Metropolitan

Company says:
TASTES LIKE: bitter orange zest, neroli flower, tart black plum, blackberry, clove
FEELS LIKE: sparkling conversation on a city terrace

This is definitely a….unique tea. I decided to try another after working late and playing some Sims 3 – my Sims was about to finish his first semester of University, and the game takes forever to boot up even on my new computer, so I got to know this one in the meantime.

And mainly, yech.

The dry smell, first of all, reminded me a little of bubble gum for some reason. The taste was not bubble gum but was not earl gray or orange zest with plum that I could tell either. I did a five minute steep. It came across almost very, very vaguely of a pepto bismo tea for me. I think the bergamot they used, or else they way it blended with the other stuff, made it almost pepto, almost cheerios, very odd tea. Not to my liking unfortunately.

I’m drinking this with milk, and I feel pretty medium toward it. I taste the clove and maybe something fruity or like bergamot? It’s not super clear or delicious, just kind of there? As I keep drinking this, most flavor disappears and it’s just sort of lightly flavored black tea with no particular character. The resteep tastes pretty strongly of clove. I just feel like this one isn’t up to AU’s usual standards.

I wish I could vote ‘Sorta’ rather than a No or Yes on my recommendation. The first infusion was super bitter. I followed the directions but it came out so bitter that it hid the clove and plum notes. I didn’t put in any honey but I sure did with the following infusions. By the third infusion, the taste had calmed down enough and I have adjusted my amount of honey to finally enjoy the tea.

While I like AUT, this isn’t one that I will repurchase. They have too many others that I do like better.

It was one of those mornings where, actually having the time to properly prepare a cup of tea without having to be in a rush out the door for work, I stood in front of my massive tea collection and couldn’t decided what I wanted. When I saw my two sampler pouches of this in the (almost empty now) flavored black teas sampler bag, I decided I really was in an Earl Grey mood.

I actually do smell the plum and clove from the dry leaf… and something coming across peppery? Lazily scooped one perfect teaspoon leaf instead of measuring grams like I usually do, steeped in 350ml 205F water for three minutes. The steeped leaf smelled more strongly of a lemony/bergamot citrus. The brewed up has a very appealing aroma; beramot, plum, and spices.

Mmm… this is interesting, and I like it! To me, it tastes like an Earl Grey and a Mulled Wine tea had a child, and those are both tea types I really like. There is a deep fruitiness to the cup; I do taste plum, but it is also reading a little like lychee to me, since I’m getting a slight floral undertone. The bergamot is pretty pervasive and fills the sip, with a crisp, citrusy, and slightly tart/sour lemon note. When the berg settles on the touch, there is a strong aftertaste of spices; I taste the clove, but the nutmeg is reading to me as more of a black pepper taste.

Perhaps a strange combination of flavors but it’s working for me… and it feels nice to get to lazily sip on a warm cup of tea, taking my time and savoring the sips!

In other tea news, I recently bought one of those CO2 infusing “soda” machines to experiment with my cold teas. The first one I tried (B&B’s Peppermint Cream) tasted questionable, but I looooooooove TeaSource’s vanilla black, Moon Over Madegascar, that way! Looking forward to experimenting with other teas (I have some of Lupicia’s Ramune tea to try next!)

I find it odd that August Uncommon markets this as an Earl Grey, because I barely taste the bergamot at all! But once I got over my disappointment at this not really being a flavored Earl Grey, I do like it for what it is: a strongly-flavored plum and clove black tea. The clove can be a bit overpowering (I’ve learned not to get more than 1 whole clove in my infuser!) but brewed correctly, this is a lovely balance of fruit and spice on a malty black base that resteeps beautifully. I don’t love this one as much as some of the others in this sampler pack (looking at you, Low Country and Silencio!) but I definitely enjoyed getting the chance to try it.

I had a cup of this earlier and was so pleasantly surprised! I had tried this once before, when it first came in, and didn’t like it at all. It was too strong (my fault for using too much tea) and gave me an awful headache with its strong aroma. The bergamot caught my eye today so I thought, why not? I’m glad I gave it another chance. Really delicious.

Sipdown 19

This little sample bag was quite enjoyable. I may repurchase at some point.

I like August teas, but this one tastes like Listerine. It’s the one and only time in my life that I am throwing out a canister of tea. It’s fugly!

I’m not sure about this one. It tastes like I’ve bitten into one of those Xmas decoration oranges. The ones that are covered in cloves. It tastes a lot less bergamot to me and way more orange peel. It’s hard to get past the orange clove combo and taste anything else. Clove can be dominating that way. Adding cream killed the flavors. I’d like to try different steeping parameters next time.

…what a weird tea this is.

It sounds good in theory, I love plum and enjoy bergamot. But the plum here is very odd and candylike, and a bit chalky. The bergamot and clove combination becomes very perfumey.

Overall, it’s a weird artificial and medicinal mix and the rest of the sample is getting tossed. A shame, this was one of their teas that I was most interested in.