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Sipdown

This came out a bit sharpish this time, but not unpleasant. It was the first time Ashman has had it and he took a sip and said, “Wow, that’s distinctive.” I told him it was raspberry and lemonade and he said he never would have guessed those two flavors. He liked it well enough, though, and said he didn’t think it was bad, just distinctive. I think the sharpness really got his attention.

I think the tea itself has such a tart, lemony bent that it disguises the lemon flavoring. The raspberry wasn’t very berry to me, but raspberry is a rather tart berry flavor.

This came in a box of tea from Youngest – many thanks!

I have never had a sesame sweet bun so I don’t know how authentic this is to the taste of one. If it is accurate then I would say they must be delightful.

The aroma is very sweet, powerful, and coconut heavy. The blend itself is full of good size pieces of coconut and the steeped tea is quite milky looking from all the coconut oil in it.

I didn’t pay close attention to the dry leaf overmuch the first time I made this but this time I did notice that there were lots and lots of sesame seeds. They lend a strong nutty flavor.

As soon as Ashman took a sip, he said, “Wow, this is a good tea!” That is noteworthy because he rarely comments on tea unless asked directly what he thinks of it. It is logical that he would like this a lot since he really enjoys both Cookie and White Christmas by Lupicia and this has a lot of those vibes to me. The popped rice is lovely here.

The last ingredient listed is flavorings, and I wonder if one of those flavorings is cardamom. I didn’t see any in the infuser basket but I feel like I taste it.

August Sipdown Prompt – a grassy tea

I had this with lunch yesterday and forgot to add a note. I made it super strong and poured it over a big glass of ice because it is 100F outside.

Strongly grassy with a bit of bite at first that toned down a little as the ice melted. The leaves are amazing – soft green needles that turn the water yellow green and so many tiny floating particulates that it could pass for primordial soup. So fresh tasting and full of life.

I didn’t read my old notes, yet ended up having a square of Lindt salted dark chocolate with this just as before. It just seems to go with Japanese tea to me because I end up pairing it with matcha sometimes, too.

August Sipdown Prompt – Strange Music Day

The music and the tea came from someone else!

This was a sample packet in the box from Nicole – many thanks! But there were TWO packets of this so I was able to make enough to have with Ashman for breakfast.
I decided strange music could be music you haven’t heard before or music that is strange. I didn’t want the algorithm to choose music for me and give me the same ol’ same ol’, so I assigned my daughter and her friend from Morocco the task of choosing a song for me. One if the comments called this “the Despacito of the Middle East”, and apparently it is an older song, perhaps from the late 1990’s?

https://youtu.be/J9PQ1dEJi0Y?si=YGnUCuFaalfXGETC

It is a very cool morning for August – only 59F – and we are celebrating this very unusual streak of cool morning weather by dining outside every time we can. We had bagels with cream cheese and cinnamon sugar so I thought this would be a good pairing.

This is a super typical Christmas tea along the lines of Constant Comment but it is milder. I am not a huge fan of clove but don’t mind it as long as it is not too prominent, and this one is in the right range for me. Clove lovers would want more.

Otherwise it is a typical black tea with cinnamon, orange, and clove that so many companies put out as their Christmas tea. It’s good for when you are in the mood for that, but this one is a bit mediocre. It doesn’t have any great attraction that would make me seek it over another brand.

Edited to add: Sent a message asking “what made you choose this particular song?” and the response was “because it is a song white people like.” Absolutely rolling in the floor laughing!

August Sipdown Prompt – a wake up tea

I chose this as my wake up tea because the sample packet says “high caffeine”. This came from the box of teas sent by Nicole – many thanks.

Ashman is home sick and I made separate pots of tea for breakfast and we sat outdoors socially distanced because he thinks it may be Covid. That was probably futile but I can try. Ha ha!

I made this for me but before I could get outside he had poured himself a small amount and already drank it. I gave him his teapot and he was relieved. “That was the smoky kind!” He is not a lapsang fan so that is the flavor that stood out to him.

I am not a huge fan of hibiscus so while I welcomed the lapsang, I wondered how I would feel about the hibby. It definitely made it presence known but not too much for me. The last cup of tea was the most tart.

I would describe this as a medium roast oolong with a small amount of lapsang and some tart fruit flavors. The balance was pretty good, with nothing overpowering all else. It was a little lackluster and not something I need to seek out to repurchase, but it was nice to try something new!

August Sipdown Prompt – your biggest leaf tea

This is ONE of my biggest leaf teas but not THE biggest. The very biggest would probably be my Bao Zhong or a puerh but this is a new tea from Youngest and I wanted to go ahead and try it – many thanks, Youngest!

The package is confusing because mine is labeled “Plum Blossom Chinese Oolong” and under that “Taiwanese Tea”. If you look at their website, their package says “Plum Blossom Taiwanese Oolong” and “Taiwanese Tea” under that. But the online description says it is a Wuyi Rock Oolong…which puts us back in China.

It says it has award winning complexity but I didn’t get that using the steeping parameters I used today. I may need to gong fu this one. It does have the characteristic minerality of rock oolong, very much so, in fact. In addition to that just-lick-a-dusty-rock taste, there is a deeply browned bread toastiness.

It was good, but I think it has more to give when made differently. I will switch it up a bit and see if I can draw more out of it.

As I was poking through my tea boxes and shelves mumbling about wanting a black tea for breakfast, my daughter who lives with us poked her head around the corner and asked if I would like a fruity black tea? Now I was intrigued.

She had bought it as a “after your biopsy results” gift but the results came early and by phone and the tea wasn’t here yet, so when she heard, she went out and bought me candles and chocolate instead.

The results were that I have invasive breast cancer recurrence, so it was called the “I’m sorry it is cancer” present instead of the “yay, it’s not cancer!” present. How sweet! <3

The tea came in a few days later as expected, and she held on to it until the right moment, which was today!

I have had this on my wishlist for a while, mostly because of the reviews from CameronB and Michelle. They were spot on in their descriptions.

The base is not super strong, the sage blends almost seamlessly with it and rounds out a full savory note, and the raspberry is light but not artificial tasting. I expected the raspberry to be a little stronger but I think it evokes a national park much more at this level. Overall, I think the balance is achieving exactly what they hoped when they blended it.

I think this is going to be a stellar fall tea, and quite suitable for afternoons as well as mornings.

August Sipdown Prompt – a teabag tea

I am really shocked.

I received these teabags in a card from gmathis yesterday afternoon. Many thanks!

I made a small pot of tea using both teabags, boiling water and a little over three minutes.

I was delighted to bring to my lips a cup of tea that smelled so good that I am plotting to acquire more of this.

The base tastes and smells like a good quality of tea was used; without astringency, it still has a light sweet orange smell so India or Kenya maybe for the origin of the base. The rose…well, they got it just right. It is not oily or perfume-y, it isn’t overpowering, it is well balanced with the base, and it adds just the right amount of rose sweetness and florality. No bubble bath here.

Not kidding, I am immediately googling where to buy this for the teens who come here and love to drink rose tea, something I am very nearly out of completely after years of having four different ones on shelf.

This tea came from the box sent by Youngest – many thanks!

I needed a carafe of caffeinated sweet iced tea to send to work with Ashman for his lunches. This seemed like a great candidate and since it is new, of course I had to try it first!

This is a fabulous iced tea. I do plan to try it hot and unsweetened eventually, but I can say right now that this packs a pomegranate punch. It isn’t too strong or too tart, but in my mind just right. The black tea base and the pomegranate are tasted equally and the fruit flavor really grabs your attention. This is going to go down quickly.

It reminds me of Harney’s Pomegranate Oolong, but with a black base that lends itself to sweetening better for me, whereas Harney’s is best without sugar to me.

Yum!

Another tea from my box from Youngest – many thanks!

This was my afternoon snack tea, although I readily confess that since I am off all day today that was probably just first snack and second snack might happen in around two hours.
It was paired with two squares of a Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt candy bar, so it wasn’t a terribly large snack. (Preparing my justification for second snack in advance.)

My expectations went back and forth on this one. The name made me think it would be heavy on the berry with some lemonade sweet/tartness. The aroma of the tea leaves made me think it was going to be an astringent grassy green tea with a hint of fruit flavor.

The truth is that it was a moderate strength green tea and not one of the blaring grassy sharp ones. The raspberry and lemon were more muted than I expected, but still good. I think I will probably also try it as a sweet iced tea and see if the fruit comes out more.