August Uncommon Tea

This is a queued tasting note.

So, spent my last day off in a cleaning frenzy alongside Trey. Cathryn was out studying, but Trey’s mom was on her way to visit the next day so we had to very quickly get the house into tip top cleanliness. You know how parents can be, and his are particularly anal. So sweaty and tired, we delved into the fridge looking for refreshments to quench our thirst. Low and behold, there was a completely full pitcher of this cold brew just waiting to be strained! So, of course, that’s what we did. I don’t know if I’ve ever finished off a pitcher of cold brew and quicker than the two of us did – we seriously went to town just guzzling that motherfucker. It’s a miracle we were even able to taste any of it, we were drinking so quickly!

But I could taste it and what I tasted was the perfect creamy, vanilla spearmint infusion to just completely hydrate and gently slap me in the face with the refreshing mint notes so I could get right back ‘atter. Not a lot of grapefruit though, I’m sad to say.

Drank this one hot the other day…

Mostly, I was just really craving the grapefruit in the blend. I’ve been on such a huge grapefruit kick as of late: Fresca everyday for lunch, along with canned red grapefruit, and I just bought a really yummy smelling grapefruit body wash. Not sure why the sudden cravings; I’ve always liked grapefruit but not nearly as much or as intensely as this week…

Anyway, the tea was great. This is a softer grapefruit without a lot of the acidity you sometimes get from grapefruit teas/tisanes. It’s sweet and quite smooth, and then the additional vanilla really softens the profile and turns it into something somewhat ethereal and whimsical. Sometimes the mint in this blend is a strong presence, but in this cup (perhaps because of a more light handed steeping time used) the mint was mostly just a nice refreshing cooling element on the bed of my tongue after sips.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9dSYgd5Elk&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

I know I sent this one to VariaTEA for her song/music pairing sampler and I also paired it then with a different MGMT song. I don’t know why, but I find this artist and this tea are just a very nice pairing – their music is almost on a different plane. Probably because they’re high like 90% of the time and that drug culture is pretty ingrained in their music. But the ethereal nature of the tea kind of just matches that “good times” high/buzz that gets worked into their music. To be fair though, this song doesn’t exactly maintain that “feel good” quality at the end, though…

This is a queued tasting note.

Drank this on the way to work last week; I’ve had really bad tension headaches off and on all throughout the week and it’s honestly driving me absolutely crazy – what’s causing them!? Why the fuck wont they go away!? I just need a break from the pain…

So, drinking lots of stuff with peppermint ‘cause it’s good for headaches and is giving me that brief moment of clarity and peace. The mint in this was really nice for that; although the grapefruit was actually the strongest flavour. I still think this is a fucking spectacular tea; I love the trio of flavours this tea has. It was perfect for that moment of zen I needed on the bus ride to work.

Another wasted cold brew from my ongoing “Sick Period” that I just couldn’t taste…

So, instead of writing about something I couldn’t even taste, I’m going to share some of my favourite songs at the moment, ok? Kay.

Princess Chelsea – The Cigarette Duet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TV_128Fz2g&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=1

The Antlers – Stairs to The Attic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0STmox8mIc&index=9&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

Watsky – Sloppy Seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gNJ5cQGZJQ&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=10

Iron and Wine – Her Tea Leaves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfWw8lQvMuA&index=41&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ

This is a queued note.

Super, super happy to have this tea back in my cupboard! And in a larger quantity, too! Tea friends are honestly the best; big thanks to OMGsrsly for adding this to her order for me so I didn’t have to place an order myself for one tea. I hate doing that.

For my “welcome home” mug I added a splash of milk, since I was drinking this right before bed and wanted something that could be consumed immediately, didn’t have caffeine, and would help me relax. This tea is one part creamy white chocolate goodness, one part sweet grapefruit, one part soothing peppermint, and one part pure ecstasy.

Let me tell you, I slept well.

Sipdown (124)!

What a heart breaking sipdown.

I’ve literally only had two servings of this tea but it’s just such a solid flavour, and has brewed up so incredibly both times that I feel like, even though this blend and I have only just met, like we’ve known each other for a life time. You know that feeling? When you instantly hit it off with a person and just feel like you’ve been childhood friends. I’m experiencing that with a tea.

Perfect notes of red grapefruit (the best grapefruit), mint, vanilla, and white chocolate. If you want to feel completely at peach while drinking a cup of tea, I recommend this one. It’s therapy in a cup.

I wonder if August Uncommon is doing anything for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I’m currently on hiatus, and haven’t taken even a quick peak at the DB sale thread but I’ve been debating breaking hiatus for Black Friday/Cyber Monday and letting myself place one order and this is probably the one tea I want the most right now. Though, I still have most of my order to get through still…

My first few times cart building on August Uncommon I totally glanced over this tea, and I actually don’t remember what it was about it that made me taste notice eventually maybe Sil’s review? but I’m so happy I did because this was incredibly unique and so tasty!

On their own, I’m a fan of all the things used in this blend, but together? I used to really enjoy DT’s Pink Flamingo mixed with Peppermint Amour which is grapefruit and mint together among many other ingredients, and while I find the pairing of mint and vanilla fairly overdone you have to admit that’s because traditionally it goes together quite well. This was better than any of those things.

The sweet and just slightly tart/bitter red grapefruit notes were probably the most natural and authentic grapefruit flavour I’ve ever experienced with tea. I bring one of those Del Monte type fruit cups with Red Grapefruit to work every day in my lunch, so even though it’s not a flavour I’m typically seeking out when it comes to tea I’ve very familiar with it and thoroughly enjoy it as well. Of course, the mint plays well with the grapefruit and the two provide such a harmonious contrast of flavours. The mint brings out the sweetness of the grapefruit and the grapefruit makes the refreshing and kind of “tingly” menthol part of the peppermint much was noticeable as a mouthfeel on the tongue after you’ve finish the sip. And the addition of vanilla is genius: it just smooths out the whole mug and provides a creaminess that I never knew I needed with grapefruit that I’ll probably be missing in every grapefruit drink that doesn’t have it from now on.

So yeah; right now I’m 2/2 with my August Uncommon teas. It’s a good thing I’m on a forced hiatus too because I’d snatch up a full 50g of this in a heartbeat otherwise, and I haven’t even tried the rest of my order yet.

Also: I had to look up “Cocteau” because for a company with such unique blend names I knew it must be representative of something. I sort of thought maybe it was a French word or a place? But after my quick Google Search it looks like this was named after a band I’d never heard of: The Cocteau Twins. Anyone familiar with them or possibly know what the significance is?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3diz8I0AVVk

Not 100% my sort of music, but definitely quite interesting. Maybe I’ll drink my next mug while listening to more of their music?

EDIT: Apparently reading the description more thoroughly would help me understand the significance of the music better because after listening to that song it’s definitely obvious where AU was coming from…

I received a few cups of this from Queen of Tarts in her stash sale. Thank you!

OMG yum! This taste like I am drinking a fancy pants hot chocolate. Creamy, marshmellowy, milk chocolate, with slight taste of burnt sugar. It also reminds me of eating s’mores. Yummy! So I might just have to put in an order for other samples:)

Dipped into my stash of this one a few days ago because I was really craving something with a strong toasty and nutty profile; and this delivered. Overall taste was very much toasted brown rice or barley, but with a nutty undertone to it. Something like very, very lightly salted roasted peanuts? And just a little bit of a grassiness; but not newly grown, Spring or Summer grass – but more so the stuff kicking around in Autumn that’s just slightly starting to brown/kind of die off? If that makes sense.

This one is always nice, though.

Decided to treat myself to a bubble bath with a cute little teacup of this tea, one of my favourites to ‘reward’ myself with when I’ve had an off day or just need a little something special. As always, it was warm and toasty with the perfect sweet, nutty flavour profile that just felt like a warm, inviting hug. Though, there was almost a salted peanut sort of thing going on too.

But I wasn’t mad at it.

After my yellow Darjeeling tea earlier in the day I decided to pull out another yellow tea that I know I enjoy a bit more – which would be this one, it’s my gold standard yellow tea thus far in my tea drinking career. I just adore it.

I mean, it’s just so smooth overall and the notes of hazelnuts in it are really hard to beat. You just have to love a tea that’s so naturally nutty. We’ve also got some sweet grass, peanut, fresh hay, and butter notes going on too in addition to the hazelnuts. Just splendid. It’s one of those teas I wish I drank more of because it is such a treat every time I have it.

This is a queued tasting note.

Drank this one as a nice, slightly roasty before bed type of tea with some music, during my brief stint without a working laptop last week. Thankfully I had a dozen or two different songs downloaded on my phone and that helped keep me sustained in the mean time.

The tea was great; I love the very soft roasted notes alongside really interesting nutty notes. At times, it’s very peanut like and then other sips are sweeter and remind me a little more of hazlenut. There’s a grassy undertone throughout, it’s also quite light. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it the flavour profile reminds me a bit of summer to autumn transitional campfires; but at the start of the night when the sun is still somewhat out. Cool, fresh air with the warmth of the fire surrounded by grass that’s just starting to lose the brightness of the green hue.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS7IPVkzlIc&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=2

Lyrics are darker than the music sounds…

Sipdown (121)!

This is a queued tasting note.

Finished this one off last week in a giant Western steeped mug! It was toasty, and really warming and comforting. The most dominant flavour note was, as always, peanuts with a lovely, soft mix of cream, straw/hay, hazelnut and lemon notes. I really enjoy this tea. In fact, I probably would have ordered more in the group order I made with OMGsrsly but for whatever reason I was under the impression that it was sold out…

… which it isn’t.

Ah, oh well. I really made the most out of what I had, at least – and I got more Cocteau and that’s what really matters. I’ll miss this one though; it has an impressive profile.

This is a queued tasting note.

I made this lovely yellow tea Gong Fu in a gaiwan (my glass one so I could look at all the pretty leaf), but with very infrequent steeps. And by that, I mean I stretched out the seven or eight steeps I did over the course of two days. Every time I was kind of craving tea, I just steeped the leaf until I had sucked all I could out of it.

I don’t know if this is the most advisable way to brew; in a way I felt like I was loosing out on seeing some of the flavour differences between infusions because I was not drinking them directly/back to back. However, I still enjoyed the tea overall. Yellow teas taste so incredibly nutty to me; I honestly can’t think of a single different type of tea to compare the taste to either. It’s just very unique. And of course that was true here: I experienced both very lovely, distinctly peanut notes as well as more sweet hazelnut notes.

Other flavours: Butter, Lemon Pepper, Cream, and Straw.

My August Uncommon teas arrived!

I had to start with this tea because when I first found out about August Uncommon this was the one tea I was just drooling over, it felt like an injustice to start with anything else. I made a small pot worth of tea to split with my mom: I was incredibly excited to share a yellow tea with her because I’d never made one for her yet.

Personally; I think this is arguably the best yellow tea I’ve had to date. I really need to try it Gong Fu to be sure as that’s the way I’ve primarily drank my yellow tea from Camellia Sinensis (which is my current favourite), but this just had such a more lively and robust flavour profile.

When August Uncommon describes the tea and “nutty” they’re not kidding! Breaking down the flavour profile, this is a predominantly nutty tea with both peanut and roasted hazelnut type notes. There’s a strong, comforting toasty flavour like eating roasted nuts at Christmas (not chestnuts though; that’d be too perfect) while unwrapping presents. Other notes present are straw/hay and a light buttery note as well. The overall mouthfeel is very rich, and the liquor smooth with minimal astringency. I could probably drink this tea for days and feel happy and at peace.

…And on the flip side.

My mom, who I was hoping would appreciate the uniqueness and rarity of the tea, couldn’t even finish a teacups worth. To her, the nuttyness was overpowering and the straw/hay taste harsh and unpleasant. She described it as drinking “barnyard juices”. What’s wrong with her!? It hurts my heart to see such a wonderful tea go unappreciated. However, I guess that just means more for me, right?

Right.

noms. not sure what else to say. I love that this is grapefruit and mint, though i think i’d like this even without the mint. So happy i picked up a sample of this to try in my last order with AU

Vanilla. Grapefruit….mint? I had to try this one when i saw it because it’s not a typical pairing, at least as far as i’ve tried. Mint and grapefruit. weird. this is peppermint. and grapefruit. and somehow works. I think the mint could be dialled back just a teeeeeny bit, but on the whole i like how the mint and the tartness work together. I’m not sure this feels like ethereal noise pop? (whatever that is..) but i do like this blend.

Finished this one of last night except for a sample heading out for someone else to try. I don’t love this one as much as some of the others from AU but it’s just because this one isn’t up my alley, rather than there being anything wrong with the tea. I have had other teas that were amaretto flavoured that i preferred, though in general, it’s not a flavour i love. Still though, these teas are excellent and i can appreciate the blend for that reason.

This was a tea from August Uncommon that i wasn’t certain about. I don’t mind anise, but i don’t LOVE it – it always depends on how it’s used. Everything else about this tea was something i thought i’d like. Once brewed, this IS a delicious tea, though i’d probably subtract the anise. It’s not overpowering and doesn’t have that sickeningly sweet taste to the brew, but it’s there enough that it takes away a little from the amaretto and orange. I do like the rooibos used in this blend – it’s not that harsh woody rooibos that i really don’t like. overall, another good blend from AU, though i’d love it more sans anise. :)

Another one from today that i just needed to have to drink up. i cannot wait for this week to be over.

Not feeling this one today. I think i steeped it too long as there’s a bitterness i don’t love. Ah well, will have to make sure i do a shorter steep next time. Still love the smell though and i know i’ll enjoy working on finishing this up :)

Another one that i pulled out earlier to enjoy today. Trying to visit some of my older teas and just take a pause today.

apparently winter “storms” make me want comfort teas like this one. Another win from earlier today! yay for working from home tomorrow haha