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Cold Brew Sipdown (1076)!

I should have snapped a photo of this brew, but I didn’t think to. There was so much small cut pieces of butterfly pea flower at the bottom of my bag of this, though, that it was the richest, most deeply blue infusion I’ve ever seen from a butterfly pea flower tea…

In terms of taste, it was nice! I actually don’t remember a lot about what I thought of this tea from the Battles of The Peaches – so that speaks I think to the memorability/uniqueness of the profile of this tea. I thought this was more blueberry forward, by quite a bit, but still had some nice peach to it. I’d be fascinated to know how much of that impression is unconsciously influenced by the colour of the tea. I like to think that I have a really good palate, and I’m actively aware of how colour can influence your perception of taste – but that doesn’t mean my monkey brain isn’t capable of still falling for that trick! Aside from the blueberry/peach, this is also pretty floral. Not surprised to have a floral note crop up given the presence of butterfly pea flower (and so much of it). It’s a weird kind of floral note – just a hint “musty”.

Happy to have sipped down a herbal tea sample – good tea overall, but not a wildly memorable one. There were better peach teas this summer.

It’s Matcha Monday!

I opted to finally try this matcha out for my morning pick, and now I’m bummed that I wanted so long. Hello, new favourite matcha! It’s such a warm, silky peaches & cream profile with rich buttery notes that immediately immerse you in the “Cobbler” flavour! The only thing it’s missing? A kiss of cinnamon! However, it really doesn’t need the cinnamon to be delicious – I just think it would compliment really well.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CERiPpqgC95/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvmoUh1ysGk

Thanks VariaTEA for coordinating this group order!

I dipped into this one late into the morning, and I liked it a lot. Compared to the other teas I’ve had today, this was much more subtle and delicate, but the gentle mineral notes complimented by soft spices (cinnamon) and floral stonefruit (plum skin and orchids) notes was entrancing and quite relaxing.

I can’t imagine that making this Western style was the best form of preparation, so I will try it Gongfu – but it was good this way! And I think the name is accurate.

Worked in office today – I’ve been having all my tea orders sent to the office even though I’ve been working from home mostly, it’s just still so much more convenient that way. So, I came in today to a package from the super lovely VariaTEA who coordinated group orders of both Dessert by Deb and Tea Runners and then sent teas from both my way – along with a few other samples I was excited to try from her cupboard…

As she talked about with her first notes for this company, they’ve kind of blown up in the instagram tea blogging world and because everyone else was excited about them that made me excited to try them too!

I tend to avoid coconut blends because of the stability issues with coconut, even though I often really love the flavour, and Deb seems to use a lot of coconut – but I picked some up anyway. It was the toffee element of this that drew me in the most – I dream of good toffee and caramel teas, but I’m so often disappointed because it’s such a tricky flavour to pull off in a tea. I have to say, I don’t think she’s nailed it here. However, with that said…

I did really enjoy the tea! While I didn’t get toffee, I was taken back to a more nostalgic flavour profile that I love and miss – and that’s DAVIDsTEA’s Buttered Rum black tea blend! I’m sure what made me think of it was the combination of that buttery/butterscotch flavour and coconut, since those were the non tea ingredients in Buttered Rum. The mouthfeel was a bit oily and the flavour slightly thin, but it still took me to a magical memory.

So I’m feeling quite positive about the blend overall!

Gongfu!

I was excited to see the super cool mountain shaped tuo make a return at BLT, after the initial white tea that was pressed into this form. I was even more excited when I saw it was pressed into a Jingmai sheng!

I had this one earlier in the week during a lunch break on a working from home day. I didn’t take a lot of notes because I had a limited amount of time for the session, but this is what I did note down…

So fragrant, floral, and sweet with notes of fresh honey, elderflowers, peony, and dewy Spring grass. Sticky and coating liquor; a great midday treat!!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEHq29xAmuF/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cit_qcfg7rU

Had this one yesterday while working out episode outlines for the podcast I’m working on; I drank a lot of tea while working on outlines because it helped keep me focused on the project. It’s been a while since I last had this one but I really enjoyed it! It was so thick and rich, with deeply nutty and SUPER creamy pistachio notes and smooth earthy pu’erh. What I enjoyed most about it was how distinctly nutty/pistachio tasting it was without tasting sweet either.

Soooo good!

As soon as I saw this on Arthur Dove’s site I knew I wanted it in my life.

It tastes quite delicious steeped up. The rose is, understandably, the most prominent flavour but it’s a sweet and weirdly juicy feeling rose that reminds me of rosewater turkish delight and jellybeans. It’s not the rose I would have expected from this tea, but I am very much feeling it. There are hints of chocolate and a marzipan like almond note and both compliment this sweeter and indulgent feeling floral tea. I had it hot and plain, but I could very easily see this making for a unique and delicious rose latte.

Cold Brew Sipdown (1041)!

I have not forgotten about the many teas I have acquired from Black Owned companies this summer; but in this massive influx of teas that I’ve had I also haven’t been able to cycle through everything as smoothly/efficiently as I wanted to.

This was pretty nice for what was a very simple blend though! The dry leaf smelled like the rich, chocolate “Rum Balls” that my mom makes around the holidays – so, boozy chocolate. Steeped, it’s very sweet and chocolate forwards which is of course what you would expect from a blend called Chocolate Truffles. It has a hint of a boozy chocolate liqueur/sweet rum note, and is also just a touch fruity.

Not something I’d reorder, but certainly a pleasant brew!

Got this last weekend when I went to NosThes for bubble tea with some friends; the same friends I always go out with for bubble tea! I decided to order something that I normally wouldn’t go for, and this is what I settled on.

I liked it a lot more than I expected to! You could very easily tell that it was made with fresh lemons and ginger – and a lot of ginger. Like, my first sip had me wanting to cough (but I stifled it, because Covid-19) because that ginger was INTENSE and pretty spicy/hot. However, it was also just so refreshing – like a lemonade crossed with a ginger beer and malty, floral tasting black tea. There were little bits of lemon pulp and ginger strands throughout too, which was a nice touch.

I’m glad I went outside of my comfort zone, but it was a surprising hit! Also way more refreshing feeling that something milk based would have been – it was so hot out that I definitely didn’t want to drink anything heavy feeling.

Grandpa Style!

I wouldn’t normally make Dahongpao grandpa style, but this past weekend I brought some of this to a friend in the city and I wanted to steep some outside in the park before meeting up. Grandpa Style was honestly just the most convenient way to do that…

It worked really well though because this was like drinking warm and toasty cinnamon pastry! I got those mineral/rocky notes and grilled nut elements but they just paled in comparison to the surprising taste of baked goods, cinnamon, and a hint of raisin. It just melted my heart.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CD7jT9TAkN6/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq1onNZ7jwE