Sloane Tea Company

Had for breakfast this morning – this was a sample from a long time ago swap with Sil!

My stomach is finally starting to remember how this whole digestion process works. It’s been touch and go for a few days and not much of anything (even tea) sounded appetizing.

This morning since things seemed better I went for a tea I hadn’t tried before (just in case it still doesn’t sit well I didn’t want to have a negative association with my favorite teas – as it is I can now no longer look at a box of Girl Scout cookies without feeling sick. ALL THE SADS.)

Steeped at the recommended parameters by the Sloane company. They have such gorgeous tins, really. If I didn’t have a surplus of them I would totally buy some – so pretty and elegant.

Taste wise I just added creamer from the beginning. Once it steeped up it looked too dark to drink on its own – and the smell was mostly dark chocolate. Dry leaf smell is contaminated from being in a drawer with a lot of other samples, unfortunately, but once steeped I got only unsweetened dark chocolate where I was hoping for some nuttiness too.

This took more creamer than I normally use to be palatable, so I’m guess it would have been really bitter and astringent without that buffer. Almond does that in tea (nuts in general add astringence in my experience) but I’m really not picking up on any almond at the beginning. Just….chocolate. And being a vanilla girl, this is not doing much for me.

Eh. At the end of the cup when things have cooled down marzipan takes over. Sweet and almondy – where were you from the beginning??? I like that eventually it lived up to its name but I ultimately think it took too long in getting to that point. Good to try, but I’m glad I just had a sample of it.

Here’s my tea of the morning and thanks to Indigobloom for the sample. I was expecting to be a bit underwhelmed because I don’t find too many chocolate teas that seem worthy of accolades.

I was wondering if I steeped this for too long (5 minutes) but really wanted to coax the flavors out more. The brewed tea smells like chocolate liquor but the flavor is really light. I get the cocoa noted but the almond is even a bit more difficult to detect. It was better with soymilk and rock sugar. Darn you, chocolate teas, for giving me a sense of false hope. ;-)

Good thing I read the tasting notes before I tried this one- I would have really been thinking it was the wrong tea because who would guess Bergamot from Divine Cream?

This was a sample from Sil – and such a lovely one! It’s been a while since I’ve had a bagged tea. They are quite convenient aren’t they? Shame that you can’t really get good quality teas bagged for the most part, though. Ah, we’ll, just makes me appreciate the ease of it when I do get the chance.

This tea has the buttery caramel vanilla I love, accompanied by the surprise bergamot flavor. It’s a light bergamot, which is how I prefer my Earl Grey anyway, and as an Earl Grey Cream, it is quite good. I am considering getting more if only because it the ease of a good bagged Earl grey cream would be great for travelling.

I found a surprise hidden gem in my cupboard! I’m thinking it’s going to be a good week…

Not bad – I was expecting something with a bit of a stronger caramel flavour though. The fact that the amount of tea in these pyramid sachets is a little bit skimpy might be to blame. Still it has a nice smooth feel in the mouth and I do get a bit of caramel flavour when I added some agave nectar.

Sipdown! Thanks again, Sil. :)

Still got mostly smooth dark chocolate this time, which is indeed lovely, but I was expecting a heap of almonds.

Sil graciously threw in a sample of this because I’ve been curious about it for quite a while. I wanted this to taste like a (dark) chocolate covered almond. They were always my favourite chocolate thing growing up, and I wanted this to bring back memories of selling them for the figure skating club. Those were fun times.

But fun times, this does not evoke. Well, it’s actually pretty good. The dry leaf smells deliciously decadent and dark. Truly like a dark chocolate truffle. And I see cocoa nibs in there so I was anticipating chocolatey goodness.

But I don’t get any almond? Maybe my taste buds are broken but this reminds me of Florence in the way that I get chocolate but no nuttiness. There’s a smooth cacao note but there’s no almond anywhere.

Even though I watched the time, the base still turned out a little astringent, so I added a splash of half and half. It makes this more of a milk chocolate, but I still don’t get any almonds. I have enough leaf left to make another cup, which I’ll maybe do over the next couple days, and see if I get the same thing.

Thank you so much for letting me try this, Sil!

Thanks to Indigobloom for this sample.

I don’t know why I think chocolate teas will really taste like chocolate, I guess i could just go for hot cocoa instead. :)

This is a nice black tea with cocoa notes but nothing truffle like about it. I added Splenda to see if I could perk it up a bit. It’s okay but not really what I was hoping for… glad I got to try it though!

This blend takes well to multiple infusions and has a nice orangish liquor. However, once I finish my tin I will not repurchase this tea. While the tea does smell and taste of fruit, I don’t really get a sense of pear. Both the dry leaves and the infusion have a smoky, dusty note to them that I don’t like. I want my fruit teas to smell and taste juicy, and this one doesn’t deliver.

Bonus note: the tins that Sloane Tea makes are both durable and beautiful. Once they’re empty, they make great storage containers for other things like pens or loose knick-knacks. I’m really looking forward to finishing this tea just so I can have another tin to use!

Whoops. I forgot this was a white. I think my steeping method at work isn’t really made for delicate teas. I may have steeped all the flavor out of it. :( Ah well. Thanks for sending it along anyway, Sil!

Finally got around to tasting this sample kindly sent to me by Sil some time ago.

It is indeed as she noted. An okay tea but nothing special.

Thanks to Indigobloom for the sample here. I’ve been trying to rev up my immune system and have been drinking a lot of herbs. I wanted to try this for a change of place, sounded lovely. It’s odd I can’t find this on their website anymore, was it discontinued?

This is a sachet teabag and brews up to be a light brown in color. As I out my nose to the cup I am getting aromas of toasted marshmallow – weird. The flavor is slightly peachy but in an artificial way and kind of falls flat somehow. I don’t really get cream. I’m not really a fan but maybe we know why it was axed…

Thanks to Indigobloom for sharing this. I’ve been curious about Sloane Tea for a while due to their beautiful tins.

This is a CTC assam & I much prefer the full leaf variety but I think this will be good for breakfast. It’s quite robust and malty but definitely on the “brisk” side for me when I tried to drink it plain. I needed soymilk to make it more palatable and now it’s a good strong morning tea. It does say brisk and bold on the company website and they weren’t lying… hee hee. I think this will wake me up!

Thanks for sharing!

This tea makes me happy. Thanks Sil for sharing this one with me.

It’s not my beloved Florance, but this is a really nice chocolate tea. I’m not sure I’m getting much almond, but some nutty in the background and nice deep chocolate. MMMMMmmmmm this is what the doctor ordered tonight. :))

Had a cup of this with dinner. I do enjoy rouge de provence rooibos blends, the berries and lavender go well with red rooibos to make a rich, satisfying blend. I thought I had logged this one before but I couldn’t find the note lol. Anyways, a nice cup! Rating: 82.

A surprise holiday sample from Sil! Even the thought of this tea makes my mouth water, so I gave in and allowed myself a cup last night. It’s pretty good. Definitely more truffle/chocolate than almond, but I can detect a smidge of almond flavour as it starts to cool. The chocolate is dark, with a dry, cocoa-like finish. It really is reminiscent of eating a truffle! My only real sadness is that the almond is a little hard to find. It is there, but it’s buried pretty deep under the chocolate and black tea flavours. The black tea is a little astringent, but nothing terrible. I enjoyed this more than I’ve enjoyed most dessert-type teas in a while — perfect for early evening sipping!

0.5 tbsp for 375 ml

Slight biterness. Punchy wheat-like flavour.

Thanks Indigobloom for sharing!

One of my teas from Sil.

Sigh. Well, I got picked for jury duty. At least tomorrow I’ll kind of have an idea of where I’m going vs. today, when it was just little old me and huge, confusing downtown.

But for right now I’m home relaxing, and tea sounded perfect. This was a white tea and I’ve had enough caffeine for today, so between that and the convenience factor of it being a bagged tea I was sold.

Steeped at the below parameters, with no additives.

This brews up a pale to mid orange color, no doubt because of the peach. It certainly smells peachy – a nice natural fruity peach, nothing artificial. The vanilla/cream aspect is very subdued. This holds true for the taste as well – it’s peachy first and foremost with a smooth creamy finish. I really don’t taste any white tea, but I imagine any notes of hay that would be present are drowned out by the fruity sweetness of the peach.

As someone who doesn’t drink white teas very much, I’m surprised by how much I like this. I still have one more bag left courtesy of Sil, and part of me thinks it would be REALLY nice to try iced. Hmm…I may give it a shot but really, it was pretty darn good hot.

Thanks again for sending some my way, Sil!

I’ve had this a few times and have decided, this is not the tea for me. Either my tastebuds are broken, or the tea is cuz it steeps up far too light for me to get much of anything. Hmph.

I can’t seem to find this tea on Sloane’s website, oddly enough. I would have preferred to have this blend as a loose tea rather than in sachets because I find that they sometimes skimp a bit on the amount that is in each individual bag.

This blend is fairly middle of the pack as chocolate teas go – I do find that the chocolate flavour could use a bit more oomph in this case as it’s a little bit weak. However, it does go quite nicely with milk and a bit of honey for my morning cuppa.

Sipdown #29

Another sipdown made possible by Sil. Yay! Oooh, I love white peony! The brewed tea aroma is white peony and juicy pear. The initial flavor is the lovely white base. The aftertaste is thickly pear and a little weird. I think it actually tastes more like blue raspberry than pear. The best part of this tea is definitely the base. Thank you Sil!!!

Sipdown #30

The dry leaf aroma is chocolate. The brewed tea aroma is chocolate. The taste? Chocolate. What a surprise. ;)

The black tea base is a little bitter. I added Truvia and skim milk, but it’s still fairly bitter. If you like dark chocolate, I think you’d probably really enjoy this tea. I’ve always been more of a milk chocolate kind of gal myself. Although the older I get, the more dark chocolate grows on me.

I’m really getting nothing in the way of almond here though. I LOVE almond, but I can’t detect any of that lovely flavor in this cup. As a chocolate tea, it’s pretty good. As an almond truffle tea, I think it leaves something to be desired. Nonetheless, I always enjoy trying something new! So thank you to Sil for providing this sample!

What a relief! Sipdown hallelujah.
this tea does not age well. Not at all. I’m not a massive fan of the base either. Very hit and miss, as I do recall some cuppas were pretty amazing.
Today, I left this in the tumbler for who knows how long while I was filing documents (time tends to just fly away in the file room, I never know what time it will be when I return heh)

Of course I already had milk and sugar in the container at that point. No way was I going back to the other side of the building just to add milk after it had steeped.
Surprisingly, it was pretty ok this way. Not very strong, but a bit like milk chocolate. One of my better experiences from this particular tin.
Anyhow, I’m just glad it is over with and I can now move forwards to other sipdowns!

I can’t believe I still have some of this left! I thought it was done ages ago with the great tea leak of 2013/14. (there were two)
But lo! there are a few sachets left!! I found it in an old bag that I used to take to meetings so it must have not been affected.
Anyhow. I am at my friend’s place now, and we were chatting while it steeped… for nearly fifteen min!!! so it ended up a tad bitter, just not nearly as much as I’d assumed it would be. With some milk, it was just fine. As the only tea I’ve had today I downed it faster than ever (for me). Ah well, I’m enjoying a beer now :)

Bare, without any sugar or milk, this is really hitting the spot for me today!!
Maybe that’s because it’s the only tea I’ve had all day after being kidnapped by my friend and goddaughter. Or maybe I’m just in a good mood? :P