New Tasting Notes

Sipdown! (5 | 82)

Wasn’t a big fan of this (and it looks like I’m not the only one). I find it a bit harsh as green teas go – it does have some beany/vegetal notes but there’s also a lot of mineral and smoky flavors going on, and a bit of astringency. It’s also a bit bland overall?

Was interesting to try, but it’s not one that I would repurchase.

These were a Mother’s Day gift from Ashman. I have been out of jasmine pearls for a while and really only loved Teavivre’s but I told him I wanted to try these since they are a new offering. They have previously only been available in the Piccadilly location.

My complaint against Harney’s Dragon Pearls is that I don’t care for the base. The jasmine seems okay, but the green tea is harsh and sharp to me. The attraction of the Teavivre Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls was that I love their jasmine teas pretty much across the board (they have many) and I liked the base a lot. It was calm in a cup.

I made three steeps of this. It was sipped beside my wall of jasmine vine on the patio from a tiny bamboo hat cup. The instructions call for boiling water and I wasn’t brave enough to do that on my first try with these. I used 175F, and for reference Teavivre calls for 185F for theirs. I steeped for three minutes.

I am so glad we got these! The base is just right for me. The jasmine is a little lighter than I expected and probably lighter than Teavivre’s, but it is possible that increasing the temp to what F&M calls for would bring out more jasmine. I am very happy with the base on all three steeps. The jasmine was almost all gone in the third steep but the green tea was nice.

I will try it again using their parameters now that I know I don’t have to tame a sharp green tea to enjoy it.

Has the usual shou qualities that I love — slick and oily texture, earthiness. Mild sweetness and has a great color, super dark red.

2nd day in a row of this.

I find that the main benefit of logging these tea notes is that it’s a reflection of a choice I’ve made to live slower.

2 teaspoons of this in a 225ml pot. 1st and 2nd steeps were quite tasty at 85C. I haven’t been timing them, just intuition. 3rd steep at 90C and it starts to lose flavour. I’ll do a 4th at 95C for longer.

I prefer the Premium Golden Monkey Black tea from Teavivre. That one, I steeped maybe 5 or 6 times into the night and it was still so lovely even when lighter.

Sipdown

We started the day with a big pot of this tea for breakfast, sans additions. Afterwards we were sitting outside just enjoying the weather after all the rain and I made another big pot. It started getting rather cool before we finished it and we were running out of tea drinking steam. The cooler tea had a bit of an edge to it that wasn’t there hot, so I decided to add simple syrup to what remained and put it in the freezer to get cold in time to have it as a sweet tea for lunch.

The tea starting freezing at the sides of the mason jar much faster than I expected so I ended up having a tea slushy and it was so good that I plan to do again in the future!

This is nice and fruity and the ginger keeps it from being a “candy” tea. It was very fresh tasting hot and very refreshing and enjoyable cold.

I drink this tea all the time, but I guess I never made a listing. It’s a nice floral herbal blend heavy on the lavender, mint, and lemongrass. It’s fairly well balanced, except the orange blossoms and heather, which I cannot taste.

Gosh, this tea is fantastic. With flavourful, especially when brewed strong. I had this iced, brewed strong (500 mL cold water, 25 minutes, 2 tsp leaf).

Strong floral, fruity lychee and some lovely creamy coconut. The milk oolong is a nice base (I would have liked more oolong and less black tea, personally) with a complex tea flavour under the obvious notes. The after taste is even better than the initial.

Sipdown. I enjoyed this so much in the advent calendar a few years ago that I asked for a full size as a holiday gift. I was gifted a very generously sized 4oz bag. Alas, it seems like that’s just too large a quantity for me. It took me over a year to finish, and by the end of it I was just not as into it as I was at the beginning. Still tasty, but just sort of felt a bit mundane after a while.

Spring 2022 batch – Milky, vegetal, and sweet floral notes. There is a nice ginger flower scent, but I don’t find spice or heat. Using a gaiwan, floral notes last a few steeps and vegetal notes take over. However, grandpa style brings out more floral, milky flavors and the ginger flower scent lasts longer.

This reminds me a bit of their Hawaiian tea series in that it’s definitely tropical but a bit difficult to pick out the individual flavors. Apparently it’s supposed to be mango and pineapple with “other fruits”. I do get something mango-esque, though it also leans a bit more toward peach IMO. Not sure I can taste pineapple, but there is a slight tang.

I think this is one that would be nice as a milk tea, as the base is quite strong and has CTC leaves included. I’ll have to try it that way soon!

My husband and I purchased this tea about a year ago after trying a sample at a tea festival. It’s smoky, but not as much as a Lapsang Souchong typically is. The tea is very tightly compressed, so it can be a bit difficult to pry a chunk off. The taste is very savory and pleasant.

This is so great. The green tea is lovely. The pear flavor is fresh and pleasant. The spices are well-rounded and super tasty. I’m drinking this cold, and it’s juicy and wonderful.