Arabesque

My partner doesn’t drink a ton of tea and tends to be pretty ambivalent about most blends, but he did really enjoy August Uncommon’s Psychocandy when we tried it last autumn. That was all the encouragement I needed to order another packet this year! And then AU sent out a 20% coupon, so I added a few more teas to my cart. Then I was sooo close to the free shipping threshold that I had to add one more. Which is how I ended up with a sample of Arabesque. :D

After a swampy, humid summer, the weather is beginning to cool off and the humidity has diminished ( for now). Today is absolutely beautiful, and I’m enjoying an afternoon cuppa without feeling like I’m going to overheat. Yay! I used to love heat and humidity, but the meds I’m on post-cancer put me into medical menopause, and my poor body cannot handle the heat very well anymore. (TMI?)

So! Arabesque called to me and I brewed it up for the first time. It smells really wonderful, just like a creamsicle. And it tastes… like a creamsicle! Wow, I really love this one. The first steep was a perfect blend of orange essence and marshmallowy vanilla; the second has more of a woody note, presumably from the jatoba. The sencha base is pretty unobtrusive, which might or might not be a good thing depending on your tastes. (It’s probably why AU’s teas are popular with non-tea-drinkers.) I’m OK with it here, though I wouldn’t say no to a stronger green tea base. I also would love a bit of a sharper, zestier orange.

I do find the second cup a bit drying, but not terribly so.

After reading one of Roswell Strange’s notes mentioning orange blossom I was all set to try Metropolitan as my next August Uncommon Tea since it said something about neroli on the back of the package but after opening it and sniffing I wasn’t sure it was quite what I was in the mood for. I sniffed a couple more teas and settled on Arabesque instead.

It smells good. Very creamsicle-y. It’s not just vanilla, it’s that creamy vanilla ice cream type vanilla. I’m not sure the sample size is the best way to try this one. My sample pouch has several large pieces of orange slice that might’ve thrown off the ingredient balance and the tea leaves fall to the bottom and hide in the pouch’s crease so it’s hard to get an even mix of everything if you’re not making the entire pouch in one go. I steeped according to the package instructions (175°F water, 4-5min) to see how that turned out. The brewed tea still smells like creamsicles but maybe a little milder than the dry leaf. I’m not sure if it’s just been a while since I’ve had teas that are flavored with things other than flower petals or citrus peel but August teas seem quite strongly flavored/scented to me. This one isn’t as intense as Black Metallic but it’s definitely not weak flavor either. The flavor is creamsicle…but not. Maybe it’s the jatoba wood or something about the base tea but something there keeps it from being as creamsicle flavored as it smells. In a weird way it kind of reminds me of some non-dairy “healthy” creamsicles I tried that had coconut milk or something instead of ice cream. The orange is there, the vanilla is there, but there’s a little bit of an odd taste and there is absolutely no creamy mouthfeel. Not BAD but disappointing if you’re expecting it to be identical to the dairy version in flavor and texture. I think if you go into this tea expecting liquid creamsicle it could be disappointing. As it’s cooling I think the wood might be coming out more and the vanilla is becoming more of just a sweetness. It smells more like a sweet summery orangey sandalwood type thing than ice cream truck to me now. It tastes more like orange and wood too. I feel like those are two completely different descriptions but both describe the tea? I’m guessing how well mixed the ingredients are when you scoop them out will determine whether it leans more toward the creamsicle flavors or toward the wood type flavors. I think I like it. It seems like a lighter, gentler on my stomach, more relaxing tea than some of the others I picked from this company. I’d like to get a bigger bag at some point to hopefully have a more even mix of ingredients to see if that changes the flavor at all.

I’m a sucker for creamsicle flavored things, and this tea did not disappoint. It’s very much a sophisticated version of the familiar flavor combination. The vanilla is aromatic and creamy, and the orange is zesty without being sharp. Not sure what flavor the jatoba wood adds, I tried doing some research and can’t find much about using it as a flavoring. I’d imagine this would be wonderful with some milk added.

This feels like the innocence of limber and languid ice cream truck summers at my grandparents’ house, rolling right past the tumultuous teen years and into those humid days and hazy nights of — hey nineteen — living on my own. A still impressionable girl developing her poise and confidence as a young woman.

Strange. Tasty. Needs a stronger base.

Edited to add: If you ever come across this review, Dad, thanks for the memories. It was nice to talk yesterday.

Song pairing: Steely Dan — Hey Nineteen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J7IrPVLc4U

This is one I’ve been looking forward to trying for a long time now, and I have to say – it was worth the wait! At this point, I probably have three other beloved orange-flavored teas in my stash, but this one still has a place! The green tea is mellow and almost buttery. The orange isn’t fake or overbearing. There’s a vanilla flavor that complements the whole thing. I sipped this cup slowly at work yesterday, and I loved every drop.

Home – 6:30 PM

Merry Christmas, my fellow Steepsters! ❤

I have been doing absolutely nothing all day. The boyfriend and I didn’t do anything for Christmas this year, as we’re moving into our new house in a couple of days. We’re not the type to buy each other presents either, as generally we buy things that we want throughout the year and don’t really have “wished for” items for Christmas. So we’ve been spending the day playing games, lounging, watching various things on the Fire TV, and doing some laundry. Yay for lazy days!

Anyway, the tea. This is from my second August Uncommon sample order, which was made specifically for this tea and Dark Iris. Obviously I threw in several other samples as well, because duh… My small sample had a giant slice of dried orange in it (just like the photo), which I promptly chopped up since I didn’t want the entire piece in one mug of tea.

This is very yummy… It’s super creamsicle-y, with sweet orange and lovely creamy vanilla flavors. I can see how the jatoba wood does give it a slight sort of sandalwood-ish flavor, but mostly it’s dreamy ice cream bar goodness. There’s maybe a slight floral note here, and it reminds me of orange blossom.

The base tea is very mild, though I do get a slightly grassy sencha flavor from it, with a hint of vegetal spinach. I would argue that the stronger flavoring could take a bit stronger of a base tea, and it would also be delicious with a black tea.

But I do love it. This might be my favorite from August Uncommon so far!

This is pretty nice, except for that weak Chinese sencha blend. I think I may just straight out hate that stuff at this point. It’s such a watery non-substance after such lovely flavours here (orange, vanilla, sandalwood). I think this could be something pretty special if it weren’t for that generic, lackluster, hateful tea base (now let me tell you how I really feel).

Drank this one hot with milk while we did a chocolate fondue to close out our Christmas celebrations today/kind of head into the new year; I did add a little milk to it to cool it enough for me to drink right away with the fondue.

The dark chocolate and fruit from the fondue were pretty strong and kind of overshadowed a lot of the subtleties of the tea – but every now and then I’d get a bite of orange or pear coated in dark chocolate that coincided with a sip of tea and the combo would be quite lovely! Sweet, creamy fruit notes – orange from the tea and fruit and pear from just the fruit, and silky vanilla and dark chocolate. Very indulgent, but also blissfully smooth and relaxing.

The tea itself was kind of medium bodied and sweet enough with strong creamy vanilla notes and a soft orange; very “creamsicle” like, without the sweetness. Some buttery, grassy/vegetal undertones from the green base but not a lot. Mostly just the added in flavourings. Decent tea overall; but one that was definitely boosted through the situation I drank it in and the food pairing.

EDIT: Turns out this was my last tea of 2017! Also, my 5750th tasting note! Pretty good way to cap off the year, I’d say!