1445 Tasting Notes
Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge, June 2022: An iced/cold brew tea
I only ever cold steeped this in the fridge for 5-8 hours. First batch was more astringent and collard greens than I generally like it but the second batch I’m currently finishing off balanced the veggies with a good dose of canned peach and dry ginger notes. Not a large amount of heat to the ginger but its zesty earthiness is pleasant enough.
As always, the canned peaches take me down memory lane.
Very refreshing, although there isn’t much need for refreshments here right now. The Northwest Coast is deeply committed to a wet spring and mild temperatures this year. Overcast a few days before Summer Solstice. Hope it doesn’t rain for my upcoming six day camp/hike next week, but it probably will.
Flavors: Asparagus, Astringent, Earthy, Ginger, Kale, Peach, Stewed Fruits
Preparation
2022 reblend (and sad sipdown)
It’s good. I think I like it more than Banana Genmaicha but then I love generous coconut during the late spring and summer months. Simply a nice balance of smooth, creamy (approaching velvety) and tropical flavours on top of a toasted rice profile.
Edit – the thing I particularly love about this is the touch of matcha present. Gives the blend that extra fancy “omph.”
Flavors: Coconut, Cream, Grass, Smooth, Toasted Rice
Preparation
It appears I drank this ages ago but had hoped I was mistaken. After rummaging through all the cupboards a half dozen times I must conclude that I drank it all up within the week it arrived (despite my best efforts).
My memory is hazy on the details, but I recall cold brewing it a lot and mentally dubbing it “the perfect sequel to Anne’s Pineapple Sencha” – which I also enjoyed very much. Have I mentioned I love Japanese sencha? There’s not enough flavoured teas using the base and it turns out that pineapple and/or coconut work very well to convey a mood (marine + tropical fruits = beach life).
On my recent trip to Puerto Vallarta I’d be inspired by this tea to drink many cocktails sharing the name (not usually my tropical cocktail of choice; I’m in a committed relationship with mai tais). The vacation (and drinks) were well received, but I think I prefer Japanese Sencha ever so slightly.
Flavors: Coconut, Floral, Grass, Pineapple, Smooth, Tangy, Tropical, Umami
Preparation
I love Japanese Sencha so much – it’s just pricy so it’s not something I typically turn to as a base. And – it also has a distinct flavor that the right flavor (or combination of flavors) needs to be paired with it.
For sure – I wish the cost, profile, shelf life, and niche appeal of this tea wasn’t so prohibitive to playing around with it. It’s a real treat for me to have any Japanese Sencha or Gyokuro varieties on hand so was thrilled to see it pop up in your subscription box not once but twice!
Similar to matcha, it takes to pineapple and coconut well :)
I’ll be honest with you – I’m not so comfortable with flavoring Gyokuro. Not just because of the cost but because it’s Gyokuro. I feel like it’s one of those teas that are simply perfect without flavoring. Similar to huángchá – I can’t see me flavoring it because it’s simply perfect without flavoring. I also love a true Jin Xuan – but I have considered lately maybe using it in a blend – because the natural notes in a good Jin Xuan would compliment the flavors I’m contemplating. But I’m still in meetings with myself over it. So, whether or not that will actually happen, time will tell.
Agreed on Gyokuro (and also kabuse sencha). There’s probably some unwritten tea blasphemy law not to tamper with the perfection that is shade-grown Japanese green teas. I only name-dropped it because I recently finished some off and it’s on the top of my mind; whatever Japanese Sencha you used for this green blend and more-so the Pineapple Sencha made me temporarily forget that sad absence. It also satisfied the part of me that’s too lazy to whisk or shake up a matcha lemonade or coconut latte (Note to self: should do that more often).
I believe you’d pull off a fantastic Jin Xuan blend and will definitely be all over that if you proceed down that path! I’ve enjoyed all of your oolong blends that I’ve tried though, regardless of variety or grade, so may be slightly biased.
Sipdown! Checking this off for “June 2022 – A tea from a place you’d like to visit.” This is true for both France (never been) and Punjab, India – which influenced this tea. I’ve travelled to India in the past (Jaipur, Delhi, Agra, Varanasi) but I’d love to go back and check out other regions of the country.
I’d also love to order more of this mango almond cookie tea at some point – unless I find an even better mango tea. I’ve been savouring it, but when a point is reached where there’s only 1-2 servings left it’s nice to open up the cupboard space.
Until next time, Mango <3
Flavors: Almond, Astringent, Cookie, Fruity, Malt, Mango, Sweet, Tangy
Preparation
Another tea that I finished off in record time. My pouch sipdown was actually on Easter Sunday (as a fridge cold brew) — so memory is hazy now. I remember it being super refreshing, with lovely red and blue (tart and sweet) berry notes. It was festive and aesthetically pleasing.
Flavors: Berries, Blueberry, Citrusy, Cranberry, Lemon, Sweet, Tart
Preparation
I drank this up too quickly and desperately to get a good read on it; its grassy, umami base and pineapple flavouring is so up my alley that I practically inhaled it. It was a little finicky but I managed to get some pretty delicious steeps (and second steeps) out of it. It will be missed.
Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Grassy, Marine, Pineapple, Smooth, Sweet, Tropical Fruit, Umami
Preparation
I love, love, love this tea. My “morning” (morning = when I wake up, which is not usually [technically] morning) matcha is pineapple juice + matcha but I find myself wanting pineapple & that japanese green tea taste later in the day so that’s why I crafted this tea. I wanted something that I could drink later in the day that wouldn’t keep me quite as alert as matcha.
It’s so delicious and refreshing! I hope you play with Japanese Sencha again in the future; it’s rare and unique to find a flavoured blend that incorporates this kind of Japanese green tea.
I’ve never mixed pineapple juice with matcha and I need to remidify that asap :)
You should definitely try Matcha with pineapple juice. It’s so good! Like I said, that’s my first thing in the morning drink. Helps me shake the sleepy plus I wake up with congestion every day, all year round (thank you, whacked out allergies) and the pineapple juice helps cut through that. So, on the rare days when I’m out of pineapple juice – it’s a sad day and I need to go to the grocery to remedy that. I probably will work more with Japanese Sencha because I really liked the flavor it brought to this drink. I did use some in this month’s featured reblend too (that’s the reason I bought the Japanese Sencha to begin with) but since I had plenty left over, I decided to make this pineapple sencha. But since it worked out great, I may have to try some other flavors with it. :)
Anne – you have bad allergies all the time AND YET can craft all of these flavors??? That is amazing.
@tea-sipper – thank you. I have to take a daily allergy tablet to keep them under control. And I get my congestion every day – I wake up congested every morning. Which is why I must turn to the pineapple juice (bromelain is magical).
I second what tea-sipper wrote :)
I’m currently reading Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan and I came across a tea competition scene that caused me so much tea anxiety. Here’s a snippet from it.
“As I waited for the water to boil, I glanced around again – only now realizing those who chose pu’er all used clay teapots, some tossing out the first steep. Struck by sudden doubt, I discarded my first choice, deciding to stick with what I knew best – my mother’s favourite Longjing, the Dragon-Well tea….
I poured the tea into a porcelain cup, a murky brown soup. My gut twisted as I lifted the lid to inspect the dregs. Careless. I cursed myself. In my haste, I had placed the Longjing into the same pot as the pu’er."
I died a little inside while reading that, and then realized I was drinking this tea – a blend of black and green jasmine. Ugh (I like this tea).
Flavors: Astringent, Bergamot, Drying, Floral, Fruity, Jasmine, Lychee, Malt, Passion Fruit, Tropical Fruit
Preparation
I think I’d flub a tea competition, too. :) Puerh and Longjing would be an odd blending choice.
Love it!
Do you recommend the book?
I’m wondering about the book too!
I enjoyed it but didn’t love it. I had some issues with pacing (too fast/convenient) and YA tropes that I don’t particularly love (ex – love triangle is one of the main “conflicts”). The story feels lush though – and I did enjoy the tea blurb. If you’re craving a dreamy xianxia/mythology-inspired romantic debut and don’t mind the YA feel it may do the trick! The library may be the way to go though.
It’s quite highly rated on GoodReads so I might give it a shot when available at the library. And I get through the 5 other books I am reading lol.
Hard to say no to such a beautiful cover too. The Goodreads reviews summarize the pros and cons well, for the most part. Much better than me, anyways! :)
I’ve been reading a lot of stuff that runs dark and dense lately; Daughter of the Moon Goddess is a pleasant contrast to my melancholic reads.
Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge, April 2022: A pu’erh tea
Just like a chocolate orange highlighted with something fresh (the lavender is almost minty). I didn’t spend a lot of time contemplating this tea when I drank it, and I always took it with some kind of milk – but I really enjoyed it overall. It was super cozy and the puerh isn’t too funky (flavoured puerh blends sometimes scare me).
I’d possibly reorder.
Steep Count: 2
Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Earthy, Floral, Herbaceous, Lavender, Orange, Smooth
Preparation
After some midnight spring reorganizing, this resurfaced from the depth of the tea void. It’s circa Balkans/London 2015 Summer Trip but it’s still Power. It’s a successful marriage of Rose and Keemun; the brisk floral bouquet carries a small sweet-toothed passenger called “Rose Turkish Delight” that I’m particularly partial to. I’m in no rush to get there, but I’ll miss this one when it’s gone.
Steep Count: 2
Flavors: Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Floral, Malt, Powdered Sugar, Rose, Smoke
