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Compagnie & Co Day 19

This will be my first cacao shell tea! I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of dark baking chocolate. The first steep has notes of dark chocolate and milk. The taste is a bit oily and sharp, like cheap baking chocolate. The second steep tastes more like sharp hot chocolate to me. The final steep is less sharp, and tastes like watered-down hot chocolate with milk.

I wasn’t as impressed with this tea as I expected. I’m not sure if all cacao shell teas are like this or if it would have been improved by adding milk (which I don’t particularly enjoy and am mildly intolerant to). Either way, this isn’t going on my list of teas to repurchase.

Compagnie & Co Day 18

Well, today’s Siam advent tea is another puerh. Sigh. I don’t have the intestinal fortitude to attempt that right now, so I’m trying to catch up on these Compagnie & Co advent teas. A chai sounds nice for this cold day. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of clove, cinnamon, other spices, and malt. The first steep offers notes of clove, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, and orange. The base tea isn’t too aggressive. The next steep is also very spice heavy, with the orange and black tea staying in the background. The final steep is a bit fainter, but the spices, particularly the ginger, are still strong.

This chai could have been more assertive, but as it is, it’s a pleasant Sunday afternoon tea. It’s nice that the orange never takes over. I’m also glad that the black tea isn’t too tannic.

Compagnie & Co Day 17

Red fruit and apple seems like a strange combo for the holidays. Maybe it’s supposed to evoke a fruit punch? I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of apple and strawberry. The first steep gives me strawberry, other berries, pears, and apples, with a hint of astringency from the base tea. It has some of that note I found cloying and artificial in their Fruits et Fleurs des Bois. Maybe I don’t enjoy their generic berry flavour? The second steep is a little softer and still has nice strawberry and pear notes. The final steep has soft berry notes and is still quite sweet.

This tea was just okay. Like another reviewer, I detected pear, which wasn’t one of the ingredients, and the tea was very sweet. This seems to be a popular tea, but this vendor has teas I like much better.

Compagnie & Co Day 16

Another green tea today! I can’t say I’m too excited about this one either. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 185F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of toasted, slightly burnt rice. The first steep has notes of toasted, slightly burnt rice, butter, popcorn, and hints of grass. The body is smooth and silky. The next steep is similar, with a bit more of that charred rice note. The final steep has gentle notes of toasted rice, roast, popcorn, and minerals.

This genmaicha was a little more roasted than others I remember, possibly because it uses bancha instead of sencha. I was glad it didn’t have the grassy, vegetal profile of some other green teas (why yes, I’m thinking of the Ganesha Green from this morning). It was a rustic, cozy tea that I liked more than I expected.

Reading about what to expect from this Nepal green tea didn’t make this Grinch very eager to turn on the kettle this morning. I steeped 3 g of leaf in 150 ml of 195F water for 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of smoke, grass, and umami. The first steep gives me buttered spinach, grass, kale, seaweed, astringency, and smoke. The smoke and seaweed become even more prominent as the tea cools. The second steep is even more vegetal, with spinach, kale, and grass, backed by smoke, seaweed, and umami. A few floral and herbaceous notes are buried beneath the veggies. I get some lilac hints in the next steep, though the veggies and smoke are still prevalent. The final steeps are smokey, grassy, vegetal, and astringent.

This was not my cup of tea. Even if you like vegetal, umami flavours, the tea was harsh and not particularly nuanced. Nepal can produce some amazing tea (I’m thinking of Jun Chiyabari and Bhakanje), but apparently it can also produce this. As another Christmas grouch would say, “Bah humbug!”

Compagnie & Co Day 15

I must have had speculoos at some point. Either way, a cookie butter tea sounds wonderful! I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma reminds me of cookies, with pastry, molasses, and spices. Smelling the steeped tea, I know I’ve had speculoos before and that this is a good match. I get notes of cookie, butter, molasses, and spices, cut with some malt and tannins from the black tea. The next steep is even more buttery and cookie-like. The final steep has some tannins, but is still pleasant.

This was a decadent way to wind down yesterday evening. The flavour can get cloying at times, but it’s a good imitation of spiced cookies and is perfect for the season.

This is my five hundredth tasting note! It’s hard to believe that I’ve consumed so many teas since joining Steepster in 2017. It’s been a fun ride!

After reading Martin’s glowing review, I’ve been looking forward to this tea. I’ve had a Taitung red oolong from Cha Yi and it was mellow and fruity, which bodes well for this session. I steeped 5 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 40, 30, 40, 40, 60, 75, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of dried apricots, honey, spices, and roast. The first two steeps have notes of dried apricot and other dried fruits, bananas, honey, spices, malt, and wood. Steeps three and four add red berries (maybe strawberry?) and bread, while retaining the honey and roast. There are more jammy berries in the next few steeps, along with honey, bread, wood, and roast. The fruit fades in the final steeps, and the tea has notes of honey, malt, roast, wood, and minerals.

This red oolong lived up to the high praise. I enjoyed the berry notes, and the tea never got bitter or grassy. It also had good longevity. I kind of wish the flavours had been amped up a bit, but that’s typical for red oolongs.

Compagnie & Co Day 14

A tropical tea sounds like just the ticket on this cold, windy winter day. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of pineapple and passionfruit. The first steep has heady notes of pineapple, passionfruit, and papaya, but also a hint of overly ripe banana that probably isn’t supposed to be there. Steep two is very similar, with the pineapple predominating. The final steep has a hint of grassiness, but is mostly sweet pineapple and passionfruit.

As expected, this tea is very sweet. It conveys the fruit fairly realistically, though there’s something a bit overripe about the combination. This was pretty good overall.

I knew there was a puerh in this calendar somewhere, and here it is. I’ve successfully avoided puerh for many years, both because good ones are expensive and because I didn’t enjoy the few examples I tried. However, even this puerh sceptic has heard of Dayi 7542. Hopefully this aged sheng will be better than the fishy messes I had previously. I steeped 5 g of leaf in 120 ml of 200F water for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of forest floor, wood, dates, and minerals. The first steep has notes of dirt, wood, and minerals. The second steep adds compost and more earth, with something like rubber in the aftertaste. Steeps three and four add smoke and a hint of sweetness. Subsequent steeps feature more dirt, minerals, smoke, and hints of dates. The final steeps are earthy, metallic, woody, and musty.

I have no idea whether diehard puerh fans consider this a good tea. It’s less unpleasant than the puerh I’ve tried in the past, but it didn’t have any flavours that really drew me in. I did twelve steeps of something that tasted like dirt mixed with iron filings. It wasn’t fishy or overly bitter, so I guess that’s a plus? Anyway, this is not the puerh that will make me love this type of tea.

Compagnie & Co Day 13

It’s nice to see another holiday tea! Chocolate, orange, and spices are a suitably festive combination. I steeped the 2 g sachet in 250 ml of 190F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of orange, chocolate, cardamon, and other spices. The first steep presents a pleasant mix of chocolate, orange, cardamon, other spices, and faint berries. The chocolate is the most noticeable flavour and persists in the aftertaste. The second steep is consistent, with fairly realistic chocolate, orange, raspberry, and less distinct spices. In the final steep, the chocolate is less apparent, while the orange and berries provide a sweet finish.

This tea is nice and cozy, though the chocolate and spices fade before the end of the session. As with most of their other green teas, the base isn’t obtrusive. It’s a sophisticated take on a chocolate orange tea that works pretty well.