CatSpring Yaupon

Pedernales. CatSpring Yaupon.
Lot no. 062125. BB: 07/01/2027.
1.5g leaf, western style, 8 oz 200°F spring water, steeped serially. Take a deep breath, because my opinion varies dramatically from those of others!

1st (6 min) resulted in a greenish-golden infusion with the typical yaupon aroma. The flavor was neutral and sweet, non-astringent, vegetal and woody. There was an interesting and subtle aftertaste. Inoffensive, but not to my liking.
2nd (8 min) infusion was deeper in color, yet softer in flavor, with only a hint of bitterness. Watery and unsatisfying. The weak aftertaste is insufficient to make me want to continue steeping, let alone sipping even this cup. I’m done with yaupon. If Cat Springs Yaupon finds a way to process the herb that substantially changes the flavor profile, I might be persuaded to try their changed product. Not recommended, rating 15.

Lost Maples. CatSpring Yaupon.
Lot no. 062125. BB: 07/01/2027.
1.5g leaf, western style, 8 oz 210°F spring water, steeped serially.
1st (6 min) amber infusion with subtle aroma of toasted mint, notes of hay. Unique flavor combining notes of pepper, straw, wood, something close to aniseseed, with mild sweetness, and non-astringent.
2nd (8 min) steep was similar in shade and fragrance, but was immediately bitter to the extent I could only tolerate a few sips. Yuck. Dumped the remaining liquor. The olive green leaf has become nearly black in color, with only traces of green remaining.
3rd (10 min) steep was a pale greenish-amber, the color of old water from boiled spinach. If only it tasted as good. The pepperiness is gone and the aroma is receding, the flavor is slightly smokey, mildly bitter, faintly of wet cigarette ashes (don’t ask!). A few sips and I was done with this infusion, too. No further infusions, as I’m done wasting quality spring water on this miserable product. My prior rating of 10 stands, again without recommendation.

No. No maple flavor, no pleasant flavor, no aroma other than nondescript hay. Just bitter nastiness. No redeeming quality whatsoever. If it was possible to demand a refund, I would. Disgusting. I’d rather swallow a caffeine tablet, which would be cheaper, too. I do not recommend at all. This was a $19.85 mistake that I will continue to regret. Since it did not make me vomit, I will give it 10 points. This was a medium roast, but my assortment also came with a green and a dark roast, and I shall be brave and try them as well, hoping for the best! Notes to be posted in due course. :-)

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I really liked the idea of this blend. I enjoy all of CatSpring’s different yaupon roasts, this being made with the medium version. It smells wonderful, with the mellow herbaceous notes of the yaupon, sweet dried apple, and warming spices.

However, in practice, the clove sort of dominates everything else. Which I guess isn’t that surprising given (1) clove is quite a powerful flavor and the other ingredients less so, and (2) this has been in my cupboard for almost three years, so it’s had plenty of time to “marinate” ha ha.

So not sure I would order it again. Maybe if I removed all the cloves right off the bat, it would be more balanced.

Got a mixed package for Christmas of the 3 Catspring’s varieties of loose leaf yaupon. This extra teabag was in the box.

I’d be fooled if somebody told me this is a lighter roast houjicha. Hit all the right notes this morning with a summer fog that was sprinkling fine mist on every surface. Mellow and smooth and sweet. Decent caffeine kick to boot.

Will come back to this for tasting note details when I break open the looseleaf :)

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To me, this tastes quite similar to the medium roast version, perhaps with a touch more of a caramelized note to it. I love the balance of the herbaceous, slightly grassy flavor with the toasty and woody notes from the roasting. There’s also a beautiful lingering dried fruit sweetness that reminds me of raisins, and a touch of molasses-y dark brown sugar. I tend to keep my steep short, for some reason it seems like when I steep these CatSpring roasted yaupons longer, I get more of a charcoal flavor which isn’t my favorite.

Still not sure which of these roasted varieties I’ll be reordering, as I like them both. Maybe I’ll just get both and eventually decide which I prefer… :P

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Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge (September) – “A yerba mate”

Okay, so this isn’t technically a yerba maté, but it’s in that same vein of non-tea caffeinated plants, so that’s good enough for me ha ha.

Despite being a dark roast, this still has such a mellow and comforting flavor. I can still taste the earthy-sweet yaupon, and it reminds me of golden raisins. But there are also those lovely toasty notes that add a bit of dark caramel richness and deeper wood and toast flavors. Perhaps a tiny hint of charcoal minerality as well.

Happily not a sipdown for long, as I recently ordered CatSpring’s holiday yaupon blend, and another sampler of the three plain yaupon tisanes along with it. :3

Y’all know that I have a total soft spot for anything roasted so this yaupon is hitting all the marks for me this morning. There’s still a bit of a slightly grassier earthiness and minerality, but mostly it tastes so golden and toasty with a lot of flavours that make me think of roasted grains and – to a bit of a lesser extent – coffee, with just a faint sort of whisper of smokiness. It feels very Autumnal to me, and was just very pleasant and easy going to sip on today!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChzrV3euzlq/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zz0kNHKW8g

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I found I enjoyed this one most when I used less leaf (~2 tsp vs. my usual 3) and did a shorter steep. This allowed more of the sweet and fruity notes to shine, whereas when I steeped it longer I noticed more of a charcoal/mineral flavor.

Very autumnal tea overall, with those toasty notes and crisp autumn leaves combined with sweet dried fruit like golden raisins and figs, and a bit of apricot fruit leather in the finish. Some mellow hay and grain notes as well.

I ended up liking this a lot, and will probably reorder a larger size of both this and Pedernales eventually. Certainly helps that it’s a local company too! :)

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Honestly, I was disappointed in this one.

I really loved the green version, which was the first I tried from the sampler. This smells amazing dry, like honey-sweet golden raisins. But for some reason, for me there’s a noticeable ashy, charred flavor in the steeped tea. I didn’t see any other reviewers mention it, so I’m a bit perplexed… Otherwise, it has a nice autumnal, lightly toasty herbaceous flavor with plenty of sweetness and notes of autumn leaves, tobacco, and syrupy dried figs and raisins. But that very mineral ashy taste just throws the whole thing off for me.

I tried different steeping parameters but the result was the same for every cup. Not sure what I’m doing wrong… :(

For the sipdown prompt, “a tea that reminds you of a family member.” Both my mom and sister are coffee drinkers rather than tea drinkers, and deep, roasty notes in tea remind me of the flavor of coffee.

This is noticably more roasty than the medium roast, which had a sweeter, caramel note. There is still some sweetness here, though it is more of a dark molasses. The woody notes are most strong here, and the darker roast brings out a stronger coffee and burnt toast presence as well. The nuttiness is more earthy; I got honey-roasted nuts from the medium roast, and I’m getting roasted walnuts or chestnuts from this one. Of all three of the Catspring Yaupon, this one tastes the least of grass/hay… I don’t really taste that flavor at all.

I liked all three of the Catspring Yaupon varieties! I found less difference between the plain yaupon and the medium roast, and more of a noticable difference in the dark roast. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite of the three, but probably the dark roast, for that deep and satisfying coffee-like flavor.

This is the medium roast from Catsprings Yaupon. Now that I’ve had a chance to try the green version, I can see the similarities. I still get the grassy and dried hay notes, as well as the wood, but the nuttiness is a bit stronger and sweeter, reminescent of honey roasted nuts. There is a roasty quality but it is far from being smoky or charcoal-esque, and is more of a darkly toasted bread/weak coffee flavor. There is also a sort of pleasant caramel note coming through.

Honestly, I could easily drink either of these, but if pressed I’d probably choose the roast. Perhaps I’ll like the dark roast even more…

Since I had a full box of teabags of this one, I made several pitchers of this cold brew, which was quite nice as well. Reminded me a bit of cold brew mugicha, albeit a little sweeter.

The last of the US-grown teas for the library presentation I did earlier in the month. The one featured at the program was the medium roast, but they put a single teabag of their green and dark roast yaupon into the package, so I’m happy I get to try all three.

I’m surprised how much I like this unroasted variety, as plain yerba mate has never been a favorite for me do to the somewhat tobacco smoke flavor note I get. But I’m not tasting that smoky note in the yaupon. Even unroasted, this has a slight roasted nuts flavor profile to it that I quite like, mixed with a dry hay/green grass and mellow woody notes. Very smooth… It’s hard to say for sure without a mate handy to compare to, but based on my (admittedly faulty) memory, I think I like the yaupon more.

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Really like this one. It has such a nice combination of soft hay, a bit of herbaceousness, sweet honey, and light dried fruit notes. Nice natural sweetness too. There’s a touch of musty minerality as well.

Just yummy, and I’ll definitely have to order a full size of this eventually. :)

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Enjoying the last bit of this one cold brewed.

It’s just as tasty as it was hot! I seem to like this much more than the other reviewers… It has such a pleasant sweet and slightly fruity herbaceous flavor to it. There’s a bit of hay and oats, like a white tea, but it also almost tastes like elderflower or chamomile as well.

Sweet, gentle, slightly earthy, a hint of apple… Love this one! I really need to get around to trying the roasted versions…

So I tried this, and yaupon in general, for the first time today. And I really liked it!

The dry leaf is so pretty, large but thin flakes in a myriad of earthy green shades. Dry scent reminded me of alfalfa hay and perhaps a bit of dried fig. Once steeped, the aroma shifts more toward oats and honey, still with some lighter hay notes. The color is quite dark and reminds me of olive oil!

I am honestly so surprised by how much I like this! It’s extremely mellow with a smooth grain-like flavor to it that does remind me of oats. There’s also a bit of hay and some autumn leaf in there, and a lovely honeyed sweetness. Tiny hint of earthy smokiness in the background perhaps. And then there’s a soft fruitiness that makes me think of dried apple rings. Ooh, was that a whisper of pine for a second…?

Overall, I really like this. It reminds me of some kind of cross between an aged white tea, an oxidized oolong, and some kind of light and earthy herb, maybe linden? And I am here for it! It’ll be really interesting to try the other two from the sampler pack I got, which are medium and heavy roast versions.

P.S. – Others didn’t seem to like this one nearly as much as I did. Am I crazy…? XD

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMx0-TihHyN/

A tea I have received from White Antlers. Thank you!

As I know from my last Yaupon experience, it is a caffeine booster. Lots of energy boost. And I was somehow tired when I was choosing today afternoon cuppa; probably due to morning cleaning up the car from snow (around 25 cm of snow, and it’s snowing again!) and overall I was cleaning up the footpath a bit as well our yard paths.

Anyway, as there is a lockdown, and I have lots of exams and everything, I do not do any inventory checks and I was saving the tea bag of this to some. I am afraid I won’t go there anymore — mostly because I just want to find a job right after finishing the university. We will see.

Anyway to this cup. Roasted yaupon sounded somehow a tiny bit better than a green variety, and Lost Maples Park is another place I have saved as would like to visit one day. I was expecting a bit of the maple flavour and I think it’s there actually. As well baked bread as others were writing about. That’s not all! It was kind of pleasantly sour and herbal, which was a bit confusing. It was enjoyable though and I liked it more than classical one.

I have tried to place an order and actually it would work for me! Shipping of their multipack of tea bags for almost same price as the mulitpack is a no for me right now though. Maybe one day!

Pleasant, with some holly taste and a definite ‘green’ taste as well. More reminiscent of yerba mate than the darker roasts, but still very definitely its own distinct thing.

A lighter-tasting yaupon. Has a bit of delicate autumn leaf taste, and a good deal of faintly burnt sugar/caramel. Very drinkable and not too heavy on the caffeine.

Lighter and sweeter than some dark roasts, and with less of a bitter bite. It’s very similar to the medium roast from this same company, but perhaps a bit fuller and a bit less sweet.

Received a single tea bag from derk, but mazbe on behalf of White Antlers?
Anyway, this tea is apparently from Yaupon. Never had it before, so I was quite confused what is it. But as it contains a lot of caffeine, I have decided to give it a try!

There weren’t any instructions on the bag, so I searched for the company and found out that it doesn’t matter , so I have used my standard set up, 300 ml / 4-5 minutes.

The flavour is quite hard to describe as it is nothing I had before. It is tasty, teaqueen said pleasantly sour and I have to agree. It was bit aloe sap like, green tea; overall quite common.

But caffeine boost is certainly there, as I was falling asleep during lecture I was taking (Economics of transport companies), but now, hour later I feel filled with energy, which is great while I am going to another night shift this night. Recommended for caffeine boost.

Thank you, no matter who is if originally from — I love trying new things!

Catspring sent me a free single teabag of this blend to try with the rest of my order.

It’s very smooth. At first, it tastes very similar to any nondescript bagged green tea, with a tiny little twinge of pleasant sourness in the aftertaste. The longer I let it steep though, the more it started to remind me of raspberry leaf. It has the same sort of mouthfeel.

What makes this blend special though is the soothing experience of drinking it. There’s something about yaupon that just feels healthy and right. Maybe it’s the way the liquor holds the water temp— yaupon infusions seem to stay warmer longer than regular tea— or maybe it’s the mildness of the flavor.

Unflavored green teas are not my thing personally, so I much prefer Catspring’s Marfa Dark Roast and Lost Maples Medium Roast yaupon options, but this was definitely not bad.

Method: Loose leaf
Steep time: 4 mins
Water temp: Boiling
Brew style: Western, in my Kati mug

Dry leaf doesn’t really have much of a scent, which is unsurprising, because I’ve had this for a few years now. Steeps up a cool-toned muddy brown color. The liquor smells exactly like yerba mate— earthy, smoky, and pleasantly sour.

The flavor profile for this medium roast Lost Maples is more delicate, complex, and green than the dark-roasted Marfa variety by the same company. I’m getting notes of hay, grass, toasted barley, very slight caramel (really more like burnt sugar), and then a bitter little punch of an aftertaste that quickly dissipates.

Personally, I prefer the more full-bodied and bready Marfa blend for breakfast, but this makes for a fairly pleasurable mid-morning pick-me-up. Re-steeps well, too.

Tried in teabag form— will try the loose leaf form later.
I quite like this so far. The best part is the scents the liquor gives off. It’s more floral than Catspring’s Marfa dark roast blend, and I do get a faint note of maple/ caramel as well. It’s a nice balance of toasty and green, kind of like an oolong, but nowhere near as high maintenance to steep. I left the bag in the water for ages and it didn’t oversteep at all.
Notes of toasted bread, grass, and hay in the sip. Not smoky or tannic at all.
Yum!