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April Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea that was gifted to you

I knew this would be a favorite of the Basilur fruit teas sent to me by Martin for my birthday! Thank you, Martin!

Blackcurrant wasn’t a thing in the South when I was growing up. Since the plant was banished long ago it just isn’t that commercially available. I mainly was exposed to it when we were in Ireland and I loved it.

The berry flavors are distinct and tart in this, which made it just right for making a pitcher of cold sweet tea for our hottest days so far. (I drank this one a few days ago. We have cooled a little for now.) These fruit infusions are working out marvelously for our evening sweet tea!

Sharedown

I bought this believing I would have a soothing cup of tea before bed often and I just find that I never reach for this. I prefer plain lavender and have tons of it, so it was time to send this to a new home before it gets too old.

The aroma of this tea is absolutely delightful. Ashman has tried other pear teas and wasn’t fond of them so I drink this by myself, but I think he would like it. His complaint against pear flavor in general is that it tastes floral to him. This tea smells like sunshine.

I don’t know what the natural flavors mentioned in the ingredients might be, but something about this tea is citrusy to me – thus my impression of sunshine when smelling the dry leaves or the steeped tea. It could be just a brightness in the base but I find it delightful. It was just the thing to brighten and cheer this gray and blustery day.

April Sipdown Prompt – mix two of your teas together

I forgot about the prompt until the second time I was drinking the tea and it hit me that I had knocked out another one.

This was an attempt to make our afternoon and evening decaf a bit more interesting while saving money. I have lots of family size teabags of Harris Teeter brand decaffeinated black tea. I used one tea bag plus three teaspoons of Harney and Sons Midsummers Peach which is also a decaf blend. I double steeped and poured into a Bodum Pitcher that holds about 56 ounces. I added a little less than a half cup sugar to keep it around the one cup per gallon mark that we usually use for sweet iced tea.

I think it was a success. Naturally the peach is a little more muted but since we have to do decaf in the evening, at least it dresses it up a bit. Would totally do this again and probably will quite a bit while this tin lasts.

April Sipdown Challenge Prompt – Ching Ming Festival – drink a Chinese green tea

This note is to serve as a reminder how not to make flash chill tea.

I have been working outside most of the morning but the temperature is climbing to 90F today and I was dressed for 60F. I decided to flash chill my green tea with lunch.

Mistake 1 – I didn’t add extra leaf, which I should have done since the melting ice is going to add a lot of extra water.

Mistake 2 – I used old ice which probably had absorbed some freezer odors since we really haven’t been using ice much as hot weather is just now coming on.

Mistake 3 – since I knew I had failed to add extra leaf, I didn’t use as much ice as usual for fear of making this entirely too watery. So my tea was cooled off but not refreshingly cold and I was eating outside.

I hope I learn from my mistakes so that future flash chills this summer go better than this one. This is a stellar tea and deserves better treatment.

April Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea you have bought multiple times

The first pouch was a gift from Superanna last Mother’s Day, along with Kotobuki. I liked both well enough that I immediately ordered more since this one is seasonal and so good that I didn’t want to run out before ordering time rolled around again. I have already purchased it again this year as it is available right now and my pouch arrived, although I am drinking from a nearly empty pouch ordered last year.

The salted cherry leaves threw me off the very first time I ever had them in a different blend and then I began to crave them sometimes. They tasted very unique to me. This blend elevates them. The base is composed of lighter Indian teas and with the salted cherry leaves and the fruit flavors the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts. Fantastic.

April Fools’ Day Sipdown Challenge Prompt – tell someone you are giving up tea. Then have a cup of tea.

I awoke and went to my daughter and stood before her and said, “I am giving up tea.” I don’t think she even looked up from her book. She simply answered, “You can’t do that.” And she went on reading. So much for my prank. She didn’t even realize it was April Fools’ Day but she still didn’t believe me.

This is the cup (pot, actually) of tea I had afterward.

I have been giving tea to a new friend and last week when she brought her children for music lessons, she was walking to a shrub in my yard. “Is this a lilac???”, she asked as she drew near to sniff. “It is!”, I replied. “I have two, but the other is in back.”

“My grandmother’s yard in Ohio was absolutely FULL of lilacs. I have never seen one since we moved south! I thought they couldn’t grow here!”

They do grow here, but they don’t necessarily flourish as they would somewhere with cooler weather, but I do get a spring and fall bloom from mine.

Since she had happy memories of lilacs at Grandma’s, I promised her a sample of lilac tea next time she comes, so when I was measuring her tea into a bag this morning I took the easy route and made it for my morning tea as well.

Authentic lilac aroma here, and lovely flavor. It is less floral than a violet candy or Harney’s Rose Scented, but still a good, strong floral scent and flavor.

The base is strong enough to be a breakfast tea but it is more akin to an excellent afternoon tea, which is when I usually have it. It is a nice afternoon soother and rumpled day smoother. I take it plain but I feel sure it could handle sugar (definitely) and milk (probably).

I needed an extra special tea time as a treat today after dealing with taxes and other assorted business like hospital bills. This tea came to mind as something new to explore in the birthday box sent by Martin – many thanks!

I defrosted some cream puffs and added fresh blueberries for the snack part and steeped this up by Martin’s and the seller’s recommendations. It was a nice WOW for today.

The first steep is full of flavor, with lots of high notes but not unpleasantly sharp, a bit of spice like warm cinnamon, and a fruitiness that makes me think of white wine. There is something woody about it as well, and if you have had many teas from Nepal you will recognize this one pretty well as being from that terroir. Such clarity to the fresh flavors!

The second steep seemed to change in body and become more creamy, and a raisin note has popped in. It is almost as if I mixed in a few leaves of Golden Monkey. This was a delightful tea to explore as a treat on a persnickety but productive day!

March Sipdown challenge Prompt – a flavored oolong

Ashman and I had this at breakfast today, and as I look back at the last time I made a tasting note for it, it was a year ago and the kids and grandkids came to visit. Well, guess what? That’s what happened today, except this time it was expected and not a surprise.

This is a top seller for a reason. The oolong base really is lovely and silky, so smooth and fresh. This is a greener oolong rather than a roasted one. The peach is fresh and light. I love Lupicia’s white peach flavor.

I need to try this iced soon. It seems like it would be amazing to flash chill in hot weather.

I want to add a tasting note from the friend to whom I gave the rest of my tasting pouch since she knows the taste of mango very well. I asked for her thoughts since I don’t know what mango tastes like by itself.

“I tasted both the mango and the coconut very well. It was excellent with my breakfast. My husband loves mango and this reminds me of when I used to make him grilled brown sugar mangos years ago. He said that when he was overseas, they served grilled mangos with raspberry and honey drizzled on top.”

Safe to say she loved it, and I wouldn’t be surprised for her husband to come home and find both grilled mango and mango tea waiting for him.