August Uncommon Tea

I’ve been seeing this one pop up this month as appropriately festive and though I’ve had it for ages (and shared it out a few times!) I have yet to even try it myself yet (the story of my life…) So I am making a cuppa as my nightly herbal tonight, even though I have a migraine and am tempted to just grab a boring ol’ cup of mint or ginger tea…

Used a heaping teaspoon in boiling water and left the teabag in the cup to bathe well past the five minute mark. The aroma coming off the cup is amazing! I’m smelling caramel apples, burnt sugar, vanilla cream, and a hint of pepper. And I have to say, after taking the first sip, that I feel I’m actually getting all those notes coming out in the flavor, too. Mostly I’m getting a warm caramel apple flavor, with a darker burnt sugar/creme brulee note, and some more subtle notes of vanilla and spiced pumpkin bread. It’s very sweet so this is definitely a sweettooth/indulgent/dessert sort of tea, but I know I certainly (cough frequently) have moods for that, especially in the evening, so having a caffeine-free option that hits that spot is great. And though it does encapsulate autumn flavors well, I can’t imagine finding caramel apples and pumpkin desserts less appealing (at least for me!) any other time of the year, so I appreciate that August Uncommon Tea doesn’t treat the flavor as a seasonal and yoink it from their line-up at certain times of the year.

My head may be unhappy tonight, but my mouth certainly isn’t.

A pleasant gift from Mastress Alita.

I haven’t had rooibos since early this year in the winter. It’s Halloween eve and I’m lounging around in a drawn-on moustache (I’ll be genderbending as Gomez Addams at work tomorrow. We have the whole Family), so I made a pot of Psychocandy for the house tonight. All 14 grams in a 1000mL teapot. Steeped with boiling and forgotten about.

So the dry leaf smells rich like butterscotch with medicinal rooibos but the medicinal aspect does not come through in taste at all. Woohoo! That aroma! Rich but a little hollow buttery caramel-butterscotch, vanilla milk and something darker — that rooibos aroma. I let the tea cool a bit and the caramel-blackberry leaf sweetness really comes out on the sip followed by the dark red rooibos and a bit of apple tang that hangs out after the swallow. Pumpkin is always a difficult flavor to pin down in food and drink but I think it’s there. What else… something reminiscent of the scorched sugar topping of crème brûlée. Long butterSCOTCH flavoring aftertaste. Later, there’s some dryness in the throat.

I couldn’t see myself drinking this often because it’s so sweet but the flavor is just awesome. As far as flavored tisanes go, this is bumpin’.

Happy Halloween tomorrow!

This has been my morning brew for the past several days and it serves that purpose well in terms of what I look for — full flavor, decent body, dark, robust, high caffeine but not so much that I get the zoomies.

The aroma of the dry leaf is overpoweringly boozy, like a chocolate liqueur mixed with amaretto. It reminds me a lot of Silencio’s aroma. The leaf itself is very chopped. It’s uniform in size with the cocoa husks.

Steeped up, the boozy aroma is still strong and it transfers lightly into the mouth as a much more pleasant undercurrent of amaretto. The sip is thin but it really thickens up in the back of the mouth with an impression of creaminess from the Assam black tea base. I have a hard time figuring out if the cocoa husks and/or flavoring are the main culprits for the cocoa flavor or if it’s part of the base tea but it’s present mid-mouth along with dense maltiness and the citrusy and rye-reminiscent high note of the caraway seeds that weaves its way around.

I wouldn’t say the tea is sweet; if it is, I feel like the natural flavoring is responsible for the impression of liqueur-like sweetness that’s present in the aroma. The overall vibe is more malty-savory-brisk but creamy. There also seems to be a bit of spiciness but not in the heating way. Unlike other reviewers, I found this tea to possess no bitterness and only a little astringency.

Overall, I’m happy with Leatherbound as a morning brew but I still prefer teas without flavoring added and probably won’t purchase again. I think it would make a great gift, though!

[Western, 3.5g, 212F, 10oz, 4 and ? min both stacked in a 20oz thermos]

Finished up the last of the sample I got of this and it failed to grab my attention. I got a bit of choco-hazelnut flavor in it, but not enough to make an impression.

Huh. I guess the name of this tea was shortened to “Passage” some point after this tea was added to the Steepster database. I had to google Passage du Desir, thinking it was one of the passages in Paris, alleys often with glass ceilings that have turned into shopping strips with cute cafes and shops lining them. A quick google search turns up reference to one passage with not much detail, but most of the results are of a sex toy or “adult novelty” shop. Was this tea named after a street or an adult toy shop? My curiosity is peaked.

Dry, this tea has that rich dark chocolate scent that reminds me of prunes for some reason. It is a deep chocolate smell. I drank most of this cup absentmindedly while running morning errands. As I sit with the rest of the cooled cup I notice the dark chocolate in the sip and finish. It is subtle and might be made more substantial with cream, but I’ll have to test that theory out on my next cup. There is a slight barley scent when I’m sipping and I’m not able to pick out the hazelnut in the flavors. Overall I’m still undecided on exactly how I feel about this tea.

First sip was chocolate, second was cinnamon. After several more sips there is a hint of chili and a sweetness mid sip. It has a hearty quality. As I sip further the chili creeps in a bit, but stays lingering in the background. It’s nice, but there is room for it to grow on me.

Finished up this sample yesterday and in trying to sipdown the last two cups worth it kinda grew on me! Reading over my previous notes makes me wonder if this is a tea that does well with age. Sitting in my cupboard for 6 months or more seems to have taken some of the strength out of the clove and let the citrus and plum come through. It was really nice with some cream. A little sad to see it go and might think about ordering more in the future.

I’m liking this better today. I get the bergamot clove combo really clearly and a little plum in the background. Drank my first cup while running morning errands. Second cup has mild clove on the front of the sip mixed with fruit, mostly plum and floral plum on the finish.

I’m not sure about this one. It tastes like I’ve bitten into one of those Xmas decoration oranges. The ones that are covered in cloves. It tastes a lot less bergamot to me and way more orange peel. It’s hard to get past the orange clove combo and taste anything else. Clove can be dominating that way. Adding cream killed the flavors. I’d like to try different steeping parameters next time.

This was way better than expected! A delightful surprise. Caraway always rubbed me the wrong way. Those everything bagels? Seeing those little dried up wormy caraway seeds instantly spoiled the breakfast fun. But here it’s more mellowed out, and I’m not being slammed up against the wall with bitterness, plus it pairs beautifully with the dark chocolate notes. I’m tempted to order more but as you can tell, I have rarely been touching my tea stash. The sale email from these guys is the very reason I decided to fire up the kettle on this obnoxiously cold day.

I wanted to log this tea earlier, but Steepster wouldn’t load it and gave me an error page. :/ It was a sipdown. I enjoyed my cup and the resteep, but don’t feel compelled to buy this tea again. I really wanted to love AU teas, but I’m just not falling for them, sadly.

I’m trying to follow the steeping directions for August Uncommon, but I feel like they aren’t quite working out for me and need adjusting for my tastes. This tea smells really good dry! Sweet, smoky and rich. Once steeped it is coming across as a bit bitter in the first several sips. It mellows out a little as I drink on. I can smell and taste a smokey woodsy caramel, but it isn’t as intense as I had hoped. The start of the sip is light, the mid has some flavor coming on and the end is where things get more interesting. Adding creamer makes the whole thing a bit smokier and knocks out the nuances. I’d like to adjust things next time, but I’m not sure if I should go with a lower temp for the same amount of time or the same temp for a shorter time. Maybe I’ll have to try both!

I’ll tell you what I’m in the mood for! For Steepster to load these damn pages instead of giving me an error/kettle page! Minor tangent aside… I still don’t get clear chocolate notes with this tea, but I am getting the deep malty notes which are really nice, slightly sweet. It’s good, but probably not a reorder.

Malty indeed! This reminds me of the powdered malt drink minus the excessive amounts of sugar. I have another tea which is similar in flavor with different looking leaves that I can’t read the Chinese on wrapping so I know very little about it except it’s delicious. This one is a little heavier than that one. I’m not getting the chocolate notes, so it’s different than I expected, but still really nice!

I tried this tea already a few times as a morning wake-up brew but it lacks the satisfying body that I want in my 4am breakfast teas. And the caffeine buzz leaves me feeling jittery instead of invigorated, so I relegated Painted Desert back to the black tea drawer for a time more appropriate, which is today!

I really like the idea of this flavor profile — Ceylon black tea, cocoa shells, cinnamon, chili. I’m not often the mood for Mexican-style hot chocolate but when I am, I crave it hard. In stark contrast to the weather of a few days ago (100+F), last night was cold for us of California thin blood. Despite it warming up to 70F currently, the chill of last night left me craving the flavor profile of Painted Desert.

All of that for a short review. August Uncommon calls this a “crisp black tea” that tastes like “dried pasilla chili, Mexican cinnamon, cacao” and feels like “soft warm mahogany.” Yep. Though the cacao note is cocoa for me and is more present in the aroma and finish than in the actual taste. The base tea is crisp, fairly light and woody, lacking the astringency I find typical of Ceylon blacks. The chili and softly sweet cinnamon give only a bit of warmth, melding smoothly with the cocoa shells and tea. The safflower petals really add to the ‘painted desert’ visual element of the dry leaf, like a striking sunset.

While I enjoy this tea, there’s something about it that makes me not interested in purchasing it again. Maybe it’s because I have in mind Mexican hot chocolate and the comforting thickness associated with it. As with most chocolate-flavored tea blends, I feel like a base of a good Yunnan red would be more complementary in terms of mouthfeel and flavor. The Ceylon base is kinda leaving me hanging but maybe their blender has good reason for choosing it. Still decent stuff.

Also, I’m wondering what the added flavor is.

[Western, 3.5g, 10oz, 205F]

This tisane puzzles me! I could feel myself making the weirdest face when I first sipped it, confused by the mix of flavors. It is strange how the flavors all work together so well! There is the sweetness of the anise, the deeper notes of the barley, the chocolate flavor tying everything together… I really like it!

I don’t know what it is about this tea, but I’ve never fully warmed up to it. I love banana and smoke and this tea has both, but there is something else that isn’t sitting right. It has a very truffley depth to it that is intriguing, but I’m pushing back from something. I’ve tried for two years and I’m now giving up on this and tossing it in my get rid of bin.

Back from a lovely week up at the barn! I found so many interesting plants to try steeping on my nature walkabouts! Usnea and Monk’s Head lichen (monks head tastes like a puerh!), cedar, spruce, pine, mint and a garbage bag full of mistletoe! There was a huge clump that fell from an oak, just as I was about to leave. Score! As relaxing and amazing as it was to be out in nature, I really missed my tea cupboard and was so excited to get up this morning and pick something to drink! I really need to get a better selection of travel tea put together.

I love banana and smoke, but I’m still perplexed about this tea! It has this depth to it that is almost hot cocoa like and blends well with the smoke and banana. It’s a good tea so I don’t know what is holding me back from loving it. I do hope my feelings change. :/

I love banana teas and smokey banana teas at that, so I was super excited to try this! It steeped up pretty strong and I see that the recommended temp is a little lower than what I used. I’ll have to try a lower temp or 3m next time. It took a few sips to get used to the flavor and have the initial bite fade. Once it does, the sip is filled with sweetened smoke. The banana comes in on the finish and the flavor is complex and rich. Adding cream tempers the smoke and lets the banana come out a little sooner. There is a depth in the finish now, but the banana is still on the lighter side of what I’d hoped for in flavor intensity. I’d like to get to know this tea a little better in future steepings!

Pictures posted here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2nE3Iul3vV/?igshid=9z9gq5p28xtv

I purchased a small sample of this during one of August Uncommon’s sales. Not getting much in the way of chocolate notes. It’s more subtle than their usual fare, but I found it much better if I overleafed a little. Overall, there is a sweetness and maltiness to it that I enjoy, and it goes wonderfully with milk, so it makes a nice breakfast tea. All in all it’s a mild, sweet black that’s very drinkable, just not for when you want a strong black tea.

This is such a unique tea! Darker in color and flavor than other yellow teas I’ve sampled with a distinctive peanut taste. It’s a bit astringent, but I still enjoy it.

about a month ago I bought one of those neat Hario cold brew bottles bc, who knows why. well, I do know why and it’s because of laziness. it was “too difficult” and “too annoying” to put some damn tea in a bottle before I went to sleep and then THEN I had to deal with it in the morning and it was apparently TOO MUCH for me to handle. what I can handle is putting this glass thing in the fridge and putting nice, cold tea in an INSULATED bottle, refilling the glass bottle, and going on my way. I had been making my cold brews in one of these things that i bought years ago, I love love the double lids, but in 90+ degree heat, I need an insulated bottle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L3QXUL6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

TLDR, I’M LAZY AND NOT ALIVE IN THE MORNINGS AND I LOVE THAT GLASS HARIO COLD BREW…THING! and this tea? THIS TEA IS DELIGHTFUL. it is the sweetest sencha I’ve ever had, it is bright and so refreshing. I’m so glad that this was unearthed from the tea cabinet, so good. so sorry for ignoring you for so long :(

I get it.

Boozy chocolate, cigar/pipe tobacco, smooth sweet pineapple and light peppery spice.

But if ever there was a tea to vehemently reinforce my preference for unflavored teas, this is it. A spectacular and sultry, rich naturally flavored black tea for a certain crowd; for me, notsomuch.

Cha-cha ;)

This is a tea I would repurchase for the scent alone. Opening the pouch, you’re hit with a strong cherry scent (almost reminiscent of cough medicine, but not that bad). The prune also comes through, but not as strongly. There is another scent I can’t quite describe, maybe that is the note of armagnac, which I’ve never had. The tea also smells wonderful while steeping. The cherry isn’t as overpowering as it is when the pouch is first opened.

Drinking the tea, I think the prune comes through more than the cherry flavor that the makers note in their tasting description. Again, I can’t speak to any boozy flavors. The brew has a thin mouthfeel, but that may be because of my steeping.

A note about steeping: they recommend 3 T per 8 oz, for 5 minutes. I’ve not tried it there, that seems like way too much tea for the water. I’m afraid of getting something bitter and undrinkable, but maybe that would solve the problem of the thinner mouthfeel that I get from the August Uncommon Black Teas.