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Sipdown! (1 | 67)

An old favorite. It’s always nice when such a lovely tea makes its way into my “5 oldest teas” sipdown box. Just further proof that I have too many teas LOL.

Even though I’m not a chocolate tea lover, this one hits the spot. Perfect mix of sweet raspberry jam with dark cocoa powder, on a smooth but flavorful base. I’m sure it would be wonderful with milk and sugar, but I never think to try. A definite repurchase the next time I order from Lupicia.

From the summer subscription box.

I expected to dislike this, but figured I would give it a chance. True to form, I don’t like it. XP

It’s not its fault though, I’m not generally a fan of cherry flavoring, and these fakey sakura teas always taste like powdery cherry candy to me. So into the rehoming box it goes! :P

Sipdown! (17 | 66)

Prioritized finishing this one off because of all the coconut. Generally I avoid buying teas with coconut flakes, due to their tendency to go rancid fairly quickly. Since this was about a year old, I figured sooner was better than later he he.

That being said, this was a nice chai. Sweet and creamy without being overly coconutty, with those nice spices taking center stage. Cardamom is what I taste the most, with the ginger and fennel in the background. A very nice tea, but one that I probably wouldn’t reorder just because of the coconut issue.

Created a separate entry for this, because it’s actually a different blend than their regular Indigo Punch loose leaf. Picked up a package of 3 bags out of curiosity, when reordering some of their fruit tisanes.

This one is also a bit watery when cold-steeped. even though the color is very vibrant. I get a bit of raspberry and hibiscus with an underlying pea flower floral mustiness. Hint of honey flavor perhaps?

They say each bag is supposed to make 2 quarts, but I steeped the contents of a bag in half that amount of water and it’s not very flavorful. I’ll have to try steeping this hot and icing it, to see if it performs better that way. So far, not impressed.

New batch of fruit blends from Tealyra! Even though I’ve found several that I want to reorder, I can’t resist trying new ones ha ha.

This one is not well-suited to cold steeping (IMO). It comes out watery and bland, but has a strange bitter flavor in the background. I assume that’s probably the orange peel, which doesn’t tend to do well when steeped for a long period of time.

I think for the second half of the pouch, I’ll try icing this one instead.

Subscription tea!

I was wary of this one, as I don’t generally love coconut-flavored teas (though I do like coconut desserts, etc.) and the mocha maté seems suspiciously similar to Adagio’s. Thankfully, the coconut is not overly strong here. However, I do agree with Michelle that it’s a bit murky and muddled overall. I like coffee things, but here I mostly get a bit of chocolate flavoring, a bit of coconut, and a lot of murky earthiness and vague “flavoring” sort of vibes.

So not a favorite for me, but since it didn’t sound like my jam anyway, I’m not surprised he he.

This is nice enough – sweet and candylike strawberry flavor with rich and custardy vanilla. The white tea itself came out a little bitter though, even though I only steeped it for 2 minutes. I do have two more flavors of this white tea line to try, so I’ll have to try a shorter steep next time to see if that helps.

Another summer subscription tea!

I wasn’t sure if I would like this one, the combination of butterscotch and lemongrass just sounded a bit weird? But it actually works – the lemon is sweet and candylike, and the butterscotch comes out tasting like a creamy, buttery caramel sauce. So overall it’s a bit like a caramelized lemon pudding perhaps? Nicely sweet and a bit decadent, and the rooibos is adding body but not contributing too much woodiness.

I’m not sure I would go out and buy it (they don’t sell it anyway), but it definitely exceeded my expectations. And now I want to try some kind of lemon pudding and crème brûlée mashup…

Got my summer subscription box from Old Barrel today, huzzah! Honestly, this is my third box, and I’m pretty impressed with their selections so far. They don’t lean too far into the seasonal angle, like it would have been easy to make this box all iced teas or all light and fruity teas, but they didn’t. And I appreciate that, since otherwise I don’t think a spring or summer box would be my jam.

Anyway! First one out of the bunch. This is a blend of black tea and oolong with spearmint and lemon. I don’t actually like iced tea with lemon, but this is really nice. Very well-balanced, with a smooth yet flavorful base, sweet and fresh mint, and a soft candy lemon note.

I’m sure it would be lovely iced, but I’m enjoying it warm. Maybe I’ll try icing it with some honey next time…

Random impulse purchase! I was restocking on some fruit tisanes from Harney and was intrigued by this new tea. It’s reasonably priced and the leaves are big and twisty, plus I haven’t had many Malawian teas.

It definitely reminds me of an Assam, it has those raisin and molasses/brown sugar notes to it and a touch of astringency. Apricot or plum fruit leather and tobacco are present as well, and a hint of floral on the back end. I don’t know if I would order more, since I’m not really an Assam drinker, but it’s enjoyable and I’ll happily sip through the tin. Plus it’s fun to try new things! :)