Sloane Tea Company

OK something odd happened. For weeks I’ve been wavering on the black teas. Not really craving them. Then today, I could not get enough! that is all I wanted! usually, I go for a mix of teas, but yeah, not so much this time. Very strange.
Anyhow, I had this in a small cup, in my networking meeting this morning. Thank god for no muss no fuss sachets.
It was delicious. Sans milk! I added a bit too much sugar, but it was still great. More like a sweetened dark chocolate bar, which seemed to reduce the astringency a little.
Anyhow, it was nice and dark, thick, and creamy. Perfect alternative to hot chocolate! only you can still taste the black base. Yum.

So I gave some samples of this in little window boxes to a friend last year(and the EG classic from Sloane as well), for her bday. Didn’t hear anything of it til a few weeks ago, when she told me she loved it!!
Well, her bday is coming up again so guess what I did… I bought her a tin. She actually squealed! I was happy to spread the tea love. Even if it was via the eeeevil bergamot haha.
Also, we arranged a friend’s baby shower and handed some of the window boxes out as gifts. This was yesterday. I chose this one, the rouge provence, and oolong creme. Shouldn’t be long before I get someone asking me where I bought them! :P
Oh yah, and baby shower planning is exhausting! but ohhhhh so much fun!!!

I’m sad. This is the only Assam tea I have in my cupboard at the moment.
So yeah, it is pretty much the only reason I’ll break my purchase ban. Esp during winter, I like need to have multiple Assam(and sometimes Ceylon) options.
Well, I do have Taiwanese Assam but I don’t think that really counts since it has an entirely different profile and what I often crave is a brisk malty tea to enjoy a la dairy. Today, this was a tad too coppery for what I wanted but it was my only option if I wanted my milk n tea. It did the job, for the most part!

Sighs. Ok folks that is the end of the review. Moving onwards with the personal rant now.
I really needed my Assam this morning. Our furnace broke down last night so I am exhausted. Staying warm all day long when you’re stuck at a computer is hard work!! Despite mainlining tea and soup, and boiling water on the stove, I was not able to stop shivering.
The repair guy fixed it hours ago, but only temporarily. Apparently the darn thing is only functioning at 60-70%.
Add to that an illness in the family circle and a death in the extended family (nobody close, but it was very sad) and well lets just say that you could play the tension with a pick and snap the string.
Hopefully this nightmare of a week won’t spell the layout of my 2014!

I swear I’ve reviewed this one before. But I couldn’t find it so just added it to the library here. Strange.
Anyhow, sipdown!! well kindof. Someone gifted me a tin when I already had one. I’m debating on when to open it.
The last bit is going off to Amy O in a swap.
Oh right and the tea. Hmmm, not my fave, but it’s pretty decent! A bold, coppery cuppa, and it is pretty smooth. Not a punch in the face, but enough to keep me hopping along. Needs a dash of milk though. I don’t think it’s designed to be drunk bare.
I’d buy it again one day though I don’t think it will happen, as there are so many others to try that I doubt there’d be time to cycle back.

Sipdown, 132. I made this one strong and added milk and sugar, which made for a decadent, almondy-chocolate cup. Very delicious this way! This isn’t one I would go for again, partly because I think the base is a little rough around the edges and I prefer Chocolate Almond Allure for a chocolate almond tea. But this is a nice one!

Thanks to Sil for this sample. Almond is one of my favorite flavors so I always take the opportunity to try and almond tea, although I have only found a few that meet my fairly high standards.

This one is pretty good. I would say it’s more truffle (chocolate) than almond, but there is still a distinct nutty almond flavor to it. Particularly in the aftertaste, I get the sensation that I just ate an almond truffle. The chocolate is a dark chocolate flavor and is nicely done so that it is almost natural-tasting, at least in the initial sip. This reminds me a bit of my beloved Chocolate Almond Allure, but without the caramel notes. Pretty tasty overall.

Sipdown, 139. Thanks to Sil for this sample. Another assam, haha. I tried this straight first, did a quick nope, and added milk and sugar. I have come to the realization that I was correct in my assessment that assams are, in general, not for me. Too “brisk”, too “robust”. Taiwanese assams often are the exception to that rule, but I am generally not much for teas from the Indian subcontinent in general. Ah well.

Sipdown, 138. Cold brewed the last bit of this tea! It was only a tiny bit left, but I did a tiny cold brew and it worked. It was kind of amazingly sweet! The pear came out moreso in the cold brew, and even toyed on the slightly fake edge of things, but it still maintained itself. White teas can be tough to cold steep, I find, but this turned out pretty well.

Thanks to Sil for this sample! For some reason I thought this was a green tea instead of a white, but it’s kind of nice that it’s a white. For one, the best pear tea I’ve had so far was a white base, so I think it has potential.

This is quite nice. I really like the white tea base on this one, and the pear is subtle but pretty authentic and not fakey at all. Which has become one of the most important things for me with flavored teas. The white tea is relatively robust, with a somewhat sweet note and a thick, creamy texture. Definitely enjoy this one! I do love flavored whites when done properly.

catching up from this morning! I finished this off today while cleaning up the house and trying to get a jump on this for today. It’s a beautiful sunshiney day out so i’m hoping to go out with my other half once he’s done work to check out the new nerd store in Toronto and maybe go for afternoon dumplings :) not sad to see this one go though it was a decent cup. Never a reorder for sure.

I had a cup of this today in an effort to get through my older teas that are nearly sipdowns. My goal is to get through my april/may/june 2013 teas before the end of march so that i can get closer to the 6 month range of the age of teas in my cupboard. I’m doing well at under a year anyway but i’m aiming for 4-6 months if i can :)

This one is such an AVERAGE cup of tea that i can’t wrap my brain around the price. 33$ for 100g…i mean it’s not 20$/.5oz or anything but that’s still a lot for what, in my taste, is less exciting that teas i spend 10$ for 100g on. It’s ok but nothing to write home about…glad i didn’t pay that price and that it’s almost gone heh :)

A pretty average assam – every time i drink it, i can’t help but think of the price people are paying to have this one. It’s Sloane’s most expensive tea (or was at the time) and it’s so very much not worth it. It’s a decent enough tea, but for the price i can think of a ton others that i’d by first. I won’t be restocking this when it’s done but i’ll enjoy drinking it well enough.

Another tea from this morning…on another note anyone else getting tired of hitting the save…having the website freeze, expecting your note to be gone and then checking your tealog and finding it there? Happens almost every other tea for me heh. Enjoyed this one today as it was what i was in the mood for, an average every day sort of black tea.

Funnily enough, I also picked this one out of my cupboard today. Maybe Terri and i were operating on the same wavelength today or something. :) In the grand scheme of things, this is an average tea. It’s certainly not worth the price in my opinion (9.50 per ounce). Not that it’s an outrageous price but LB is cheaper than that, as is #49 (which is super cheap at 2.50 an ounce or something?) or teavivre’s black dragon pearls etc… long story short, there are better for that price. :) However, i certainly didn’t pay that price as i got a super awesome deal on this one, which makes it much easier to swallow. HA! get it.. yeah… in any case, there’s an astringency here that i’m not a fan of but it’s not so much that i can’t enjoy this tea today. :)

Jade Halo is a very special and rare tea, perfect for the green tea aficionado. This is one of the best green teas I have ever tried because of its subtle yet pure qualities. The tea is very light and delicately honey-like, reminding me of sweet peas and fresh shoots of grass. Green ring teas like this Jade Halo are also called “wedding teas” in China because they are commonly given as gifts to couples getting married…if you look at the shape of the leaves, you will realize why.

Here is my full review of Jade Halo:
http://thirstyfortea.com/2013/10/12/sloane-tea-merchants-the-perfumery-of-teas/

Heavenly Cream is the most popular of the Sloane Tea Blends. Think of it as an elegant, full-bodied Earl Grey where strong and proper flavors meet with soft and creamy ones. It’s a good quality classic tea with a few extra notes of deliciousness added in to make it extra special. This is a fantastic tea for autumn or winter, and is perfect with a splash of milk.

Here is my full review of Sloane’s Heavenly Cream:
http://thirstyfortea.com/2013/10/12/sloane-tea-merchants-the-perfumery-of-teas/

Sipdown, 138. Only one sipdown today but I did have three yesterday, so that will have to do. I had this one at “tea time” at my office today, and it was pleasant. I like having a non fussy oolong for the tea time get together, and this one fit the bill. Creamy and floral and just a bit vegetal.

I am often skeptical of milk oolongs, since many companies seem to be carrying the same, not-that-tasty enhanced-but-claiming-not-to-be milk oolong. This does not to seem to fall in that category because they come right out and say that there is natural flavoring, so I am interested in trying it out. Thanks for sending a sample of this one, Sil!

This is interesting. It has the condensed-milk, buttered popcorn scent of many milk oolongs, but this one delivers the flavor pretty well. There is a hint of fruitiness to the base oolong of this, and the flavoring is creamy without being over the top. I get a kind of tangy aftertastes from this that is nice. That said, this is pretty similar to the other Chinese (not Taiwanese) milk oolongs that a lot of companies sell. Sometimes I wonder if I would be able to taste much difference if I lined them all up and tried them. I do like this one better than some of the others I’ve tried, perhaps they all come from a similar region but different plantations. It is interesting that people seem to react vastly differently to different versions. In any case, I’m not much for these Wuyi Mountain (“Quangzhou”) milk oolongs; I’ll stick with Jin Xuans or ATR’s crazy TGY.

Sipdown, 143. I have returned from NY, after successfully having defended my dissertation. You may all call me Dr. Dinosara now (kidding/not kidding [LOL])

I drank this one a few days ago but have been super busy after the defense running around and have had no time to log the sipdown. Like my first tasting, I found this to be a pretty decent earl grey cream, but the base had a roughness that was not entirely pleasant. I wouldn’t go for this particular tea again but I like the caramel included in an EGC.

Thanks to Sil for this sample! Even though it’s not quite up her alley (bergamot, natch), I thought it might be up mine. Sachets were nice because I brought one to “tea time” today… The girls in my department have been getting together for tea time once a week, which has been awesome but a bit disheartening. I had hoped it would be a good way to spread the tea love and such, but everyone just avoids the teas I bring each week. Whether I bring fill-your-own tea bags or sachets or what, people always just go for the crappy bagged tea. Sigh.

Anyway, this tea. I will rate it once I brew it under better conditions (unfiltered water at tea time) but it was pretty tasty. Like an Earl Grey cream, but the added caramel is really nice. More EGC producers should consider it. There was a hint of bitterness to the base that was not pleasant, but it also wasn’t too bad. All together a nice tea, but not exceptional.

Astringent black tea base. Bergamot/orange notes. Somewhat creamy. Dry aftertaste. Caramel notes are faint, if present at all. Overall, I’ve had worse but I’m not a huge fan.

Thanks for the taste, Sil!

Another one from Sil.
This is a very mild oolong with a buttery taste & creamy texture.
I wasn’t planning on liking it, but it’s actually quite tasty.
Thanks Sil!

Is Steepster down? I haven’t got any new notes on my feed. The last one (except for yours Dinosara) is from ten hrs ago?! Strange.

Anyhow, I’ve had this one a couple times and it’s yet to impress. I mean, for the rep of the brand, I thought it would be jaw on the floor yum but it’s just average yum. In fact, I’ve had darjeelings that I loved more?
It’s missing that sparkle and dryness I so love in a good darj.
I need to play around with the steeping parameters. This last cup (backlog from yesterday) was made with water from the coffee machine. So I’ll hold off on rating for now. It could just be finicky and I need to find the wow setting!
Also, my seasonal allergies may have affected my impression, though that wouldn’t account for the other two cups I had last month!

I was given this tea as a gift for Christmas last year and I have been slowly savoring it. I’m now down to my last four sachets. I take it unsweetened with a little milk and it is perfect. The bergamot taste is perfectly strong without being too much. I’ll miss this tea when I finish it.