New Tasting Notes

TTB
I made myself a cup of this with some oatmilk and sipped it down quickly while getting ready for work this morning. It was smooth and went down easy. I didn’t notice any strong astringency or flavor, just a solid breakfast cup. A little malt in the finish and it does a second steeping well too.

This is one of S&V’s new fall releases. I ordered their fall sampler, which included a pouch of this tea, Apple Pie Chai, Pumpkin Spice, and the also-new Witch’s Brew.

As I might expect, I am not a big fan of this. It’s not bad per se, just too buttery and cloying for me. I find that I don’t tend to love overtly desserty blends anymore, at least not those with notes of butter or cake. Weird since I do love desserts ha ha, including the maple sandwich cookies that this tea reminds me of.

Into the rehoming box it goes!

White Tropics. Adagio.
Lot no: 93997. F.B.: n/a.
From a portions packet, I steeped the entire 2.8 g of leaf Western-style, as directed: 3 min in 180°F spring water, in a stainless micropore infusion basket.

The dry leaf aroma was of coconut and not much else. After steeping, the liquor was clear amber in hue, and was fragrant of both pineapple and coconut. The rose petals were seen but not smelt. Tastewise, the piña colada flavor predominated, in a barely perceptible background of white tea. Rose petals contributed nothing. Slurping intensified the above flavors, and there was no bitterness or astringency, nor chemical impression. But the coconut and pineapple flavors were muted and the overall tea was not super enjoyable. I would rate this as 55, and recommend spending your money on something else, unless you’re looking for an echo of piña colada in a hot, mildly stimulating beverage. To its credit, the tea did have a long finish/aftertaste that wasn’t unpleasant.

Sipdown

This may have been Ashman’s favorite of the Earl Grey All Day line from RoT that we tried. The flavouring is pretty strong, which meant he could easily resteep and combine so that he had tea for breakfast plus enough for a travel mug to take to work.

The strawberry and rhubarb were pretty balanced so the rhubarb toned down “candy” tendencies in the strawberry. It was a brightly flavoured green and the base wasn’t sharp.

I barely picked up bergamot in these, and I don’t think I noticed it all in this one.

Sipdown

What a shocker to come on here today and see that my two sipdowns have never had a tasting note from me.

This was a really enjoyable blend. Orange Marmalade was super heavily flavored. This one a little less so.

It was genuinely a lemon biscuit/pastry flavor and not just tea with lemon. Ashman is not a fan of lemon in tea as a rule but he liked this. There was a nice, creamy vanilla note that sold the dessert profile.

It is not a bad tea, but it also did not win me over. It has a light to medium body and aromas of bubblegum, sunflowers, and cut grass.

The first infusion is floral and bitter with a bit of sweetness and overall reminds me of Yunnan green teas. Later ones are warmer and more grainy, savoury. There are flavours of gin, barley, and vegetable broth, among others.

This is just ok, peachy, juicy, and light, but not very interesting. I’m not a big fan of peach or prickly pear teas, so I’m not surprised. I’ll add it to the next TTB.

Well the fall OBTC subscription box is in the mail I best be getting around to writing tea notes for the summer box! This one is yummy pecan pie drowning in hibby tartness. The second steep is a bit toned down on the tart, and the blueberry and cinnamon come through a bit better. This is just ok, I Iike the pecan pie by itself much better

This is a little salty and pleasant. The base goes well with the chocolate, which tastes a little alcohol-y, but not too bad. This was pleasant cold, though not my favorite sort of thing.

Sipdown

September Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea you will not repurchase

I bought this one day when I was really feeling down and wanted some tea retail therapy. It was fun to try, but when a tea is this strongly flavored I assume it is not a great quality base and there is a lot of flavoring that might be labeled natural but is in no way what I would consider natural. (Rare Tea Lady suggested recently to just stir a spoonful of high quality jam into one’s tea if one wants fruit flavor! The Russians do, usually with cherry jam or preserves.)

It was fun, it was good, it was very summery, but I am glad to finish it. There was only one bag left and I added two teaspoons of Ceylon OP Kenilworth No. 450 from Tin Roof Teas so I could make a Stump pot full for breakfast. The orange flavor still came through and I had a more natural tasting beverage.

Even though I will probably not repurchase the other two flavors I bought, the Lemon Biscuit was probably my favorite and I might eventually look for Whisky Fig to try.

September Sipdown Challenge Prompt – the tea most past its “best by” date

Still not a sipdown. I should buy my green tea in smaller amounts. I really like this tea. It is one of my favorite greens, but I have let it get too old. It isn’t bad, but it definitely does not have all the brilliance it had when fresh.

Another sample I might not have selected for myself. I like Earl Grey when it doesn’t taste like soap, and I like it even more when it doesn’t taste like soap and has a little extra something added to balance out the bergamot. This works perfectly. The orange isn’t overpowering or bitter and complements the traditional Earl Grey blend. It also adapted well to imperfect work steeping parameters—another plus.

Sipdown (2991)!

I wasn’t really sure what flavour this was supposed to be when I drank it a few nights ago, but the taste was very fruity leaning to me. Definitely a mixed fruit, and maybe leaning a little more towards berries or just generic red fruit? I thought it was pleasantly sweet and bright, without having the thickness or jammy density that might push it into feeling too heavy handed and cloying. There was also just a slightly creamy or vanilla-like undertone, I felt. If I had to wager a guess I probably would have said some type of berry and cream, but light on the cream side. It was nice, but not something I felt sad to be finishing off.

Sipdown (2992)!

I like this waaayyyy more than the oolong version. It’s fresh and juicy with a really, really ripe white peach flavour. Still floral, but not in nearly as perfumey a way. Instead it feels like more of the natural floral characteristics that would be present in a white peach, not liquid perfume. And the black tea base is really nice too.

Iced Latte!

Cold brewed a concentrate of this in the fridge and then topped it up with some fresh milk. It definitely had a strong mocha flavour, but in the way that makes me think of the Iced Mocha Frappuccinos I used to get in highschool from Tim Horton’s because it was the cool, trendy thing to do. So, in that way it was very nostalgic!