Floragold

Sipdown (278)

Roswell Strange and I had very different experiences with this tea. She got malt and breadiness and I am getting a lot of mineral and astringency. It’s a big NO for me and thankfully a sipdown. Nevertheless, thank you Roswell Strange for sharing and giving me the chance to try something new…even if it didn’t quite work out with this cup :P

taking a break from not working (no my ID still isn’t set up) and entering tea in to my cupboard to have more tea. I have a few of these tea bags so figured i might as well dive in. This is a relatively smooth, slightly astringen black. But i’m ok with it because it’s different! yay! My cupboard started at 13 before VariaTEA’s samples….i’m currently sitting at 50 and still have many, many, many more to add lol let’s see where we end up!

I had 2 teabags of this, this one with a best before date of January 2020 and another with a best before date of September 2020. When deciding where to put them (since one was past best before and thus should be in my focus box and the other wasn’t and thus could be in the regular caffeine free drawer) it made life much easier to drink this one and put the last teabag into the sipdown box. So that’s what I did.

This tea is a little muted. Tbh I don’t know what tulsi should taste like but I haven’t loved any blends that had it so I guess I’m not a fan. This blend is no exception. I’m not loving the flavour and while I’m not entirely sure if it’s the tulsi, the one thing I am sure of is the kick of ginger. Also, there isn’t much orange. It’s not the worst blend but not really a favourite either. Still, it’s always fun to try something new so thank you Roswell Strange for sharing!

Sipdown 2020! 21/365

Thanks to Roswell Strange for this sample! I randomly grabbed a teabag a couple nights ago; it turned out to be Christmas fruits, but I figured I’d try it anyhow. My first impression was fantastic – the vanilla/cinnamon aroma upon opening the packet was quite delicious! It smelled a bit Christmassy (orange? cloves?), but with those two flavours featuring more prominently than usual. However… apparently they also chose to “feature” hibiscus, which was obvious the moment the water hit the teabag and a dark red/purple started pouring out. I didn’t let it steep too long, but I don’t think the overwhelming amount of hibiscus could have been avoided. It may as well have just been called a hibiscus spice tea, although I think even that sounds tastier than it actually was.

Sadly, this was a flop, made all the more sad because it smelled so good at first, and I was actually excited! I did drink it, however.

This one smelled good but the combination of vanilla and herbal lemongrass is coming off a bit waxy and artificial for me. I think it is exactly what it purports to be but this is just not a flavor I want. Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing though since its always fun to try something new.

Cold Brew Sipdown

It was ok but not my favourite. Thanks for sharing Roswell Strange!

I am getting a lot of orange and ginger. Surprisingly more orange than I anticipated and less mint. It’s okay but not my favourite. Still, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a lot of these Floragold blends so thank you “Roswell Strange* for sharing!!

Cold Brew Sipdown (321)

Breaking my lemon streak with a cold brew of this tea from Roswell Strange, thank you! It is tart, but nicely so, as I listen to an Administrative Law lecture and attempt to be somewhat studious.

There is no pie aspect but cherry is strong. It’s refreshing and if I were ordering from Floragold, I might grab this. Though it’s not earth shattering. Still makes for a nice cup though.

I had this one last night while playing Scattegories with my brother and sister. I wasn’t paying too much to the tea because I was focused on the game but I remember at one point thinking there was a whole lot of sour cherry and a whole lack of pie. Then I started to focus a bit more and there was something that was a touch buttery and pie-like. So it was Cherry Pie if you focused and I was happy enough with it. Thanks for sharing, Roswell Strange. Also, it seems I was significantly more focused on the game than my brother who at one point decided to write down all words starting with “F” despite the letter we were playing being “J”. Prior to that mishap, he was in the lead.

Another Floragold, another tea from Roswell Strange. Thank you!!

This is supposed to be black currant and raspberry. While I can sort of get whiffs of each, it falls a bit flat for me. The raspberry is coming through slightly and as a sweetness to counter the touch of medicinal from the black currant.

It’s not bad and the more I sit with it, I can say its a nice enough tea but it is not one I would need to keep stashed. I will enjoy the other tea bag Roswell gave me though.

All these Floragold teas are courtesy of Roswell Strange and last night I realized just how many are caffeine free. Obviously that is convenient for whipping up a super easy cup of tea later in the evening/at night. I planned on having this last night but instead ordered a late dinner.

The puffer they gave me for whatever I had last week seems to be messing with my tastebuds a bit but this is still very fruity, with a clear strawberry/kiwi vibe. I was worried since the best before date is December 2019 and rooibos/honeybush blends can come off a bit odd sometimes but there was no need to be worried here. Despite the best before date and the weird tastebuds, I am enjoying this one so thank you Roswell Strange for the share!

Oh no. Very no. Hibiscus overload. Maybe 10 minutes was way too much and maybe I knew that in my heart. Regardless, it’s cinnamon and hibiscus fruity and I picked it because it’s best before date was the last day in November. With that said, I don’t think that factored into the hibiscus overload that made the cup not that enjoyable. Thanks for sharing Roswell Strange but this was not for me.

This smelled like lotion when I brewed it which had me worried and while that’s faintly present in the cup, it’s not as strong as it is in the smell. It’s pineapple-y but not my favourite.

I thought I was finished getting through my Floragold sachets, but I found this one last straggled in the very back of my sachet drawer earlier this week – sneaky little bugger was somehow separated from the others!

I think I was actually more impressed with this one than Kittenna was – I agree that it seemed like the mouthfeel was a little thin, but the flavour was really nice. Had some malt and sweetness, but most interestingly also had a strong freshly baked French Bread note and a hint of raisin to it. I added some milk, and it stood up very well to the addition, without losing its defined malty sweetness!

I actually think this was one of the better Floragold samples overall.

Just a normal, no frills jasmine green tea – it’s fine, smooth enough. Jasmine is pretty strong; has a little bit of a grape-y taste to it. Only because jasmine tastes like grapes to me; not because there’s any grape in the tea…

Also! This is my last tea from Floragold – it was months of casual drinking in progress, but I made it through a TON of these tea! That’s pretty cool, in my books.

Rather mediocre cup of tea; it’s supposed to be raspberry and currant flavoured but it just tasted like some sort of really sweet, syrupy mixed berry profile with a hint of a medicinal edge/undertone. Not my favourite, for sure.

I mean, not much to say really since this tasted like tulsi, orange, and ginger. Very accurate blend; actually quite enjoyable too! I’m learning, as of late, that I really enjoy the combination of ginger and fruit – and ginger orange just felt especially refreshing to me!

Sipdown! 260/365!

Stressblocker… sounds like a good tea for me right now. The teabag smelled lemony and kind of a herbally sort of sweet, but not overly so; the herbally aroma predominates in the brewed cup, however. Likewise with the flavour – there are certainly lemony overtones, but it kind of tastes mostly like a herbally blend, which I can’t pick out specific ingredients from. But – something in here is bitter, like citrus pith. It lingers on the palate after swallowing, and I’m not the biggest fan of it.

I grabbed the packet to look at the ingredients, and this is a strange mix of ingredients! Mistletoe(?!), bean peels, birch leaves, lemongrass, nettle leaves, St. John’s wort, gingko leaves, flavouring. I’m not sure what is contributing the bitterness, but I’m unfamiliar with the majority of these ingredients, so who knows! Maybe I’ll be lucky and it will have some sort of stress-reducing effect, though.

Thanks for the share, Roswell Strange!

I… don’t remember anything about this tea at all. Oops.

Maybe Kittenna will be able to do a better judge summarizing the flavour!?

I think this is a FTGFTOP grade Darjeeling – it said on the overwrap for the sachet, but I can’t really remember definitively. Personally I found this was very underwhelming; not unpleasant to drink and I could probably drink a pot of it as one of those “mindless” type of teas during a Netflix binge or something similar since there were no off notes, but in general I found the taste dreadfully flat/dull.

Wasn’t sure if I’d like this one but surprisingly it’s been one of my favourite flavours from Floragold yet! The mouthfeel is very thick and creamy, and the coconut note in the blend really dominates the cup. It’s a fresh, creamy tasting coconut that marries really well with the natural sweet honey and graham notes of the rooibos. The profile was also a hint woody, also from the rooibos, and the ginger was mellow but contributed a nice warming spice note in the finish of the sip and back of the throat. Overall I thought this was very well balanced, and actually something I’d have an interest in getting in a larger quantity!