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Latte sipdown (210/399). Yes this is the second time I’ve counted this tea as a sipdown in the same challenge or whatever you want to call it, but that’s because my uncle gifted me a second package after my first sipdown.

I cut two teabags open and brewed in my IngenuiTEA with 4 oz of water before adding to 8oz of hot skimmed milk. This is generally how I prepare my lattes, only with 2x the recommended tea rather than bags usually. Not strong enough to pack a punch as a latte, and the chilli didn’t come through, but a nice enough sweet treat with a spoonful of toffee sauce added. Still pretty cardamom-heavy, which I don’t love. I said in a previous note that I might pick some of this up eventually, but now I’ve found other chilli chais I prefer (Bird and Blend’s and 52teas specifically) I don’t think I would. I bet this isn’t the last time this tea and I cross paths, though – I’m bound to grab a cup from a tea room at some point or receive it as a gift again – so I’m not too cut up about it.

Quickly iced a bag of this because I finished my cold brew for the day and it’s waaaaay too hot to be drinking hot tea today. My poor Irish skin and Northern blood can’t take this heatwave. Not so keen on this iced the regular way, it has a sort of cardboardy taste to it which I don’t notice when it’s cold brewed. It’s cold though, and that’s all I really care about right now. Why is it so hot?!

I cold brewed the last of this in the hopes of coaxing out more of the cotton candy/candyfloss, but it still tastes like a whole load of nothing to me (except tea). Then again, candyfloss tastes like a whole lot of nothing to me too, so I guess it’s accurate? My mam said she could taste the candyfloss, but only after I told her what it was, and before then she said cherry. Idk, I don’t even like real candyfloss so maybe it’s me. Shrugs. I do prefer it cold steeped, though, I think.

Note: This is Frank’s original version, not Anne’s newer one. It’s super old now, but even fresh my experience of it was the same.

Sipdown 209/399.

Found some more of this in my stash a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been putting off drinking it because of how sick I got of it last time. I brewed up a cup this morning with breakfast because I couldn’t be bothered to go hunting through my focus box for something else, and it’s actually not as bad as I’d expected. Like I’d previously noted the base gets astringent fast, which means I took this with milk, which means the fruity flavours were muted more than I’d have liked. I tried a few sips before adding the milk though, and got more of a strawberry note than a pomegranate one. The vanilla isn’t as strong as it used to be, so I did enjoy this more (me being a staunch vanilla-hater), and I’m going to change my rating from 32 to reflect that. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either. It’s deserving of an average rating, but I’m still keeping in mind how quickly I soured on this tea and how much even the thought of it made me want to never drink it again.

Sweet, buttered asparagus and spinach are the most prominent notes in this today. Apple and orchid follow up the vegetal notes, and the floral note lingers for a while after the sip. I’m getting less of the cinnamon today, so it’s translating as less of an apple pie filling, but it is still present in the mid sip. Still a favourite green oolong of mine, and it’s strength lies in its resteeps, which are sweet, fruity and floral. A good all day drinker.

Much better today! I’m having a good tea-day, apparently. Everything is there – it’s creamy chocolate and roasted coffee at first, and then cardamom and ginger bring out the warming chai spices at the back of the sip. There’s a bit of a weird misplaced cola note right at the end, but that’s something I’ve noticed with ginger in teas sometimes. For a tea with coffee beans, I’d prefer a more robust base which could stand up against the punchy flavours of the coffee and spices more, and maybe take some milk, but it’s still a really nice cup and one which I could happily sip on all afternoon. The name just screams ‘breakfast tea’ to me, and it’s never strong enough to stand up to my expectations for an early morning cup. Still, I’m bumping my rating from 66 because it’s definitely delivering what it promises today.

Woah… I don’t know what was so different about this tea today, but I’m not getting any of the usual notes from it. Instead, this tastes like an IPA! I did a double take when I first sipped it. It’s floral and fruity, but there’s an unmistakeable hoppy note about it too. It’s nothing like what I expected from this tea, but I’m really enjoying it! The front of the sip is all grapefruit and lychee, with an elderflower-like note lingering at the end of the sip. A hoppy note runs through the entire sip. It tastes so much like an IPA that I feel kind of wrong sipping on it at midday while I’m working, haha. I would never have thought to try cold brewing this tea, but now I’m really intrigued. Maybe it’ll bring out the chocolate and malt notes I usually get from this tea, or maybe I’ll be like drinking a nice, cold beer… Totally not what I was expecting when I brewed this one up, but a nice surprise.

I tweaked my parameters again, used a little less leaf (around 1.5tsps) and gave it a shorter steep, and it’s definitely an improvement. It’s a good breakfast tea, malty with some citrus notes, and smooth enough to take black even though it’s deep and rich. Bumping the rating from 60.

The chocolate orange in this is subtle, but natural. The orange note is fresh and more noticeable than the chocolate, which comes across as dark and rich. It’s one of the better chocolate orange teas I’ve tried, though not my favourite – that title belongs to Butiki’s Three Friends. I wish I could have written a more detailed note on this, but my mind is elsewhere today. Thank you for sending me this sample, Marzipan.

Sipdown 208/399

Much better! I changed up my steeping parameters for this tea today and now it’s what I was expecting the first time around. The malt and dark chocolate I was detecting in the scent is translating through to the sip, I knew it was in there somewhere! It’s more complex than that though, and the sourdough notes I was picking up so strongly last time are still present, but this time they’re playing backup to the rich malt and chocolate, not the star of the show. There’s a hint of something floral, almost rose-like, right at the end of the sip, along with wildflower honey notes. As the cup cools some mineral notes are creeping into the body of the sip. It’s gorgeously light and smooth, no astringency or bitterness whatsoever, even though I steeped it almost at boiling this time around. Upping my rating from 61 – the change is steeping parameters made all the difference.