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Sipdown

What a sad Sipdown! This has been my go to evening tea when we have Asian food. I put it on my wishlist because I intend to get more as soon as the cupboard drops decently. It doesn’t look like I will hit my goal for the year but it is decently close.

The flavor of this hojicha is a bit hard to describe. Chocolate-y, great with food and equally great with desserts or sweets, smooth while still clearing the palate.

Love it. Thank you, derk, for introducing me to this tea.

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Superanna purchased this for me in Tokyo. I was hoarding the last bit but decided to finish it with supper tonight.

We already love Jardin Sauvage and this is basically a pineapple version of that tea. A very sad sipdown. We drank it hot but I would have loved to try it iced and sweetened, or even just iced.

Sipdown

November 1 Sipdown Challenge Prompt: a lingering holiday day from 2024

Nice dark cookie flavors like a Tollhouse cookie left in the oven just a little bit too long, although there are no chocolate notes in this tea. This is the holiday version of Lupicia’s Cookie and is similar to Simpson & Vail Almond Sugar Cookie.

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Drinking this today, my feelings are the same as ten months ago. It is a gentle black and oolong tea with light blackcurrant flavor. It is like a very mild version of Paris by Harney in a way. It is different enough that I can see having both on shelf. Currently, due to this being a sipdown, I have neither.

Ashman would choose this when drinking tea alone as a safe option that he knew he liked. He prefers this one to Paris because he isn’t a fan of bergamot, though he tolerates it in some blends.

Since I wanted to finish the tin I made a huge pot and iced and sweetened half for his lunch tomorrow.

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We enjoyed this, but I don’t think I need both this one and Mocha. The flavor profile for Mocha suits me fine and I have a nearly full bag.

There was a ton of chocolate/cocoa powder in this. When making it by the pot, I had to pour ever so slowly because the infuser basket has tiny holes and you had to wait for the water level to go down so you could add more. Eventually enough chocolate either dissolved or escaped that you could keep up a good steady pour. It’s not a bad thing, just a fact of how we had to make this beverage.

I used this in place of hot chocolate or chocolate milk with some of our soup meals that we think of as comfort food.

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Just logging the sipdown. Had it cold steeped in their Rare Tea flask mostly but the last two pots were hot. It is smooth and agreeable.

October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Sipdown a sample

This is an old sample. I think I put off making it because it is such a small one. I steeped the teaspoon of leaf in my Kamjove basket and tasted the first steep on its own. Then I resteeped the leaves and combined the two and found little difference in the strength of the flavor, so I would consider this a very good resteeper.

The base is apparent and strong enough to be tasted alongside the butterscotch flavor. I found it to be a very enjoyable tea with my lunch.

In comparing it to other teas I have had, I must draw on caramel teas as I can’t remember what butterscotch teas I have tried, and the two have similarities to me. The base of this one is much better than Harney’s Salted Caramel, which has an anemic base and is all caramel aroma with no heft. This is more similar to Lupicia’s English Caramel in strength and flavor, just butterscotch instead of caramel.

Very good, and I would gladly drink it again.

October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a flavored oolong

Before I had this tea, I had the jelly. Smelling and tasting the jelly, I knew I wanted the tea someday. Both were given to me by Superanna.

I drink this when I want the day (or my tea time) to feel extra special! Every day is special if we see it so, and practice looking for joy.

Yesterday the first white-throated sparrow of the season showed up on my bird bath. This afternoon we will go to visit Superanna and bring her doggies home with us. Today the phoebes are calling in the trees. It is a good day.

October 20 Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Fall Leaves Appreciation Day

The most important thing to happen so far today – I saw the first white-throated sparrow of the season on the bird bath as I drank my tea! <3

For my made up holiday, I decided to go with what I think is my largest leaf tea. This was a gift from Superanna. Many thanks!

These leaves are so long, twisted, and lovely! I did not use an infuser because I wanted them to have lots of space. I used a glass teapot to watch them steep and then poured them into another pot so I could drink my tea outside. I have made two 16 ounce infusions so far. No straining was necessary because the leaves are so big that they stay put if you pour slowly.

They unfurl to long, soft leaves, nice and full. The aroma of the steeped leaves is greens and orchid. The aroma of the steeped tea reverses to orchid with a hint of greens. I used to call this aroma magnolia, or even baby powder, but since the company says orchid and I don’t know the scent of orchid, I will assume that is the best name for this smell.

Drinking the tea, I do not find it highly floral in taste. There is a light minerality, much less than a Dong Ding or Da Hong Pao, and also a bitter floral scent and taste like the bitter part of the aroma of lilac which I LOVE. I can definitely see why they refer to the bush as a narcissus scent because paperwhites have that same bitter (good) aroma. I just happen to have lilacs in bloom right now so it reminded me first of them. And there is a bitter nuttiness like chestnut, and Bellocq points out a flavor of chestnut honey. I have never had chestnut honey but I can see a comparison to the taste of chestnuts. Second steep flavorful with floral aspects dialed back and nuts, minerals, and greens dialed up a bit.

A lovely tea on a lovely day.

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October Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea you prefer plain

I drink almost all of my tea sans additions, so practically any tea would have done well for this prompt. I chose this one because it is not only a sipdown but it is so well liked that I already have two on the way – one for my house and one for a gift.

Superanna and her husband came to my house Friday evening. AliasHali had made cookies as a gift for Ashman and we all had tea and cookies together.

Ashman absolutely loved this tea with cookies and said it was a perfect pairing. That surprised me because I wouldn’t have considered the two complimentary. I made this because SuperAnna drinks mostly green or white tea and when offered a selection, chose this one.

Usually we finish one pot of tea and move on to a different tea. She requested more of this one! So I have ordered a tin for her and a refill bag for me.

Today I had the last teaspoon and a half of leaf made for breakfast. Even resteeping and combining this was so sweet! I think a ton of blackberry leaf must have settled to the bottom of the tin. Hopefully in the future I will remember to give the tin a little shake, but it was still good!