Your Daily Tea Cup

I wonder how they made a relatively good pistachio tea with apple pieces, coconut chips (yes, big pieces of coconut here, picture is accurate) and cranberry?

Honestly, the green tea base isn’t that good. I don’t mean in terms of flavour, but it just doesn’t suit the pistachio/coconut flavour in my opinion. Black tea would be better maybe.

But overall, thaks to all apple and cranberriees it’s nicely swet and kind of juicy. With, as I wrote in first paragraph, nice pistachio taste. Of course, pistachio itself would be better and more “like” pistachio. And those huge chips of coocnut are adding good nutty note.
Well done, but probably not my favorite?

A sipdown! (M: 3 Y: 46)
As I wrote in previous note, this tea has gron on me and I like it more than I did before. Probably the base needed to air out, as well the orange and its flavouring used. Definitely better than first time tried.

Today, I finished my last 5 grams in the morning and it was refreshing but very bold and earthy in the same time, along with high caffeine content.

What all can change in two weeks since I was liast time home? Well, Probably most importantly, that our house is covered with scaffolding and we are without roof tiles. Also all trees have their leaves and flowers are gone. Partially because the freezing temperatures, partially because blooming season is over (at the beginning of May?!) We will see how many fruits we will harvest. And lastly, my ESD shoes and new softshell parka paid by the company arrived, so I had to try those things out or get them exchanged if size being wrong. Luckily, isn’t. To be honest, I wouldn’t return home otherwise.

This tea had to grow on me. First steeps were like drinking muddy dishwater with plenty of dish soap with orange aroma.

There were steeps which were very orange and almost nothing from the puerh. And there were steeps which were very puerh and almost nothing from the orange.

As I am in the middle of the pouch, I can shake the contents well and now it is perfect ratio almost everytime. Fruity and fresh orange, with very robust and strong, slightly earthy puerh base. It is such a good combo!

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 1

Okay, to be honest I forgot yesterday as I came home late from work and I had also no mood for hot tea, so I just prepared it today and I will do my best drinking Day 2 today as well.

This tea is one of teas by YDTC I already had. It is quite floral pu-erh, but not by itself, instead because orange blossoms, which I had many in my sample. It was less creamy this time as well, but on the other hand the strawberry note was much stronger and and overall it was surprisingly well done.

I will keep the rating, but I am pleasantly surprised today and moreover it fills my craving for puerh today afternoon!

Another sample I have received for my Advent Calendar (and other teas) order by Your Daily Tea Cup. Thank you! For those who don’t know, I have received it in the middle of December, so I have decided drinking through the Advent Calendar as a countdown to my birthday in July.

I have been postponing drinking this tea as it is flavoured pu-erh and not always I have mood for them. This one, among strawberry, is with orange blossoms, an ingredient which isn’t in the ingredients list and I have very little, if any, experience with.

So, that little sample bag I have emptied into strainer and used my typical 300 ml glass mug and steeped 4 mintues.

Luckily, this tea is no way fish-y and if I made a blind test, I wouldn’t say it is a puerh at all. It is, like a little bit earthier black tea, with some kind of floral qualities, and incredlibly smooth and creamy. As I was craving some fruits, I am a bit sad that I did not notice any fruits in it though.

A sipdown! (M: 14, Y: 14)
Sipdown prompt: A small business blend — a small business blend for another small business

Definitely overaleafed (I just used the rest… which was apparently too much) and too hot water (90°C water instead of 80 or so, probably lazy me in the morning)

Well, it has lost of its flavor. Or I had too much green tea remaining and not that much of the fruits. It was grassy cup with fruit line indeed somehow similar to chewing gum as gmathis notices, though I never had Fruit Stripe one.

Nice mish-mash of those fruits; and grassy green tea, though a bit bitter this time for me… definitely both steeping errors didn’t help with the flavours. But I am happy to log another sipdown.

While it comes to green teas, I prefer them plain or some simple flavours as mint, lemon, jasmine… but usually fruits are quite miss for me.

Anyway, I took this one and it has got a wonderful tropical aroma, a cubes of pineapple and probably the papaya; also red-pink pieces of cranberries are in the blend too, it looks visually very nice as well.

As of flavours, I don’t remember much from tea itself, but there were those tropical fruits there with little tartness of cranberry. Certainly a tea that is very nice, though… getting through 50 grams will be a bit challenge for me. Well, maybe I will put a bit into TTB one day.

A sipdown! (M: 4, Y: 44) — woo, two sipdowns in one day!
Actually, I have prepared this tea yesterday. But today I am drinking it, because I have prepared it as a my first coldbrew.

And it went delicious. Lemongrass probably most forward, in taste there is cistrus zests afterwards and it is so highly refreshing and addictive… that I regret not preparing it before. Also lime is more prominent in this method than using classic western hot method.

Happy for sipdown, unhappy that it’s gone.

For future reference: 6 grams / 1000 ml, 20 hours in fridge

My recent daily-drinker, or at least a every-other-day-drinker.

It is quite simple; quite robust black tea base, which is slightly malty, certainly not a bitter CTC. Lemon and lemongrass dominates in aroma that much, that when it was a new blend, it was floor-cleaner heavy. Now, it slowly gets better.

Luckily, in flavour it’s not that awful, however, and quite sadly, it is again lemon and lemongrass which dominates there. Lime is very subtle and if you told me it is a lemon tea, I would believe you during a blind test.

Also, I recommend shorter steeping time than recommended 4-5 mintues; I do 3 and it’s just right.

If it lasts till summer, I will try a cold-brewing or making an ice tea from it.

January 10th – It is National Bittersweet Chocolate Day! prompt

I think it is only one chocolate tea I had until drinking it; as HEB Chocolate rooibos I finished not so long time ago. It’s not a sipdown for me, as it was just a sample; one session worth. Thank you Rensina for including it in though!

Using a white tea for chocolate tea is, well uncommon. But they were using also white chocolate bits, so it makes a little more sense.

Well, in my opinion it is nothing but white tea with a little sweet notes. A nice white tea though, with barnyard smell, a little hay there, and overhall enjoyable. I don’t notice much of white choco itself, which here tends to be a little coconut-like and sadly, it wasn’t creamy too. I haven’t been expecting hot white chocolate drink, but if there were coconut flakes, I think it could make the tea a bit better.

Martin’s birthday countdown AKA Your Daily Tea Cup Advent Calendar

Day 24

Whoops, two days late! Well, whatever — happy birthday to me! Also, late because I have been on tea festival, so I will add all the teas into database. So, certainly weekend full of tea. I won’t write about every single tea I had, because that would be long and tiring, moreover my notes written on paper aren’t complete nor all teas are noted.

So, Spicy Christmas… in hot summer day. Again, smells wonderful, but in taste; it’s sadly like a green tea (quite good, at least) with cloves and this time a little bit of orange. Also floral qualities are here, rose doing it I assume.

This is, uncommon green tea blend. It rather looks like black one, it is really dark and… when brewing it releases also rather copper-brown colour instead of green. Well… it is supposed to be green tea, so I will believe it is a green tea blend.

It smells heavily after cloves with roses in the pouch and my mom said it smells very appealing for her and nodded that I should brew it for the family — 2 tablespoons for 2500 ml tea pot.

Sadly, it isn’t that good when brewed, not so complex aroma nor the taste. It is certainly clove forward and the base is hay-like (yay green tea note!), but I have been expecting more ginger in it. A little orange appears there too with the cinnamon.

Mistletoe is an interesting ingredient here, but as I have no idea how it should taste like, I am not sure if I notice it at all. Shame that it does not have that warming, spicy ginger.