am just a tool of the system? The Celestial Seasonings of human beings? (Reppin’ some fine grocery store blends!)

My first pick from my samples was “The Metropolitan,” which according to August Uncommon’s site, “feels like sparkling conversation on a city terrace.” It also (among other things) tastes like “neroli flower.”

I’ve never had “sparkling conversations” on city terraces (REPPIN’ THOSE ‘BURBS), or tasted a neroli flower. But I enjoyed this VERY STRONG brew. If you want an end-of-day wind-down, this isn’t for you.

It’s mostly a very tart fruit/berry flavor with with citrus notes and spices. It doesn’t back down.

If I were going to liken this tea to a movie franchise, it’d be The Fast And The Furious.

Vroom vroom. Caffeine + a low tolerance for sweetness.

PS — How many things did I “rep” this post? At least three things.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG

this was a free sample that i picked up from AU and honestly, no matter who i steep it, i might as well just be drinking a chamomile tea. There’s no sense of any other flavours coming through on this – and there’s just a whole lot of chamomile and more chamomile.

Final Count: 61

dexter sent this one my way and i’ve had it a couple times now. I’ve come to the conclusion that this one isn’t for me. It’s a lovely moonlight tea, but it’s not strong enough for me. Light hay taste even though longer steeps and subsequent steepings. thank you so much for letting me try this one dex!

Sipdown (218)!

Finished this one off with a spot of honey. I have to say, adding that honey definitely resulted in the most pleasant cup of this that I’ve brewed up yet. Something about this in general just hasn’t sit right with me, but that honey really sweetened up the plum notes and allowed them to take center stage. The bergamot was present and complimentary and for once the clove was pushed way to the background. I think the clove has been the biggest source of conflict for me in this blend and without it I just got to enjoy a smooth, and exotically fruity cuppa.

I don’t intend to have any further exploration of this tea – it just didn’t work for me as a whole. I’m really pleased to have parted in a positive way though.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BhXpD6cxfM

This is a queued tasting note.

Very floral and lavender-y with strong, brisk bergamot notes and then undertones of both the plum (semi-sweet) and clove. I still think that the flavour notes of this tea are a little cacophonous but it’s growing on me slowly but surely.

Slowly is the key word, though.