3986 Tasting Notes
Breaking this one out for another Mastress Alita sipdown challenge themed day! Today is National Marzipan Day! I’m not a fan of marzipan-flavored teas, so I figured I would go with an almond tea instead.
This tastes just like it says – like a sweet and buttery almond cookie. I’m imagining a thin and crisp cookie, maybe with a slice of almond perched on top, like those Chinese almond cookies. There’s a creaminess here as well, it almost tastes as though I’ve added milk to my cup.
Still a scrumptious little dessert tea! It’s not quite on the same level as their Apple Cinnamon French Toast black tea, but yummy nonetheless.
Flavors: Almond, Butter, Cookie, Creamy, Milk, Smooth, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
Sipdown! (37)
Technically I have another package of this tea, but it still counts because I said so! ;)
This is a lovely sencha. I was getting a lot of sakura notes this time around, which was so relaxing… Ahh…
A nice combination of mellow vegetal spinach, floral, and light umami notes. My second steep got a little bitter, I was using a new (and cute!) little jade-colored teapot and I must not have drained it enough after the first steep.
I’m happy and thankful that I still have more of this gentle sencha to enjoy at a later date! ❤
Flavors: Bitter, Floral, Sakura, Seaweed, Smooth, Spinach, Umami, Vegetal
Preparation
Does anyone catch comments during a freeze? Not sure if I just shouldn’t bother commenting during a freeze. Anyway, Cameron’s note leads me to ask: do others count each individual packaging of a tea as a sipdown? Or only if you finish ALL the packagings of one type of tea?
Tea-sipper: I don’t catch comments during a freeze. I have to wait until it is un-frozen to go back through my (by then, very, very long notifications list. Which is usually upwards of 200 notices to go through by the time they’ve been getting around to fixing these “freezes” (but I do go back through them…)
It seems to me most people count individual packages. I, however, do not. I only count a sipdown once a tea completely leaves my inventory.
This is from my January Sips by box.
As yummy as the name sounds, I was really not excited for this one. I often have a difficult time with chocolate flavoring in tea, as it always tastes so waxy and artificial to me. But here we go…
Yeah, not a fan… The chocolate flavoring has an almost boozy quality to it, as well as tasting like cheap Easter chocolates. I’m not sure I can taste the cacao nibs or the coriander here, unfortunately. A pity, coriander sounded like such an interesting addition!
Flavors: Alcohol, Artificial, Chocolate, Sweet
Preparation
Sipdown! (36)
My old friend, we meet again… This was one of the first black teas that I remember really loving when I started seriously drinking tea several years back. Teavivre was the first place I remember exploring straight black teas, with help from the lovely boychik, Stephanie, and others. At one point I had a full tin of this tea, but I must have finished it. So it’s so fun to be able to revisit this tea now!
This is the quintessential sweet potato-y golden Yunnan tea. It’s malty, bready, and savory with a thick and satisfying texture that makes me feel as though I’ve just eaten a meal. Über smooth with nary a hint of bitterness or astringency, and an undercurrent of dark burnt brown sugar. Such lovely little apricot notes poke their heads out at the end!
Feeling so thankful as I sip on this to have such fond memories of old tea friends and new ones alike! The tea community in general is so welcoming and kind and wonderful, and I’m just happy to be a part of it. ❤
Flavors: Apricot, Bread, Brown Sugar, Burnt Sugar, Malt, Smooth, Stonefruit, Sweet Potatoes
Preparation
Matcha Monday!
I’m almost out of flavored matcha to sip down, so I figured I would break into the straight matcha this morning! I bought this one at Ippodo in Kyoto in November of 2019. So it’s a bit older, and I won’t judge it too harshly…
It has a beautiful vibrant dark green color and bright green foam. The taste is very powerful, with an emphasis on sharp grassiness and deep green seaweed-like umami notes. Up front is a strong and slightly bitter greens/grass note, which then transitions to an umami-filled marine flavor, followed by a gentle sweetness and nuttiness and, in the aftertaste, a light floral note and clear fruitiness that reminds me of green grapes or starfruit. Maybe a bit of green apple as well?
Definitely still has plenty of flavor left! Whether this is the original flavor, who knows? I enjoyed my cup and was very impressed by how long the matcha remained suspended, even though I was distracted by a work call and pugs.
Flavors: Bitter, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Grain, Grass, Green, Green Apple, Lettuce, Marine, Nuts, Seaweed, Sweet, Umami, White Grapes
Preparation
Sipdown! (35)
This was from my Sips by January box. I used the whole packet (about a tablespoon) for my 12-ounce mug because I find fruit tisanes to be quite weak if not overleafed… So easy sipdown, yay!
It’s quite sweet, though that’s probably partially due to my overleafing. The flavor is mostly sweet and tart apple. There’s a lovely warming cinnamon note as well. It’s nice to have a fruit tisane without hibiscus in it, not that I hate hibiscus, but it’s a nice change to not have it here.
It’s a very simple flavor for sure, just apple and cinnamon, and the apple leaves an acidic aftertaste in my throat that I could do without. And the sweetness is a bit too much for me. I’m not really getting anything cakey here, which is a shame. But it’s definitely pleasant (albeit sweet) cuppa to sip on before bed!
Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Sugar, Sweet, Tart
Preparation
So after finishing one of my oldest teas the other day, this one got moved into the box in its place. It’s almost a whole tin, and as any of you who have Kusmi tins know, they’re big – like 125 grams or something. And that’s a rather daunting amount to sip down, so I figured I’d try cold brewing it to make it go faster. I used about 20g for a liter of water and let it steep for several hours, until the color looked dark enough. It’s essentially a Moroccan mint tea, so I added a spoonful of honey too. I think normally it’s made with sugar, but I like the combination of mint and honey!
It’s quite tasty! The spearmint is very gum-like, but makes for a very refreshing cold tea. The gunpowder base is quite mild steeped this way, but still creates a nice earthy base for the mint. And the amount of honey sweetness is perfect!
Very pleased with how this came out, I can definitely see myself finishing off the tin this way! :3
Flavors: Earth, Mint, Spearmint, Sweet
Preparation
This is one of a few opened Deb packets that I moved into my small packets section on the countertop. I have so many of her teas and I never drink them! So I figured I would fix that by moving some where I could easily see them.
I have mixed feelings about this one… I really like the flavors going on, it’s perfectly cinnamon bun with a hint of apple. I can just imagine the glorious apple cinnamon-filled spirals, fresh out of the oven… Yum.
But it’s also a bit too sweet for me. Almost all of Deb’s teas have maple crystals or brown sugar or both, but this one just has a little too much IMO. Maybe that’s because it helps to sell the idea of caramel?
Anyway, it’s delicious and I’ll have no trouble finishing off my 25g packet, but it’s not one I would reorder.
Flavors: Apple, Brown Sugar, Butter, Cinnamon, Pastries, Sweet
Preparation
This is from the December subscription box! It’s one of the teas I was most excited to try, because I love kukicha and citrus teas.
It’s quite good. The kukicha has a lovely gentle creamy vegetal flavor with a touch of roasted grain. The grapefruit is the strongest citrus note for me, followed by lime, lemon, and sweet orange. There’s a pleasant touch of piney-ness at the end of the sip, either from the green tea or the grapefruit.
I’m enjoying my cup of this. But reading the description, I see that this was first intended to be a lemon-lime meringue kukicha but was modified. I will say, I think that meringue/cream element and a little bit more sweetness or creaminess would make this even better. Like a mixed citrus cream pie!
Flavors: Citrus, Grain, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Roasted, Smooth, Spinach, Sweet, Vegetal
Preparation
Sipdown! (34)
There were four teabags of this in my January Sips by box. Hopefully since I changed my tastes preferences, they won’t give me chai every month anymore…
I drank the first two bags earlier today and figured I would just finish the remaining ones off tonight in one of my recently purchased larger teacups. In the cup earlier I didn’t notice much bitterness, but I am getting some in this cup. I don’t think it’s coming from the tea, likely from the moringa as it has a slightly different bitter flavor. I am getting a tinge of algae-like green flavor as well, which I assume is also from the moringa.
Otherwise, it’s a relatively mild and generic chai with notes of clove, cardamom, and cinnamon, and a hint of black pepper warmth. It would be nice enough, but the moringa bitterness is sort of ruining this cup for me.
Flavors: Bitter, Black Pepper, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Seaweed, Vegetal
I remember loving this one!