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From StarFevre — thanks so much!  I had it a few days ago. Since it’s iced, I steeped it my usual method with taking out a teaspoon and brewing it like a normal green. This green tea is shreadedly SMALL.  It’s like the CTC of green teas here (which I was aware of, this is intended to be iced tea.)  I was expecting it to be very bitter.  But waiting for much cooler water and steeping very quickly, this flavor is fine. This STILL has some berry flavor which I can appreciate.  Very good! 
2020 sipdowns:  51 (52Teas – Mango Pineapple Habanero)

Additional notes:  So I did end up stocking up on a tin of this with my reward points a while ago. This is just dreamy on a hot summer day.  Caffeine kick with lovely lingering flavors of violet and roses.   Reading outside, I feel like Alice waiting to fall into Wonderland… or at the mad tea party with all this crazy news lately.  But trying to enjoy my day while ignoring the news.   Please everyone stay safe for this fourth of July weekend.  I wish the best for all of you!

Edited to add: the second steep is just as flavorful. It’s really the perfect mix of florals and base of black tea. It might be my favorite floral black tea! Even cold, delicious.

A full pouch from StarFevre!  Thank you!  I don’t know about bacon in teas, but I’m a huge fan of pineapple with ham, so I guess I can give pineapple bacon a try.  Luckily, this is old, so I can hardly taste anything related to bacon.  It has only a hint of pineapple fruitiness with tons of woody flavor from the rooibos.  So I’m not sure if I would like this better as it is now or fresher.  But this is drinkable! 

I was drinking this one a couple days ago in the hopes we get a monsoon in this drought.  Only a bit of rain for a while!  The scent of the dry leaves is VERY unique — first, a hint of mint, then something like very dry drought hay, then spices like you might find in a pizza… basil!  The dry leaves are huge and dusty looking.  The aroma of the steeped basket of leaves is very much like tomato soup.  Taking the first sips, it is almost like the flavor of Premium Taiwanese Assam, like sweet caramelized strawberries (now that I think of it, the leaves have a similar appearance as well).  BUT then mysteriously, the tea completely changes and it tastes very much like basil.  I would have guessed there was actual basil, but there is nothing in this medium bodied plain black tea.  This is like the everlasting gobstopper of teas, but with the dessert first.  Sadly, I probably overdid it on the second steep and it tasted more like a traditional astringent black tea.  Boiling is not the way to go with this one.  I wouldn’t steep the second steep like that again, but I REALLY enjoyed that first steep.
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 29 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 2 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep
2020 Sipdowns: 50 English Tea Store – Lime Gelato ( Love hitting 50 sipdowns almost in the middle of the year, when my goal is 100 for the year!)

From Meowster!   Thank you so much!  No Steepster notes for this one.  It is a very tightly rolled dark oolong.  It’s unexpected because I thought Tie Guan Yin is usually much greener… or at least they might include “roasted” in the name.  As is usual with a roasted oolong, the roast is really the only flavor I’m tasting, though the first cup does have a significant cream/creamy flavor and texture.  I’m glad for the cream note, but by the second and third steeps, it mostly disappears until I’m drinking the remainder of the cup cooled the next morning.  The cream is back.  One thing is this never gets bitey, so that is nice!   But I’m really not a roasted oolong fan.  I’m glad there is only a little bit of this left, but it’s certainly fine to brew this up if I’m craving a roasted oolong ONCE in a while.
Steep #1  // 1 1/3 teaspoons for full mug // 29 minutes after boiling  // rinse // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 12 minutes after boiling //  2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 2 minutes after boiling // 3 min
2020 Sipdowns: 49 (ONE pouch of JusTea – Kenyan Black + Bird & Blend’s Milk & Honey)

Thanks so much, derk!  Another confusing oolong for me!  What is wrong with me and oolongs lately. sigh. I will try my best. The name is lovely, and I’m very glad to have another Jun Chiyabari cross my path!  It’s interesting that it is a mix of Japanese and Taiwanese tea cultivars.  If I had to guess, I would say it tastes like a Japanese green… kind of marine like at times, which is not at all what I expect from Jun Chiyabari.  Otherwise, light, buttery, sweet, creamy.  The leaves after the rinse had an amazing fragrance… almost the scent of a Premium Taiwanese Assam which almost makes sense since the leaves are partly from Taiwan.   I really wish the tea had tasted more like the rinsed leaves.  The later rinsed leaves had more of a marine scent.  So maybe I should have went with much shorter steeps.   I will try the remaining leaves soon…
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 21 minutes after boiling  // rinse // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 25 minutes after boiling //  2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 16 minutes after boiling //  1 1/2 min
2020 Sipdowns – 47 (Teavivre – Paris Champs)

Another from StarFevre!  THANKS SO MUCH!  I’m now not surprised at all by the 85 Steepster rating here (edited to add: and my rating just kicked it up to 86). I did take some of this out of the big teabag and steep this hot, wrapping up the rest of the teabag for later.  I always wanted to try this and it is still sososo sherbety!  And I’m very glad.  I love it — very distinctly exactly like sherbet.  Equal parts – lime, orange, and raspberry. Yum yum yum.  It is fantastic on this hot day with this rich CTC black tea.  How could it have been even better when it was fresh? Wow.  A second steep tomorrow…  I will be very sad when this is gone. 
Steep #1 // 4 minutes after boiling // 40 second steep
Steep #2 // 2 min after boiling // 2 minute steep

The last to review from the samples from Octavia.  THANKS SO MUCH! No steepster ratings yet for this one.   A hint of scarlet to these big black leaves from Jun Chiyabari.  The aroma of the dry leaves is rich, malty, sweet, roasted.  The flavor is more for cold weather to my tastes, rather than this scorcher of a day.  But it’s still very tasty.  I feel I’ve had this sort of flavor profile before with only a couple teas (probably a tea or two from Teavivre?) , though it’s tough to describe it’s very distinct in my memory for this type of tea.  The flavor becomes even more lip smackingly thicker in the second cup.  It’s perfect brewed this way on the second steep.  It’s malty, sweet, possibly like roasted squash, very roasted flavor anyway, and I’m not sure the leaf is roasted at all.  Like caramel corn or something.   It’s a very satisfying cup – thick and syrupy mouthfeel with lingering starchiness.  I definitely recommend this if you’re looking for any roasty sweet black teas.
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 21 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 2 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep

Additional notes: SAD sipdown. This is delish. Creamy lime on brisk black tea. Tea Haus doesn’t have it anymore. I asked TeaGschwender who also sells it if they were getting it in stock and then they added all their summer teas to the site… so ask and you shall receive. HOWEVER the price is $12+ for 100 grams which is way more than their international site… so I don’t know if I’m in love with this tea THAT much. But it really held up in the thin sample baggie they put it in and I’m sure it was old. Maybe another tea shop is sourcing it under a different name? Anyone know who else has TeaGschwendner/ Ann Arbor Tea Haus teas?
2020 Sipdowns: 46

Another from StarFevre!  Thanks again!  Sadly no tasting notes on Steepster for this one.  It’s pleasant enough for being so old.  The black tea is on the tiny side – probably Ceylon, but it has the flavor and dryness of something like Darjeeling mixed with Ceylon, and Darjeeling sounds dreamy enough paired with raspberry.  There is still some remaining flavor here, raspberry but on the side of tasting slightly like hibiscus.  The second steep is a bit too brisk, but the flavor isn’t faded from the first steep which is what I expected.  I bet it was really great when it was fresh.  As it is now, I really just want to drink it right down.  If I had to compare it to a tea, I’d say Bird & Blend’s Mrs. Claus’ Raspberry Prosecco.  I don’t think this tea shop is around anymore.  I don’t think I’d ever heard of  this shop before StarFevre generously sent over a couple of their blends. I don’t think much of Steepster heard of them either.  A shame.    I hope everyone is staying safe!  Just because it’s summer, doesn’t mean Covid went away (which I’m sure none of you lovely Steepster people need to hear it from me…but I must throw it out there anyway. Trump is going to make so many people sick for the simple fact he has never worn a freakin face mask… why why why ((vanity)) )
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 3 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep