Pluck

This is a queued tasting note.

Sipdown (138)!

Finished as a cold brew with a bit of vodka. Not a lot; but just enough to make finishing this rather lackluster cold brew worth while. I say lack luster because the off, semi tart apple notes and abundance of rosehip flavour dusted with cinnamon really just didn’t do it for me. It’s just another “Forever Nuts” type of tea, and not a super solid one.

Revisiting this tea, I’m finding my initial observations are still ringing true. Tonight, I’m really tasting the cinnamon chips. I pulled this out because I was craving tart apple flavour but now that I’m getting that flavour, along with the cinnamon, it’s not that satisfying. I left it long enough that it went cold; and while it still wasn’t satisfying it was better that way.

In other news…

Anyone else really into Hamilton right now? After hearing enough friends praise it so highly, I took the time to introduce myself to it today. I’ve gone through the soundtrack once now, and am currently on my second listen through. Enjoying it a lot, so far. I totally understand why it’s cleaned up in regard to awards and award nominations. It’s truly unique…

Impulse purchase!

I was having a bad day on Sunday, so I took a trip to Chapters with Trey because what could possibly make me feel better than books? Well, turns out the answer is tea. How could I have forgotten that Chapters carries a pretty good selection of tea!? I didn’t have a lot of cash on me ‘cause I was trying to be fiscally responsible, so even though I wanted to drop like $50 on Republic of Tea’s whole iced collection I only grabbed a little pouch of this tea. At the time it seemed the most interesting of Pluck’s selection.

Cold brewed it up today; it’s certainly not bad but it’s not exactly the most satisfying/overwhelming tea either. Frankly, it reminds me a lot of DAVIDsTEA’s Forever Nuts blend and all associated ‘clone blends’. Though, this does differentiate itself ‘cause it’s a lot more tart than Forever Nuts. That’d be because this specifically uses Granny Smith apples and lets face it, those are some pretty tart apples. But it’s not a big enough of a difference to really set itself apart. I’ll enjoy finishing off the pouch, but probably not in a rush: those Forever Nuts type blends are really nice in the fall but not as much in the summer…

Another tea that I recently brought home from work, this one because they were discontinuing it so I got it for a very nice discount. I’m not normally a big lapsang fan so I probably wouldn’t have paid full-price for it just as a matter of principle. It does smell very camp fire-y though I can pick up a bit of sweet maple in there too. The flavour is quite smokey and, while the black tea base is quite smooth, unfortunately I can’t taste all that much maple flavour. Next time I’ll try adding milk or agave nectar to see if that brings it out a little bit more.

I am that fortunate individual with whom MissB shared this desserty blend. I am always on the hunt for good chocolate mint blends, and especially a tasty chocolate mint rooibos/honeybush blend since I love Zen Tea’s but they got rid of a lot of other blends I like, making an order from there not as worthwhile anymore.

This would have to be my second favourite chocolate mint rooibos blend. They were rather generous with the peppermint leaves which is probably why this one comes closest to Zen’s (which is loaded with peppermint leaves). The cacao bean pieces in here also sets this apart from other blends. Sure, the rooibos blend is a little too woody and prominent for my liking, but still, in comparison to others, such as DAVIDsTEA’s, the chocolate mint flavouring is at least more prominent than the base itself.

Thank yo so much to MissB for passing down a ridiculously generous amount of this!

This is a weird ass tea. It smells really strange (like… dried apples and… something weird I can’t place), it’s ridiculously, painfully sweet (added stevia, didn’t know this beforehand), and, well.. it’s more like candied apple. I normally love ginger, apples, etc. but this just.. no, no thank you.

I know I’ve had this, I know I’ve reviewed it, and yet…. nada. I remember as being not so much like an after eight (mint chocolate) and more like, well, rooibos. Dunno any more though, it’s been so long, and I shared it with someone else. Ah well, hope they love it!

Definite smoky flavor, reminds me of smoked ham almost. The smoke flavor is strong, putting me off at first,but it does sort of bring you to a memory of a campfire. I would like to try it in a latte, to dim the smoky flavor. I

Sipdown. The icewine flavour has faded a bit since I got this tea – but it’s been awhile so fair enough. It’s a shame that Pluck seems to have discontinued this tea – it isn’t on their webpage and we haven’t stocked it in the store for awhile.

I’d never heard of Pluck Teas until we started selling it at the Chapters bookstore where I work. We only sell five blends although apparently the company makes quite a few more. I acquired this one when I was receiving a box of teas and accidentally cut too deeply with my utility knife, slicing the top pouch open. My boss knows I Iove tea, so she just wrote it off and gave it to me.

This white tea is a bit – twiggy I guess, lots of little bits of stems, although there’s plenty of nice, whole leaves too. The icewine flavour is quite distinct, a slightly boozy fruity grape flavour – it actually verges on being a bit too much, so I don’t think I’d steep this tea longer. Altogether I quite enjoyed it – maybe I’ll see if I can’t ‘accidentally’ acquire more Pluck teas from work. ;)