A Quarter to Tea

I accidentally made a duplicate entry of this as “Strawberry Cupcake” and now I can’t delete it. Does anyone still have admin access to delete duplicates and, if so, could you please delete it?

This is a sipdown of my oldest green tea for ashmanra’s sipdown challenge (or at least a very old green, I probably have some bits of Butiki still hoarded). This blend is 8 years old! I’m just glad that it didn’t spoil or mold. It’s not as good as it was years ago, but still a pretty enjoyable cuppa! Broadly speaking, the flavoring held up better than the base. The base has gotten a bit of an edge that I don’t remember being there before. The creamy vanilla and sweet strawberry are still good though! It’s “crunchy freeze-dried strawberry” more than it is candylike or fresh and juicy. I added a bit of honey, which smoothed out the edge on the base, made a tasty cuppa, and gave this blend a proper sendoff. Since I was drinking slowly, the tea cooled before I reached the bottom of the mug. I topped it off with seltzer and got a good tea soda out of it!

I really don’t like hops. This tea basically tasted like pure steeped hops, but I dumped in a bunch of French Vanilla creamer and drank it anyhow. I might have found it more redeeming had the base been more prominent, but it was not.

Sipdown!

It feels like a strange thing to just have added this fairly old (2018) tea to Steepster! And when I just sipped it down, too. This one was really quite good – fantastic base with delicious creamy banana flavour. Reminds me of … 52teas’ Coconut Banana Cream Pie Houjicha? Is that the one? Similar toasty/sweet combo. I’ll miss it.

Found this in my travel tea bag! Not sure how old this is, but it’s probably had several birthdays by now. The genmaicha is going strong flavor wise, but it feels like any other flavors left long ago. It’s a little creamier in the finish than I’d expect from a gen and I’m attributing that to the cashew. I really don’t get any salted oatmeal cookie though. I wish I had made a tasting note for this when I first tried it so I had a good comparison of fresh and aged.

Well.

I thought it’d be nice to finish up the last of my milk in a chai, perhaps drizzled with a bit of honey. Could not find any chai tea, though I am certain there’s plenty. Somewhere.

This ancient one turned up and though green tea with milk is sacrilege, I thought it might be worth a try. Previous efforts yielded a far too spiced brew, so it might be chai-enough with milk. Emptied the packet, three heaping spoons worth, steeped the tea. And the milk had gone off.

Had no hopes for this cup and the resteep. Age. Far too much leaf. Far too much spice in the leaf if memory serves. I was expecting disaster.

Surprise! Black and unsweetened, this cup is better than I ever remember it being. There were a few white snowflake things in the leaf which add a bit of frosting to the roastiness, hint of spice, and green of the cup. Quite pleasant. Quite tasty.

One just never knows.

And I still have celebratory treats to gobble.

And it’s a sipdown!

Very mid-whelming. All the pieces lacked cohesion.

I do miss AQTT though. I hope they come back.

And it’s a sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

Thanks for the sample, VariaTEA.

And it’s another (sample) sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

Thanks for the sample, VariaTEA.

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

And it’s a belatedly posted sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

Almost gone but never properly reviewed, oops. I don’t remember being particularly enamoured with this tea at any point – I do love AQ2T’s berry flavours, but I don’t think this quite hit right for me. Hopefully I can manage to review the last cup!

Sipdown 110-2021
I can’t believe I haven’t written a note on this yet. I’ve been hoarding my last cup’s worth because I loved it so much. Unfortunately, this is another victim of age. The banana and toffee flavors that I loved have faded into something vaguely sugary.

A very pleasant vanilla custard note coming through today with the wisps of pear and cardamom.

This tea is ancient, but all the flavours are present and accounted for, if gently so, against a backdrop of brisk black tea. Quite a tasty cup.

I is for… Irish Coffee Keemun!

This tea smells good, nice and creamy, but there’s an odd, vegetal(?) note here that reminds me of some white teas – and that I don’t really care for. It’s… almost minty?But not quite. It’s possible that it’s the “whiskey” flavouring, or alternately, an element of the “irish coffee” flavouring is responsible, I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s coming from the keemun base. (It actually has occurred to me that this has sat so long, it’s possible that it was adjacent to a minty tea and absorbed some flavour, but hopefully not). The flavour has this same vegetal note, along with coffee/cream flavours, but that note is definitely affecting the experience of drinking it.

Either way, an ok cup, not a favourite, but obviously for the best since it’s unavailable!

I is for… Irish Rock Shandy!

First tasting note on a years-old tea? Ok!

Really had to dig through my stash for “I” teas for today – the only DavidsTea one I had I finished off last month (Irish Breakfast). Definitely a theme with the names here, though!

This was not ever a favourite tea of mine; I didn’t really care for the citrus – it’s just edging toward a cleaner sort of flavour, and there’s also a flavour in this tea that I can’t place but don’t really care for. It’s not a terrible tea, but just not matched to my preferences, which generally don’t include orange-flavoured teas.

2021 Sipdown 44/365!

One-day hiatus from the alphabetical Ode to Tea, mostly because a) I was not prepared enough for it and b) it was a very very busy day, spent mostly at my MIL’s house, and the teas at her house, again, did not begin with the correct letter.

I guess I hadn’t reviewed this before (but do have an unopened or nearly full pouch somewhere else too) – it’s nice enough. Rooibos without some of the less appealing, medicinal qualities; no scratchy throat either. The maple is also pretty good. I drank it alongside another “sweet-flavoured” tea so can’t be sure which was the source of the delicious aroma, but it also could have been both. I’d have this again as a nice caffeine-free treat.