Winterwoods Tea Company

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Recent Tasting Notes

87

A very good, robust assam that is excellent in the dead of winter. The calendula does give it a bit of a unique flavor that is slightly different from a basic assam, and the addition of the flowers does certainly make it an attractive loose leaf to look at in the bag.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85

Usually with chai, the spice for me is underdone or not well balanced. Too much cinnamon in some, anise in another, etc. This is a well balanced chai for me! It has the good bite of spiciness that some of its category lack, while not having one particular spice overpower the others. This will be my go-to chai unless I am able to find a better one.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec

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80

This is a really good tea, the honey flavor is done so well and not at overwhelming like I was concerned it would be. I don’t drink it very often because the texture of the pollen in the tea is a bit uncomfortable for my mouth and throat, but adding a dab of honey and a splash of milk makes it much much easier for me to drink.
The black tea is smooth and malty, which is an excellent pairing for the honey.

Flavors: Honey, Malt, Maple Syrup

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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100

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100

This tea is everything I would want from a tea of its’ name. It’s got that delicious lapsang taste, not flavored but actually smoked, and the juniper berries add an earthiness and a ruggedness to the flavor that I just adore! I have ordered this twice and am about to run out, so I will need to get more when I do a WWTC restock.

Flavors: Pine, Smoke

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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This is a decent and relaxing cup of herbal tea, and I probably need to drink more herbals teas, especially in the later part of the day.

The predominant flavors here are the sweetness of licorice root & the refreshing quality of peppermint, followed by cinnamon & cherry bark.

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An interesting black tea. I am occasionally a fan of lapsang souchong, especially in the winter, and adding sage and juniper berries adds an interesting twist, kind of a refreshing quality.

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I got this tea, along with several others, a year or so ago as part of a Kickstarter thing.
When I first opened it, it had an alcoholic aroma, which is pretty unappealing for me. Some of the other teas in this collection also had that vibe. So I let them sit for awhile, quite a while!

So now I’ve been sampling these teas, finally! The alcohol aroma is long gone, and the dry tea has a honey aroma that is pleasant enough. I brewed a cup, and it is a solid and bold black tea, a little on the bitter side, with a honeyish ambiance. I suspect that if I sweetened it, I’d like it even more, but as I’m not in the habit of sweetening my tea, I’ll pass.

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I probably shouldn’t be drinking any more caffeine at the point, but what’s one more cup?

This is a tasty and potent assam, with the addition of Calendula flowers, which have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, although there is probably not enough flowers in there to be medicinal, and it doesn’t taste medicinal either, or floral, for that matter.
It is a hand blended tea with all organic ingredients. Honestly, it’s a solid cuppa!

Nicole

“What’s one more cup?” That is a solid life mantra right there. :)

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Tart and tangy from the citrus and rosehips, this is a bright & light peach tea, and benefits from a little sugar to bring out the flavors. I don’t usually sweeten my tea, but I did add a little little honey to my cup.

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Yes, I’m just drinking one cup of tea after another…nothing new there…

I used to drink a lot of chai, but honestly, I don’t drink it much anymore, because sometimes some of the spices disagree with my system, and chai is best, IMO, if it is sweetened with some coconut milk in it. I usually prefer my tea straight up, but I did make an exception for this cup, just to sample it. It’s a solid blend of all the usual spices, hand made from all organic ingredients. That works for me :)

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A few years ago I went on a Kickstarter Binge, and one of the projects I supported was Winterwoods Tea Company. Their teas are lovingly hand made from organic ingredients, and I got a box full of them. I have to confess, when I first opened each package, most of them smelled like alcohol to me, and being a recovery person, that wasn’t very appealing. So I let them age for awhile, and gratefully the alcohol aroma seems to have departed!

So this is a classic licorice tea, naturally sweet because licorice is so, a little little spicy in a mild chai like way, and a little medicinal, because it is. I’m feeling a little under the weather, as if I’m either coming down with something, or having the start of spring allergies (which is what I suspect). Either way, warm tea always helps, and since I’ve already drank my fill of both Elderberry (anti viral) and Nettles (for allergies), I decided to go with a small pot of this one. Licorice root has a balancing effect on my adrenals, the marshmallow, ginger, and fennel are all soothing, and the orange peel and cinnamon add some nice flavor.

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80

Sipdown (409)!

Finished this one off at work today! It’s one I’m not hurt to be out of; it was pleasant enough but the profile doesn’t stand out all that much and I imagine in a few months I’ll likely have completely forgotten about it.

I brewed this one hot, and topped up the cup with frothed milk. I didn’t directly pour the milk into the tea, but of course some of it ended up mixing together with it. The main idea was just to sip it through the thick layer of frothed milk, though.

Flavour wise, it was almost entirely a licorice/anise/fennel dominated flavour, however the clove, cinnamon, and mint were present in more of the second half/finish of the sip. It made for an overall herbaceous, spicy, and minty drink with a lot of background sweetness. Which was… alright.

Again; not really anything stand out about it.

Arby

Anything resembling cedar wood or pine? It seems like an odd name for a blend with no cedar notes.

Roswell Strange

Not particularly :/

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80

Another tea from Winterwoods Tea Company!

This one seems like it has a lot going on ingredients wise, but the way it comes together is pretty seamless. It’s not impossible to break down the flavours at all: fennel and cinnamon top notes, more of a minty and cooling finish with woody body flavours. However, it really is better when you just leave it be as one uniform flavour that feels very refreshing and outdoorsy. It’s a combination of the sweeter elements, mild warming spices and then the cooling/refreshing mint that ties that imagery all together.

And I’m no stranger when it comes to the idea of using the cooling/refreshing feeling of mint in tea blends to evoke the refreshing feeling of a cool breeze in the outdoors – it’s pretty well exactly what I had in mind when I made my own blend, Daughter of Satyrs.

I did add a splash of vanilla agave near the end of the mug though; no real rhyme or reason to it – I’m just obsessed with the stuff as of late. It didn’t do much, except draw out some of the mint. Vanilla mint is just a really good flavour combo…

Yeah, only real downside for me when it comes to this blend is that I’d have loved the sarsaparilla to be a clearer, and more distinct flavour because sarsaparilla is just so damn tasty. This was SUPER refreshing and relaxing though even as is.

Autistic Goblin

This sounds really yummy!

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75

Sipdown (340)!

Made this one in my tea press, and this time I’m doing it iced just to see how the flavour differs from trying it hot. Mostly, I think it’s the same: a very sweet, juicy berry flavour. I find it a bit less tart overall, but that makes sense given that it’s an iced tea over a hot tea; in general that iced style of prep tends to soothe tartness or at least take a bit of the edge off it. The berry flavour is pretty straight forward blackberry, but has some elderberry and raspberry kind of elements to it too. I think I find it sweeter overall than I did as a hot tea; maybe even on the cusp of being a little too sweet? I know the blackberry leaf is responsible for A LOT of that intensity and sweetness, but something else reminds me faintly of icing sugar too and I can’t totally place what it is. The whole profile is undercut with the faintest, softest herbaceous element. Again, probably the blackberry leaf.

I liked this one overall; both as a hot tea and an iced tea. I do think the iced version was maybe just a little too sweet, so I think I’d opt for drinking it hot if I were to revisit it in the future.

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75

So, this company really intrigues me; their blends are either fair trade and organic, ideally locally sourced and sometimes actually foraged from the wild!? That’s pretty interesting/unique and I love the attention to detail and that they focus so heavily on freshness. I actually got all my samples of their teas through Amoda because it was the easier way for me to get samples of their blends – but if I have enough success with the teas I got samples of the idea is definitely to place an order through their website and get some things in larger quantities!

This is my first one, and you know what? The dry leaf smells pretty damn good! I’m not entirely sure what a huckleberry specifically tastes like that separates it from a blackberry, but in my head a blackberry is what I’m picturing and the dry leaf smells pretty sweet and blackberry like.

Taste wise? I’m not immediately in love, but this is pretty solid! I imagine it’d actually be a far better iced tea so that’s probably how I’ll finish off the rest of the sample. It’s very sweet, enough so that I had to double check there wasn’t any sort of sweetener like stevia in the leaf, but nope – it’s probably just the blackberry leaf up to no good. Blackberry leaf is sneaky sometimes; it’s pretty sweet stuff. The berry comes through clearly; again I don’t know what separates huckleberry from blackberries, but it definitely reminds me of blackberries. Maybe blackberry jam, specifically? Like I said, it’s a pretty sweet tea! It’s also got a tarter finish, definitely from the hibiscus. I’m not the worlds biggest fan of hibiscus, but if you’re going to pair it with anything then I think berry is usually the right route to go, and in this case I don’t find it too heavy handed.

I think, for a new to me company, it’s a good start and introduction! I’m definitely excited to see what else they have to offer!

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85

The first thing I noticed about this blend was a large dried calendula blossom in the loose leaf— the whole flower was preserved in the mix! I’m not sure if this was intended, but was a surprise when I opened the bag. With all those jasmine blossoms and calendula petals, it’s certainly a blend that’s easy on the eyes. Upon brewing, the green rooibos and apples are a good combination, both providing gentle sweetgrass and honey notes. The green tea expands on this theme, bringing out the fresh, grassy hay tones from the rooibos. Jasmine is the real star of this tea, extremely fragrant in the dry leaf and the brew, evoking images of standing in a flowery orchard, or having fresh, grassy air blow by. A lovely low-caffeine treat, that was airy, floral, and green.

Flavors: Apple, Floral, Flowers, Grass, Honey, Jasmine

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80

I love peach candy and peach tea, both of which are very different kinds of peaches. I’ve tried a lot of summery peach blends, and they are usually cloyingly sweet, or more like peach rings than the fruit. This blend is the truest peach tea I’ve ever tasted.

This tea is sweet, but not like candy, it’s just like genuine peaches! The blend brews up a light amber, peach color, not too pink or dark. When brewed, the fruit flavor is gentle, but forward, and you can see peach pieces in the leaves. The rest of the ingredients are simple and herbal enough, they they really let the peach shine (no rooibos overshadowing the peach in this blend). Strawberry leaf and citrus peel help make the blend naturally sweet and bright.

Probably best as an iced summer blend, this could have some great comforting potential as a hot tea. Mix it with a little chai and you’ll have a peach cobbler tea in no time. Overall this was a lovely taste-test. The tea is caffeine free, sugar free, and deliciously peachy.

Flavors: Citrus, Fruity, Peach

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