Winterwoods Tea Company

Sipdown! (7 | 126)

For some reason I didn’t get to this one when I sipped down all my other Winterwoods sample jars, so finishing it off today.

I find it odd that it’s named Wildwood Cedar when I barely taste the cedar at all. I guess it makes it sound more woodsy and exotic, but really it mostly tastes like mint and cinnamon with a bit of fennel and licorice root on the backend. It’s not bad, I just feel like the name is somewhat misleading. Plus I am not a fan of licorice root, so the cloying sweet taste of it here isn’t helping. The peppermint is very herbaceous as well, and it tastes quite muddled mixed with the other ingredients.

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This one was nice. Quite strong on the smoke, for sure, but it’s a nice, meaty smoke, as opposed to an ashy charcoal one. The sage accentuates those savory notes as well, and adds an earthy herbaceousness. I will say I don’t actually get a lot of juniper here, which isn’t surprising since the other notes are so powerful. It’s also a bit difficult to extricate the sage and juniper from each other, but there is a sort of resinous note going on, regardless of where it’s coming from.

It’s nice, but I think a bit of a deep berry note would be nice, just to round things out. Probably not one I would reorder, since I don’t often crave strong smoky teas.

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I wish there was a bit more peach here. Mostly I taste earthy and slightly musty herbs, which I guess must be the strawberry leaf, and then the tartness of the citrus and the hibiscus. There is a touch of peach there, but I feel like the tart flavors overpower it a bit and make this taste more citrusy than anything.

Sipdown! (3 | 52)

Not sure why I ordered this, maybe it was because of the turmeric? An apple tea with turmeric does sound interesting.

However, this just tastes like a generic fruit tisane to me – just apple, rosehip, and hibiscus. It’s not terrible or anything, it’s tart but the hibiscus isn’t strong enough to make me pucker. Just painfully generic IMO.

Sipdown! (2 | 51)

This looked and smelled promising, with chunks of dried apple and warm spices. However, I’m finding in the cup that I mostly just taste the star anise, backed by a bit of woody rooibos. Maybe a touch of cinnamon as well, but no trace of apple at all…

These Winterwoods teas and I don’t seem to be vibing ha ha… But that’s why I appreciate it when companies offer sample sizes! :P

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This is supposedly jasmine green tea with green rooibos and apple, but somehow it ends up tasting like gunpowder? Mixed with the green rooibos, of course. I guess whatever green tea was used for the jasmine tea must be quite mineral-tasting. There is no apple to speak of, though I’m not surprised given there were only a few tiny pieces in the dry leaf.

Harrumph.

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This one is supposed to be sweet and fruity with hints of candied nuts, but honestly I’m not really tasting much other than the rather tannic black tea base. Maybe a hint of something fruity or sweet? Not tasting the cedar tips either, though I didn’t really see any in my jar.

So bee pollen and I don’t always get along, and there was such a strong wet dog aroma while this was steeping that I was sure I wouldn’t be able to drink it at all…

Thankfully, I don’t get wet dog in the taste ha ha. Mostly it’s a rather generic black base (Ceylon I assume, as it tastes like Lipton) with a touch of honey flavor. I don’t get maple, which is disappointing.

So even though it ended up being drinkable, still nothing special IMO. So far, haven’t been vibing with Winterwoods’s flavored blacks so hopefully some of the herbals and such are more my speed.

So this is a caramel and vanilla black tea with pine needles. Although, I didn’t really see any needles in my sample jar… :(

I’m finding it just okay. It’s honestly a bit bland overall, both the tea base and the flavoring. There’s a touch of sweetness from the flavorings, and I can taste a little of the vanilla, but not specifically caramel. The base teas like a tannic Ceylon, with those metallic and acidic notes.

Meh! I wish the pine was actually present, that would make it more interesting.

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Finishing the little jar. This last cup had a lot of lemon slices, so it almost tastes like an Arnold Palmer ha ha. Not bad, just very lemony. I actually don’t love iced tea with lemon, so it’s not my thing. Still wondering where the pomegranate was in this blend…?

The first to be tried from my Winterwoods sample order! Their samples are a bit expensive but come in adorable little glass jars…

This is a pomegranate and lemon black tea. The ingredients list juniper berries, but I didn’t see any in my little jar. It’s pleasant enough, but I mostly just get the lemon part. I think it’s partially coming from the lemon slices, as it tastes quite natural and has a touch of tartness to it. The black base is a little tannic, and the lemon is accentuating that quality a bit, so the finish ends up being quite drying.

It’s fine, but nothing I’m too excited about. A bit imbalanced perhaps, but still an enjoyable lemony black tea.

A very good, robust assam that is excellent in the dead of winter. The calendula does give it a bit of a unique flavor that is slightly different from a basic assam, and the addition of the flowers does certainly make it an attractive loose leaf to look at in the bag.

Usually with chai, the spice for me is underdone or not well balanced. Too much cinnamon in some, anise in another, etc. This is a well balanced chai for me! It has the good bite of spiciness that some of its category lack, while not having one particular spice overpower the others. This will be my go-to chai unless I am able to find a better one.

This is a really good tea, the honey flavor is done so well and not at overwhelming like I was concerned it would be. I don’t drink it very often because the texture of the pollen in the tea is a bit uncomfortable for my mouth and throat, but adding a dab of honey and a splash of milk makes it much much easier for me to drink.
The black tea is smooth and malty, which is an excellent pairing for the honey.

This tea is everything I would want from a tea of its’ name. It’s got that delicious lapsang taste, not flavored but actually smoked, and the juniper berries add an earthiness and a ruggedness to the flavor that I just adore! I have ordered this twice and am about to run out, so I will need to get more when I do a WWTC restock.

This is a decent and relaxing cup of herbal tea, and I probably need to drink more herbals teas, especially in the later part of the day.

The predominant flavors here are the sweetness of licorice root & the refreshing quality of peppermint, followed by cinnamon & cherry bark.

An interesting black tea. I am occasionally a fan of lapsang souchong, especially in the winter, and adding sage and juniper berries adds an interesting twist, kind of a refreshing quality.

I got this tea, along with several others, a year or so ago as part of a Kickstarter thing.
When I first opened it, it had an alcoholic aroma, which is pretty unappealing for me. Some of the other teas in this collection also had that vibe. So I let them sit for awhile, quite a while!

So now I’ve been sampling these teas, finally! The alcohol aroma is long gone, and the dry tea has a honey aroma that is pleasant enough. I brewed a cup, and it is a solid and bold black tea, a little on the bitter side, with a honeyish ambiance. I suspect that if I sweetened it, I’d like it even more, but as I’m not in the habit of sweetening my tea, I’ll pass.

I probably shouldn’t be drinking any more caffeine at the point, but what’s one more cup?

This is a tasty and potent assam, with the addition of Calendula flowers, which have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, although there is probably not enough flowers in there to be medicinal, and it doesn’t taste medicinal either, or floral, for that matter.
It is a hand blended tea with all organic ingredients. Honestly, it’s a solid cuppa!

Tart and tangy from the citrus and rosehips, this is a bright & light peach tea, and benefits from a little sugar to bring out the flavors. I don’t usually sweeten my tea, but I did add a little little honey to my cup.

Yes, I’m just drinking one cup of tea after another…nothing new there…

I used to drink a lot of chai, but honestly, I don’t drink it much anymore, because sometimes some of the spices disagree with my system, and chai is best, IMO, if it is sweetened with some coconut milk in it. I usually prefer my tea straight up, but I did make an exception for this cup, just to sample it. It’s a solid blend of all the usual spices, hand made from all organic ingredients. That works for me :)

A few years ago I went on a Kickstarter Binge, and one of the projects I supported was Winterwoods Tea Company. Their teas are lovingly hand made from organic ingredients, and I got a box full of them. I have to confess, when I first opened each package, most of them smelled like alcohol to me, and being a recovery person, that wasn’t very appealing. So I let them age for awhile, and gratefully the alcohol aroma seems to have departed!

So this is a classic licorice tea, naturally sweet because licorice is so, a little little spicy in a mild chai like way, and a little medicinal, because it is. I’m feeling a little under the weather, as if I’m either coming down with something, or having the start of spring allergies (which is what I suspect). Either way, warm tea always helps, and since I’ve already drank my fill of both Elderberry (anti viral) and Nettles (for allergies), I decided to go with a small pot of this one. Licorice root has a balancing effect on my adrenals, the marshmallow, ginger, and fennel are all soothing, and the orange peel and cinnamon add some nice flavor.

Sipdown (409)!

Finished this one off at work today! It’s one I’m not hurt to be out of; it was pleasant enough but the profile doesn’t stand out all that much and I imagine in a few months I’ll likely have completely forgotten about it.

I brewed this one hot, and topped up the cup with frothed milk. I didn’t directly pour the milk into the tea, but of course some of it ended up mixing together with it. The main idea was just to sip it through the thick layer of frothed milk, though.

Flavour wise, it was almost entirely a licorice/anise/fennel dominated flavour, however the clove, cinnamon, and mint were present in more of the second half/finish of the sip. It made for an overall herbaceous, spicy, and minty drink with a lot of background sweetness. Which was… alright.

Again; not really anything stand out about it.