319 Tasting Notes
Oh dear… I pulled an individual tea bag from the TTB thinking it was a green tea (it was in a green bag!), but it’s a black tea! That I steeped at green tea temperature! Haha, oops. And now I’m drinking caffeinated tea at 3:00 p.m…. another oops.
It’s a delicious oops, though! So light and fruity and tart, with a super juicy scent that reminds me of these grapefruit jelly candy slices I used to enjoy. I actually really love grapefruit, both juice and fruit, but can’t eat it because it interacts with one of the medications I take to prevent my cancer from returning. I’ll have a half grapefruit on Christmas morning as part of my family’s traditional Christmas breakfast (along with cinnamon rolls, ha!), but that’s it! So it’s nice to get the essence of grapefruit without worrying that it’s going to kill me, haha.
I actually do wish I had the version on a green base, because I think that would be quite a complementary pairing.
Flavors: Drying, Fruity, Grapefruit, Juicy, Tangy
The Steepster TTB arrived yesterday and is a behemoth of a box! My partner was like, “What the heck is this?!” I have a mercifully light week, schoolwork-wise, so I spent yesterday evening watching Netflix and going through the box, pulling out things to sample.
This was my breakfast tea, and it smelled amazing! Apples, cinnamon, maple… what’s not to love? I did think the flavor fell a little short, though — it was a bit thin, without a ton of body, and all those lovely scents didn’t translate to the flavor. I wanted more of everything in my sip. Maybe over-leafing it would help?
Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Maple Syrup
Ugh, this is right up my alley! I have a massive soft spot for 52Teas’ coconut-black tea blends, and this one is hitting all the right notes for me! It’s definitely coconut-forward, but not in a cloying or overwhelming way. Instead it’s a very natural coconut taste, thanks to the generous amount of big chunky flakes in there. And thennn there’s a lovely mild smokiness that adds depth and character. It does get a smidge tannic at the end, which is a sensation I don’t mind at all.
Yum!
Flavors: Coconut, Creamy, Drying, Smoke, Tannic
Sipdown!
I cold-brewed the last of this packet and had it ready in the fridge when I got back from my morning run — a genius move, if I do say so myself!
I love, love, love the concept of this tea. It’s so unique, and the blend does a great job of evoking the fizzy, sweet, creamy, fruity nature of sherbet. It’s very citrus-forward, with some vanilla creaminess at the back.
That said, there’s SOMETHING that hits the slightest of off-notes for me, and I’m not sure why! I think it’s a very minor acidic metallic aftertaste, maybe? It’s hard to identify! Still, I’d welcome more of this because it’s so unique and so refreshing cold.
2023 sipdown count: 30
Flavors: Acidic, Citrus, Citrus Zest, Creamy, Marshmallow, Raspberry, Tangy, Vanilla
Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | April 2023 | National Caramel Day: Drink a tea with caramel notes or flavoring!
I was traveling for work during the first week of April, so I didn’t get to this themed sipdown till last week… and then Steepster was down… so I’m only logging it now!
Anyway, this is an easy winner for me, even if I don’t remember the details. :) I definitely get more maple than caramel, but I’ll never complain about that.
2023 sipdown count: 29
Flavors: Malt, Maple, Smooth
A peppery, clove-y, gingery chai. I wish I were getting more marshmallow! I love that there’s a smidge of Lapsang to evoke a roasty toasty marshmallow element, but unfortunately I’m not picking up on it. Still tasty, though!
Flavors: Black Pepper, Cardamom, Clove, Drying, Ginger
Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | March 2023 | A shelf staple tea
Call me basic, but I love having candy cane tea in my stash! I think the Wegmans version is a pretty good dupe of the classic Celestial Seasonings original. It’s creamy, fluffy, peppermint-y goodness. Easy to drink and light on the stomach — kind of like an after-dinner mint. I’m sure I’ll restock at some point!
2023 sipdown count: 28/75
Flavors: Creamy, Mint, Peppermint, Vanilla
Finally getting around to trying the teas that skysamurai kindly picked up during a visit to Fairhope!
I love seeing the little twiggy stems along with the leaves; it makes me smile. I followed the directions and steeped this cup for a whopping six minutes, yet it’s still pretty mild! I’m mostly getting wet metal in the scent and taste, followed by minerally fallen leaves. It’s quite light overall! Just a teensy bit drying toward the end, but overall very smooth. A pretty easy drinker and very fun to try. Thanks, skysamurai!
Flavors: Dry Leaves, Metallic, Mineral, Wet Rocks
Preparation
Someone else mentioned this recently—but all US grown teas tend to fall on the mild side. Any of you experts have a botanical reason for that?
It’s something about the terroir. The weather, soil, etc are all a bit different from Al to MI to SC but not nearly as different as the terrior you see in China which accounts for the many different taste profiles. But my guess would be something about our soil. Some would argue that it is also because of the ages of the bushes but I know of other tea farms in other countries who have younger leaves but (in my opinion) taste better than ours. There is def something about the soil though… PArt of me wants to try growing tea up here in MN and see what would happen but I have a feeling our negative temps would just destroy them T_T
As far my biology courses in highshool and all unrelated interest during my Uni times, I can confirm it is partially due to soil.
Another reason could be for example insects. Maybe because plants in the US are less infected by them, so the plants do not need to produce awful and bitter substances and thus it is milder voerall.
Last thing that I am thinking about it is that it could be different ratio of sunlight and different humidity — so again, different production of substances inside the plant.
Our part of the world is riddled with zinc mining chat—I don’t think that would improve growing conditions any…
Mmm, zinc!
For my birthday, my parents gave me a few tisanes from this local (to them) company, which primarily uses herbs grown in Rhode Island and Massachusetts by mostly immigrant farmers. The company says that many of their herbs go from “farm to cup in days,” which is neat!
This is a blend of chocolate mint and anise hyssop (although I couldn’t add the latter to the listing because it’s not an ingredient on Steepster). The herbs were chopped SO finely that there’s a lot of dust in my cup, even though I used a fairly fine mesh strainer in my teapot. Ah well — I can pretend to read my tea leaves when I’m done with my cuppa. :)
I’m familiar with anise hyssop as a native plant, but I’ve never had it in a tisane! It does indeed add a smidge of licorice/anise flavor to what’s otherwise a very fresh-tasting mint. I’m not sure I would’ve thought to combine those two flavors, but I dig it! There’s a nice round smoothness to this blend that I’m quite enjoying.
Flavors: Anise, Mint, Smooth
Courtney very kindly shared some of this tea with me, and I’ve been waiting to try it till the time felt right. Now it’s a Friday morning, I have the day off, and I’ve retreated back to my bed with some homemade muffins and some schoolwork. Enter this tea!
(As a side note, I was actually a little hesitant after smelling the dry leaf, because something about it was a smidge off-putting. I think it’s the barley malt.)
…well, I was so caught up in my reading that I oversteeped my tea by about 10 minutes. I was kicking myself for not doing this sample justice until I tasted it. Because… it still tastes delicious. That odd scent note I caught in the dry leaf is not present in the taste. It’s rich and deep and chocolatey, almost unctuous, but in a good way. I’m definitely tasting the ginger and black pepper, probably more than I would have with a normal-length steep, but they add a pleasant spiciness to the dark chocolate flavor. The base is remarkably muted for such a long steep.
I won’t rate this one yet because I didn’t do it justice and I still have at least one more serving’s worth of leaf. I’ll be savoring that cup and paying better attention!
Flavors: Black Pepper, Dark Chocolate, Ginger
Ooh interesting, I didn’t even realize they make a black version! And their black teabags are usually in orange-ish wrappers LOL.
Grapefruit in tea is really nice, but you don’t see it often.
It is nice!