Sayso

Cold Brew!

Last up of the Sayso blends is Old Fashioned! This was a very interesting cold brew experience in a few ways. To start, there’s significantly less ingredients in these sachets (by weight) compared to the others. It was also clear right away that, based on the ingredients used and my experiences with the other blends, that this was a flavour that was 100% going to benefit from a much longer steep time…

As a person who does love a proper Old Fashioned, I definitely got the sense immediately after my first steep that this mix of ingredients really needs to be infused into something more substantial than just water to most properly convey the taste of its drink inspo – especially compared to all the other flavours. Whether that’s directly in whisky or a non-alcoholic equivalent. And, to be fair to Sayso, that’s exactly what they say to do on the packaging. So with that in mind I decided to throw the idea of evaluating based on cocktail accuracy out the window and just focus on the taste in front of me as a stand alone drink/flavour.

This was the most “thin” tasting/feeling of the bunch, and I think that’s really because it doesn’t have that aggresively bright and acidic lime note all the other flavours share. It is citrusy though, with a more pithy and aromatic orange peel flavour that comes through pretty clearly. Not a lot of high notes/brightness. The gentian root is also REALLY strong tasting and leaves its signature bold and bitter flavour on the palate long after finishing the sip. It was honestly a little much for me. I know I said I didn’t want to do the direct cocktail comparison, but it’s hard not to with this ingredient. I mean, an Old Fashioned shouldn’t be sweet, but it also should not be THIS bitter…

The one thing I really liked was the clove. It was just enough to give that sort of numbing quality that is almost liquor adjacent, but not super intense flavour wise. And, obviously, it riffs really well of this type of orange note.

I am excited to keep playing with these sachets – I think there’s lot of things they could be infused into (aside from spirits) that would be more complimentary than just the water route I chose to go with.

Cold Brew!

For my second time around trying this tea I tried to apply all my learnings from tasting through the whole Sayso line up. So instead of sparkling water I just went with a cold brew in ice cold flat water, and I also let it steep at least twenty minutes before drinking. Even then, I left the sachet in so it could keep doing its thing!

Honestly? MAJOR improvement. It was very intense with a super zesty and sour lime note that was also very refreshing – like last time it channeled this sort of “margarita mix” vibe in a satisfying way. However, the improvement was the heat level. I could finally taste the lingering spice of the jalapenos. Definitely balanced out some of that sweet citrus intensity. Quite summery feeling!! As soon as I finished the mug I honestly just wanted to make another.

Cold Brew!

Honestly, this may have been the biggest let down of the three Sayso flavours I’ve tried so far. I cold brewed in straight into some tonic water, and it was very bright and sour with a strong fresh lime flavour. I have to say, across the board the lime in these beverages is preeetttyyyy intense. Definitely no skimping on that flavour. It, of course, makes the most sense for this flavour though. And I enjoyed that element a lot. It was margarita-like in the way that bottled margarita premixes are. No disappointment on that count.

The let down was in the “spice” element. I feel like this should have been pretty easy to execute but, unfortunately, I didn’t really taste any spices at all or feel any sensation of heat. It was more like I was just drinking a regular margarita. And what I really wanted was the balance of sour, salt, and spice. Where was the jalapeno? The chili? I’ve learned that these sachets need longer steep times than advertised to get the most out of their spices, but I gave this a prettttyyyy long steep time and it still didn’t pull anything out in that regard. Womp womp.

Once I got over my disappointment I did enjoy the refreshing sparkling margarita though…

Cold Brew!

Plopped this sachet into a tumbler of ice water and left it to steep and do its own thing over most of the coarse of a work day before drinking it on the walk to the metro at the end of the day. Very good – longer steep times definitely benefit these teas. I thought it was very gingery in both a spicy and kind of earthy way, with enough of the honey to balance out it out. Really channeled ginger beer (but flat) in vibes, which I guess is pretty close to a Moscow Mule too. Bright, top note acidity but not necessarily married with a flavour. Kind of tasted like there was a pinch of malic acid in there. Didn’t mind, though! Sometimes I find the lime in these bad boys a smidge strong. The rosemary came through too! Just a hint in the undertones after the ginger and honey passed, but loved the nuance it brought. Definitely really punchy, flavourful and fun!

Cold Brew!

This is the one Sayso flavour that I was most skeptical whether I would like, but it might be my favourite so far? My first sips were very very lime forward in a similarly fresh, bright and sour way to the Paloma. However, this time around I left the sachet to continue infusing and when I went back to the drink a handful of minutes later the profile had changed significantly.

On top of having a lot more of a raw ginger heat that instantly provided much more balance to the drink and pushing it into the actual direction of a Moscow Mule, the honey notes were coming through quite a bit too. They added an almost sticky sort of sweetness to the drink, and I really liked the inclusion because it was a much more golden and thick sort of honey that reminded me of actual honeycomb or, even, beeswax candles (but in a good way). It was so complimentary with that more hot ginger that almost had a gingerbeer sort of prickle of spice about it. Very nuanced, dynamic and layered!

I think this would be really, really good mixed with tonic water to give it a little more of that gingerbeer sort of vibe.

Cold Brew!

I left a sachet of this in a water bottle in the fridge for, like, almost an hour and it turns out that might be a bit of a sweet spot because this was super vibrant and flavourful with a juicy, sour pink grapefruit and lime flavour balanced out by very distinct, camphorous notes of cardamom. My biggest issue with Sayso’s teas has been that the spices in the sachets infuse at a much slower pace than everything else so I was really happy to get such a strong cardamom flavour this time around.

Cold Brew!

Big thank you to my IG tea friend Gabby for letting me order these Sayso blends to her address in the US (they don’t ship to Canada) and then shipping them out to me! So, so greatly appreciated since I’ve been dying to try these teas for over a year now…

All of the blends are basically everything you need to make a cocktail or non-alcoholic cocktail in one sachet with the idea because that you steep directly in your spirits (alcoholic or non-alc) or in water. For these first tastings I’m just going with water, as if they were a typical cold brew sachet.

This was really interesting! So much more sour and zesty than expecting with a pop of intense flavour that tasted like a mix of fresh pink grapefruit and lime juice. Definitely a bit paloma-like, albeit sweeter and more sour. I thought the cardamom might be stronger, but it was more just a light aftertaste of camphor and spice. Still really nice with the grapefruit, though!

I did notice, in one of the other flavours I tried, that the spice notes took a while to steep – much longer than the fruits. So, when I try this next, I think I’m going with an extended steep time to see if I can push the cardamom to be stronger. I think the tea needs it, to help balance out the shock of citrus. But this was still really nice!