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Sipdown! The rest of this is being packaged up and sent off to Inkling, so I’m having one last cup before it goes. I do enjoy this one quite a bit – Mao Jian is my favourite green tea by a long shot, I adore pistachios, and they work really well together – but it’s never reached that next level ‘wow’ factor for me. Inkling described this to me as an all-time favourite, so I know she’s going to appreciate it so much more than I did, and I’m happy it’s going to spend its remaining days in a loving home.

205/399

Peppermint. Shrugs. It’s really nice and refreshing when I’m in the mood for it, like I was tonight, but I’m hardly ever in the mood for it. When I’ve pared my collection down I probably won’t keep a plain peppermint tea stocked in my cupboard – I’m much more likely to grab it in a blend. That being said this is a nice, fresh-tasting, crisp and refreshing peppermint, it’s just not all that exciting to me. But, if peppermint is something that appeals to you, then this is a good one.

Edit: Upping my rating straight away from the 57 I gave it initially, because it was so refreshing I gulped my first mug down and immediately went and made another. Only upping it a little though, because by the time I got half way through the second mug the novelty had worn off and now I’m sipping at the last half slowly, not really caring about it any more. Peppermint is definitely something I have to be in the mood for.

Sipdown! I’ve been drinking this fairly regularly for the last week or so, and I could have sworn I’d written a note on it, but I guess not… This is an unusual one because, at least to me, it’s very chocolatey but low in malt. The chocolate predominates, and there’s some sourness alongside woody notes of pine, cedar and a hint of smoke backing it up. The sip ends on a whisper of nuttiness, maybe even coconuttiness, which lends a little sweetness to what is primarily a fairly savoury tea, even with the chocolate notes. Is it weird for me to say that this reminds me of a sexy men’s cologne? There are certain colognes which smell delicious, and this tea tastes like those smell even though it doesn’t actually smell like cologne (and tastes way better than they would!) I don’t know, it’s just a feel I get from this tea. Sexy man smell. Lol. Anyway, thanks Sil for sending me a very generous sample of this tea! It’s helped me to pinpoint that some things I like in a single origin black, and some teas I might pick up again in the future.

204/399

I was a little impatient for the water to cool today, so might have steeped this a little too high. It’s taken it well, but there’s a little extra dryness at the back of the sip and a touch more astringency. The temperature change has brought the floral notes out more so that they veil the entire sip now, and the dark cocoa note is only present at the very beginning and diminishes as it cools. A malt note creeps in as the cup cools too, adding to the Assam comparison I’ve noticed before. It has a more typically Darjeeling profile with the change in steeping parameters, though I think I enjoy it more the way that Stacy recommends. That’s what you get for being impatient, I guess.

Sipdown 203/399!

This gets sooo much better as it cools. Hot, the flavours are mostly muted with a hint of chocolate. The chocolate does lean more on that ‘cocoa butter’ side, which I don’t really enjoy but find a lot in chocolate teas, but it’s discernible and gets better as the cup cools. The orange too, which starts out as a whisper of citrus oils, becomes more corporeal and distinctively orange. Especially with sugar, this really does give me the impression of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, but maybe a knock off version? Ha. If I came across this tea from a current vendor I might be tempted to pick up a small amount to experiment with. Thanks go to Janelle for sharing this tea with me way back when.

This is potentially my favourite straight green tea. There, I said it. Not that there’s much competition. This is so much lighter and more delicate than I typically expect from green teas, almost like a cross between a green and a white. It’s complex and yet sweet and light in a way which is just different to me. There are notes of butter, green bean and water chestnut with delicate grassy, floral and grape-like notes lingering at the back of the sip. I feel like I can’t do it justice or give a proper description because I’m not a green tea person, but I would consider finding a permanent place for this in my collection, and that has got to count for something.

Overleafed this a little today and the cinnamon is much more prominent. I’m not getting the almond as much, but it’s a nice breakfast tea. Upping my rating from 76 because the tweak has definitely improved it, even if it is more cinnamon cookie than almond cookie right now.

Upping my rating from 38 because this doesn’t have the gross smell that it used to and I think it actually tastes better too. Maybe it’s mellowed with age, or maybe it’s my tastebuds changing, but I like it a lot better now. I don’t get as much of an artificial cherry note any more, and now it’s sort of sweet and woodsy with a mild cherry-like finish. I made this as a latte tonight with some maple syrup and it’s bringing out the honey tones in the tisane more. Plain honeybush is probably never going to be something I gravitate towards often, but this is one of the better ones I’ve tried now it’s aged some, and it’s doing what I wanted it to do tonight.

The hibiscus in this is so sour. It needs like 3 sugars to be drinkable, and that’s saying a lot considering I hardly ever take sugar now and if I do it’s a teeny tiny pinch. It’s metallic too, but not one of the most noticeably metallic hibiscus teas I’ve tried. Once you add sugar and get over how sour it is, the strawberry and cream notes are both present, and it’s decent. Not amazing, but okay. But, I don’t want to be adding heaps of sugar to my teas just to make them go down, so I’m glad I don’t have much of this left. Whittard’s Strawberry and Cream rooibos is much better for a caffeine-free strawberry treat.

Very satisfying sipdown, woohoo! This is by FAR the best cup I’ve had of this tea, not to mention the fact that I thought I was already out of it and found one last sample buried somewhere. Yay for surprise Butiki!

I can taste the carrots!!! And the warm spices which are coming across as sweet spiced bread more than cake – probably from the base tea which is quite malty – but I don’t care. I’m not getting the vanilla frosting so much, but I added a pinch of sugar and it’s there in the background. This is nowhere near as weak and watery as I remember it being. I’m happily upping the rating from a measley 61 because yay tea!! (: