Ohio Tea Company

Backlog / Sipdown

I finished this at the office on Monday, so I made minimal notes. I was grateful to take 2 teas and had found the time to top them off!

Notes: This tastes like my mom’s chocolate covered coconut candies she makes during the holidays. The tea brews quite sweet on its own. I wish I had a little coconut or oat milk to cut the intensity a little.

I had so many teas to review last month for July…Steepster wasn’t working though, so I tossed all my empties into the trash, on account I didn’t want to hoard my collection of empties. This is the first sip down I’ve kept for September because I learned that Steepster was updated and running, however, somewhere between then and now, I became too lazy to logon and review teas. Lol.

Ta-da! I’m back.

One thing I will note about this tea is that you must love coconut. Not tolerate it, but love it. I love-ish coconut in the proper setting – e.g. coconut flavoring, not so much the texture of the food – which is great because this worked out for me! Would I get this again? Depending on my mood for coconut tea. I thoroughly enjoyed sipping it at work yesterday and it was good for an office brew…Thankfully, my mood was right for coconut too; otherwise, I’d’ve said, “Eh, pass. 58/100.” I do like this one on the occasion I crave coconut and don’t want to risk facing my dislike of the papery texture to satisfy a craving.

This past weekend, 9/12-13/25, I had the pleasure of finally meeting Terry (and his wife) and Kurt of Ohio Tea Company. They are wonderful people, and I truly appreciate them for donating matcha to the presentation that I did on Saturday. Terry gave this to me as a gift. Thank you, Terry. I really appreciate having a cuppa in the morning like this!

Wet Leaf: Woody, weet wood,
Flavor: A perfect, unassuming black tea for those mornings when you want to wake up and want to drink without wanting to think. Brisk. slight malty, resin, dark wood.

Mouth feel: First steep was slightly astringent (probably due to less steep time), and then I steeped much longer on the second infusion, so now it’s a lovely punch in the face astringency.
I would say this is a good English Breakfast, but not in my top ranking.

June sip down
At the beginning of June, I went on a drive to Ohio Tea Co to purchase some samples of their new teas. I know that they offer free shipping on tea, however, I prefer to smell and look at the tea tins they have out for customers to determine whether they’d enjoy it. I wanted to talk with the owner(s), but they were out for the day, and the workers there weren’t very sociable that day. Lol.

Orange Grove Vanilla is the first tea of the bunch that I finished! The details online sounded like this could be a winner, and thankfully I only grabbed 2oz, instead of 4oz.

Aroma: Orange juice & orange soda – very citrusy

Tasting Notes: Zero vanilla notes despite the vanilla placed in the name. There is a citrus bite coated with a touch of cranberry (must be the apple?). Not one of my favorites from OTC, however, it’s not terrible. 65/100

After dropping a few backlogged reviews this morning (I’ve 14 more to go. Lol), I decided to top this tea off from last, after playing with friends in a few games of pickleball. They requested something “relaxing and good iced,” and since this was one of the few new teas I’ve acquired yesterday, I decided to brew some up. Let me note that having green and black tea mixed it doesn’t mean you won’t get heavily sedated and need a nap shortly after sipping. Ha-ha.

Despite the lemon grass & lemon balm added into the blend, the only two flavors that stand out are the peppermint and chamomile. I dig those flavors, but I wanted to get a hit in face with lemon flavors, too.
get a hit in face with lemon flavors, too.

TTB sample! The main flavors I taste here are clove and a decently hearty, though not necessarily delicious black tea. With milk and sugar, it wasn’t bad, but those two flavors were a little harsh/too much sometimes. I wanted something else. Looks like this may just be Adagio’s pumpkin spice.

Sip Down

This was nicely roasted, but the leaves were a bit smaller than most other Dancongs I’ve had. I’m guessing that this is meant to be Western brewed based on leafage. This isn’t the highest quality of Dancong one may hope to get, but it’s a good tea as a daily drinker and/or whenever you’re wanting something with a moderate amount of roast.

Sip Down & Backlog

A coworker was trying to get into tea, and they said that they grabbed everything that sounded interesting while visiting Ohio tea Co. Unfortunately for them, this was something that they purchased, only to discover, it has cucumber in the title. They asked if I was interested in taking this off their hands, and while I love cucumbers, I typically don’t like to sip cucumber drinks (e.g. water or tea). To my surprise, this was a refreshing tea with more melon notes than cucumber. It was better iced, as I suspected, which made for an excellent tea on a warm day!

Sip Down and Backlog – Sept. 16

A smooth tea especially iced! Made for a great tea on the drive to work.

Backlog and Sip Down

I wanted to enjoy this tea more than I had…The aroma from the dry leave is quite caramel
heavy and reminds me a little of an Apple Cinnamon candle wax we use for the house. Unfortunately, the tea was more tea base than flavors (not a fault, I suppose, but whenever you’re expecting a bit of something added to the tea base, you’re disappointed when that something isn’t there). I’ll note that there was some cinnamon flavoring in the mix, but not enough to give it the expected “Candy Apple” experience.

Backlog and Sip Down

This was a regular nightcap while I was adjusting to the new shift. I wanted to stay up later in the evening despite moving to an earlier start time. I picked this up since Terry (OTC owner) recommended it a long while ago. It did the job allowing me to get into a deep slumber.

Tasting notes: Chamomile-esq, bay leaves, basil, and thyme.

Sip Down

We had the neighbors over on Friday for an evening fire. We finally had the chance to meet them after 9 months of living at the house. I’ve been too shy to try to make any contact since I’ve not seen anyone outside their house, so I didn’t want to knock on any doors. Ha-ha. Thankfully, they saw us bringing groceries into the house and made first contact three weeks back. I finally asked if they wanted to stop by and drink tea. Lo and behold, they are coffee drinkers, but we still offered tea. ; )

The neighbor’s eldest child thought we were giving them “really good Kool-Aid,” but I reassured that this was a tisane (I went into the whole tea vs tisane, which seemed to bore the poor kid. Teenagers don’t usually seem fascinated by these things. That’s ok, it was nice to surprise them with good tea and get a positive reaction). All in all, I do agree it has a wonderfully sweet Raspberry flavor, especially since the wife made it in her traditional Southern sweet manner. She advised it wasn’t as heavily sweetened per her usual way, but anything with more than 1 tsp of sugar is sweet to me. Ha-ha.

What compelled me to brew this at 23:30 tonight, I’ve no idea. I thought it was an herbal blend and I was wrong. I tossed in the entire sample in my Ingenuitea and assumed it was less than there was…anyway, it’s a very strong cinnamon tea. Imagine tossing in 4-6 Big Red sticks of gum and adding more as you go…Hot Cinnamon is essentially the same concept.

Sipdown

I found the last cup’s worth sitting at the bottom of my flavored tea bin. I imagine my past-self wasn’t ready to let this one go. Alas, I had to top it off. It’s a good rooibos to have around on the random days I want to indulge and have chocolate. This tea makes me think of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, and adding foamed oat milk really enhances those flavors. I don’t grab for this one often, but when I stop in to Ohio Tea Co, I always make sure to grab a bit more, especially when I’ve sipped down the previous 2 or 4oz bag.

Backlog 1/21/2024

This has been a daily drinker for me for a long while. I usually will thermos brew it and sip as I go about the day. It’s a good tea to take traveling for office days or getting out of the house. I sipped this one for a majority of the day yesterday. I added more water/leaf, as needed, but it was frigid and there’s nothing more comforting than a shou on a cold day.

Cheers and happy sipping!

National Earl Day- drink an Earl Grey type tea. I choose Rosie Earl Grey. Not my favorite Earl Grey but it’s a nice twist. I don’t like rose black tea but it is really good mixed with bergamot. The rose is mild hot it gets a little stronger when it has cooled down. I love all the variations of Earl Grey they have out.

Very good fruit tisane. Nice strawberry flavor. The chocolate is very light but I prefer it that way. It’s a seasonal flavor. I will have to try it iced too. Perfect way to end Valentine’s Day.

I love this tea. Yes it does have a more caramel flavor but I can taste the pumpkin. I really like it as a latte. Right now I’m enjoying it with pumpkin spice whip cream and salted caramel drizzle. I like that this tea is not like a traditional pumpkin spice. It is a nice change.

This is my favorite berry iced tea. Intense berry flavor. Really good sweetened with simple syrup. Also delicious we it’s limeade or lemonade.

Backlog 2/19/2022

Aroma: Licorice up front, pepper, and something that gives the tea a slightly off-putting aroma.

Flavor: Spicy black licorice. Does not remind me of root beer.

Backlog 2/19/2022

Aroma: Sweet, caramel, and rooibos.

Flavor profile: Rooibos & chocolatey.

Sipdown
Backlog 2/25/2022

I had to run to OTC today to restock on my wife’s favorites. I was looking around and stumbled upon this one on their wall. I snagged an ounce since it was more expensive than other white teas. The sales associate told me that this was one of the best chai’s in their inventory.

I brewed this at 175F and steeped it for 5 minutes, per the instructions. It was moderately watered down, but I could taste anise, almond, and cinnamon. I added a 1/4 tsb of honey, which only elevated the almond and anise notes. It’s tasty, but I like chai a little stronger and spicier.

Sipdown
Backlog 2/7/22

Notes: Quite a lovely hit of lavender and spearmint. Chamomile jumps out more when this is cold brewed.