A Quarter to Tea

Backlog from March 11th:

Disappointed in this one, since it smelled so good before steeping. Now it’s bitter. I get the chai spice flavors but there is something hovering over it. It’s tangy or something, I don’t know.

It’s getting better as it cools, thank goodness.

I really hope this tastes like cake and jam. Fingers crossed!

I’m not tasting cake or walnuts or apricots or preserves. But it’s tasty even so.

This reminds me of something that I just can’t place! I can’t say it tastes like french toast, but it is delicious. And this from someone who doesn’t often drink or appreciate oolongs.

You know, I wasn’t sure what to think about this one. I didn’t smell banana at all in the dry blend or while steeping but I can certainly taste it. It’s not fresh banana, it really does taste more like cooked banana. Like flambe, which is remarkable. I don’t taste smoke like I might expect from a grilled banana. No spices either.

Another tea I wish I had tried sooner. If I had, I probably would have purchased more as this was just a sample. And now AQ2T is no more. Boo.

I can taste the peach but am missing the bready flavor I might get from pastry or other baked goods.

Sigh I really wish A Quarter to Tea was still around. This tea reminded me of that. I was craving something fruity and this really fit the bill. Nice and jammy, with a custardy vanilla. Fruity, desserty. Everything I was looking for in my cup tonight.

I’m so sad that I waited so long to try this because it’s delicious. It was only a sample from an order so just enough for one cup. It’s not overly strong like I expected it would be. Just a little astringent toward the end.

Backlog from February 11th:

Of the blends I brought to work today, this is the one I’m most excited about trying. And so far, this is the best one yet. The peppermint is so nice and the candies have turned things a lovely shade of pink. I could see this making a good latte, as the label says.

So excited to find a white tea that I enjoy! I would I could unlock the secret. I have so many white teas and almost all of them are flavorless to me. Everyone else loves them so what am I missing??

One of the best cups of tea I’ve had lately.

A beautiful tea! It’s very fluffy with huge leaves and long curls of cinnamon bark. It doesn’t really smell like eggnog or pound cake to me, but it does have a spice note. It tastes of cinnamon and, strangely enough, raisins. I have a hard time finding flavor in white teas but this one does have some flavor compared to others.

Oh wow, this smells so good. So tropical! Hopefully this is still good with the coconut. It still smells amazing so I’m hopeful. Definitely smelling the tropical coconut in the dry blend. It even smells creamy, if that’s a thing. Under the coconut is the promised spice blend. The ginger is definitely there. The taste is good but not very flavorful. Could be the age on this one. It could also be the fact that it’s a white tea and I can never extract enough flavor from those. It’s disappointing given how incredible it smells.

Sipdown (355)

This is basically just honeyed black tea. I don’t mind it but this cup has no peach and no salsa. Probably means it is the right time to say good bye.

I know this is loved by Roswell Strange but I apparently have not tried it yet. I like when AQ2T uses this base tea though so when I grabbed it and saw the base and the giant peach slice, I was intrigued.

This package claims this tea is hot and perhaps it is because of the age but I get no heat and no honey. The lack of honey is more surprising given AQ2T has a particular honey flavor that pops up in a lot of teas whether it is supposed to be there or not. However, this is peach and base through and through. The base is bready which combines nicely with the peach. It’s enjoyable but not earth shattering. Perhaps I waited too long to try it and its lost some of its pizzazz. The dangers of a giant stash. I feel like I need to learn how to balance drinking down old teas while making sure I try new ones when they are still fresh.

TTB #16

This was another unique flavor combination that I just had to sample! I kind of expected the rose flavor to take over everything, but there’s definitely a nice buttery shortbread note going on here. I’m so sad that AQTT has gone on hiatus, because Lauren’s blends are brilliant!

TTB #10

I love AQTT and I love cheesecake, so I was super excited to try this blend! Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me. I didn’t get any caramel or cheesecake flavor…just a generic mixed berry black tea. I do like AQTT’s berry flavor, but wanted more from this tea based on the name.

Sipdown (808)!

Finished off today, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the last cup. It was just a little bit too artificial and perfume-y tasting, without nearly enough oatmeal to balance out the intensity of the flavour. Also, just not plum…

Oh well.

Plum is such a hard flavour to get right, but I always hold out hope that someone will nail it one day…

Today was not that day, though I did really like the flavour of the tea. It was more that generic dark purple “berry” filling you see in midtier quality pastries than any type of plum flavour. That’s not a bad taste – just not the once that AQ2T was aiming to execute. The oat note comes through much more clearly than I’d have expected; I showed this to my manager today and all he could smell in the dry leaf was oat but I struggled to smell it over the sort of perfumey fruit notes of the dry leaf. I’m getting it in the cup, though!

I do think this has that kind of “AQ2T” quality where there’s just a very present undertone of florality throughout the whole cup – but I’m not mad at it for being there; it adds something interesting to the dance of berry/fruitiness, oat, slight vanilla, and black tea that makes up the rest of the cup.

Thanks VariaTEA for the share!

Thanks to amandastory516 for sharing this tea! I love trying different melon teas, and this one smells so fresh and amazing. Sometimes there’s a little bitterness at the end of the sip. This tea was flavorless until I added sugar, which really helped to amplify the flavors. The watermelon flavor is decently tasty. I’d prefer it on an herbal base since I don’t love oolong in general, but for what it is, it’s pretty well done. The resteep was all oolong.

From TTB 2019/2020.

Even with the lackluster tasting notes on this one, I really wanted to try it. Not just because of the description, but also because of the aroma of the blend straight from the bag. I can’t quite place it, but it reminds me of other blends I’ve tried from AQ2T. It’s very distinct. Maybe raspberry? The flavor, unfortunately, is lacking just as others have said. I did use two teaspoons of dry leaf so it’s not bland at all, but I don’t taste caramel or cheesecake. The berry flavor is there, just as it smells in the blend before steeping, so that’s nice. It’s just not living up to its name.

Probably my last caffeinated tea for the day. I’m buzzing.

From earlier in the month!

Don’t remember much about this one now since it was a few weeks ago, but I know it was light/delicate and a bit thin in the cup with a floral rose note. I wanted it to have more impact/oomph – but it didn’t taste too bed and was a fun thematic tea for the month.

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 15

So, to be honest, I wasn’t sure what flavor this tea was supposed to be until I looked at the description. I definitely get some creaminess and nuttiness, but nothing that’s coming across as distinctively banana. (Which is surprising, because AQTT usually does banana really well!) It was a pleasant enough blend, but not terribly distinctive for me.

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 13

I love a turtle sundae, so I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while. Personally, I wish the caramel came out a bit more, but I did enjoy the notes of chocolate and nuts and maybe just a hint of burnt sugar. I’m thankful Shae sent such a generous sample so I can play around with sweetening it and/or adding milk to see how that changes the flavor.