1638 Tasting Notes
Having this iced with a creamer. The flavors aren’t as bold as I was hoping for. The mint is the most noticeable, but barely cuts through the light cream. The chocolate flavor only exists as a suggestion in the background with the malt. I keep hoping to find a replacement for a Teavana chocolate mint tea that I loved and still haven’t found a match for. I suppose one might consider this tea okay without the expectation I’m coming at it with. I’ll have to double up the amount in my steeper to try to pull more flavor from this.
Sip down! Or is it sipdown? I neglected to drink this in a timely manner for a tea containing coconut, so I decided to try this cold brewed today to see if it cut down on the old coconut soap taste. I’m pleased to say it mostly did! I had this iced and slightly sweetened and it was really good. Light coconut with a little smoke in there. Kinda wish I had saved the leaves to try to get a second steeping out if it. If I saw this in stock while making another order, it would end up in my basket for sure. For now, I’m glad to finish another tea in my cupboard, especially before it became undrinkable.
I really enjoy this tea and I so rarely turn to it. I think of it as a tea that I need to be in the right mood for, but I’m not sure what mood that is exactly. It’s smooth, smokey, leathery. It is really well rounded with low and high notes in the flavor. The complexities of the flavors make me think of whiskey without the alcohol. I need to drink this more often!
Preparation
I recall loving this tea! This one and London Breakfast. I was excited to have the opportunity to restock it recently after years of going without, but they aren’t quite how I remember them. I used to use cream and sugar in my teas and have gotten out of that habit, especially with the sugar. I think both these teas really benefit from that addition. It took two small scoops of sugar and some cream to get this cup to a good state. Once that was accomplished it was a good breakfast tea and I cup I’m enjoying. Most hearty teas fit into that category once you add enough cream and sugar, so I’m not sure why I was so taken by this. Maybe time and exposure will change my mind back. Maybe my palate and preferences have outgrown this tea.
Preparation
I have never had a hawthorn berry before. This is the first time I’ve even heard of them. This tea could taste like a totally different fruit and I wouldn’t know the difference, so I have to take them on their word about this flavor. It almost seemed cranberry like for a second, but it doesn’t have the puckering tartness and has a sweeter way about it. There is a very airy perfume like taste in the sip. It’s bright and enjoyable on green rooibos. It’s interesting, but I’m not super taken by the flavors. Little bit of rooibos dry mouth after each sip. Overall it’s a fun quick experience of a new flavor for me.
Preparation
They sell dried hawthorn fruit roll-up type things at Asian groceries. My sister brought me some back from China, and I’ve been buying them for myself ever since. That’s the only format I’ve had hawthorn in, but it’s delicious!
Buttery blackberry pancakes you say? I don’t get the butter or pancake part. What I do get is a chocolate berry flavor that is less than exciting. I don’t think this is even quite blackberry. It reminds me more of raspberry chocolate teas. There may be a hint of syrup long into the finish. The tea it’s self was more finely ground than any other tea I’ve seen, almost a powder in the bag. It’s not horrible, but it’s far from interesting.
Preparation
I’ve had several great green strawberry teas that were bright and full of flavor. Kusmi and Lupicia both come to mind. This was not one of them. I kept searching for the fruit and just got the ghost of it instead. I do get a little bit of cream, but it isn’t interesting without the strawberry there. The instructions do say to steep this in almost boiling water, which I just can’t bring myself to do to a green, so maybe it is user error. I did steep it for 3 minutes like the instructions say. Still, hard pass on this one for me.
Preparation
This smells really fruity when I open the bag. Like artificial fruit, just like breakfast cereal. I expected it to be sickly sweet, but it’s actually a fairly nice fruity flavor. It has an underlying citrus flavor that brightens each sip. I can’t pick out any of the other flavors individually because they all merge into a fruit loops flavor. This looses a little magic as it cools, so drinking it hot is best IMO, but I do wonder how this would be cold steeped. This tea is fun and I kinda like it!
Preparation
I’ve been curious about this company since I first heard about them. I really like their packaging here!
I kinda like this one! It’s a green rooibos, so very little dry mouth feeling or woody taste. I think they really nailed the flavor of almonds on a croissant. Not so much the croissant part, but that particular flavor of almond, which is almost extract tasting. It doesn’t have too much depth to it, more middle and high notes in the flavors, but it’s tasty anyways. It reminds me of a David’s tea I had long ago that was on an unusual woodchip like base and had a very strong almond taste. I’m enjoying this cup and would happily drink another, but isn’t something I’d buy and stock.
Preparation
For a long, long while there was a major drought impacting the rooibos productions in South Africa. Since green rooibos is (frustratingly) significantly less popular than red rooibos, not a lot of it was produced. It’s a bit like if you owned a cupcake shop but were short on baking supplies; you probably wouldn’t use the supplies you did have to make a less popular recipe which wouldn’t sell well. South Africa’s situation is a bit better now though, so we’re starting to see more green rooibos again.