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Sipdown! (108 | 205)

Deb sent this as one of the samples in my recent order, and it smells amazing! Pineapple gummy bears meets piña colada.

Unfortunately, the coconut really takes over in the steeped tea. It tastes like a pile of coconut and a bit of rooibos, with a tiny hint of pineapple peeking in in the background. I hate how almost every time something has pineapple, it has coconut as well, and coconut is always the stronger flavor. As a pineapple lover, it makes me sad. Plus all of the coconut makes this super oily, which is always unappetizing for me…

Oh well, glad to try it, and for free! :)

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Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge (August) – “A raspberry tea”

Yay, I made it! I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish this last prompt in time, because my only raspberry teas were both full 50+ gram pouches, and I had a TTB and a lot of other sipdown strategies going on. But I did it, and with two days to spare! :P I did enjoy this tea, which helped.

I ended up liking this one more than I expected. The base is a generic cheap white tea, shou mei probably, and it has some hibiscus in it. However, the combination of the raspberry with a bit of rosemary and just the right amount of hibiscus tartness is refreshing and unusual. The hibiscus helps the raspberry seem more realistic and doesn’t make the blend overly tart. The white tea isn’t contributing a ton of flavor, but I like the lightness of it and it lets the flavors take center stage. I’m sure this would be tasty cold brewed as well, but I always drank it hot.

Apparently I like raspberry with savory herbs, which is interesting because I’m not usually a big fan of rosemary or sage, but I’ve liked both of those in tea when they were combined with raspberry. Anyway, I would consider picking some of this up in the future sometime.

Sipdown! (106 | 203)

The last one from RoT! I have defeated the fall sampler box! \o/

This one is pretty tasty actually, but a bit weak. I feel like if I buy any Republic of Tea teas in the future, I should probably use three teabags for a 16-ounce pot instead of my usual two. But this does taste like apple cider, in fact it reminds me of that instant apple cider that you can buy as a box of packets at the supermarket. I haven’t had that in ages but it has the same generic, lightly spiced apple juice flavor.

This has a fresh sweet-tart apple flavor with a pinch of cinnamon and maybe a hint of clove. There’s a mild sweetness to it, I’m not sure if that’s the “berry leaves”, sweet blackberry leaf maybe? It’s very faint.

I think the only issue I have with this tisane is that it’s a bit weak. I’m surprised by how low the rating is, as I find it inoffensive and it has a fairly nice spiced apple flavor without too much sweetness, and it doesn’t taste like a Jolly Rancher. I probably wouldn’t purchase it though, because RoT teas tend to be something like $12 a pop.

Sipdown! (105 | 202)

This is a pleasant enough tea, but it mostly just tastes like Chinese sencha with a bit of hibiscus to me. I don’t really taste pomegranate specifically. The green base has a mellow, dry grassy flavor that I find a bit comforting, and the hibiscus is present but not overwhelming, just adding a generic fruity tartness.

Fine, but generic in both the base and the flavor.

Sipdown! (104 | 201)

I was interested in this one, an herbal pumpkin spice tisane seems more appealing to me plus the turmeric sounded like an interesting addition.

But this just tastes like a pile of turmeric, ha ha… There’s no pumpkin spice or any kind of spice other than turmeric. The only other thing I can taste is a touch of licorice root at the end of the sip. No rooibos flavor either, though it does look rooibosy in color.

It’s not horrible, but I might as well be drinking turmeric water. XD

Sipdown! (103 | 200)

Working through the rest of this RoT fall sampler today!

This one is pleasant enough, the cranberry part of it is giving me a slight cherry candy vibe, which I don’t love. The blood orange is nice but I wish there was more of it, and it does remind me slightly of Tang in the aftertaste. The base is very smooth but isn’t contributing much to the overall flavor.

So overall, it’s fine but nothing special, and certainly not one I would order. The search for the perfect cranberry-orange tea continues…

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This one was good but not amazing. The lemon drop-ish flavor is fairly subtle, I think I would prefer a bit more to be honest. The base is a generic Chinese black tea with smooth woody and earthy notes.

Happy to have another Fortnum advent tin finished off! Just five more to go. :)

Sipdown! (101 | 198)

Was packing up a swap and noticed I only had one serving left of this lovely tea, so time to finish it off!

Honestly, this tea degrades very quickly, I assume it’s flavored with some kind of essential oil, similar to their grapefruit green tea. It doesn’t go bad, it just loses its sharp citrusy goodness within a matter of months. So now that it’s been close to a year, it’s still a yummy tea, but not the same as it tasted originally.

It’s a much more subdued tart citrus note, though it does still taste like a kumquat. Somewhere between a tangerine and a grapefruit, I would say. The base is smooth and mellow, without much character of its own.

I’ll have to repurchase this when it releases around November, and try to enjoy it within six months or so to get the true experience. :)

Sipdown! (100 | 197)

My very last sample from Courtney. Thank you Courtney, I always appreciate the chance to try some Dammann teas without the dreaded 100g blind order! :P

I asked her to send me some of this one, because I had it in the advent a couple of years ago, and I remember everyone else loving it while I was underwhelmed.

Well… still underwhelmed. :(

It mostly just tastes like green maté to me. And don’t get me wrong, I love yerba maté every which way, but I was expecting to find more cacao and more almond. There’s a subtle hint of nuttiness, but I can’t taste cacao at all. And I’m so sad about it, because I’m always on the lookout for more maté blends…

Oh well, sad day. I’m still interested in trying their clementine and lemon-cherry maté though…

Sipdown! (99 | 196)

I’m not sure what to think of this one, it almost tastes bland to me? There’s a light sweetness and a hint of hazelnut, but otherwise I mostly just taste the woody black base. Maybe a tiny hint of chocolate flavor?

Strange, because Mon Petit Chocolat is fairly strongly flavored.