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After having this last weekend and this weekend, I’ve concluded it’s another one of the 84 pack that I was overly generous in rating.

It’s certainly not a bad tea, but it’s tasting more like a generic spice tea than orange cookie to me now. Yes, there’s a kind of pastry note like I said in my original note, so to that extent it’s got the cookie covered. But the orange should be more prominent if it’s going to call itself orange cookie, in my opinion.

Mostly I taste pepper, cloves, and some coriander now — with that pastry note — but the orange isn’t really standing up to the other flavors.

Perhaps it’s age, but given how many teas I had sitting at an 84 rating, I think it was more likely that I was an easier grader back in the day. Bumping it down.

Sipdown no. 22 of 2021 (no. 642 total). A sample. Backlogging from yesterday.

This was a painful sipdown, as this tea was a delight. Such a smooth, drinkable tea. While it doesn’t have the depth of some Yunnans, for it really hit the spot with me yesterday. You don’t always need depth. Some days you need a gentle, smooth, flavorful entre into the morning.

Sorry to see it go. Can’t improve on the detail in the initial note.

Sipdown no. 21 of 2021 (no. 641 total). A sample.

Backlogging from Saturday.

I completely understand why I loved this on a first tasting. It is really well done. No soap, lotion, or glommed on aspect, and yet not so subtle that you have to hunt for the rose.

I used the Breville settings for white tea, so steeped it a bit less long than the first time — with less time, or perhaps the luck of the mix, there was a bit more planty flavor from the white peony base. But not enough to make me rethink my rating.

Sorry it is gone.

Sipdown no. 20 of 2021 (no. 640 total).

In comparison to the other teas I have bunched around the 84 rating, this isn’t among the the ones I like best. So I’m bumping it down.

It has the same general chocolate issue that I had with the orange chocolat from Lupicia, which is that the chocolat has rather less depth and natural sweetness than others and I prefer more depth and sweetness. However, this is less noticeable in this tea than in the orange chocolat. Wonder why?

Bumping it down but not as far as the orange chocolat. It is not a bad chocolat tea. I just prefer some others.

Sipdown no. 19 of 2021 (no. 639 total).

I’m really torn about this one. On the one hand, the idea of lilac tea is very cool. I’m not sure I’ve had any others, or certainly not many.

On the other, this has what I think of as the Simpson Vail black flavored tea problem. Something about the base is quite heavy, and depending on the day it can sit like a rock in my stomach. I am feeling that today.

Also, there’s the general Simpson Vail flavored tea problem, namely that because the teas were shipped in paper bags, they comingled their smells so that they all sort of have the same base aroma.

That said, there’s a distinct aroma and flavor in this one that must be the lilac. My original note found it soapy/lotiony, and I don’t find it that way now — maybe the evaporation of oils over time helps with that. Who knows.

So on the one hand, I like that it is lilac and I don’t have a lot of lilac in my repertoire to judge against. So is this a good lilac? Well, it has its faults, but I don’t really have anything to compare it to.

On a sheer enjoyment scale, apart from whether it is a good representative of its kind, not sure it would be an 84.

I’m going to bump it down a bit, but keep it in the 80s because it’s the only representative lilac I think I currently have and it doesn’t fail on that score.

Sipdown no. 18 of 2021 (no. 638 total). A sample.

This was the last caffeine of the day today. I made it western in the Breville.

Lots of leather. Seriously, like sucking on a saddle. A bit of mushroom. A little bit of coffee-ish-ness. Very consistent with the first few steeps in the original note. Not really any sweetness.

I’m glad I had a chance to experience it a couple of different ways.

Sipdown no. 17 of 2021 (no. 637 total).

What to do with you, Melange Mysterieux? The more I drank you, the more it became clear that you weren’t a favorite. And yet, I recognize that you are exceptionally well blended so I feel bad bumping your rating down even further.

Your fruit flavors today are distinguishable in the aroma and yet all of a piece. How do they DO that? But there’s also a sort of peppery note that I don’t remember from before and don’t love.

I suppose I will bump you down a little but not too much. I’ll put you in the good category, though it’s unlikely I’d buy you again given there are others I prefer.

Sipdown no. 16 of 2021 (no. 636 total). A sample.

Backlogging from yesterday when this was my last tea of the day, steeped western in the Breville.

Alas, I did not get the full impact of it because I didn’t have quite enough, so had to add some Harney Da Hong Pao because it was the dark oolong easiest to get a hold of at the time.

I didn’t look back at my first note before having this again and I had a thought that went something like — hmm, that’s interesting. What is that? I know it is distinctive. And then looking back at my first note I realized it was lychee.

Distinctive and comforting with its toastiness.

Sipdown no. 15 of 2021 (no. 635 total). A sample. Backlogging from last weekend.

Steeped in the Breville this time around. A mild, nutty dark oolong with a silky mouthfeel. I agree with my first note’s assessment that this was less toasty than other dark oolongs, which was a nice change.

I’m inching up on sipping down the 84-rated black teas in my stash, which I guess is some sort of progress.

Except that I’m finding that either my tastes have changed or something. Like my tastes have changed?

So, for example, while this one definitely has that French thing that I love so much, I don’t like it better than some of the other teas I’ve tasted recently in the 83-84 range. So I’m bumping it down a little.

I am also considering up-rating Champagne Rose by Lupicia, and Scottish Breakfast by Upton. Yeah, I’m gonna do that. They both have something very appealing — in the Scottish Breakfast, it’s undoubtedly the Yunnan, and in the Champagne Rose it is likely the fact that it really suggests the flavor (and effervescence, somehow) of champagne.