A Quarter to Tea

This has been hiding in my cupboard for who knows how many years now. The package was open, but I’m not sure if I ever had a cup or just sniffed it upon arrival. It smells very peach/almondy. I get a clear peach almond in the sip and as it transitions to the finish more of the oatiness comes out on it’s own. There is almost a slight sweetness to the tea, but it’s vague in a pleasant way. It was a very enjoyable light cup that I seem to have finished before I knew it.

Going through my cupboard last night, I found three bags of AQ2T in my white/oolong bin that I totally forgot I had. One was unopened. This brightened my night up significantly! Steeping this tea this morning… the cup smells like those chocolate covered gummy candies you get in a tube from Asian grocery stores! I love those things. I get that candied chocolate scent with fruit underneath. When I sip on this, the scent translates perfectly to flavor. The white tea base keeps it light and airy like the candy. The finish is more of the same. It looses a little bit of the magic as the cup cools which creates such a dilemma for me: sip as quickly as I want to or slowly to stretch out the cup, even if it means it’s slightly less delicious at the end. I would totally order more of this if possible and would probably go into hoarding mode since it keeps so well.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGnIOUWA0o0/

I’m really starting to enjoy and appreciate the roasty aroma of oolongs. I took a nice, deep inhale while this was steeping and can smell the cherry here alongside the oolong. Sipping now, and I am so happy with the flavor. It’s deep and dark, chocolaty too, but the cherry is front and center. As it cools, I’m also getting some coffee notes reminiscent of a coffee-flavored Werther’s candy. Surprisingly, this is one of the better teas I’ve had in a while. I expected it to be weak with age, but it’s incredibly flavorful and complex. I’m very tempted to try a second steep, but I’m worried it may not live up to the first cup and I don’t want to ruin my memory of it.

This was a sample I received from AQ2T with another order. It’s obviously a few years old since the company is no longer in business, so I expect the flavor won’t be quite as strong as it once was.

It is slightly floral, slightly astringent. Still flavorful, surprisingly enough. It’s not one I would order even if I had the opportunity but it’s nice to try as a sample.

I’ve had a sample of this forever and am just getting around to oversteeping it. :( Walked out of earshot of my tea timer and got distracted. I’m trying to imagine what this would taste like steeped normally. I’m expecting parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme as the song says, but I’m really hoping there is no parsley in this because dried parsley is gross. I also can’t get that line of the song out of my head in Miss Piggy’s voice. Paul Simon was a guest on the Muppet Show and they performed this song with Miss Piggy impatiently yelling that line over Paul’s melodic voice. Classic. Also… strangely… I have a couple pieces of rambling fan mail that was intended for Paul Simon, but ended up in my hands instead. I briefly had a job answering fan mail for Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher’s father and Carrie once having been married to Paul was the link as to why this fan used Eddie’s address. I guess he figured Eddie would know where his long since ex son in law was and would forward the mail. The fan would ask odd questions of Paul and added the time of writing, which was something like 2 in the morning. I was so amused by those postcards. Anyways… tea.
This is savory for sure. I feel like I’m getting cranberry in with dried herbs. There is an unpleasant tang that I’m guessing is user error. It reminds me of one of the Theodor laponic blends that is very herbaceous as well. I can see this being an interesting tea if steeped properly, but that’s not the type of cup I ended up with.

This is very light in flavor and now I find myself wishing I’d used two teaspoons instead of one. I was hoping for more of that fudgy flavor that others mention in their notes. It’s a little bitter, a little chocolaty, and there’s also some coffee in the mix. The stout does come through and it does have a touch of dryness as promised, but there isn’t any brownie for me. I’m not giving up though. I’ll try again with an extra scoop next time to see if that will add more to the flavor.

Not sure how many years I’ve had this hiding in my cupboard without having made a tasting note for it! I think I’ve tried it mostly in the evening when I’m less likely to write up my tea. I dumped the rest of the bag of this in a pitcher and put it in the fridge to steep overnight and am having it iced now. It’s an interesting combo with the chocolate and lavender. Something about it is really perfumy tho, even the chocolate seems more like the scent of chocolate than the taste. Like scratch and sniff stickers? Almost soapy which is never a good association with tea. Maybe I can get the tiny roommates to drink this so I don’t have to feel guilty dumping precious AQ2T!

This tea is so weird. I love trying weird teas, but this one isn’t for me. It is strange and savory with an herbal mix that I can’t place. Oregano? Thyme? It reminds me of pasta sauce with only a hint of sundried tomato. I’m having it over ice and I imagine having it hot would be more reminiscent of Italian cooking.

I was really playing around with the idea of cold-steeping this one, but after reading some of the tasting notes I decided against it. I’ve never had a betty, but I’m guessing it’s like a slump or a cobbler? That sounds like my kind of dessert, and since it’s fall the cranberry and brown sugar are calling to me.

As it steeps, I smell lemon – it’s refreshing but also reminiscent of a hospital waiting room somehow? I don’t really know how else to describe it. It doesn’t smell like lemon cleaner or disinfectant as some citrus flavorings do, so that’s not it. I’ll have to think on it.

The liquid is a lovely apricot color, though there is a bit of a film on top. The taste is exactly like the aroma. I added a little light brown sugar as my sweetener today to see if it might boost that flavor, but it really doesn’t change anything. Honestly, this isn’t great. The lemon flavor is strange and the cranberry is nowhere to be found.

STTB Tea

This is a vegetal (bai mu dan?) white based tea with a subtle but not unpleasant base. It is lightly floral (rose) but that is quite subtle. I made this cold (450 mL water, ~25 minutes) and enjoyed it. The vegetal quality reminds me of cucumber and lettuce.

A little light/weak, strong chocolate aroma in the dry blend. Whole coffee beans. Are these for flavor or appearance? How can a whole coffee bean give flavor in a 5-minute steep? Enjoying the roasted qualities of the oolong with the chocolate.

Herbaceous, though not necessarily basil. Hmm.

This tastes exactly like Carmex smells, which isn’t an entirely bad thing, as I love the smell of Carmex. I’m really enjoying this, and I tend to dislike peppermint teas, so I’m quite happy to have found one to enjoy (even though I can never purchase it again). Considering that it’s a few years old, I’m also impressed that the flavor does not seem to have faded at all.

Teapop Sipdown (285)

With this tea gone, my cupboard is now from 2017 or later. That’s a good feeling at least.

I get a lot of sweet cranberry flavor a la cranberry pear. It’s juicy and delicious and definitely the main flavor here, matched only by the carbonation flavor of the sparkling water. Basil is more fleeting. In fact, I can’t really find it and that could be because of age or because the cranberry is so strong.

This is the first tea I tried from the Reddit traveling tea box. The flavor is mostly licorice-like, which I didn’t expect. It looks like it’s four years old though, so it could have lost its flavor. It does have a decently pleasant taste, but it’s not super special tasting. I would never know it’s hojicha. I wish there were more carrot/spices/pumpkin/cake!

I’m tasting no wine, apple, or cake. No idea what is happening in this blend, but I get an overwhelming “artificial grape” flavour. Think jumbo grape freezie or that grape scented window washer fluid at gas stations. My immediate thought from both the dry leaf and the brewed cup is that it reminds me of gas station soap (but in a good way). I LOVE artificial grape, but it has nothing to do with tea (especially a cake flavoured one). Have you ever had a grape freeze gatorade/powerade? It tastes a lot like that but without the sweetness. There is also a floral element that I don’t think does with the idea of wine or cake.

So, I’m not giving this a good rating since it fails to deliver any apple, cake, or red wine even though I actually enjoy the smell of it. This would work as part of a fruity iced herbal like “grape freeze” or something like that.

This makes for a nice coldbrew. The main tasting note is rose/floral. I don’t associate rose with a fruity cocktail but it wasn’t totally unwelcome-just unexpected. I didn’t get much gredadine or citrus, no pomegranate or real fruit taste at all (just some generic fruitiness). The white tea was suprisingly flavourful and actually added to the complexity of the tea. I would have been a lot more into this blend if it was called something different.