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Sipdown! (9 | 22)

Cold steeped. Honestly, it’s a bit bland? I was surprised given it’s a hibiscus-heavy tisane. It doesn’t really have a strong berry presence either. It’s an interesting looking blend, with elderberries being the first ingredient. I guess they must not be contributing much in the way of flavor though.

Anyway, they can’t all be winners! Happily, there are other berry-hibiscus tisanes that I like more.

Of course, I had to get all of the maple teas I could find from Murchie’s, because maple is delicious. :P

This is basically a maple-flavored black tea. The description mentions fruit because there are a couple of apple and cranberry bits sprinkled in, but they’re certainly not contributing anything to the flavor. The maple is the same as their Canada 150 blend – buttery, creamy, and sweet without being too cloying. Reminds me a bit of that maple & brown sugar instant oatmeal, actually. The black tea is quite light actually, and I don’t get much in the way of astringency, despite Ceylon being in the mix. I taste more of the woody/earthy notes of the Keemun, which is nice.

It’s honestly not that different from Canada 150, given how light the body is. Both are enjoyable though, very tasty maple flavor!

I love fig, so when I saw Compagnie & Co offers an oxidized oolong with fig, I couldn’t resist. There are even fig pieces mixed in!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite live up to my expectations. It does have a syrupy dried fruit sort of note to it, but it doesn’t taste specifically of fig to me. It’s in the ballpark, but reminds me more of perhaps golden raisin or even dried apricot. There’s also a sort of floral note to the flavor that I don’t love. The oolong itself is nice enough, smooth and woody without being too roasty or strong. Perhaps next time I’ll try more tea with a shorter steep to see if I can get more of the flavoring to peek through…

This one is a bit strange…

It’s their version of a pumpkin spice black tea, but it’s very savory? I definitely get pumpkin, and also specifically pumpkin seed (which makes sense given there are pumpkin seeds in it). Very squashy overall with no sweetness whatsoever, and no discernable spices.

It’s not bad, per se. It’s just not what I was expecting from “pumpkin & spice flavors”, and it’s a bit odd to have a tea that kind of tastes like a pumpkin soup ha ha. Probably going to put this into my rehoming box, maybe someone else will enjoy it.

So this is one of several green-black blends that I ordered from Murchie’s – they seem to specialize in them so I figured I would try a few. This seems the most straightforward, just a blend of Ceylon and Keemun black teas with gunpowder and jasmine greens.

Steeped up, it looks like a black tea but tastes more like a green one. The jasmine is surprisingly subtle, just a whisper in the background. I actually taste the gunpowder the most – it has a strong earthy, mineral flavor that winds up in the forefront, potentially bolstered by the Keemun. Ceylon show itself in the finish, with its metallic, acidic character.

Overall, not sure about this one. I feel like the balance is a bit off for my tastes, I would prefer more jasmine and less gunpowder. There is also a noticeable astringency even though I only steeped it for 2 minutes, but perhaps that’s just a result of it being a teabag with very broken leaf. I’m hoping to be more enthused by some of the other green-black blends that have bergamot and lapsang and other fun things.

Picked this up in my last Old Barrel order, which was more for retail therapy than anything (lol). I chose six teas that I hadn’t tried, and this is one of them. I think I had overlooked it previously because of the incredibly boring name, but when I looked at the page I was excited to see pineapple in the ingredients, and also reviews mentioning pineapple. I feel like tropical teas are usually mango-based, and to me mango flavoring never tastes anything like the real thing, and it’s just not appealing to me. But pineapple, yes!

Anyway, all that to say this is pretty good, but not amazing. I do pick up on the pineapple, and I think it might be the same pineapple flavor as their discontinued Pineapple Upside Down Coffee Cake oolong? It sits somewhere in between canned pineapple and pineapple gummy bears. However, there’s a muddled quality to the flavor that reminds me of Lupicia’s tropical teas, in that I can’t really pinpoint exactly what fruit it is, it just tastes generically tropical.

It’s a nice enough tea and I’ll finish the tin, but probably wouldn’t reorder it. The pineapple just isn’t quite strong enough to stand up to the black base for me, maybe I’ll try mixing in some lemongrass or something to lighten up the body and try to accentuate the tart pineapple flavor.

Sipdown! (8 | 21)

From the spring subscription box. This was actually the only really floral blend in the mix, despite it being a pollinator theme. Not being a floral lover, I was so relieved not to have everything be rose or lavender ha ha.

That being said, didn’t love this one. I don’t generally like lavender-forward blends, but for some reason I like lavender Earl blends even less. Not sure why that is, it’s just not a combination I enjoy. Now technically this one is only half lavender Earl, but I felt like I tasted more of that than the Bee Pollen Black, which is sort of cake battery.

I did finish off the small tin, mostly preparing it with sweetened oat creamer, which helped to smooth out the lavender a bit. I’m sure a lavender afficionado would love it, though!

Sipdown! (7 | 20)

I bought several fruit tisanes to cold brew from Tealyra, as they carry wholesale blends at more reasonable prices than a lot of other places.

This one wasn’t my favorite. The coconut ruined it a bit for me, and I was surprised how much I could taste it in the first bottle I steeped. I ended up removing most of the coconut shreds for the second try, and I like it much better. It’s a fairly raspberry-forward berries & hibiscus blend, with a hint of coconut on the backend.

I did enjoy it this way, but I’m certainly not going to buy a blend that I have to “edit” before steeping ha ha. :P

Sipdown! (6 | 19)

Another one from the winter subscription box.

A simple blend, but a good one. I love chamomile and I love lemongrass so this combination can do no wrong. Such a nice mix of that sweet lemon drop candy lemongrass with the soft honey and pollen notes of the chamomile.

I’m in the process of setting myself up to be able to just blend my own herbal tisanes based on my mood, and excited to get started once all my ingredients arrive. :)

Sipdown! (5 | 18)

This one was just okay. I really wanted more of the peaches & cream flavor, but mostly I tasted honeybush with a bit of chamomile and rose. And the florals do make sense for sleeping beauty, but c’mon! Peaches and cream, please!

At least I can reuse the pretty tin. :)