August Uncommon Tea

This one was good today, really clean and fresh-tasting. Now I’ve stopped looking for lemon curd, I feel better able to appreciate it for what it is – a pleasant, minerally green oolong.

I’d still love to get lemon from this, but I can live without it.

083/365

So behind with these, but I only have one more left from this collection so I’m nearly there! This is the only non-flavoured tea of the five that were part of this release, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about a “pure” tea being marketed in this way. It feels…well, not entirely honest. I can see why they do it, because going with the name of the variety isn’t half so poetic. But still…

I second Daylon on this, and I think it’s a Jin Xuan. The beginning of the sip is creamy, with very slight lemon notes (although less sharp/sour/acidic than actual lemon, and more lemon flavour frosting). The mid sip is quite heady, with a fairly strong floral flavour; to me, it’s reminiscent of orchid, or lily, and it really lingers. The end of the sip is more vegetal, with a grassy, sometimes-almost-spinachy flavour. It’s a little heavily floral for my liking, but that’s entirely personal preference. It’s clearly a quality oolong, however you want to look at it.

This tea on its own is one thing. When you pair it with August’s high aesthetic and almost visionary description, it becomes something else entirely. This is more tea as artistic experience than “just a drink”. As I said, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about that. I guess it’s adding something to the process, but it makes me wonder how much is real, and how much imagined, and whether that justifies a significant premium on the price.

I made this both cold brewed and hot. My preferred method was definitely the hot tea as it made for a more interesting and less cloying drink. Cold it was all pineapple and sweet and not much else whereas hot the generic sweet came through more distinctly as caramel and the other ingredients, such as the lemongrass and barley, had more to contribute.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2018/04/02/big-easy-from-august-uncommon-tea/

I can’t decide if I like this or not. It’s sweet and distinctly pineapple but there is a candy-like quality here that comes off artificial. Don’t get much from the lemongrass or barley though. I think I enjoy it but maybe not one to keep permanently stocked.

I purchased this tea specifically to have it iced. It is absolutely true to it’s described flavor profile. I had no trouble at all identifying the peach, pistachio, lime and creme fraiche flavors as well as the base oolong tea. I thought that particular flavor combination would be really interesting and it was – and so delicious! The flavors work really well together and make a very enjoyable iced tea. I like this so much I may actually try it hot as well, but for now, I am very happy with it. No need to overleaf, and following the brewing instructions produced a perfect brew. Nicely done, August!

alright bored with this one. I have a coworker who will appreciate this one and even if all he does is use it for cooking, that’s fine with me. :) Even with a little maple this is just a boring old lapsang.

Sad times. this one smells more like toffee now when i open the tin, but still just tastes like a boring old lapsang. So i added rum cream to it. Much improved but not one i’d recommend from AU unless you a) like lapsang and b) get it for a fraction of the regular price.

So i gotta say…this time, i could smell the toffee but the brew it really more of a smokey black than anything else. I DID add a little maple syrup afterwards though, and that made it more my style – though this is NOT the tea that it claims to be imo.

apparently my order from AU the other day was a whole lot of me not paying attention to things and them not delivering on deliciousness that previous teas have been. I’m going to need to have this one again – but initial thoughts are that there’s too much smokiness happening in this one. I’ll have to add maple syrup to it and see how that goes, but i’m not really getting burnt toffee.

It was really nice to have this one back in my cupboard thanks to variaTEA. Finishing this one off today though since it’s getting close to the end of July and I haven’t made much progress in getting through all the samples she sent me….for once haha. Plus we have some other teas coming in the mail, so there’s that.

All gone…finished this one up today. Feels like i’m drinking my way through my cupboard at break neck speed….guess that’s sort of true since you can drink everything when you barely have any teas haha. This one was enjoyable, though i have to say recently AU has been more miss than hit.

noms. had this one with baked penne with chicken, smoked cheese and broccoli. so good.

Had this one last night while playing board games with friends. Enjoying this one a lot though it’s nearly done! One thing’s for sure is that small cupboards means things get finished up faster!

Final cup of tea tonight….kinda wish I had more of this even though I can’t explain why I like it haha. I still have a bunch of cups left though. So that’s good.

I can’t really place the flavour of this one but every time i have it, i drink it up crazy fast. This one if the winner for me from AU…the other two were just bleh. Last tea yesterday as we had to get up early on sunday as well. blaaarg!

Final Count: 36

relaxing evening playing games and reading….yay for the weekend. I really love this one – too bad the other teas from AU were a bust this round. Nice to have at least a couple teas i can drink in the evening that are truly tasty.

hints of pumpkin…caramel…butter….vanilla… yep i am a fan of this one, which is a huge relief given the disaster that is the other tea from AU. going to enjoy having this one around for a while in the evenings!

boring tea is done! lol glad to get a sipdown on this one since it was average at best.

boring tea is boring. Not a bad cup but honestly….not much else happening here that i can really get behind. Glad to try it out, but wish it delivered more on it’s promises.