ETTE TEA

Geek Steep S2E20 – Birdemic: Shock and Terror

Did you think we were getting out of a movie like Birdemic without one of us picking a tea with a bird pun!? Gotta take advantage of that low hanging fruit! Out of the many bird themed teas I own, this was probably the best one I could have picked though because surface level it’s just as strange as this movie.

It’s a nice tea though, pun aside. Also, I’m realizing in this moment that it’s my second savory tea in a row selected during recording. Kind of soft and lemony with a nice starchy coconut/pandan taste and a delicate ginger spice. It’s a tea meant to replicate the seasonings of this popular Singapore dish and I think it does so pretty well! Not nearly as savory as it could have been, but I know that some people will appreciate that this tea doesn’t straight up taste like soup.

Also bird puns!

I’ve had the previous version of the blend many, many years ago but it’s actually been so long that I simply do nut really remember anything about what it tasted like. This one I found curious; it had the light vanilla wafer type of taste that I do associate with Fortune Cookies (almost crepe-like) but with a hint of sweet nutty undertone. I liked the addition of almond, though it feels a hair our of place. I honestly can’t recall much about the spice mix in this moment though, aside from the fact it was pretty light handed overall…

Gonna need to taste again and try to focus a little more on those spices.

Had this one over the weekend. It mostly tasted of brothy and seaweed-y umami rich sencha, which really isn’t my thing at all – but I could appreciate how smooth and nice quality that sencha was coming through in the cup. What brought me back to it time and time again was the floral undertone and honeyed sweet notes of persimmon. Very, very subtle but also very, very accurate – and it’s rare to find such a nice persimmon flavour in a tea. Well worth the sencha to enjoy that note.

Cold Brew!

Didn’t love how prominent the sencha ended up tasting out of everything else in the blend, but there was a nice but very light fruity undertone with tinges of honey. I wouldn’t have thought to identify it as persimmon without the prompt from the ingredient list, but knowing that’s what it was meant to be did help me pick it out and I found it pretty nice even if this is probably my least favourite ETTE blend I’ve tasted so far.

I drank this tea the morning of my flight! The first time I had this tea I was admittedly a little underwhelmed, but this past cup was the first where I felt I “got it”. The darker and more oxidized oolong that makes up much of the blend was more mineral and woody, but the rich notes of chicory, spices, and stewed fruits complimented wonderfully with the subtle citrus notes of the aged Yuzu peel and rind. Less of a “parfait” in the lighter and more creamy sense I was expecting, but still a wonderful tea!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CszGXSovXiD/

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

Geek Steep S2E24 – The X-men: Logan

Cold Brew!

Guess who’s behind on tasting notes again!? That’s right, it is me! Working on catching up though, and that means talking about this Geek Steep episode from a few weeks ago where we dived into one of Marika’s biggest fandoms – The X-men!

I chose this as my recording tea and, truthfully, I sort of made the conscious choice to brew something with zero correlation to our fandom of the week because I felt a little intimidated by Marika’s love of those one. There were some other factors too, which we get into in the episode, relating to my thoughts on Wolverine as a character in general but ultimately it was just easier for me on the day of recording to put some distance between the fandom and my tea selection.

Of my Ette blends, this is one of the simpler. It’s a very dark and mineral heavy oolong with a lot of nuttiness to it and one of those somewhat more generically “brown and roasty” profiles. As a cold brew, it’s very well rounded with an incredibly clean finish. I don’t get a lot of yuzu which does make sense since it’s only an inclusion of yuzu peel in the blend, but the slight undertone of more pithy citrus is a nice compliment and adds a very refined/sophisticated hint of flavour to this otherwise approachable blend.

Though I get a hint of citrus from this, I do really feel like the yuzu is lacking from the blend. However, the oolong base itself seems quite lovely. Very toasty and woody with some pleasant nuttier tone to it as well and just a bit of a greener edge.

I always forget just how forward the flavour of the milk oolong in this blend is. It’s sort of strange because there’s a subtle note of roasted coffee and a sweet cream flavor as well and that’s clearly what’s primarily supposed to convey the “White Russian” namesake but, then, that gets a little shoved to the side because of the strong BUTTER flavour from the milk oolong…

I still like the blend, but I’d have probably personally played with the base tea rations so that the oolong didn’t distract so much.

This was my first cup of tea yesterday morning working from home. It’s mostly a pleasantly thick and coating milky/buttery taste from the milk oolong but it’s met with an almost custardy vanilla note, a gentle earthy roast, and a distinct note of coffee. I feel like maybe I am slightly warming up to the taste of coffee in some contexts? I actually really enjoyed this blend a lot specifically for the combination of roasty coffee and the sweet creamy elements. It’s not the first coffee blend in recent memory that has pleasantly surprised me, either. Crazy how the palate can change so much over the years!

From an ETTE blend this is kind of a busy tea – but it’s nice! I wish I took more conscious notes in the moment because the flavours felt quite layered. More of a mineral and bitter roasty top note that reminded me a lot of coffee grounds following by a just slightly disconnected buttery oolong – same as the oolong base in the other ETTE blend I reviewed not too long ago. In as long as it took me to process that there was some dissonance with the flavour, the disconnect had passed and the sip was finishing with a thicker and more sweet coffee and cream/vanilla type note. Very decadent send off flavour wise for what starts a more robust and tea forward blend. It’s interesting and enjoyable, which is exactly what I want in a blend. Things that make me excited for that next cuppa…

Gongfu!

I’m still thinking about that wonderful herbaceous aftertaste from my Monday black tea session, so today I’m steeping up this chrysanthemum pu’erh! This shou is peppered with lots of snow chrysanthemum buds, which is one of my favourite herbs to blend or scent teas with. The intense, almost pungent floral notes are unique and, in my opinion, very underappreciated. From steep one, I get wonderful notes of fresh dill and a more medicinal citrus note like chenpi (aged orange peel) that marry excellently with the thick and earthy notes of the ripe pu’erh. The liquor is so thick that it almost feels like fountain pen ink, but with a brilliant burgundy red undertone. Craving satisfied.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFLtowXShwQ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhd6XblkQFc&ab_channel=Neeve-Topic

Gongfu!

I’ve never really been a fan of the more common Chrysanthemum often pressed with or used to scent teas, but this blend uses snow chrysanthemum, which is so totally unlike ‘regular’ chrysanthemum. It has an intense, saturated and syrupy taste that I feel perfectly blends notes of orange (like chenpi) with more herbaceous and almost dill-like flavours – all wrapped up with a softly cooling and pleasantly medicinal finish. It’s perfect for rainy days like today where you just want to be cozy indoors, and the rich and earthy shou pu’erh it’s blended with is such a soothing anchor to the whole session!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5optw1uPGM/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU3-3XQy7JA

Gongfu!

Steeped this one last Sunday. As I’ve said in the past, this shou puerh blended with snow chrysanthemum is a favourite of mine – especially in colder weather. It’s very full bodied with a dense liquor that’s almost equal parts syrupy and medicinal. The initial steeps have strong notes of herbaceous dill w/ heady floral undertones and the entire session is rich with thick, coating notes of blood orange, pithy Aperol, and bittersweet candied orange rinds!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CleTxKCuQX2/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyB8eV83MME

Gongfu!

(This tasting note was written over the weekend.)

Indulging in a session of snow chrysanthemum pu’erh paired alongside a bagel with cream cheese, fresh raspberries, and a nectarine & thyme jam! There’s a lot of flavour happening here but it all clicks together super nicely! The tea has the thick earthiness of the shou but the chrysanthemum lends it’s distinct thick floral notes with saturated syrupy notes of medicinal but still slightly sweet orange fruits and herbaceous undertones. It’s very complimentary to the milder herbaceous thyme and densely jammy nectarine spread, which the raspberries add some brightness and acidity to balance. This feels indulgent but still peaceful, and is a great start to the day!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaxYu-KuN-K/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0pocjTJQ5I&ab_channel=Bleachers-Topic

Over the weekend I steeped this up paired with two coconut pandan macarons!! I really like this blend because there’s a lot more to it than just tasting like straight chocolate. Instead, the chocolate is very dark and slightly bitter, and it’s contrasted with a very bright, slightly tart raspberry note that draws out some of those natural wine-like berry notes of the cacao in the blend. That top note acidity and different type of fruity sweetness is also making the chocolate much richer and decadent feeling. The subtle notes of soft, silky pandan in the tea blend itself take the edge off some of the sharper notes while also acting as a bridge for this scrumptious pairing! It’s a sweet treat for sure, but I love it!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrWbg3tuVhP/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZTVw91OhsY

One of the many cuppas I’ve enjoyed thus far as part of my vacation. Having tried this tea once before, I had a much better idea of what to expect from the flavour and so I think that primed me to enjoy it much more. Like a lovely slice of chocolate raspberry cake! Dark and indulgent but also bright and tart!

Normally I don’t think I would have been intrigued by a chocolate cake inspired blend like this since I’m not huge on chocolate teas, but the inclusion of pandan really piqued my curiosity and convinced me to give it a go.

Somehow I missed that there’s also a decent amount of fruit in the blend and I kind of only clued in to that when I saw raspberry granules in the dry leaf while steeping. I had even smelled the dry leaf days earlier and remarked to myself that it was surprisingly bright and fruity for a chocolate tea – very “red fruit”. However, European chocolate blends tend to be much, much more fruity tasting compared to North American chocolate blends – it’s just one of those regional flavour differences when it comes to innate preferences. So, I sort of assumed it was just an extreme instance of that.

Steeped I think I actually liked it a lot more than I would have were the fruitiness not so distinct. I got chocolate for sure but it was almost matched by a sweet bright raspberry and cranberry type of flavour that really made me think of whatever the raspberry equivalent of a Black Forest Cake would be. Really dark, fudgey chocolate with that offset of bright syrupy fruits. Maybe a little creamy. The pandan gets lost in the strong flavours, which is a shame, but it’s still a very pleasant tea without the addition of it in the taste profile.

#mugtober

I’m very behind on tasting notes for Mugtober, so gonna whack them out pretty quickly here. This one was for the “nutty” prompt, and I drank it out of a squirrel mug to be extra thematic. It was a little bright and apple-forward in its top notes, but the rest of the sip was like sweet, creamy peanut butter. Appropriately thick mouthfeel too, with just a bit of an oiliness.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2fyab6UaWo

Nutty, sweet, smooth and a little roasty. Tastes like the more fatty and oily peanut butter you would get from the health/Organic foods aisle of your grocery store, or even an almond butter made with roasted almonds. Less processed and still with some chunks of unblended nuts; maybe with the roasted skin still on them. The kind that separates if you don’t mix it together. Delicious. Nostalgic.

So I’ve been craving this tea since about Thursday, and I just could not pry the lid off the tin. It was driving me insane, but I finally managed today to get something under the rim to use as leverage and pop it off that way. I’m all for an air tight seal, but geez.

The tea is well worth the effort though because it’s satisfying that several day long craving immensely. Very, very nutty with such a distinct creamy peanut butter flavour with undertones of heavily roasted almonds and honey. It’s sweet, rich, savory, and soooo good if nuttier teas are your jam!

(Also, definitely made sure to GENTLY put the lid back in. Fingers crossed for next time.)

I’m a little in awe of how deliciously and distinctly this tastes like peanut butter. It reminds me a bit of DT’s Nutty Granola Crunch (which I know was polarizing) but even more rich and nutty. Like, aside from a hint of a fruity apple sweetness in the top of the sip it’s the perfect accord of nutty, creamy, and roasty flavours to really make me think I’m drinking liquid peanut butter. Wow. Wow! I cannot wait to latte this.

Starting the morning with good tea and even more Mid-Autumn Festival inspired treats. Like the jasmine cakes I shared last week, these adorable pineapple shaped and jam filled cakes are made with white bean paste, so they’re an especially fitting pairing for this black tea blend. The tea is very brisk and full-bodied with a really buttery taste with a hint of sweet, almost candied pineapple. Pineapple isn’t just my favourite fruit, but my favourite all-around food too – so it should come as no surprise how much I adore a good pineapple tart. The tea already does such a great job of emulating the sweet, fruity, baked flavours of a good pineapple tart, but enjoying these pineapple cakes with it only doubles down on the best qualities. Plus, they worked so well for dunking!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_gBxOmOV1c/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgDHjx-_4oc

Over steeped a bit, but I still enjoyed the buttery pastry and slight candied pineapple notes. Definitely gave me strong pineapple tart flavour in a restrained and refined way – albeit tannic.

Steeped and sipped while washing dishes last night.

It’s not really a pineapple flavour, but it’s very gently/naturally sweet and fruity in that kind of confectionery glaze way and with the combination of a nice flaky pasty and very buttery note it does make me think of something loosely fruit tart inspired. So I’m not mad that the taste isn’t perfectly dead on/distinct. The nod to the titular flavour is enough for me, at least in this moment during this week.