Crowkettle Send Message

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge February 2022: A Grapefruit Tea

I’m a huge fan of the Butiki blend with the same name; this one uses a green tea blend for a base instead of a Kenyan CTC, but I otherwise find it comparable to memory. I like it a lot and am frankly surprised to see such a “me” tea neglected at the back of the cupboard (I didn’t know I had it. It would’ve been consumed long before now if I’d had even an inkling of its existence).

First off, this blend smells amazing: juicy, bright grapefruit embraced by a cloud of caramelized burnt sugar and vanilla that leans in a vaguely creamy direction. Yum. To taste, I found the tea largely delivered on that aroma, with a few steeping inconsistencies here and there.

My main complaint is that I wish it used a black tea base (I personally love my grapefruit with malt sugar notes). The green blend is alright though. It’s not too invasive or bold – allowing the grapefruit to breathe and stay light on its feet.

I did some superficial cleaning and de-cluttering today and discovered long forgotten fandom blends hidden beneath the display cabinet. Six of them. Oh, lord. If I can finish all of them before the end of the month I’ll consider it part of Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge January 2022: A Tea Paired with a Favourite Hobby. Consider this sipdown: 1/6!

Although this is from 2014, I still think is pretty flavourful. It’s an elusive “chocolate chai cream” contraption and I do still get that. The predominant flavour is clove spice (cloves will never die), followed by cardamon, cinnamon, and ginger. There’s a backdrop of thin (artificial) chocolate (think stale Hershey’s Kiss that’s lived under the fridge for a decade. It’s in a wrapper so it’s edible, right? Or maybe not..), and a vague vanilla cream. The rooibos and black tea base blend isn’t super discernible at this point.

It’s not amazing but it’s serviceable, especially when taken with some kind of milk. So long, Mycroft (I’m left with a cute tin though! hurrah).

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge January 2022: An Earl Grey

Something is super funky about this tea’s aroma. The lavender gives it a musty floral odor, the honey is sweet, and something(s) is (are) acidic sour: a fine recipe for bog compost. I’d left this tea untouched for a couple years but this challenge seemed like a good opportunity to both finally try it and drink it up. Maybe I was too quick to judge it?

To taste, it’s not half so bad as the smell led me to believe but it’s still decidedly not “cake,” despite the blend including honey, maple, sugar.. It’s a passable Earl Grey with lavender (but not a cream of earl grey like you’d expect). I’m happy to see it leave my cupboard though; the musty acidic tang carries over a tad.

I saw Kittenna’s note and realized I’d never logged this – despite ordering extra after loving the subscription sample. I finished my last packet of this off around the start of the New Year but it deserves more love.

This blend reminds me of some of my chamomile favourites: Citrus Dream from good old Butiki, and Moondrop Dreams from Bird & Blend (see a theme?). It’s that soft pillow of floral sleepy times (lavender, chamomile) mixed with an indulgent citrusy creamsicle (this had strawberry, I believe, whereas Butiki used goji and B&B uses typical citrus fruits). It’s charming; I consider this kind of blend essential but I sadly go through it way too quickly.

I hope this gets reblended at some point because it’s fantastic.

It smells like MANGO BISCUITS (::dies::).

Mangoes. Creamy, biscuit-y Mangoes. With almond flour.

I’d given up on finding a Mango tea I liked until stumbling on DFs excellent passion fruit flavouring (which isn’t remotely the same thing, but still). It’s not quite perfect and it’s simple, but I still love this tea to the point that I have to hide it from myself at times so I don’t drink it every day.

It may be a diluted, “baked” kind of Mango, and it’s unsurprisingly more of an almond cookie than a rich, tangy lassi (it’s missing the cardamom and yogurt mouthfeel) but it’s a Mango I can believe in (and buy in large quantities). The nilgiri base is also a plush, smooth cushion of a black tea. Not much of a nip, but enough to prevent this tasting flat.

Today I drank it alongside a dosa and sambar (South Indian Cuisine but still a fine pairing). And the sun is out! I can’t stay sad.

Steep Count: 2

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge January 2022: A Tea that reminds you of an Alcoholic Beverage

I polished this off by steeping it today in the fridge. I think it brings out the “rum” and tones down the nippier ingredients in the blend (the green base blend and vibrant citrus). It tastes more like the essence of Mai Tai this way, minus the sweetness I associate with the cocktail (kind of wish I’d experimented with sweetening it, maybe with grenadine). I also wish there was a hint of vanilla here, to mimic dark/spiced rum that’s sometimes used, but that’s just me!

June 2021 Reblend Tea

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge January 2022: A Cream-Flavoured Tea

This sipdown took a bit of work. Also came to the realization that, while I enjoy this tea and think it’s neat, it’s not my favourite and I’ve been drinking “around” it. I ordered from this company about two years ago and only this and Gina Amaretta are left (and they are beginning to age unfavourably). It’s time to say goodbye!

Backlog from around New Year’s Eve. Received as a sample from Dammann Freres (the company included three).

They weren’t lying when they said the dominant note is rhubarb. It’s not even sweetened rhubarb so it’s pretty herbaceous, slightly sour, and watery. the other fruity and floral additions are less apparent – although, they contribute sweet, floral, and earthy notes to the cup in turn.

It’s not something I’d rush out to buy but it is fresh and clean.

The weather is gloomy rain and I got my booster shot today. The two books I’m currently flipping between are both slowburn tales. (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley is whimsical and slow; The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara is repulsive and slow, with a MC who has the hubris and “issues” of Victor Frankenstein x100, with extra content warnings.)

Sipdown!

This herbal taste like a lot of mint with vague summer fruit inserts. It is what it is.