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The dry scent is quite dark chocolate-y and the steeped scent of this really gives the absolute best parts of Laoshan Black (that I remember) — dark chocolate with hints of light maltiness cut through. The first sip of this tea is so smooth it’s like drinking silk. The taste is medium-bodied with a light maltiness and that dark chocolate flavour mid-late in the sip. This tea has a matching name, scent, and taste. Despite this being the first cup, I’m quite sad I only order a 25g sample of this one.

The second steep is nearly as flavourful and still delightful.

A few more sipdowns! I’ve really been trying to sipdown as much as possible because I’m planning a large tea order later in the year. Since I also received teas this past week teas from Mountain Stream and Camellia Sinensis, I’m quite thrilled I managed to make some space!

2023 sipdown no. 58 Teavivre Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea
2023 sipdown no. 59 Mountain Stream The Converter
2023 sipdown no. 60 Steam Tea Peach Apricot
2023 sipdown no. 61 Dammann Frères Maté Cacao Amande
2023 sipdown no. 62 Teavivre Bailin

2023 sipdown no. 57

I really came to love this tea once I figured out the best steeping parameters. The orange had a bite to it – a slight bitterness, which I expected with the orange peel pieces in the blend. However, the orange flavour itself was really lovely and truly orange. The orange slightly edged out the bergamot, but the bergamot was still present. The base tea was smooth with a lower temperature and shorter steep. I would definitely add this one to my cupboard again.

I had an awful headache at work yesterday and I had to survive four research participant scans and associated assessments. I had no access to my tea, but my lovely coworker had this tea and I thought why not? There was a strong fruity smell when I opened the wee foil which did translate to the taste. It was perhaps a lower quality bergamot? The best part really was that I was fully expecting an astringent and/or bitter but the base turned out to be incredibly smooth. I may pick up a box for work!

2023 sipdown no. 56

Martin kindly sent me quite a generous sample of this tea, yet I never managed to make a note. I was so excited about this one, especially when reading notes from everyone else! I recall this having some floral and stewed red fruit aspects — quite intertwined and neither overtaking the other. I didn’t get much in the way of maltiness and certainly no astringency. It was a unique cuppa overall — I truly can’t think of a tea that’s similar to it. Thanks for sharing Martin. :)

My last cup this morning I steeped twice and both steeps were very flavourful.

P.S. Mountain Stream is having their 5 year sale and I may have placed my first tea order of the year XD!

2023 sipdown no. 55

This one was tasty, but I found the almond almost too much. In fairness, it is an almond tea, so bang-on for that. I prefer the A.C. Perch Almond tea with the bitter almond addition for a bit more complexity.

2023 sipdown no. 54

The last 52Teas blend from Kelmishka, sadly! Thank you so much for sending so many along!

I loved the cherry pieces in this blend — such a vibrant red. The cherry and almond both came through in a straightforward and delightful way. I really enjoyed them against a genmaicha base as well. A great cuppa!

2023 sipdown no. 53

Thank you for sharing Kelmishka :)

I have only one 52Tea blends after this one, sadly! This one smelled very true to the name dry. The dried strawberry pieces in the blend were delightful. I noticed the recommendations said to wait for 10 minutes before drinking, which I did. The taste was okay. The strawberry was there, but very mellowed out by the cream flavour. However, the cream flavour came off weirdly to me — almost like a lotion? There was a very smooth astringency to the whole cup which I think most people would be a-okay with, but I’m not an astringency fan (even as smoothed out as it was).

2023 sipdown no. 52

The cacao itself is present with some mellowing from the vanilla (I’m guessing). The bergamot peaks out toward the middle/end of the sip. If I really focus on each sip (which I generally don’t as there’s always something to be done between work and school), I can get the ingredients clearly, but I drank most of this sample half hot/half cold as I tried to catch up on all the things and it’s not necessarily the best tea for that (obv that’s on me!) as it came across more muddled than anything.

Thanks for sharing such a generous sample Kelmishka! :)

2023 sipdown no. 51

This one has a perfume-y quality, though it doesn’t translate fully to the taste (thankfully). I’m thinking it’s from the cranberry because there was another cranberry tea that had that going on as well (if memory serves) — perhaps David’s Cranberry black tea? Otherwise, the almond is hidden a bit but can be picked up. I appreciate the variation in a holiday tea though — often much needed!

Thanks for sharing Kelmishka!