Paper & Tea

A calming cup and the description fits perfectly. There are notes of sweet-sour apple, elderflower, and linden — and somehow these are all evenly distributed.

The dregs are all that is left in the bag. And yet, the nuttiness of the remaining leaf sparks the thought that this might be better than my assumptions are leading me to believe. The dry leaf is pale olive green. As it infuses the leaf emits a faint nutty note that makes my palate excited. It reminds me of a pulled noodle shop. The yellow liquor is soft and filled with cooked vegetal notes. I can definitely tell this sample has sat for a bit. In its prime this tea would be quite a bit better than what I am getting. Electrical fire? I can tell there are green vegetal and nutty notes that would be fantastic but I would need a fresher sample in order to fully assess this tea.

Advent tea pouch. I split this into two sessions and am liking this one better than the first. It’s a decent oolong, grassy, sweet, buttery and metallic. Not something I’d gravitate toward, but still a nice cup.

Advent tea
There is a nice balance here between slightly sweet popcorn and savory green grass. Slightly astringent at the end and a little more grassy as it cools. Second steep smoother than the first. Not a bad genmaicha, but not something I need in my cupboard

Advent tea
There is some hibby and cinnamon and menthol? It’s a bit muddled and doesn’t seem to go together well. Nope.

Advent tea
Grassy with a sweet apricot aftertaste. Smells grassy too. The apricot isn’t enough to outweigh the slightly bitter and green note from the rooibos. Not something I need to drink again.

I ordered this with my advent and I’m glad I got to try it as it wasn’t in the advent. I ordered the bag advent for my niece and the loose leaf for me and there were different teas in each. She was happy to take some of the EG blends off of my hands.
This is an awesome tea I would brew for someone just getting into loose leaf as it displays the classic malty and coppery Assam profile without any bitterness or astringency. There is even a yeasty/bread like note to add some complexity. My favorite Paper and Tea so far.

Advent tea
Chocolate and clove in the first steep and clove and nutmeg in the second. A smooth base underneath. A decent tea to start the new year, but not something I need in my cupboard.

Advent tea
A nice floral oolong that unfurls into broad leaves. Not a tea I would choose, but that’s why we have advents. It is an interesting change of pace from my usual straight black tea, so I enjoyed it. I prefer a buttery or roasty oolong, and I think there is another in this advent bunch to try.

I added this to my paper and tea order because Ros and Martin liked it so much. Sorry to say the tea has changed formulas and the fig flavor is no longer there. I had hopes that the black currant flavor was of similar quality, but although it does taste like berries, there is a weird after taste that is not pleasing. They use bourbon vanilla flavoring in a bunch of their teas, I’m wondering if that is the offending flavor. Its going into the give away box.

I got a larger portion of this in my advent purchase, and this is a mixed bag to me. There is just a lot going on here and it all becomes a bit muddled. I do taste chocolate and orange and bourbon notes, but there is a floral note at the end that just doesn’t belong in my opinion. The second steep has less of a rosy note, so the tea was slightly redeemed, but I won’t drink this again because of the aftertaste.

Advent tea
This strong black tea is certainly astringent. I probably used too much water to leaf ratio for the first steep. I used more water for the second steep and the infusion became a bit smoother. I only have one packet to brew so I don’t know if the first brew could be less harsh, but I can think of strong black tea that is more tasty and less astringent.

Advent tea
Tart and more tart. There is supposed to be cranberry in here, but all I taste is tart hibiscus. Its a bit overwhelmingly tart, not something I’d need to drink again

I finally caught up with my Paper and Tea order that I thought I would enjoy with my Dad over Thanksgiving. It took them 4weeks to ship my order, but it actually arrived rather quickly when it was finally shipped from Germany. I told my Dad to open it, and he tried a few, but he didn’t continue, he is used to black tea in a full pot, not individual cups.
So I get to do an advent now and this one displays the joy and heartache of Advent tea, you get to try new teas and there will be some you don’t like. If this wasn’t a Yunnan base I would not have tried it, but hey I gave it a shot. It is bergamot to start and chocolate Yunnan to finish so I am torn, do I grimace with each sip to get to the Yunnan underneath or do I just toss it? If you like both flavors, this is a very nice EG, but it’s not for me.

2023 sipdown no. 33

I’ve been low key searching for a White Rhino replacement and don’t often order white teas, but this one intrigued me. For anyone interested, this isn’t a decent replacement, but it’s fine as a tea in general.

The tea itself was very unique looking, noted as a “stem tea” on the website, and it’s like tiny driftwood twigs! The taste is very clean and balanced. The flavour notes are meant to be “wild honey, stewed apricot, lychee” and I’m not sure I’m getting any of these.

Not yet a sipdown, but filling sipdown prompt — February 2 – Groundhog Day: drink the same tea (or type) twice!

I am quite heavy drinking this recently, and always I prepare two steeps (that’s the prompt for me) of it. Not any diffrently today. Breakfast cup, same leaves and second steep studying cup.

I believe it could make more steeps, but two are flavourful enough. How? Continue reading :)

Although it is almost one year old, it is really flavourful — grassy, seaweed a bit, sweet and chesnuts. A little buttery too.

One must be careful about steep temperature though. Higher temperature makes it much more unpleasant (more buttery notes); also longer steeping time make it bitter. 2 and 2 minutes, both with 70°C are just exact steeping paramters that suit this tea best. Hopefully I will finish it before the end of February.

2022 sipdown no. 63

I had a few sample teabags of this one from my Paper & Tea order and it was the one I was most excited about. I barely got any flavour here (I am inclined to blame the hard water here). So I can’t say much except that I can’t order this one until we live in a different spot with soft water I suppose.

Paper & Tea 2022 Advent Day 24: Winter’s Light

This one was quite lovely. The chocolate came through more in the scent, but the spices were lovely and warming and not over the top at all – mellow and almost muted in a way that worked quite nicely.

Paper & Tea 2022 Advent Day 23: Red Hibiscus

This was straight hibiscus. Fine, but nothing special. Interestingly, A (lover of all hibiscus :P) wasn’t a fan, despite loving a straight hibiscus we have in the pantry and pretty near every hibiscus blend.

Paper & Tea 2022 Advent Day 22: Milk River

This had a characteristic oolong flavour, with subtle hints of sweetness at the end of the sip. The tea was somewhere between light and medium-bodied. I’d order more of this one.

Paper & Tea 2022 Advent Day 21: Queen’s Grace

I agree with the floral notes here, but there was a defined bitterness/astringency at the forefront.