Low Country

Instead of buying a sampler, I went ahead with a small bag of this. The description made it seem like a no-brainer. Turns out, that was a bad call.

I picked up several different blacks from August Uncommon, and this is the first one I tried. Hopefully, the others turn out better than this, because despite enjoying bourbon and vanilla, I don’t see myself ever returning to this.

As I would with most black tea, I did a boiling steep for about 3:30, and liked the deep color. The aroma said “butterscotch” more than anything, and I like butterscotch, so I thought I was in for a treat.

Sadly, the flavoring is just far too cloying for me. It’s like someone dropped a couple of butter rum Life Savers in otherwise bland tea. The flavors are so artificial, I’d swear I could probably take a stab at what they mixed in from FlavourArt, and not be too far off.

I finished it about 30 minutes ago, and I can still sense the sticky-sweet flavor on the back of my tongue, along with an unpleasant scratchiness.

I had a sampler of this a while back and didn’t decide to reorder; should have trusted myself, but the folks on the AU Facebook are so friggin’ bonkers over this offering that I felt like I should give it another chance.

I initially brewed it up and felt like it was lacking, so I added some almond milk and maple to it. All I could taste was cloying sweetness that the tea didn’t support, so I dumped it and started over. Left it plain.

Sigh. It’s fine. It’s truly fine, it’s not repulsive. But oy VEY, I don’t get it. Yes, there are butterscotch notes; yes, it’s sweet; yes, there’s some lapsang doing it’s smoky thing. There’s a lot in the nose; a smattering of it translates to the taste. Bourbon? Eh. I tend to the nerd-side of whisk(e)y, so I’ma let that slide. The base is just. so. thin. There’s nothing there to push all these potentially big flavors into climax; they just sort of putter around in the fishbowl without any destination.

I love love love the artful descriptions AU pours out, and I love their big unique inspirational reaches, and I have loved a couple of their single-origin teas (I see from browsing Steepster that I missed a yellow that sounds gorrrrrgeous before I discovered them). But, eh… all the flavoring in the world can’t fix a meh base. Can we imagine for a minute what a good malty, strappy brown-bread black could do here? Or a barrel-aged pu-erh accent? A brandy oolong? Guhhh.

Here’s to trusting one’s self, Steepsterites… cheers.

Pretty sure this is the first tea I’ve had with a gluten warning on it. With the number of people who avoid or are allergic, I feel like that warning should be on the front. The aroma is quite unique; burnt marshmallow, chickory, fresh twig (like when you are trying to build a bonfire and you go to snap a twig but it’s so green it just bends) a bit of caramel, and a slight hint of bourbon. It sucks being under the weather but I hate this canker sore more. Sorry for my random tangent. I can’t eat properly and my tea… ugh…
I can taste all the notes described. Burnt sugar, bourbon (though not as strong), and the base is a nice strong black tea.

2022 Spring Tea Swap – Day 7
From Emilie!

I was a bit distracted while drinking this one, but I know that I really liked it. There was a deep caramel note that was so delicious. I’ll do better with my next note!

I can definitely taste the lapsang in this blend. It’s not overly smoky at all, but since smoke isn’t a flavor I love, it’s still a little much for me here. I totally get creamy desserty flavors as well. It tastes more mellow and smooth after it’s cooled. I enjoyed my cup of this, but I don’t know that I’d reach for it again.

I just found my pile of August samples and remembered I’d only tried about half of them. When I was tasting them before they were all seeming really acidic to me and it just wasn’t doing it for me. I’m not sure if it was me or something in the flavorings they use. I was in the mood for a black tea that could handle added cream today and contemplated both Low Country and Golden Arrow. Low Country won the sniff test of the dry leaf.

I think I followed the steeping instructions on the package for the other August teas so I went with that on this one too. Package recommendations were 3.5g or about 1Tbsp of leaf for 10oz boiling water, 4-5min steep. I used one scoop of my handy August clear plastic scoop (I think it’s 1Tbsp?) and 4 minutes (I actually set a timer this time!), will probably bump it up to 5 minutes if I decide to do a second steep. Glass tea mug with glass infuser…love this thing because it doesn’t give any weird metallic flavors like some metal infusers and it doesn’t absorb flavors/smells.

The dry tea smells really sweet and caramely, a bit boozy. A little smoke but it doesn’t punch you in the face like Golden Arrow. The steeped tea doesn’t smell nearly as sweet as it did dry…it smells more boozy and smoky. Before adding cream, I can taste smoke but it isn’t super crazy strong. I don’t really get the caramel that I could smell in the dry tea. The bourbony booziness I could smell is in the flavor but it has a weird artificial bite to me. This tea doesn’t do as well with cream as I hoped. Or maybe it needs more leaf to be strong enough to hold up to the cream. With the cream I’m mostly just getting that artificial bite and an aftertaste of smoke. It’s a bit disappointing because the dry tea smelled really good. I guess what I wanted was a strong black tea with cream plus the flavor of awesome homemade butter caramels and this just isn’t it. It’s drinkable, it’s just not what I had in mind for my tea today.

After taking the first sip, I realize this tea will wreck even the most fortified of stomachs. So, milk.

Sweet butterscotch aroma that barely creeps into the taste which is so often the case for flavored teas. The taste is like drinking a fresh, peppery cigar with a strong black tea note. And then there’s the leather, the taste of which feels like a lead blanket draped over the body. It’s more than just wearing a leather jacket. Piled in steer hides. Lightly smoky whisky and burnt sugar remain on the palate. This tea is heavy and earthy, sultry and rich. Wet backwoods, tobacco plantations, rolling hills, tack rooms.

Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | January 2023 | A tea by candlelight

Heh, I seem only to log this one as a sipdown! This one always ends up in my cart on the rare occasion I purchase from August Uncommon (typically when they email me about rewards points or a sale or something). I had a couple servings left and brewed a potful to enjoy while doing some leisurely reading on this very cold and rainy afternoon. I did cheat and plug in some twinkle lights alongside the candle because it’s too grey and gloomy to read by candlelight alone. (As a side note, we in Maryland have gotten no snow this winter and I’m so over it. I WANT SNOW, DAMN IT. Not freezing rain, not sleet, not hail… GIVE ME SNOW. Seriously pondering a move to colder climes at this point.)

Aaanyway, I continue to very much enjoy this tea, and also to think that it is almost too aggressively flavored. It’s also strong! I’m slightly regretting drinking so much at 2:00 p.m., but the damage has been done.

Leaving my rating the same.

2023 sipdown count: 13/75

I find this one to be pretty similar to Golden Arrow from the same company, except it’s less smokey caramel and more sweet spirits. Unlike GA, It has a thinner but flavourful mouthful that takes me right to the downtown distillery! Vanilla, cocoa and malt, with hints of burnt sugar and smoke. It doesn’t burn the throat going down like bourbon does, but it’s close!

It’s a pretty accurate rendition of a alcoholic drink, and also brings to mind O’Connor’s Cream from TeaGschwendner (that one’s way bolder though).

Taken with both dairy milk and oat milk on different occasions. That may be what turns this bourbon into an Irish Cream sibling.

Steep Count: 2

This is an interesting tea, certainly different from most of what I’ve tried.

For once, I’m relieved the scent doesn’t come through as much in the flavor. The scent is overwhelmingly sweet – a little bit of something bitter, but a lot of butterscotch candy vibes.

The taste continues to fascinate me. I definitely got the smokiness and something bitter, and the sweet was a nice edge to the flavor. It felt almost rich, especially when steeped a longer time. The tea reminded my partner (not a tea drinker, fwiw) of a pipe tobacco.

I don’t know if I’d buy it, but I’d be excited to drink it again.