Octavia Tea

Thanks again for the samples, Octavia Tea! I was a little worried about this one. It’s a caffeine-free combination of some ingredients that I thought would be very sour: rosehips, hibiscus, schizandra berries, and strawberry and blueberry flavor. My past experience with schizandra berries has been unbearably sour. But upon steeping, I had nothing to fear. The flavor isn’t very sour at all and is actually quite delicious. The perfect level of tart, fruity, with surprising amount of blueberry flavor. The second steep is a light pink brew and much of the same flavor: lighter than the first steep but delicious. This one would be amazing as an iced tea. It’s very refreshing even while it’s hot. A tasty hibiscus blend, when hibiscus usually isn’t my thing at all.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 4 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

March Mad(Hatter) Tea Tournament!
Round #1 – Match #3    52Teas- Spiced Cucumber Melon VS.  Octavia Tea – Salted Caramel Chai

Will all these matches be so tough???  Two favorites!  One a summer favorite, one an autumn/winter favorite.   Bet you can’t guess which.  Even when fresh, the chai was never really “salted caramel” so even though this is a REALLY great chai, it’s not really accomplishing what it claims.  I love the finely chopped ingredients, the biggest being large coconut flakes.  Somehow I can’t really taste coconut anyway. The second steep seems brisk and harsh and certainly not anything like caramel.  The Cucumber Melon however, is EXACTLY what it says it is.  It’s a perfect blend, really.  Very refreshing and crisp.  I wish this was a salad I was eating right now.  And it’s definitely a favorite from 52teas.  It’s one I actually tried from a mystery bag and then went back to order more to stock up.  I’m picking the opposite seasons tea here and the winner is…. 52Teas Spiced Cucumber Melon!

Thanks again for the wonderful samples, Octavia Tea! I thought I’d take the opportunity on this brisk windy June day to steep up some chai. I love chai and salted caramel so this sounds interesting. The ingredients are finely chopped to maximize the flavors: a broken pekoe black tea from Yunnan, tons of spices, and some odd ingredients like coconut, cocoa shells and sarsaparilla root. The directions say I should boil the tea directly in a pan with milk and water, but I’m just steeping it like a traditional tea, in an infuser with a full mug of water. No milk or sweeteners of any kind. It’s how I like my chai anyway. I was questioning how these ingredients would taste like Salted Caramel and it doesn’t really taste like that to me. It tastes like a traditional chai, emphasis on raisin notes, with plenty of sarsaparilla, both in the dry leaf and the flavor. I think it’s the perfect strength black tea for the flavors. It tastes more like root beer than salted caramel but I can’t usually complain about any chai. Chai was the first tea I tried and I usually enjoy every cup of chai I have. Some points are taken off this one for the inaccurate name.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep
2019 Sipdowns: 50 (Whispering Pines – Yunnan Gold Black)

I was thrilled to be able to try this one. Thanks so much Octavia Tea! I LOVE Bao Zhong and if it’s called “Orchid Bao Zhong”, I’m especially intrigued — my favorite oolongs taste like flowers. The leaves are bigger, as Bao Zhong leaves usually are, but not the biggest I’ve seen from a Bao Zhong. The brew color is a light green. The flavor is lovely, but not something I’d call particularly ‘orchid’. It’s a milky flavor and creamy texture, which is surprising to me for a Bao Zhong. The aftertaste turns into subtle hints of lingering fruits like pineapple with the milk turning into coconut, which is more what I expect from this type of oolong. All four steeps seemed completely different in flavor – the last two being more buttery. I think the leaves could have kept going for many steeps. I also think I should try this with a flat teaspoon instead of a heaping teaspoon, to see if it’s even smoother. A very delicious oolong, but I wouldn’t say the flavor profile distinctly tells me it’s a Bao Zhong oolong if it were a blind taste test, though to be honest, I’ve only tried a handful of Bao Zhong teas.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug // 18 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 13 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 13 minutes after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #4 // just boiled // 3 min steep

additional notes: I wanted to hoard the last of this but NO. I loved this sample. Would love a tin. A lupicia blend & plum deluxe blend are almost similar though… have a bit left of those….
2022 sipdowns: 19

I’ve dreamed of what this tea tasted like since I heard about it years ago. So I really appreciate the sample, Octavia Tea! THIS TEA TASTES JUST AS A I DREAMED IT. The name of the tea is very accurate: it tastes just like a berry truffle. First, the ingredients seem finely chopped, on the smaller side, which I knew would create a darker flavor: black tea, cocoa shells/husks, strawberries, raspberries and flowers. I used a teaspoon and a half which seems perfect. Can I scream from the rooftops how much I love the use of COCOA HUSKS here? I always appreciate cocoa shells. The dusky cocoa on the black tea base with the flavor of berries is just perfectly balanced all the way through. Close your eyes and it tastes just like a chocolate filled with berry ganache. I could probably do without the various flower petals, just to have room for more of the truffle ingredients, though that is a small complaint for this amazing tea. I haven’t seen this blend anywhere else — it’s one of those flavor combinations that will linger like Octavia’s French Breakfast. I had a ton of berries this morning, so it certainly wasn’t a case of a craving for berries! This tea stands on its own.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 17 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 4 minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep
2019 sipdowns: 49 (one of my pouches of Della Terra’s Classic Apple Pie)

Another sample from Octavia! Thank you so much! For a chai, the brew is very very light amber on both steeps. Surprising for chai to be so light, but it really works with the spices here. The flavor just MELDS into perfection. The most balanced, perfect flavor combination. It’s almost like a spicy sweet potato dish with marshmallow on top. It’s warming, sweet, smooth. I don’t really see those huge vanilla pieces in my sample that I see in the photo for the tea. The flavor has hints of vanilla but more vanilla than I expected among these spices. That crushed cardamom really comes through in the flavor. The combination of everything here is just this calming, lingering, lovely light base chai that I don’t stumble across too often, so I can certainly appreciate this one. Even at much hotter temperatures, the second steep is the color of palest amber. (Though I love the brisk, dark chai too, this one is a change for the cupboard!)
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 26 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 2 minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep

Poor tea… this is from an ancient teabox, a single hand filled tea bag, artfully hand wrapped in something like paper. So it wasn’t even SEALED… it was wrapped in something like PAPER… but the flavor is lovely. The best sort of chamomile. All sweetness, apples, and summery field plants. I’m so glad I gave this one a chance. I can’t imagine it being better when it was fresh (or even sealed). Delicious stuff. I really want to try more of Octavia’s teas. I LOVE their French Breakfast and I’d love to get more. Maybe next year.

Hauled this one out. Nothing to add to what I’ve said before.

If anyone is wondering what happened to my longwinded rambles of before, I,’all tell you. Still no WiFi chez moi. However, a friend gave me a teeny tablet which makes access out in the world far easier. I am grateful. That said, the thing is a PITA to use and messages disappear. And who in their right mind wants to spend hours in a cafe typing w a little stick. Especially a tea drinker who has mountains of tea at home.

I did not expect this tea to be good as it was. I was looking for a descent loose leaf while I was down in FL, and since this company’s teas were offered, I had to get at least one tea straight. You don’t normally see more mainstream American companies carry more than one type of Dan Cong. The other selections looked decent, but more expensive. I got a whiff of the phoenix mountain one they carried, and it was nice and heather like, but I know what a Dancong like that tastes like, so I opted for the Ba Xian that was more floral.

My brewing parameters were more ad hoc than usual since I used a Ninja Machine for some hot water and a smaller than normal strainer. The shortest steeps were at 45 seconds including the water pouring at 4 grams for a hefty 12 oz mug, the lighter were three grams at 3 minutes.

The lighter I went, the creamier and the more floral it was. The company claimed the tea “offers a creamy, velvety texture with generous notes of warm, buttery cinnamon buns and a lingering, orange-flower-honey finish” and I can see where they were going. The mouthfeel was the highlight, and the notes edged around cream, violets, cinnamon, yeasty sweet rolls, and almonds. Viscosity was a given. The honey notes were in longer steeps or with more leaves-that’s when I got the citrus touch I associate dan congs with, though not quite as fruity as the many others I’ve experienced. The touch was actually kinda welcomed.

It is on the light side, but it did not lack in flavor. It only lacked in staying power giving me 2 to 3 brews on average. Grandpa was also not a bad way to go for this one.

Ordinarily, I would have rated this one in the eighties, but after tasting some of my more “prestigious” teas at home, a part of me is re-evaluating that. The fusion of the cinnamon note and the creamy Dan Cong florals is what made it stand out to me. It was very easy to drink, and it might be a selection I’d welcome to lighter tea drinkers. I’d be interested to see what other people would think of this one, but for me, it was nuance done right.

I am not home, so I do not have access to the ones I’ve been itching to write about. I was, however, able to stumble on this brand at a Spice Shop in Cocoa Village, FL. I’ve been meaning to try this one. I almost picked the Lemongrass Oolong since it was an bergamot blend, but there was something off about the smell. I also hesitated with this one since the dry leaf sample smelled like a dried up orange rind, but I went with it anyway. The dry leaf from the fresh package was much better. This blend had lemongrass too, and citrus and Florida go together.

So trying it out, it ORANGE dominates followed by a lemony accent and a little bit of a jasmine hint. I got the oolong in the body with a light to medium viscosity and an overall green feeling. Otherwise, the orange rind is so prevalent that it almost reminded me of a vitamin c tablet. It’s like fruit loop milk when it’s good, but the latter when I overleaf it.

The main stay is the orange and the citrus, which are things that I personally like, but I could see it being detracting. The taste really is not artificial, but there was too much orange for me personally. 80 in terms of taste, 75 in terms of price.

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

I am coming down with a cold. Could have something to do with running around with soaking feet for most of the day in all this slush outside.

This was my other travel tea of the day which I made before I started feeling under the weather. Delicious. I have been steeping at a far lower temperature to have the previous sour note disappear, which it has, and bring all the toffee caramel loveliness out, which it did. So yay!

This dark roast oolong gives all the indicators of a black tea: citrusy sharp and gently sour Ceylon really, but it’s not. The hazelnut brittle adds that caramel toffee thing, but the nut element is slight. The scent is very buttery nut brittle though, and that in itself, is quite luscious.

I’ll see how things go as it cools, adding to this then.

Adding…The tea develops a bit of puerh depth as it cools a bit with a caramel overlay. It reminds me very much of a puerh toffee creation by another blender, DTs perhaps.

This sourness though is not working for me. At all.

Cold Brew Sipdown (457)!

Not as sweet and floral as I remember it tasting last time I tried this one as a hot tea, but still equally smooth with that very crisp finish and almost “rain water” like quality. I would have loved a stronger elderflower/peony flavour but it was still a pleasant enough cup. I’m not overly sad to have finished it off though.

First tea of the morning!

Wasn’t totally sure what to expect from this one; it sounds so simple just based on the ingredients and yet the smell of the dry leaf is so… unlike any oolong I’ve ever smelled?

- Very sweet and floral
- Lily/peony/elderflower notes
- Sweetgrass body notes; reminds me of late Spring!!
- Crisp finish; mix of rain/mineral notes
- Balanced overall; medium bodied profile

I enjoyed this one!

Sipdown (2628)!

I had an awkward amount of this sample left following Advent Season, so I ended up finishing this off as a Western style mug. Very toasty and dark, with more prominent notes of cocoa, roasted peanuts, rye bread, and caraway laced with buckwheat honey or molasses. Very enjoyable – arguably more so than when I had made it gongfu.

Adventageddon Day 8 – Tea 3/4

Gongfu!

Well this is a blast from the past! I don’t think I’ve tried anything from Octavia Tea in years and, looking at the rating I’ve given this tea in the past, it seems like I enjoyed this oolong a fair bit. I enjoyed it today too, but I think it’s a good example of how my tastes have refined within the last few years – especially as I’ve gotten to be just a bit of a yancha snob. I say that because, though I liked the bittersweet dark cocoa notes that accompanied the more mineral flavours and roast of this tea, I found it really hard to look past the slight coarseness of each infusion. The astringency that was rougher around the edges and less pleasant. The ever so slight metallic twang to the finish.

Now, mind you, I was also rushed to enjoy this session as I only had a half hour break in between meetings – so that surely factors in here too. And, ultimately, it was still a good tea.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0m_Wc4uXps/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNPw8jNpkIA

Sipdown (336)!

I made this one in my tea press because I knew it would hold the temperature well enough I could slowly sip on it all throughout the day Monday, while the boyfriend was over. My mind was strongly on other things though, and despite drinking this one I didn’t actually pay much attention to it.

I mean, I remember that it was pretty medium bodied and just unimposing in general – a nice, mild flavour. Somewhat fruity undertones, but nothing really distinct or memorable. A little roasty, I don’t think nearly as much as last time even with me not paying full attention.

I don’t know – I think overall this was a decent tea, average quality. Probably would make for a good daily drinker, just going off how unimposing it was this time around and my experience last time. For me though? Just another tea sipped down, and not the worlds most memorable one.

I don’t know why, but I kept putting off trying this one. I brought it to work five days in a row to drink and each day it ended up being the only two from my work haul that I hadn’t made a cup of. Eventually, I asked a coworker to pick a tea for me because I was being indecisive and this is what she chose – purely because of the packaging/art on the label, for the record. Turns out, I shouldn’t have waited to try it! I actually really liked it A LOT…

Anyway, here are my notes:

- Quite a strongly roasted oolong flavour overall
- Notes of char/butter/roasted peanut/cinnamon
- With herbacous and almost buttery dill top notes!?
- Finish is a little more well rounded and sweet, with plummy/stonefruit undertones
- Very smooth/pleasant medium bodied tea overall

There’s not much of the sample left at all, which is a shame because I’d really like to see how this would turn out Gong Fu. That just means it’s something to keep in the back of my mind should I ever decided to place another Octavia Tea order, though.

Sipdown (410)!

This was my morning cuppa today, with some orange infused honey.

It was a very tasty cup of tea; the Darjeeling itself was quite brisk and full bodied with some heavy hitting notes of muscat and malt, and then some more delicate floral undertones. The sweetness of the honey was great ’cause it softened the astringency, and the orange notes really complimented the muscat and floral notes of the Darjeeling. It also just felt more winter-esque in general paired together.

Overall? I was satisfied with this cup but the Darjeeling itself is a pretty ‘meh’ quality one, and I have better on hand so it’s not one I’m sad to sipdown at all. It’s a welcome departure, actually.