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Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – August Tea #9 -A marshmallow tea

Another note from before I left town…. had to check the ingredients list – why yes, this supposedly should have marshmallows in this… not really any visible evidence among all of this other stuff in it!  I would imagine it would be noticeable if there was a marshmallow in my sample.  A fun concept here but the flavor ends up a bit muddled.  There were at least two teaspoons for this last steep session, so I was really expecting more flavor.
2022 sipdowns:  96

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – August Tea #8 -An Indian tea

I had this weeks ago, trying to post a couple notes I left hanging.  I forgot how nice this Darj is, even if it’s old!  This has such a light lemon tart flavor to it.  Which means I don’t want to quite finish this one yet… it’s very unique.  But I’m away from my tea collection, so I will count this for the prompt. A 92 rating from me for a Darj… this must be my highest rated Darjeeling other than maybe Butiki.

From Kawaii433!  Thank you very much!  I love a fantastic green, I sighed just typing that.  Unique looking leaves here, which is a weird thing to say about a tea (but I see more than one tasting note mentioning the look of the leaf).  The flavor is lovely – sweet creamed corn, one of my favorite flavor profiles in a green tea.  I’m not sure if it was the way I steeped it, but the flavor seemed a little light at times.  But looking at the brew basket, maybe this is one of those teas that needs more than one heaping teaspoon.  I have a little more to try again! This tea gets a very high Steepster rating, so I will definitely try something different next time.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug // 35 minutes after boiling // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep

additional notes: I had to get one session of a good jasmine tea in on a really hot day before I leave. This was such full jasmine, this sealed sample, and then I looked at my tea list and IT IS FROM 2014. wow that jasmine really lingers. 40% off on sale right now… I’m very tempted.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – August Tea #7 -A melon tea

So I have THREE teas for this prompt, as this puerh is not really a MELON flavored tea, it’s only in the name.  To make up for that, I also steeped up some of 52Teas Cantaloupe Watermelon white tea which still tastes divine a couple days ago.  Today, Bird & Blend’s One in A Melon which I must have at least once a year on the hottest of days.  But I didn’t want to count either one of those for this challenge, as they’re not a sipdown.  Melon teas are HARD for me to sipdown as the melon teas are some of my most cherished teas.  The flavors are usually so amazing for melon teas, so I’m grateful that this prompt had me thinking of all those tasty melon teas. :D   This melon puerh:  it’s fine.  A little fishy on the first steep.  I’d rather it taste like melon!  Shu + melon = a yum idea anyway. I forget if I have combined a melon tea and a shu yet… hmm…
2022 sipdowns:   95

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – August Tea # 6 -A cheap tea

sigh.  It is very hard to plan teas for a trip.  I’m literally calculating how many teaspoons I will need for the trip, caffeine and non.  But then the problem is choices from my vast collection of teas.  Good problems, I guess. 
For this prompt, CHEAP to me means a CTC black tea, even if maybe I have no idea what the price on this tea is (it was from a teabox).  But it’s a solid black tea option.  I like it’s considered a breakfast tea.  This hot weather had me drained today, falling asleep while reading a book, so I needed a strong black tea.  Not a sipdown yet, but almost.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – August Tea #5 – A tea chosen at random

A “random” tea means asking google for two random numbers:  A Steepster cupboard page number and another number 1-18 for the specific tea.  I gave myself three chances and the third landed on this tea.  So time for a sipdown.  I do enjoy this light tea.  It’s a bit like Taiwanese Assam, though not as nuanced.  The old Butiki tea has more nuance than this fresher tea.  Therefore, I’m happy it’s a sipdown.
2022 sipdowns: 94

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – August Tea #4-A tea the flavor of a trail mix ingredient

So the last episode I watched of the sadly cancelled funny show ‘Mr. Mayor’ had a joke about how many cashews were acceptable in a trail mix (the answer was nine) and I’m like “WHAT who doesn’t like cashews, unless you’re allergic?!?!  Cashews are the best nut.” If a trail mix has any nuts in it, I prefer cashews.  So in protest of no one liking cashews apparently, I had to go with a cashew tea for this trail mix prompt.  I have two cashew teas.  Both from 52Teas (Frank’s blends).  This is NOT a sipdown.  Though this is older, I will be hoarding the last teaspoon, even if it is now mostly muted chocolate flavor.  So it’s ALMOST a sipdown.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – August Tea #3 -A banana tea

I’m trying to rush through the prompts for this month as I’m going back up to Maine to help my grandma for a bit in a week.   So I won’t be posting many notes again, which I’m there.  I’ll still be drinking teas from my gallon zipbag variety that I bring with me though!  I will also try to READ tasting notes more than I did last time… just won’t be posting them.  I’m 40+ pages behind in reading notes.  Yikes.   
This beloved tea is NOT a sipdown… and I’m not rushing to finish it.  But it’s one of my favorite banana teas (that isn’t from 52Teas).  Even the blackberry leaf in it is tolerable.  Plus, I will never get over how adorable the tin for it is.

Michelle sent me some teas recently!  Mostly puerh from Rich’s puerh stash, which I specifically wanted to help Michelle out with. :D Thank you so much for the lovely package!  I just HAD to steep this one up first as I love trying any Yunnan in my path.  On first sip: “AH, now THAT is Yunnan tea”.  Every flavor note you expect to find from a good Yunnan is here.  It’s hard to describe other than it’s just the general flavor of Yunnan.  When I think of Yunnan, this is exactly the nuanced flavor I think of (which sounds weird, but sometimes Yunnan teas do taste completely different than what I think Yunnan should be.)  The second steep was a bit harsh, but I have a little bit of this one to get that correct tasting second steep.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep