THEODOR

July Sipdown Challenge – a tea you can’t repurchase

I am pretty sure this is my last Theodor tea. I have a lot of it left because I generally only drink tilluel medicinally, and mint isn’t my most favorite thing except when making a tea syrup for tea pop, and then I usually add some homemade vanilla extract to it. I am not using this for my mint prompt. That will be a separate one tomorrow.

I have had very little sleep – only about four hours when you throw in my quick nap from earlier today, so hopefully this caffeine free tisane will lull me to sleep and will help with stress. The dominant flavor is mint, which is what I always find with teas that include mint. It just takes over. Cold tingle on my tongue. Honestly, I barely taste the tilluel or linden in this, but I think it may be softening the harsh edges of the peppermint.

As a medicinal tea, it is quite palatable. As a mint tea, it is smooth and agreeable. It is getting on a bit in age but still flavorful even though the package wasn’t closed well when I fetched it out tonight.

Because this company has closed, I can not repurchase it, but I know Harney and Sons sells a Tilluel Mint that tastes very similar.

Going to bed now and hope to conk out until morning.

The oolong tea leaves unfold beautifully in the cup, revealing layers of floral and fruity notes, with a lingering sweetness on the palate.

Sipdown

This was a delicious peach and vanilla blend from a tea company that I will miss! I hope they do make a comeback! Their announcement looked as though they might one day.

I don’t know what to make of this. It’s mint for sure, but mint without the bite. I kinda like when mint bites. This is a very soft mint with rounded edges. Slightly sweet, very mellow and polite. I’m a little disappointed it doesn’t have more going on, but it’s a fine cup to hydrate on.

A friend bought this and didn’t like it, so I’m giving it a go. Not a fan of red rooibos, so it has that against it from the start. It has the faintest scent of spices. Cinnamon? The flavors are almost soapy on the sip. Generic floral? I couldn’t name any fruit in this mix. There is a little bit of rooibos woodsiness in there, but the strange flavor covers most of what I dislike in rooibos. Something in it is making my throat tingle, like the beginning of an itch that makes you cough. Not for me, but glad to have tried it.

first time i try an oolong with many other things in it, and well it was ok, but i’m not a fan, it’s weird, or maybe it’s the lotus ? I never tasted or scented lotus, so don’t know if that is what is making me not like this too much.
I did gongfu and western at different temperatures, and results were never satisfying.

A sample from ashmanra’s cabinet — thank you <3 — that I drank during the bork. I didn’t look up what this was before I tasted it, and my notes are all over the place. I loved this tea.

Smells like minty/menthol, blue flowers (violet?), cedar/incense/wood essence. Steeped, I smell candy… as if the blue flower has turned sweet, like a peach Jolly Rancher. Tastes like fairies (what, there’s no fairies tag?)… mint but not minty, candy but not sweet… white grapes, plum… sugarplum fairies! There’s something ethereal here, and something that reminds me of a childhood thing I can’t place — some kind of translucent candy (maybe it is just Jolly Ranchers?). Lemon chiffon — fluffy without being creamy. Just really well-balanced.

Theodor almost certainly intends this to be steeped western, but I went gong fu. I don’t know why. The non-tea flavors went pretty fast, and the black tea base came up front. I don’t regret the gong fu, though, because that first steep was heavenly. Now it’s crisp, citrus, astringent.

I finally looked to see what this elixir was made of. I have pulled down so much bergamot in my lifetime that I think it’s a difficult flavor for me to pick out anymore, actually (oops). So I can taste it if I focus, but I wouldn’t have guessed this was an Earl Grey base — it makes sense that the plum and yuzu were creating most of the magic for my palate.

Y.U.M.

TTB Review #32: Curious flavors here. I’m getting almost gin vibes. It certainly has this liquor-y taste to it but mixed with juniper berries and/or flowers. Yes, definitely gin. Would have preferred more sweetness to offset the alcohol-ness of this tea.

March Sipdown Prompt – a tea I won’t repurchase

A sipdown! This is my second Theodor sipdown in about a month.

And yet there is no note here from me? This was my oldest green on shelf currently, best by date was 2018, although there may be one or two that are tied with it. The age should be a good indicator that I didn’t drink this often. It just isn’t a flavor I reach for, and I think flavored greens tend to hang around here longer than other teas, except for fruity greens. Plain or fruity greens go pretty fast.

It tastes like what they said – vanilla and rich biscuit. How do the French companies get that rich pastry/cookie aroma? It is incredible. It reminds me of Cookie by Lupicia so much, but Cookie is a black tea. Cookie makes great lattes, and if I had been drinking a lot of those back then that is probably how I would have used this one.

Shipping is so high for Theodor that I would opt for buying Cookie if I want this flavor. It is a great tea and tastes exactly as described, but so hard to get.

Ah. This smells of summer. Ripe fruits and fancy florals. Farmers markets. The wet aroma is kind of bland. Not inspiring. Dirty water. The pour after a minute reveals fruity notes, slight minerality, and floral notes but they are all a bit subdued. More time is needed. But as I add more timing the drying on the palate increases. Less time is better. But overall, not one I would buy.

Saved a sample of this from the last TTB. This is an intriguing one. It tastes like white grape juice with floral elements. I don’t usually enjoy oolong, but it’s the perfect base for this flavor profile. I’m drinking this one cold, and I’m almost wishing I’d saved myself more than one serving! In general, I was pretty impressed by the Theodor offerings I got to try in the TTB, and I hope I come across more in the future!

Advent Tea!
This one is super smooth and nicely smoky. A little less smoky on steep #2 but still very drinkable. I would buy this one if we ever run out of Uptons Imperial LS, but that is unlikely as its my dad’s favorite tea.

Wavering in how I perceive this tea. The first sip went from yum yuzu to gross disinfectant. And now I’m stuck on this reminds me of a yuzu candy. The black base rounds the tea out nicely but the citrus notes are too much for me. I am at the end of this small cup but I literally am having trouble trying more.

It is difficult to taste an artificial peach these days and not think of my grandma, well more specifically the scent in my grandma’s bathroom. It’s the only place she used it and It. Was. Strong. The black base is nice and adds a move mellow tone to the peachy notes but the melancholy behind the notes is a bit too much for me to completely enjoy it. Though I do imagine this would be good with a spot of cream… Interesting. I added oat milk. It’s reminiscent of peach cobbler.

The liquor reminds me of some type of cookie dough. Sugar cookie or snickerdoodle maybe? Not big on the taste at first as it enters your mouth. Sort of artificial.
But as it lingers a bit I get a sense of lemon cookie, sugar lemon cookie, with bits of wood accents and malt o meal. The wet aroma is much the same as the dry. It’s good and I’m glad I tried it but I don’t know that I would buy it.

I drank the cup of this made pretty quickly and forgot to take notes so here’s a mini-review for now. Age hasn’t seemed to have impacted the flavor of this tea. This was a really yummy earl grey type flavor profile. I’ll have to do a more extended review next time I drink it. I made a cup for my grandmother and she approved of it as well.

I realized that I had two unopened bags that I still hadn’t tried from this company back in 2020 I believe when I bought some from Dustin. So this one and Perseus are getting opened up today.
The strawberry flavor of this one reminds me of Lupicia’s strawberry. I think I prefer Lupicia’s because I remember it being slightly sweeter and more candylike probably due to the sugar candy mix-ins that their blends have. It also has that perfume like quality to it. I think it reminds me slightly of Lupicia’s Neptune tea as well with the honeyed fruit notes. However, I sadly am not tasting any exotic fruits ex. mango, papaya, or passion fruit.
I made this cup plain without milk or sweetener and the black tea base was rather brisk. I’m going to have to try it with a shorter steep time and maybe some milk added next time. In terms of other french strawberry teas, I really like Jardin Bleu and so I don’t think I’d purchase this one. Glad I got the chance to try it and that it still tastes flavorful!

Sipdown!

Way past the best by date because I have trouble getting to flavored greens. Must do better.

Four years ago, Cameron had some from this very tin and found it lacking macaron but good on the berries. These last three pots this week have been the opposite. The first one was all biscuit and nutty flavor, so for the next pot I dialed down the temp of the water to just 160 and got a bit of berry back in there.

Final pot today was really mostly a nutty green tea with biscuit flavor. My bad for letting it hang around so long. It was a good tea and deserved to be drunk sooner than I have done.

I went poking through the tea shelves today and decided I should make a foray into greens because we have been hitting black tea hard. I was surprised this tin was nearly full and even more surprised to come on here and see that I have not reviewed it and it wasn’t in my cupboard. It is definitely a gift from Superanna and may have been given along with other teas and got lost in the mix. I have four of their green tins so I guess it just blended in.

The important thing to note is that this was excellent this morning. That classic “biscuit” flavor that you find in Dammann Freres and THEODOR teas is here, and lots of fruity goodness to accompany the cherry vanilla bagels. I will definitely be reaching for it more.

Edited to add: I found a duplicate listing for this tea and that one IS added to my cupboard, but no note from me under that listing, either.

Hot, this didn’t taste like much. Cooled, it tastes like chocolate or other desserty flavors. The flavoring could definitely be less mild, but my cup of this was pleasant enough with milk and sugar. It was sort of cookie-ish. Thanks to the TTB for this one!

This tastes much better as it cools. The flavor is subtle. To be honest I wouldn’t be able to guess what flavor this is supposed to be, but I saw some flowers in the dry leaf, so I guess I can see some floral leanings. The black tea is high quality, and I’m having a nice time despite the flavor that’s a bit more subtle than I usually prefer. Thanks to the TTB for the chance to try this! Oh apparently this is supposed to be peach…I guess I can see that?