A Quarter to Tea

2021 Sipdown #17

This one was never super “peeps” for me, mostly just genmaicha so I’m happy to finish this one off and move on!

P.S. apologies for all of the sipdown spam, I’m done now :)

2021 Sipdown #15

2021 Sipdown #14

2021 Sipdown #13

This one smelled funky when I opened the bag so I decided to just toss it. I’m removing it from my cupboard both on Steepster and in real life, so I’m still counting it towards a sip down haha

2021 Sipdown #10

An old tea getting finished off

Most of my old AQ2T samples are opened and that’s why so many have lost their flavor. While cleaning out my tea, I found this one that was still sealed. I opened it up and made myself a cup, hoping the flavor had held up better in this one. Luckily it had! After that cup, I made a pot to share with my partner and we both really enjoyed it.

My first cup was very tart raspberry/strawberry heavy without any creamy custardiness. The pot that we shared had more of a strawberry and blueberry flavor, and much more of the vanilla cream-type flavor that I was expecting. We have a few more cups of this one left and I don’t plan on letting it sit around and get old(er)!

2021 Sipdown #8!

This was a tiny sample size from quite a while ago. I was hoping since this one hadn’t been opened, it would still be good. Unfortunately, it looks like that isn’t the case :(

This one smelled nice but overall it just tasted kinda funky and I ended up pouring out the rest of the cup. After looking over the other reviews, I’m not sure if this one was off because it was old or because of the raspberry flavoring. I’m happy to have cleared this one out, but sad I didn’t get to taste it at its best.

I saw this in a friend’s cupboard and asked to swap – glad she had some left! This tea snarls great. I never heard of the jobs if tea it was, so I had to Google it. I didn’t know it was a white tea, so was worried when the color was not that deep. I frothed up some half and half and added a teaspoon of erythritol and made it as a large. I enjoyed it. I’m glad I have more than one cup’s worth! The little snowflake sprinkles were a fun addition.

2021 Sipdown #6

Finished this one off last night with my fiance. Dry, this smelled AMAZING. Tons of pistachio and cream scent. Unfortunately, as with many of my old teas, nearly all of that was gone once steeped. I didn’t get any pistachio. The tea base was weak but still present, and there was probably a tiny bit of creaminess (or just wishful thinking).

I’m really enjoying being a part of this sipdown. I wasn’t as into tea for a while and let a lot of samples go old and didn’t have them properly stored. A lot of the ones that went old were the ones I really liked and that I was worried about not having more of, so I “saved” them. Participating in this sipdown has really taught me about enjoying them when I have them, since so many have gone to waste!

2021 Sipdown #16

I hope to find something similar to this soon! I really enjoyed the lemon flavor in this. I’m not normally a lemon fan but this one was sort of a creamy vanilla lemon with the nice breadiness from the muffin. This last cup still had enough flavor to be a satisfying farewell!

I don’t know how this one has held up as well as it has but I still get some lemony flavor and some breadiness from this! Of course not as much as it originally was but it’s still enjoyable enough to finish off what’s left in the bag with no problem!

Sipdown 4

This was one of those where I was saving the last little bit because I was too sad to see it go! Luckily it still had some flavor left even though it was a little too old. I love coconut black teas and this was no exception!

Instead of being super coconut-y today, it was more of a subtle marshmallow. Still tasty but not at its best. Now I just have to figure out what my next coconut tea should be

I’m honestly not sure I can say I was a fan of this one – I think the cinnamon was a bit overkill. I liked the concept and love the smell of raisins – I thought this might remind me of a Thanksgiving dinner kind of drink. I was excited to receive it in a swap, though – my roommate loved it and she finished the pot.

Had this in the afternoon today. It is quite old, like maybe two years old. I miss A Quarter to Tea.

This one sounded wonderful. Maybe it was the age, but Ididn’t get a lot of flavor out of it. Some gonger and cinnamon, but no bready pancake goodness. That aid, it was a pleasant cup. Not one I would rush out and buy more of (fortunate, then, that Q2T is not selling right now) but I’ll enjoy the remaining 20 ounces of this.

This has a dusty, bitter flavor before sweetening. I could maybe guess fennel seed but only because I know it’s in there. After adding some maple syrup (seemed right), it’s taken on a deep caramel flavor. I don’t really love it, to be honest, and the more I drink it the less I like it. I ended up dumping the rest of this down the drain.

I love floral teas, though green teas not so much. I overleafed this one and it’s bitter.

I made this into a latte. Chamomile isn’t my favorite flavor on its own, but I like it better this way. I was hoping to at least get some of the rose flavor, but I don’t taste that or the mint. Only the chamomile. It’s not great, but it’s making me sleepy right before bed so I’ll take it. I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, so maybe this is just what I needed tonight.

Samurai TTB #44

I’m not a drinker and I’ve never had a margarita, but since this was AQTT, I had to try it! The black tea base is very smooth and the flavor is very fruity and slightly artificial. Apparently it’s supposed to be lime, but I’m not sure it really read as lime for me. I did enjoy it, but don’t feel the need to drink it again.

This is a very strange blend. It smells like chocolate, tastes like flowers, and there’s no sign of cantaloupe to be found. It’s also kind of bitter. Not really a fan, but who knows how it might have tasted fresh. It doesn’t look like others on Steepster liked it much either though.

Sipdown but it turns out I never added this to my cupboard so still sitting at 300 teas.

In addition to this sample, which I have from Kittenna (thank you!), and Affogatea by Bird and Blend from July 2019, my oldest teas are the ones I bought in very large quantities when A Quarter to Tea went on hiatus. With that said, they should be what is going into my oldest tea box so I can actively sip them down. However, (1) they are too big to fit and (2) I don’t want to finish them since I am not ready to say good bye. I am thinking of skipping the August 2019 teas and throwing the September 2019 teas in the focus box instead.

This has been in a small ziploc bag for a year and a half and I feel like it suffered because of that. There is minimal flavor here. I can see it was probably custardy once but now it is sort of just a roundness in the mouthfeel than it is a flavor. The only flavor left is a sort of very generic fruity black tea. I’m sorry I left you for so long tea. I think you could have been good if I enjoyed you fresh.

This tea smells like the inside of a candle store at the end of November. I appreciate the pumpkin seeds in the mix, but this is pumpkin spice all the way. It doesn’t taste nutty or like pumpkin, and I don’t get the salty caramelized toffee flavor I would expect from brittle. This is an older tea though, so perhaps that’s it.

Samurai TTB #25

I tried this one just because it was AQTT and there was just one cup’s worth left in the box. However, with both rose and hibiscus in the ingredients list, I should have known better. This basically felt like chewing flower petals. Not a fan!

Samurai TTB #23

There was only about a tsp of this tea left in the bag, so I think my cup was under-leafed. I mainly tasted the white tea base with hints of vanilla and coconut. No lemon that I could discern.

Samurai TTB #22

For me, the flavor of this tea came across as straight-up chocolate. A really GOOD chocolate…dark and rich and smooth and well-paired with the oolong base…but not at all what was promised by the name! Maybe this is an older sample and the other flavors have faded over time? Anyway, it wasn’t what I was expecting, but still an enjoyable experience. And always special to get to taste one of the AQTT blends I missed back when Lauren was still in business!