Retro Leaf Tea

Made this at work today since I was largely just in the mood for simple, “pure play” type flavoured blends. This one is smooth and just a little cozy with a pretty non-complex baked apple flavour. It’s the kind of tea where my impression could pretty drastically very from day to day depending on what kind of mood I’m in – but today I really leaned into the softer flavours and directness of the tea.

Geek Steep S3E18 – Castlevania (Anime)

So this is the tea that I drank during recording because, well, if you have a tea named after the fandom then it feels like someone has already done all the heavy lifting for you.

Ironically I also own “Applevania 2” from Retro Leaf, and honestly that may have been the smarter pairing just because the cinnamon apple flavour feels a little more well matched with the darker, broody atmosphere of the anime. It’s just a cozier cuppa. This blend is more of a pure play baked apple with a but of nuttiness from the oolong base, and though it’s delicious it was maybe not the most perfect fit in terms of tone.

Also, I won’t spoil exactly happened but this may have been our most chaotic episode to date just in terms of approach to how we went about watching the anime. I’m of course biased, but I feel like this is especially an episode worth listening to.

March Sipdown Madness

Time for the second face off in my March Sipdown tournament – inspired by Mastress Alita! This time, by random draw, I have two oolongs facing off against each other. This one is going up against Adagio’s Fujian Rain…

I think I mentioned it in my last tasting note for this tea, but when I purchased this I was really expecting more of a bright green apple note. Instead, this is a strongly baked apple tasting flavour – but honestly I think that actually compliments the toastier nutty and slight honey notes of its oolong base. It’s a super simple blend, but in its simplicity I find a lot of comfort. It makes for a really good “daily drinker” or more casual cuppa to reach for because, y’know, you don’t always need something fancy or punchy.

However, for reasons I’ll elaborate on in the Fujian Rain tasting note, I ultimately crowned Fujian Rain the winner of this match up. It was a verrrrryyy hard choice to make though!

I picked up this tea, and two others, recently because I wanted more “nerdy” themed teas in my cupboard to have as options for the Podcast I’m doing with my friend Marika. I talked a bit about the podcast in a prior tasting note, and I will eventually post a discussion topic with more information – but I want to wait until Steepster is more stable to do so…

Anyway, I’m not sure why exactly I assumed that this would be more of a green apple type of flavour profile but it’s definitely not. I mean, it is very apple forward but it’s more of a cozy, warm and inviting baked apple than a crisp/fresh apple profile. That’s probably for the best, that baked apple flavour works a lot more with the nutty notes of the TKY oolong base in the blend. It’s super simple overall, as a blend, but I enjoyed it and the quirky name and nerdy reference to Castlevania only make it better.