4378 Tasting Notes

88

I was inspired by the lovely and wise VariaTEA to figure out which of my teas are the oldest and sip them down. So I went back through all of my tea purchase emails and order histories and added all of the data to my spreadsheet (also a recent thing). Added a filter view for oldest teas and put the first five into a separate sipdown box to work on!

This happens to be the oldest tea in my cupboard, and it’s from December of 2016! Not only am I slightly embarrassed by that, but also shocked that this still has this much flavor left! I still love this tea, it has such a nice tart cherry flavor that reminds me of the dried cherries I love to eat with cheese and olives. There are pops of other red fruits as well, notably raspberry, and a hint of sakura. Apparently there is blackcurrant here as well, which makes total sense as it does have a dark syrupy note to it.

I have a good amount of this left, so I’ll likely be working on it for a little while. But it’s nice to have such an old favorite in the sipdown box! ❤

Flavors: Black Currant, Cherry, Earth, Raspberry, Sakura, Smooth, Tart, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Courtney

Spreadsheets are the best. Also, I’m so excited to try this one!

Cameron B.

I also love spreadsheets, my husband always makes fun of me when I make them for video games… XD

Sorry it’s so old, definitely past its prime. Still yummy though!

Courtney

That’s a-okay, I’m just happy to try it! Hahah, I have spreadsheets or lists for everything — they’re just so handy!

Dustin

I’m impressed with your spreadsheet dedication and organization! I’d love to do that, but it seems like a really big project.

Cameron B.

It wasn’t so bad! And I have over 350 teas… ;)

Mastress Alita

I don’t keep my old order e-mails around, but I do have a tea spreadsheet and when I add new teas onto it, I put in the Date field the month and year I received said tea. I am still working on sipping down my 2017 teas but after this year there aren’t very many of them left!

Cameron B.

I generally archive all of my emails unless it’s actually spam, then it gets deleted. So everything is still there from a few years ago!

I have 4 teas from 2016 and then it’s on to the 18 from 2017! x.x

Mastress Alita

Most of my 2017 teas have been 50g bags, so the fact I’ve worked through as many as I have so far is still quite an accomplishment for me!

VariaTEA

I found making my spreadsheet relaxing. It allowed me to rediscover teas I forgot about and inventory everything so that I knew what was going on. Hopefully it helps you get your sipdowns in too.

Cameron B.

I’ve done a pretty good job of sipping down smaller packages, so I’m sure most of mine will be 50+ grams (originally) as well unfortunately.

tea-sipper

I just use Steepster and shuffle by recent to tell me what is the oldest. I like your idea of putting the 5 oldest in a sipdown box! I might put my 10-15 oldest in a sipdown box….

Cameron B.

Yeah that works too, my issue is I emptied my cupboard and redid it at least once so that metric isn’t accurate for older teas. :P

Mastress Alita

I don’t even use the Steepster cupboard for “inventory”. It doesn’t have the kind of sorting features I’m really after. I exclusively use my spreadsheet (which is linked on my Profile and public!) and yet I would still get “requests” for things “in my Cupboard on Steepster.”

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85

The first one from my December Sips by box! This is both the one I was most excited about and the most festive with the apple and cinnamon flavors. The dry leaf was quite dusty and fine, so I only steeped it for 2 minutes. I’m never sure what temperature to go with for green maté, and their website was not helpful, so I used a green tea temperature.

I really like this! This might be the closest to a straight yerba maté that I’ve ever had – the maté itself is front and center. It has such lovely soft and sweet hay and dry grass notes to it, and a mellow earthy herbal-ness that I find really comforting. It’s like somewhere between a white tea and a linden or verbena tisane. The apple is mild but fresh and crisp – it complements the base well. It tastes like a tart apple to me. There’s also just a whisper of sweet cinnamon adding some warmth.

I noticed “coconut sweetener” in the ingredients, but happily I’m not getting a lot of sweetness here. We’ll see how that changes as I get to bottom of the little bag… XD

Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Dry Grass, Earth, Grain, Green Apple, Hay, Herbaceous, Oats, Smooth, Sweet, Tart

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Mastress Alita

This really interests me! I usually find yerba mate tasting very “gunpowder green” like, smokey/ashy or even cannabis-esque and I hate that note. But grass/hay with apple cinnamon sounds very nice.

Cameron B.

I’d be happy to send you some! With your Jaffa Cakes, ha ha!

Mastress Alita

Haha! I wouldn’t turn it down, but at least wait until shipping isn’t crazy. No rush. :-) I appreciate the offer, though! (I’m drinking from that Mulled Wine Magic stash you sent me tonight, many thanks for that! It continues to hit the spot.)

Cameron B.

I’ll be sure to save it for you then!

Nichole/CuppaGeek

You seem to get awesome picks from Sipsby. I’ve tried them a few different times for pretty long spans and always end up disappointed by what they send me. Maybe I’m too picky :)

Cameron B.

Alita, I saw Mulled Wine Magic on clearance on T2’s site if you need a restock!

Cameron B.

Nichole, this is my second month of subscription since I came back, and I’ve been fairly pleased. Although I wonder if I should take chai out of my preferences, because they sent me a plain masala chai in both boxes…

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drank Only Spices by Kusmi Tea
4378 tasting notes

Kusmi Advent Calendar – Day 23

Holy crap, Dustin wasn’t kidding, this is only licorice!

It’s a combination of fennel and licorice root. Not gonna lie, the fennel is really reminding me of Italian sausage right now… Which is kind of an odd connotation to have with a tea. The licorice root comes in at the end with a big wallop of sweet anise flavor.

I do like licorice, but the beginning of the sip feels a little empty and I can’t stop thinking about sausage… Hmm…

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJJTedoAugd/)

Flavors: Anise, Fennel, Licorice, Powdered Sugar, Sweet

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML

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72
drank Combray by August Uncommon Tea
4378 tasting notes

Sipdown! And the last one from my November Sips by box.

This one is fairly good. I like the combination of the cardamom with the custardy vanilla, it almost reminds me of eggnog in a way. But the vanilla can veer a tad bit artificial and cloying, and I feel like the base tea is just wrong for these flavors. It’s sort of harsh and grassy with a definite minerality to it, which conflicts with the creaminess of the vanilla. A softer base would be better, maybe a nuttier green tea or even an oolong.

It’s good, but with limitations that hold it back from greatness!

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Cardamom, Cream, Custard, Grass, Mineral, Sweet, Vanilla

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 14 OZ / 414 ML
Courtney

Look at you go! All the November sipdowns!

Cameron B.

Would have been nicer if I’d finished them in November, hah. Now I still have all of the December ones to get through… :P

Dustin

You’ll have time to catch up once advent season is over!

Cameron B.

True that!

Lexie Aleah

I also liked this one but wished it was paired with a better base tea.

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68

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 23

Ooh, another linzer tea! I have the one from Dessert by Deb, so it’ll be interesting to compare. I’m not sure I understand the mix of bases here, but I steeped it like a black tea.

Hmm, well I do get cookie from this, and it has a nice buttery sweetness to it. A hint of raspberry in the background maybe? And there’s a teeny bit of sweet cinnamon as well.

It’s a bit thin overall, though. I don’t really get the black tea here, as I can’t taste it at all. Why not just make it a honeybush/rooibos blend? That being said, I’m not really getting much flavor from those two either here. I expect the honeybush is contributing to the cookie-ness, though.

It’s very drinkable and went down quickly, but the flavor and the base are both too light overall, and it comes out tasting a bit bland. Also, needs more raspberry!

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJJTedoAugd/)

Flavors: Butter, Cinnamon, Cookie, Raspberry, Smooth, Sweet, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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drank Bubble Gum Matcha by DAVIDsTEA
4378 tasting notes

DAVIDsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 23

Oh, boy… This is the one that everyone in the Instagram chat group has been dreading. I don’t hate bubblegum, but am still not thrilled for this flavor. But thinking about how I would enjoy it most, I thought of Ramuné, which to me has a sort of bubble gum-esque flavor. And I happen to have some lemon lime sparkling water in my fridge, so I decided on tea pop! I mixed the matcha with an ounce or so of warm water, then poured over ice and topped with the sparkling water.

I wish I would’ve checked the tea entry before I decided on this, as it turns out this isn’t actually bubble gum flavored… It has apple, pineapple, and vanilla flavors instead.

So it doesn’t really taste like Ramuné. From the matcha I’m mostly getting an artificial chalky note and hints of grass and bitterness. It does seem candylike, but not like bubblegum unfortunately. Harrumph! At least the sparkling water is yummy…

On to happier, jam-filled times! Today it’s Mandarin Spread. Now me and marmalade don’t really see eye-to-eye, so I can’t say I’m stoked about this one… It has quite a bit of bitterness from the peel, which is my main issue with this type of jam. The mandarin flavor is bright and zesty though, and it does taste very similar to clementines, which is the mandarin variety that I eat most often. Still not a favorite though, due to the bitter peel…

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJJTedoAugd/)

Flavors: Artificial, Bitter, Candy, Grass, Powdered Sugar, Sugar, Sweet

Preparation
Iced 3 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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80
drank Gokujo Hojicha by Ippodo Tea
4378 tasting notes

I really don’t drink enough Japanese teas. And I feel bad about it, because I get a lovely package of fresh teas from Obubu every quarter, and I’m just not in the habit of drinking them. So once I’m done with advent teas in a couple of days, I’d really like to try to drink a Japanese tea every day, or at least a few times a week. So I chose this hojicha as my last tea of the night in the spirit of that idea! I also bought this particular tea in Kyoto, and had a lovely cuppa in their little tea room. So it brings back nice memories as well.

Going with lazy Western-style in a mug since I’m not going to drag out the kyūsu at 11 PM… I sort of winged the parameters, and the result is delicious. This has a fairly dark color, both in the leaf and the steeped tea, but a surprisingly mellow flavor. Very smooth with notes of light roast coffee and toast, and plenty of the usual autumn leaf and wet wood. Because it’s mellow there’s just a little hint of soft smoke in the background. But my favorite thing about this tea is the lingering clear sweetness that appears at the end of the sip…

Such a perfect tea for a cozy evening, and I slurped down every last drop… :D

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Coffee, Mineral, Roasted, Smoke, Smooth, Sweet, Toast, Wet Wood

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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60

Sipdown!

Yay, this was the last one from my October subscription box! Now I can start on the November teas! \o/

This one is just okay for me. It actually reminds me more of a dry hard cider than the usual nonalcoholic kind? There’s something that feels effervescent about it, and it’s not really sweet. I don’t get caramel either, aside from the subtle natural notes of the rooibos itself. There’s also a weird banana flavor? Which obviously seems out of place.

It’s a bit odd, but not unpleasant. There were definitely others that I liked better from this month!

Flavors: Apple, Banana, Kalamata Olives, White Wine, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 14 OZ / 414 ML
Courtney

Sipdown for the win!

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68

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 22

Hmm, another one that seems suspiciously close to an Adagio advent tea that I already had. Not that I’m complaining, it’s nice to see something other than a black tea or herbal from this calendar. My sample was huge, so I had to get out a bigger mug… XD

It’s not bad. It does taste like it has flavoring to me, which isn’t listed in the ingredients. Mostly I get soft ginger, cardamom, and clove with a little bit of coconut added in. The lemongrass comes out toward the end of the sip as well. I can taste the white tea just a tiny bit in the background, and it does add a nice body.

It’s inoffensive, not something I would ever order but pleasant enough to have one cup of.

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJG5NvpANyn/)

Flavors: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Coconut, Ginger, Hay, Lemongrass, Smooth, Sweet

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 14 OZ / 414 ML

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85
drank Tropical White by Kusmi Tea
4378 tasting notes

Kusmi Advent Calendar – Day 22

I assume this is the same as the Mango-Passion Fruit white tea from Løv Organic, which I remember enjoying. I still have a couple of unopened boxes of sachets of the Peach-Blackcurrant version that was my favorite of the three. But I’m glad one of them made the transition to Kusmi! The aroma is a nice mix of passion fruit and mango, with the former dominating.

Yummy, this is quite good. I’m pleasantly surprised that I can taste the white base quite clearly, as the aroma was very strong on the flavoring. It’s a generic bai mudan with soft and mellow hay and grain notes and a hint of mustiness. There’s an unexpected minerality to it, and looking at the ingredients, I think it’s the green tea. The flavoring is very juicy and authentic, and I think I get the passion fruit more at the beginning of the sip, while the end reminds me of biting into a fresh mango. There’s a light creaminess in the aftertaste that reminds me of mango lassi, and a whisper of floral.

I like this one! I think I could do without the green tea, but that’s a minor criticism. I’m not sure I need this one in my cupboard however, just because I already have both passion fruit and mango teas that I really love…

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJG5NvpANyn/)

Flavors: Creamy, Earth, Floral, Grain, Hay, Mango, Mineral, Musty, Nectar, Passion Fruit, Sweet, Tropical

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Profile

Bio

Hi, I’m Cameron!

I’m a 30-something software engineer currently living in Austin, Texas with my husband and our two pugs, Gobo and Ume. I tend to cycle between my different hobbies, and they include piano, knitting, video games, board games, miniature painting, planners, bento, Korean skincare, and – of course – TEA! But really, what I’m best at is “collecting” hobby-related things… ;)

~ 2025 SIPDOWN CHALLENGE! ~
- July sipdowns: 4
- Total 2025 sipdowns: 107

I prefer my tea lukewarm or at room temperature and without milk or sugar. I steep Western style, and fluctuate between using big mugs or small teapots depending on the season.

I am always up for a swap! Just let me know if you’d like to try something in my cupboard.

Tea Preferences:
I enjoy both flavored and unflavored teas in many forms. These days, I drink mostly flavored teas, and I tend to gravitate most toward black, green, oolong, and herbal varieties. I do have a special fondness for straight Japanese green teas, however.

I do not sweeten my teas, and pre-sweetened teas are usually too sweet for me. I also do not enjoy stevia (or monkfruit, etc.).

I tend to reach for fruitier flavors rather than desserty ones these days, but I do have favorites from both categories. Willing to try anything once! There are a few ingredients/flavors that aren’t generally my jam, such as coconut, rose, lavender, and chocolate flavoring. But I also have teas that I love with some of those things, too! :)

Favorite Companies:
3 Leaf
Bird & Blend
Dammann Frères
Harney & Sons
Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms
Lupicia
Old Barrel Tea Co
Simpson & Vail
Taiwan Tea Crafts
TeaVivre

Tea Rating Scale:
90-100: Outstanding! Permanent cupboard resident
80-89: Great – a possible staple
70-79: Good, but I wouldn’t buy it
60-69: It’s decent
50-59: Meh… I may or may not have finished the cup
40-49: Ick. Couldn’t finish it.
00-39: Repulsive, I spat it out

I will sometimes refrain from rating a tea if I feel I’m too biased due to my personal dislikes, or if I suspect the sample has been compromised by age or scent contamination.

Cupboard Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZEuKf1-ppR-VXajO4vV39zU1N3zjFJteEPAynqD2yl0/edit?usp=sharing

Location

Austin, Texas

Website

https://www.instagram.com/tea...

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