August Uncommon Tea

I decided to copy Sil today and try this tea, since she sent it to me recently. :)

It’s interesting. This is the second tea of theirs I’ve tried, and I’d call this one boozy as well. Not AS boozy as the other one, thankfully.

The vanilla is loud and clear. The green base isn’t too vegetal or marine, although it’s definitely more vegetal than marine. It’s definitely cakey. Ohh, I want to bake a cake. But I’m doing a “healthy food” challenge. So maybe no cake for me.

Anyways, this is interesting and I’m mostly enjoying this cup. I’d like it better without the flavours that are making me think it’s full of booze.

Thanks so much for sharing it with me, Sil!

Thank you, Sil! omg.

This smells like star anise and booze. Seriously. The star anise and a dried/candy cherry note, the kind of cherry you would have in frangipane, dominates. This is, IMO, not an amaretto tea. The flavour profile is armagnac, and I’m getting a boozey anise-cherry interestingness. Not really any almonds, though there are almond slices in the dried leaf.

And it honestly tastes just like that. Anise. Booze. Cherry. Rooibos. It’s weirdly appealing, although I’m not sure I’d ever want to drink this often. I’m super curious about icing this now, but I used what was left for this mug. :D As an iced cocktail, this would be fantastic. As a hot tea, it is a little weird.

As it cools, my tongue is numb with the star anise.

I don’t know. I’m not sure I like this. I’m really glad I got to try it, though. It’s a super interesting flavour combination.

Sipdown!

My previous lack of success with this tea prompted me to give it a much shorter steep time — 1.5 minutes compared to the recommended 5. It did make it much more tolerable — with prominent chocolate, caramel, and blueberry notes and a suggestion of rye bread — but it unfortunately had an overall note that reminded me enough of my previous failures that I couldn’t get fully into it. The drying effect was less harsh this go round, but still present. Overall I think this tea just isn’t for me. While this cup wasn’t bad enough to deserve a 35 (probably more like a 60-65), I think I’ll keep the rating the same as my previous experiences were just so off-putting.

After giving this a proper chance I have to admit I’m still not a huge fan. I find it very dry, like drinking cedar, and I still find it has a bizarre blueberry yogurt vibe. I’ll try it on a quicker steep time for the last cup, but I don’t see myself picking up any more of this.

Urg, over-leafed, over-leafed, OVER-LEAFED!!! It was like syrup! What a way to start the semester! Ah well, no one to blame but myself.

So considering my lack of regard for steeping parameters, this tea was a little hard to get through. At the best of times it tasted of chocolate covered blueberries, at the worst of times it tasted like pickle juice… There was a pretty consistent blueberry yogurt feeling, so I feel maybe the blueberry notes weren’t completely imaginary, though I can’t see where they would come from.

Thankfully I still have some left to do this properly because frankly this was a little stomach churning. I won’t give it a numerical rating for now.

Had a cup of this later in the afternoon so say goodbye to it. The last of this is getting shared tomorrow at the tea festival so i figured why not. In theory this brings my cupboard down to 111, while my goal for this month was 120. Guess that leaves room for the samples i’m picking up tomorrow and possible tea purchases heh. This is a really nice green. I have to say, AU does a bang up job with their teas – making me like things i wouldn’t normally necessarily love.

Final Count: 111

Got this one to work today. Steeped for 3mins. Vanilla and cardamom come through in deliciousness. the cardamom is more subtle but adds to the vanilla and makes this tasty for me…when i steep it right haha

I picked this one up even though it’s a green tea because i love vanilla teas, and i love cardamom. August uncommon has fantastic customer service. I highly recommend folks give them a shot. My only beef? Give me actual steeping paramters for how YOU think the tea tastes best. Nearly all their teas have the water temp but then they all say 5 mins “longer is stronger” Well yes, i know this. Do they really mean ALL their teas should be steeped at 5 mins? I suspect not, but that’s the way it seems, though the way it’s worded makes me think not. Especially since all the teas have it, and there are no steeping paramters on the website except to say: “Once the water has been poured over the tea, cover the mug, and set a timer for 5 minutes. A shorter infusion will result in milder tea and a longer infusion leads to stronger tea. Use a timer so that your tea will always taste the way you like it.”

anyway, i digress…. I steeped this one for 2.5 mins and i think it wasn’t long enough. I can taste the vanilla and the cardamom but it’s not coming through very well. Still a smooth blend and i can taste the potential, but this wasn’t quite it. I’ll have to play with it a bit more before rating it.

Sipdown! Finished this off as a cold brew which really brought out some melon notes (honeydew at first, which merged into a juicy cantaloupe). Hints of another fruit (still can only assume it’s the dragon-fruit in the background with the eucalyptus giving it a unique undertone. Again, probably wouldn’t repurchase as I’m not totally sold on the eucalyptus, but it’s nice and refreshing.

Well the snow has finally come, so logically I wanted a light tea. I kind of wanted Cool Cactus but also wanted to try something new, and this seemed like a good compromise.

There’s a lot of flavours in this tea (dragon-fruit, eucalyptus) that I’ve never really had elsewhere so I can’t speak for how well it’s been done. Overall it’s green, light, and fruity. There’s a pretty strong honeydew aftertaste and a hint of pine. The (what I can only assume was) dragon-fruit tasted kind of similar to strawberries—a red fruit to be sure. I enjoyed it, but it’s not a reorder.

Sipdown!

Rich, malty, and pretty much like drinking multi-grain bread (which is nothing to complain about — you can’t go wrong with bread). Heavy oat notes and a hint of honey. This cup was heavier than I remember, which I found surprising as I shortened the steep time. Still more astringent than I would like. It’s similarity to Nepal Black means I won’t miss this one, but it made for some nice cups.

This is good, but nothing to knock your socks off. For a black tea, it’s impressively light. Sweet with that lovely bread and butter feeling and a hint of floral notes. There’s a slight astringency here; next time I might give it only 4-4.5 minutes. It reminds me of DAVIDs Nepal Black (which makes sense, as it is from Nepal) but, of the two, I prefer DAVIDs’. This would be a nice compromise if you’re debating between a black and a white tea, as it really is that light.

The first time I had this I followed the recommended steep time of 5 minutes and well I enjoyed it at the time (according to my tasting note), I remember feeling kind of sick afterwards. More experience has shown me that this was probably because I found the tea over-steeped as I’ve had it happen with other teas that I otherwise have no problem with. So, long story short, I decided to give this go only a two minute steep time.

Bacon is still the prominent note here. I can see how this would be off putting — it’s certainly something you have to be in the mood for — but I actually kind of enjoy it (and I’m not even a huge bacon fan). It is coming off as sweeter this time — more of a maple bacon. In fact, the more I sip the more a maple note comes out of it. There’s still a cheese note too, but something less sharp than cheddar. Something creamy. I’m not really a cheese expert so I can’t really go further on that.

Something new on this steep, however, is a rather strong blackberry flavour. It blends well with the orange notes and manages to lighten up what would otherwise be a ridiculously savory tea.

Boyfriend’s review: “It tastes like campfire cotton candy.” This pretty much sums it up. Smoky and sweet. In fact, now I can’t get that image out of my head.

All in all, I still really like it. Fingers crossed the reduced steep time helps with feeling gross afterwards.

Well, this sure is different. I’ve never really had a smokey tea before, and boy, is this smokey! It starts off of a light orange note, and pretty much stays that way until you swallow. After that, it’s a delightful smokey intensity that reminds me of smoked bacon/cheddar. In fact, it’s oddly similar to eating a Starbucks double smoked bacon breakfast sandwich (which doesn’t sound that appealing as a tea, but it works!). My boyfriend really seemed to like it too (it’s hard to tell as he’ll say it’s good even if he doesn’t like it, but you can pretty much judge it by how much he drinks and I had to stop him from drinking all of this!).

I’d frankly kind of forgotten about this until I stumbled upon it while searching for a herbal tea that would be good hot/I haven’t had recently. I’m glad I found it because this is a really good evening blend. Very, very sweet — it reminds me of a sticky bun with raisins, cinnamon, and LOTS of brown sugar — yet it manages to not be sickly. Slight notes of melted dark chocolate (prominent at first, but faded as the cup went on) and dried apricot. In my first tasting note for this I mentioned a slight woodiness from the rooibos, but I didn’t get any of that in this cup. I probably wouldn’t even have guessed it was a rooibos if I didn’t know better. Very enjoyable.

Next one to try from my August Uncommon Tea order. This was the one from the fall/winter collection I was least interested in (because of the rooibos), but I had it tonight because with all the Christmas mayhem I haven’t had a chance to try anymore of my teas but it’s too late for any caffeine (especially since I was up all night after having two cups of black tea at 9pm).

Luckily this seems to be another rooibos I actually enjoy. It’s definitely not my favourite base, and I’m not 100% in love with the woodiness it adds, but it didn’t really detract from the other flavours. Speaking of, this tea tastes primarily of shortbread wile you’re drinking it, with a hint of creamy chocolate, but the after taste is pretty intensely chocolaty. It’s a fluffy chocolate note too, so I can see why they would describe it as chocolate mousse. How could any amount of rooibos ruin a tea that tastes like shortbread and chocolate mousse?

Sipdown (122)!

So, I was eating popcorn earlier today and now I have that super uncomfortable feeling of having a kernel stuck along the inside of my throat and it’s driving me absolutely insane. Anyway; finished this one off at work today! And what a work day…

We closed at five today because of the holiday, but obviously like 90% of the people who came shopping today didn’t seem to get it was a holiday and the staff wanted to go home so come 4:45, when we should have been ringing through the last few people, we were still trying to get people to stop coming into the store. I was scheduled to leave at close (5:30) but it was so crazy busy that we didn’t even have the last customer out of the store until around 5:45 – and then the staff wasn’t finished cleaning the store until 6:30. It was a miserable work day. And I couldn’t go to the pet store because of that, either: they closed at 6PM today so we ran out of time…

This cold brew was pretty delightful though; a shining ray in a dismal day! As a cold brew it’s not overly sweet or jammy and the combined notes of the rosemary and thyme are extremely dominant but it’s such a unique and outside of the box ‘iced’ tea to be drinking that the lack of sweetness makes up for it. Remember, when I first had this one of my largest criticisms was that it didn’t commit to being either a sweet or savory tea, but this is definitely more in line with the savory flavour I’d initially expected/craved.

I probably wont order this again to be perfectly honest; but it was such a unique tea and a pleasant experience with each cup so I know it’s going to be one of those blends that sticks with me for a very, very long time.

Take #2

Starting off boxing day with a yummy cup of tea and some breakfast wraps; eggs, cheddar, hashbrowns, and Asian pears all rolled up in one yummy crepe! Now that I have a better feel for what this tea tastes like I can say I’m enjoying it a lot more. I taste the rosemary and Pu’erh base in particular which is an interesting flavour juxtaposition. I wouldn’t think that they’d work together but they actually do in a wonderful way. The juniper comes through in the front of the sip and the finish but less so in the body; that’s more reserved for the herbs/spices.

Anyone do any Boxing Day shopping yet? I’ve placed orders with Teavana and Red Leaf Tea thus far; should Bluebird miraculously restock Cola & Lime Guayusa I’ll be ordering with them as well but apart from that I think I’m done for the year. I nabbed a tea cook book from Teavana; even with the shipping the cost of the book w. their sale was cheaper than it would have been at the regular price. I’m excited for more inspiration to put the skills I learned in my last Sommelier class to work. No sale from RLT, just needed more matcha. I went with Apple, Grape, Bubble Gum, and Butternut Pie! I’ve only tried one of those (bubble gum) but I’m really excited for the others. In particular, I think Grape will be good!

This is such an interesting tea; any time you encounter a ‘savory’ tea with different kinds of unconventionally used herbs and spices, such as the rosemary and thyme in this blend, you know you’re going to be getting an outside of the box tea drinking experience. The dry leaf of this tea certainly has a very pungent aroma of thyme which is quite enticing. There’s also a slight earthiness which adds depth right off the bat, even before pouring any water!

The aroma of the brewed tea is surprisingly smooth with both a familiar, comforting aroma and air of exoticism. However, I just feel like once you begin drinking the tea it fails to deliver the level of flavour that you’d expect from all the wonderful aromas that have been experienced at this point. Not that it tastes bad! It’s just that I feel like this blend doesn’t quite commit to being either sweet OR savory. I taste a distinct flavour of thyme with hints of rosemary but not in the potency I expected or wanted. The sweetness comes from a hint of jammy flavour provided by the juniper berries; I’m missing the distinct pine flavour of the junipers though and that’s a slight disappointment too because I think that flavour note would have really sold the title for me. The whole thing is supported though by a very smooth, earthy base though and I’m REALLY loving that element of the blend.

And of course, like I said, it truly isn’t a BAD blend. On the whole, I actually find it really delicious – I’m just having to mildly adjust my expectations while drinking it. I absolutely recommend trying it if you get the chance. And for people who haven’t had savory teas before I think this would be a really good way to branch into that type of flavoured blend.

Aimed for a shorter steep time today as I’ve found it almost too “thick” in the past but maybe I took it a little far by bringing it down to only a minute (vs. 5) as I’m not really getting any chocolate or nuttiness here. Overall taste is hard to place. Kind of boozy, maybe. Nothing special.

I’m getting the feeling that my rating of this might have been inflated by my excitement to finally try it, as it doesn’t stand out in my memory as being THAT good. However, I think I’ll give it another go before I adjust.

Latte time! The chestnuts really shine having it as a latte. Delicious, creamy, chestnutty goodness with a hint of chocolate. Perfect for a “blizzard”.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I’m super excited because my mom got me a bunch of teas from August Uncommon Tea for Christmas! I’ve been wanting to try these for a while. First to test is this one, because it just sounds so good! Not disappointed by this at all (which is good, because I don’t know what I would do with 100g of a tea I don’t like—it takes me a while to get through 100g of teas I love!). It tastes very similar to a Kinder Bueno chocolate bar, which creamy hazelnut and milk chocolate notes. I’m excited to give this another go, because I had it right after having some pretty intensely garlicky dip at a Christmas party (I was so eager to try the tea that I ended up bringing it with me XD ), which may have hindered the experience slightly, but so far, so good!

The flavors of this sounded amazing. The black teas have been very strongly flavored and blending very well with the base, but with this blend, chocolate and nutmeg, the rooibos medicinal taste is hitting really strong for me. I did not add sugar tonight. Alot of times a tad bit of sugar helps tame this flavor from the rooibos. First impression is meh. I will have to experiment with this one.

My August Uncommon order arrived last night. I ordered the Winter/Fall 2015 starter for BF along with a bunch of samples of the other teas. I had been looking to order a new infuser for traveling so when the starter sets went on sale I thought it was a good opportunity to get to try some tea and get a new infuser.

This is good. I like the combo of flavors. sweet, fruity and eucalyptus, but it is very bold. I guess I was expecting a calmer tea. I don’t know if that description makes any sense. I like to drink some of my flavored green and white teas before bed as a calming cup and this tea is bold enough in flavor that I wouldn’t consider it a pre-bed tea.