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The dry leaves of this smell a bit like candy, sweet and fruity.

The sweet and the fruity are both smoothed out and far less candy-like in the aroma of the steeped tea. But there’s something very cherry about the aroma that is still very appealing.

The liquor is a strong, clear, golden yellow.

The floral aspects come in to the sip. Lavender and rose are what are promised, and they are there, lavender more than rose, but neither to the point of being hit over the head. So many florals tend toward the soapy or lotiony, but this is where the French blends excel. They are able to get that hint into the flavor without the fear of suds in the mouth. And there’s still that cherry-ishness underneath it all, which fills out and morphs into something less cherry one note and more berry blend.

I quite like this one.

I’m not entirely sure about this one yet. Chai is a weird beast — usually very dependent on what ends up in the spoon. This time I had a lot of red peppercorns, so I’m tasting a lot of pepper, but I’m not sure that’s really what this chai is about.

I made it on the stovetop using the Golden Moon French Breakfast as the extra black tea.

It turns out I don’t have as many chais as I thought I did. This one, the other two I’ve tried recently, the Tea Table chocolate, the Rishi and the Samovar. I think that’s it.

Samovar will always be my fave, with Rishi as a spicier alternative. But I think this one could be pretty nice. I’m just not sure I’ve experienced it in all its potential glory yet.

Sipdown no. 86 of 2018 (no. 442 total). Sample tin.

I didn’t think I’d put samples in my cupboard, but every now and then I come across one. I definitely have a lot of samples that aren’t listed in my cupboard, though.

This won the lottery as the lowest rated black tea currently in said cupboard and so I put the rest of it in to cold brew, along with the second lowest rated to make up the 4 spoon deficit, Golden Moon French Breakfast.

It makes a perfectly fine cold brew. I liked this one hot more than a lot of other people did, and I could even see buying it again some day. But not until I’ve sipped down a lot more in my current stash.

I’m actually rather proud of the progress I’ve made this year. I’ll definitely hit 100 sipdowns at this rate, and surpass that number. Even though some are samples, when it comes to making room every little bit helps.

Weekend 2 of project chai sipdown. I made this on the stovetop with Golden Moon French Breakfast as the additional black tea.

It’s tasty — a mild, chocolate chai. I don’t find the chocolate overly strong. In fact, it could be stronger. That might be a function of what parts of the blend ended up in this spoon.

The chai spices are more prominent for me, particularly the cardamom. Fortunately, I’m not tasting the anise.

I wish that this rocked my socks off but it’s not doing that. Still, it’s pleasant and enjoyable as my last tea of the day.

This is lovely. I don’t think it quite rises to the level of J’aime Vert, or at least how I remember J’aime Vert, or perhaps I like the combination of flavors in J’aime Vert slightly better — but this is something I’ll enjoy drinking and may consider for a long term addition to my cupboard.

The smell in the tin is very floral, not fruity. After steeping there is an orangy citrus note, but it isn’t sharp, and the overall aroma gives the impression of roundness which I think is coming from the rose. The tea is greenish yellow, not as bright as the color of its tin, but in the same color family. There is some particulate matter that settled to the bottom of the cup.

The sip is where all of the flavors come together. There’s a freshness from the citrus note, that stops short of sourness or bitterness though it isn’t sweet. There’s a depth from the berry notes that adds a touch of sweetness, and the rose carries over its roundness into the flavor.

Very enjoyable.

Sipdown no. 85 of 2018 (no. 441 total). A sample.

For my last date with this tea, it wore 190 at 4 minutes. Not a bad look, actually. More flavor and color, and that certain je ne sais quoi that people describe about white tea tasting like black tea, except different, is something that really comes through at this temp.

But alas, in the end we broke up. It wasn’t the tea. It was me.

Sipdown no. 84 of 2018 (no. 440 total).

This became my most recent take it to work tea, and it was great for that. Flavorful without calling attention to itself. The melony flavor that I noted in the original note didn’t stand out enough for me to really ponder it while working, which is actually a good thing.

Sipdown no. 83 of 2018 (no. 439 total).

A good, milk chocolaty tea — not much to add beyond my original note than that it also makes a surprisingly good cold tea.

It is nice to have such an embarrassment of riches in my cabinet that even the “lower” rated teas are awesome.

I decided to start my chai sipdown experiment today after the lapsang success.

I made this one on the stovetop using two tablespoons of chai to a cup of one percent milk.

I haven’t had a real cup of chai since the weather turned hot. I expect I’d appreciate this more if the weather was cooler, but it was tasty even in the heat. It’s a nice blend of all the spices with none of them outweighing the others. I didn’t really notice the vanilla, but that is probably because I didn’t know it was in the blend until I started reading the other notes, after I’d finished my cup. The spices aren’t overly spicy, though, and I agree that this could use a bit more oomph. It’s a solid chai, though, and I’ll enjoy trying it various ways as part of project sipdown.

Sipdown no. 82 of 2018 (no. 438 total).

I seem to be nearing the end of project Lapsang sipdown. I think I only have two left. It’s always possible there are more hidden somewhere, or that something with a name other than lapsang is really lapsang. With almost 400 teas it’s hard to know. I’m actually looking forward to the continued culling of the collection. It’ll make it easier to find stuff.

I am thinking I ought now to switch to a different project. Like project chai sipdown.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.