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Sipdown! Which brings me below 40 for the first time in who knows how long.

This batch tasted more like blood orange than previous cups, which tasted more like a lady grey. This is bad news for me as I’m not really a fan of oranges, and I have a particular dislike of blood orange. It’s also quite dry, which again is not really a good thing for me. Having a very hard time understanding my previous rating of 80; lowering my rating.

I think I wanted to like this tea so I kind of forced myself to say I liked this tea. The rating is far too high, and I don’t think my tastes have changed that much since the fall. The caramel and the salt are there, and they would be delicious if they weren’t buried under the base, which is far too dry for a caramel tea. I want caramel tea to be creamy and buttery, not drying. This definitely does not warrant an 80, seriously lowering the rating.

Sipdown!

Gave this a bit of a longer steep (8 minutes) and it really paid off! I’m not a huge fan of coconut, though I did enjoy it in previous steeps of this, and the longer steep really brought out the mulberries and toned down the coconut, making it a lot more balanced. I’ve never had a mulberry, so I don’t know exactly what they taste like, but based on this I’d say they’re pretty similar to blackberries (perhaps a bit more tart, like a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry). Overall, nice and light and fruity, and I would definitely recommend the longer steep.

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.

Sipdown! One of hopefully many in the near future as I have now made a list of ~20 teas that I need to sipdown before I can buy more. I have my eye of August Uncommon Tea’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection but I just can’t justify it until I’ve drastically reduced my current stores (especially with the Canadian dollar being so low). Hopefully this whole postal strike ordeal will be over by then.

On to the actually tea. It’s okay, but just okay. There’s a hint of milk chocolate and maybe a suggestion of something floral, but overall I’d say it just comes across as a weak, cheap breakfast tea. Going to lower my rating on it, as it really is nothing special.

This started out as creamy and kind of buttery with a hint of raspberry but then developed an intense pineapple flavour that was at first very sweet but then very sour. I have to say I’m kind of loving it! I’m a huge fan of sour and this is definitely quite lip puckering. The first time I had this I found it good but nothing special but I can really see myself missing this when it’s gone — uping my rating!

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.

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.

Sipdown! Made tea pop with this today by brewing up a large batch of tea concentrate (about 15 tsp. of tea to 3 cups of water) then mixing it with sparkling water (1 part tea to 3 parts water). I actually ended up using lime sparkling water and it really added a nice kick to it. I think I preferred it this way than just regular iced tea as it reduced what stevia flavour there is to just a pleasant, light sweetness. Very refreshing.