New Tasting Notes

This one worked for me better than expected. Nice with honey to bring the mint and jasmine together. Even without honey, this tea actually did not clash in the way I thought it would. Will have to write more notes on it.

Okay, I’m being a picky jerk about this one. It’s really tannic and easily bitter with boiling water. I only did this for a minute and it’s still to heavy on the tannin for me.

The cream and bergamot ratio is good, but the aftertaste is something I really don’t like. I’m going on full teasnob with it. It needs cream and sugar. I wouldn’t be so bitter if I didn’t pay six pounds for it. I could have gotten Harney and Sons for much cheaper at this rate.

Tea in the UK was a bit of an experience, though one I was surprisingly disappointed in certain ways. It’s weird because I know in general UK culture leans more towards coffee at the moment, and What-Cha with Alistair is easily the best loose leaf vendor in the UK, but I was expecting more loose leaf shops than there was. The cultural heritage/museum cafes in every undercroft in every cathedral and castle had amazing Earl Greys and Elderflower teas that were insanely good with a few good teas at some of the coffee shops like the Blueberry Matcha at the Black Sheep Coffee chain, but a lot of other places were mostly the same of what you’d see in the US.

I managed to go to Whittard of Chelsea and Bird and Blend, but Fortnum and Mason was really hard for me to reach since it was just off from the sites I was going to. It was also in a different terminal altogether at the airport, so I decided not to go.

Bird and Blend was hugely disappointing. I’ll go on a mini rant on that later.
I was pleasantly surprised with the teas from this company, beginning with this one. It was a round bagged tea in the Discovery collection box sampler that was a little overpriced, but this assam was exceptionally smooth for a round compostable tea bag. I’d easily rank it above Twinings, Numi and some Republic of Tea blends (though not all).

This was a straightforward assam, but not too astringent after 3 minutes. Had a really nice malt body that wasn’t overpowering, a little bit of a cocoa and toffee vibe in the aftertaste rather than flavor. It’s simple, but effective and easily better than most teabags and way smoother. I was surprised with how good it was for a teabag. Color me happy after a persnickety rant.

Sipdown! (8)

Another oldest tea bites the dust! This was one nice enough, but I always felt like it needed more flavoring, and found it odd that they added hibiscus to a tea with vanilla in it. I get it, it makes the orange pop more, but I feel like it works against the vanilla. Still a perfectly fine blend, just ends up tasting a little more generically hibiscus than I would prefer (though not very tart). The green maté base is soft and haylike, gently herby and earthy.

As for the company, note sure if they went out of business or…? Their website is there but checkout is disabled. A shame, I was curious to try a couple of their other blends.

Double Sipdown!

I blended the last of the peach and vanilla teas together and got two more sipdowns from the advent calendar knocked out. It is a cold day, so lots of hot tea is being drunk. The fruity black tea blends are the ones we look forward to most in the Fortnum advent. I am tempted to just ordered the small scented black tea assortment next year and cycle through them during the advent season.

I don’t really taste much mint here. Like with the other blends, I enjoy the quality of the cacao shells. With milk and sugar, it tastes good, like high quality hot chocolate. It’s best cold, but it’s not as good as the plain version.

2024 Advent Calendar #4

I don’t think I’ve ever had sweet potato pie. We love sweet potatoes in our family so I may have to try my hand at it.

The dry sachet had fabulous scents of cinnamon and clove. I, impatiently, let it steep for the full recommended 7 minutes and then snuggled in my arm chair with the mug. It was full of warm and comfort but not so strong with the chai spices. I do taste the cinnamon and clove and sweet potato. There is a flavor I can’t quite pinpoint and I googled Tulsi to see if that was it, as it’s the only ingredient I wasn’t familiar with. Still not sure if the Tulsi is what I’m getting. There was a creaminess to it that I think is coming from the sweet potato.

Sipdown

This is a favorite from Fortnum & Mason. I have never bought a tin on its own but look forward to the 25 grams in the advent. It is simple and is exactly what it says, but the strawberry flavor is on a Chinese base (Keemun) which is so much smoother.

It resteeps well so we get several big pots of tea from the little tin. It is not finicky and has never been too harsh but maybe I have been attentive enough with it. We drink it plain but it can take milk and sugar if you like. Great with breakfast, on its own, or with a snack .

A teapot time.
I have used all 8 grams received from Derk in the session today morning and in the teapot; to share this tea with other family members. Thank you derk!

I have used 90°C water and steeped for 3 minutes. After we have finished first session, I decided to brew myself second session and steeped again for 3 minutes. There is no lose in the flavours and the leaves were almost lifting up the lid of the pot. I am sure there would be more steeps possible, but I haven’t made them.

I find this tea rather hard to describe. It is a wonderful and very, very complex tea with aroma of florals, herbals, and tropical fruits. Very ripe mango and bananas, in my opinon; combined with some, a little savoury, herbs. I wasn’t able to point out them, but then I read the description for medium roast version and I am pretty sure it is galangal, something I tried during the advent season for (probably) very first time. It was kind of spicy, but not fiery… rather piney as derk notices there.

There is an extremely long aftertaste, and overall high enjoyment of the tea not only from me, but also family members. As my mom described: “Delicate and mellow, with full of flavour.” When I examined the steeped leaves, I could show them the bugbitten leaves and explained them how it contributes to the taste and… yep I liked it very much because of it too. It has got a sweet finish, mouthcoating qualities and if there is something I am sad about, it’s that I will hardly try this tea again.

Of course, I am sure Song Tea would send me some, even they don’t specify shipping on their website; but to be honest, it is kind of expensive for me.

January 3 Sipdown Challenge Prompt – J.R.R. Tolkien Day

Today we were supposed to have tea with a hobbit meal…but I forgot. My daughter texted me as we were on the way to pick up Sam’s thyroid meds (like his wolf ancestors) at the vet office, so I missed my opportunity to do Second Breakfast. Never mind! Afternoon tea it is!

To make it more hobbitlike, I used an old pewter pot I inherited from my godmother and two clay cups. I prepared a plate of gingersnaps and we ate them outside on a blanket in the grass. It was a chilly day but very nice as long as you were out of the wind and in the sun.

I narrowed down the 140+ choices to two and told Ashman to pick from those two, and he chose this one. It was what I expected the Cookie Monster to do.

This resteeps nicely so we had a nice big pot to share and plenty to go with our cookies. I like this one very much and I am a bit torn as to whether I prefer this or Almond Black. I think this one might be more up the Ashman’s alley, while Almond Black edges ahead just ever so slightly for me. It really is a powerhouse of almond flavor, whereas this one is a nice mix of the almond and cookie flavors. Both are great!

A lot going on this week, leaving my arms and neck in perma-clench and my brain burning rubber like a 16-year-old in a vacant parking lot. So I’m trying to kill the engine and undo the knots with something gentle. This is hitting the spot. There’s never enough chocolate to suit me, but what’s in this blend balances nicely with the mint and lavender. Favorite bathrobe, fuzzy socks, Enya playing softly. For the moment, we’re OK.

Like all good spiced teas if you add milk you need to steep it longer. Not good like a chaiwallha but not bad for a bag.

Taste each minute but no longer then 5. A unique blend. Need to revisit

At3 minutes some of the other flavors comes out nicely but if you keep going past 5 minutes it’s just nope.

This was probably one of my first introductions to Japanese tea. I said it had a good earthy taste. I do enjoy their packaging for some reason.

No pear in the ingredients… Very slight pear flavor. Kinda weird… Maybe I’ll have to retry and… cold steep?

Very calming in taste and smell. Steep at least 2 mins but no longer than 5. Purchased from World Market. I do enjoy red rooibos. I man revisit this one.

TJMaxx. I feel like I need to go back there now. It’s been a few years. Granted I don’t expect to find any teas to the quality I have in my cupboard. I don’t mean for that to sound snobby but when you have tea that you literally watched being made in front of you in your cupboard…. I think it’s fine for me to say what is better. Right? That being said… this was average at best. I don’t know that I want to explore it again…

After 2 minutes I find this tea way too strong. But my parents enjoy it. Purchase from Cubs. Can’t help but wonder if the taste would be better if purchased closer to the time it’s made or if the flavoring makes it not matter. Probably.

It will wake you up. But that’s about it.

Pretty good for a box store purchase. Will have to reassess.

Another TJMaxx tea. This is another backlog. “Light but still has great flavor.” I guess I’ll have to explore this one as that is kind of vague. It gives, perhaps, a sense of an airy tea that is not dense like a dark tea but I could use with a better sense of what light means.

Tjmaxx purchase. Back in those days, I used to shop there more and buy weird things. Found some unique teas there. This one was interesting. I feel like I need to retry it now though. My palate has definitely changed.