Clipper

194/365

I got these tea bags “free” with my flat when I moved in last year, and they’ve basically sat unloved in my cupboard since. Not for any particular reason, I think I just kept forgetting they were there. Since it’s firmly iced tea weather now, I decided to use up a decent handful of these by making sweet tea. The recipe that seems to strike about the right balance for me is 6 tea bags in 2 cups water for 5 minutes, with 1/4 cup of sugar. I then top it up to 2 litres with water.

It’s one of the best ways I know to ensure I get plenty of caffeine without having to drink hot tea all summer. I get caffeine withdrawal headaches if I go more than 3 hours without tea, but I blame my parents for giving it to me as a baby. Talk about addicted. The only problem with sweet tea (and my new best friend, anything cold brewed in lemonade) is the amount of sugar. I’m just glad I don’t have to go to the dentist anytime soon…

Anyway, this tea is strong enough to make a good base for sweet tea. It’s still possible to taste the black tea, rather than just sugar water, but it is still very sweet. It strikes a good balance, which is exactly how I like it. Clipper’s everyday seems more tannic than my usual Twinings, maybe with a tendency to be a little harsher/more astringent. I drank a hot cup with milk last night as part of my using-up spree, and found it malty but with a slight bitterness in the background. I’d not switch from my usual to this, but it’s not a bad substitute by any means.

Well, this tea converted me to a chamomile drinker. I always wanted to like chamomile (it seemed so iconic in the tea world), but just didn’t. Until I picked this up through TJ Maxx, and low and behold, I loved it. I stashed away a few boxes so I would not run out (sound familiar??) Alas, I have finally run out.( My next “go to” chamomile now is Ahmad chamomile lemongrass.) I love to drink an herbal at night, with a little honey.

057/365

Something simple this morning, for the first full week back at work. I found this one surprisingly malty, so probably quite heavy on the Assam, but with brighter, citrussy Ceylon notes. I think I actually prefer it to Twinings English Breakfast, which is something of a revelation to me. It’s so much maltier, and I really like that, although I wouldn’t necessarily drink it on an empty stomach.

Not much to say about this one, but I’m glad I tried it. It’s nice to find that I can still be surprised by something as ordinary as an EB!

Honeybush and orange are dominant in aroma, coconut hides in the background.
The taste is dry, slightly sour, warming, with heneybush, orange and coconut nicely balanced.

I’m not sure why you’d waste single origin organic Assam on fanning grade in a paper bag, but whatever… It was alright. Surprisingly it didn’t get bitter despite getting distracted by work when I had the best of intentions to pay attention. I didn’t use boiling water though. It wasn’t what I’d call malty, but it was better than the normal bags you get in a restaurant. I’d probably take it out of the paper bag and use a cloth one or a really fine infuser. I still taste the paper a bit even though it’s unbleached.

It’s just a mild, inoffensive black tea. Stronger than Ceylon but not as strong as a truly good Assam.

I keep trying these British brands, hoping to like one enough to keep it around, but it hasn’t happened yet.

The licorice was too overpowering in this blend and didn’t fit in well with the flavour profile. I would have liked more of a tart citrus note from the lemon and a bit more spice from the ginger. This is not what I would expect lemon and ginger to taste like.

The chamomile and lavender aromas are at the forefront in the brewed cup. These two aromas seem to go together very nicely.

The flavour is very mild- the lavender is washed out alongside a very weak chamomile. I suspect that the decaffinated green tea in this is making the brew taste a bit strange to me.

Sipdown 51/375!

Man my cupboard is not as up-to-date as I thought it was. This tea belonged to my flatmate over a year ago and I had a cup or two out of curiosity – I have no idea why it’s in my cupboard. I actually didn’t hate this! I don’t remember too much about it, but it was very one-note, and I do enjoy the flavour of nettle tea.

it just tastes like… tea. Literally like cheap green tea. Kind of bitter (I only steeped it for about a minute in hot, not boiling water?!) and generally just not great. You’re better off getting white tea from another company, this was a real letdown

Had this tea for a while, but have not written any notes for it yet as the first couple times I tried it I was rather unimpressed.

I’m not too sure what to expect from a pure white tea. I have my doubts about the quality of the processing for this one in particular, as the leaves are broken into tiny tiny pieces (almost powder-like) and this tea comes sealed in sachets that are slightly yellow and smell rather strange. So not the best first impression upon opening the box for the first time.

I let it steep for about two minutes after letting my boiled water cool. (By the way, the box features two different sets of instructions. The english version says to boil water, let the water cool and then steep for 1-3 minutes, and the french version says to steep for 2-5 minutes with boiling water. So which one is it?)

The flavour leaves a very weird mouth-feel. It tastes slightly sour, but I can’t pick out any notes that I am familiar with. It doesn’t really taste vegetal or anything… just sour, and like tea. I suppose it does remind me very slightly of chamomile tea, but only because I am grasping at straws to have something to compare this tea to. Is this what white tea is like? I doubt it. Maybe this batch is just bad. Maybe this brand is not the greatest.

I will try white tea again, but not from Clipper!

Not a huge fan of chammomile. Wish the lavender was more prominent. Will not get again.

So I ran out of my Stash White Christmas and then I also ran out of my Red Leaf White Matcha so when I was at Target today I grabbed a box of this.

It’s pretty good in a pinch, not a lot to it since white tea doesn’t have a lot going on. It’s maybe a little bit floral. There’s no astringency or tartness. I steeped at 176F and I’m too lazy to remove the bag.

I think I’m going to steep it in with one of my Clipper After Dinner Mints next time so it’ll be minty.