ETTE TEA
Edit CompanyPopular Teas from ETTE TEA
See All 48 TeasRecent Tasting Notes
Cold Brew!
Didn’t love how prominent the sencha ended up tasting out of everything else in the blend, but there was a nice but very light fruity undertone with tinges of honey. I wouldn’t have thought to identify it as persimmon without the prompt from the ingredient list, but knowing that’s what it was meant to be did help me pick it out and I found it pretty nice even if this is probably my least favourite ETTE blend I’ve tasted so far.
I drank this tea the morning of my flight! The first time I had this tea I was admittedly a little underwhelmed, but this past cup was the first where I felt I “got it”. The darker and more oxidized oolong that makes up much of the blend was more mineral and woody, but the rich notes of chicory, spices, and stewed fruits complimented wonderfully with the subtle citrus notes of the aged Yuzu peel and rind. Less of a “parfait” in the lighter and more creamy sense I was expecting, but still a wonderful tea!!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CszGXSovXiD/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKUBwrBHIpc
Geek Steep S2E24 – The X-men: Logan
Cold Brew!
Guess who’s behind on tasting notes again!? That’s right, it is me! Working on catching up though, and that means talking about this Geek Steep episode from a few weeks ago where we dived into one of Marika’s biggest fandoms – The X-men!
I chose this as my recording tea and, truthfully, I sort of made the conscious choice to brew something with zero correlation to our fandom of the week because I felt a little intimidated by Marika’s love of those one. There were some other factors too, which we get into in the episode, relating to my thoughts on Wolverine as a character in general but ultimately it was just easier for me on the day of recording to put some distance between the fandom and my tea selection.
Of my Ette blends, this is one of the simpler. It’s a very dark and mineral heavy oolong with a lot of nuttiness to it and one of those somewhat more generically “brown and roasty” profiles. As a cold brew, it’s very well rounded with an incredibly clean finish. I don’t get a lot of yuzu which does make sense since it’s only an inclusion of yuzu peel in the blend, but the slight undertone of more pithy citrus is a nice compliment and adds a very refined/sophisticated hint of flavour to this otherwise approachable blend.
I always forget just how forward the flavour of the milk oolong in this blend is. It’s sort of strange because there’s a subtle note of roasted coffee and a sweet cream flavor as well and that’s clearly what’s primarily supposed to convey the “White Russian” namesake but, then, that gets a little shoved to the side because of the strong BUTTER flavour from the milk oolong…
I still like the blend, but I’d have probably personally played with the base tea rations so that the oolong didn’t distract so much.
This was my first cup of tea yesterday morning working from home. It’s mostly a pleasantly thick and coating milky/buttery taste from the milk oolong but it’s met with an almost custardy vanilla note, a gentle earthy roast, and a distinct note of coffee. I feel like maybe I am slightly warming up to the taste of coffee in some contexts? I actually really enjoyed this blend a lot specifically for the combination of roasty coffee and the sweet creamy elements. It’s not the first coffee blend in recent memory that has pleasantly surprised me, either. Crazy how the palate can change so much over the years!
From an ETTE blend this is kind of a busy tea – but it’s nice! I wish I took more conscious notes in the moment because the flavours felt quite layered. More of a mineral and bitter roasty top note that reminded me a lot of coffee grounds following by a just slightly disconnected buttery oolong – same as the oolong base in the other ETTE blend I reviewed not too long ago. In as long as it took me to process that there was some dissonance with the flavour, the disconnect had passed and the sip was finishing with a thicker and more sweet coffee and cream/vanilla type note. Very decadent send off flavour wise for what starts a more robust and tea forward blend. It’s interesting and enjoyable, which is exactly what I want in a blend. Things that make me excited for that next cuppa…
Gongfu!
I’ve never really been a fan of the more common Chrysanthemum often pressed with or used to scent teas, but this blend uses snow chrysanthemum, which is so totally unlike ‘regular’ chrysanthemum. It has an intense, saturated and syrupy taste that I feel perfectly blends notes of orange (like chenpi) with more herbaceous and almost dill-like flavours – all wrapped up with a softly cooling and pleasantly medicinal finish. It’s perfect for rainy days like today where you just want to be cozy indoors, and the rich and earthy shou pu’erh it’s blended with is such a soothing anchor to the whole session!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5optw1uPGM/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU3-3XQy7JA
Gongfu!
Steeped this one last Sunday. As I’ve said in the past, this shou puerh blended with snow chrysanthemum is a favourite of mine – especially in colder weather. It’s very full bodied with a dense liquor that’s almost equal parts syrupy and medicinal. The initial steeps have strong notes of herbaceous dill w/ heady floral undertones and the entire session is rich with thick, coating notes of blood orange, pithy Aperol, and bittersweet candied orange rinds!!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CleTxKCuQX2/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyB8eV83MME
Gongfu!
(This tasting note was written over the weekend.)
Indulging in a session of snow chrysanthemum pu’erh paired alongside a bagel with cream cheese, fresh raspberries, and a nectarine & thyme jam! There’s a lot of flavour happening here but it all clicks together super nicely! The tea has the thick earthiness of the shou but the chrysanthemum lends it’s distinct thick floral notes with saturated syrupy notes of medicinal but still slightly sweet orange fruits and herbaceous undertones. It’s very complimentary to the milder herbaceous thyme and densely jammy nectarine spread, which the raspberries add some brightness and acidity to balance. This feels indulgent but still peaceful, and is a great start to the day!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaxYu-KuN-K/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0pocjTJQ5I&ab_channel=Bleachers-Topic
Over the weekend I steeped this up paired with two coconut pandan macarons!! I really like this blend because there’s a lot more to it than just tasting like straight chocolate. Instead, the chocolate is very dark and slightly bitter, and it’s contrasted with a very bright, slightly tart raspberry note that draws out some of those natural wine-like berry notes of the cacao in the blend. That top note acidity and different type of fruity sweetness is also making the chocolate much richer and decadent feeling. The subtle notes of soft, silky pandan in the tea blend itself take the edge off some of the sharper notes while also acting as a bridge for this scrumptious pairing! It’s a sweet treat for sure, but I love it!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrWbg3tuVhP/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZTVw91OhsY
One of the many cuppas I’ve enjoyed thus far as part of my vacation. Having tried this tea once before, I had a much better idea of what to expect from the flavour and so I think that primed me to enjoy it much more. Like a lovely slice of chocolate raspberry cake! Dark and indulgent but also bright and tart!
Normally I don’t think I would have been intrigued by a chocolate cake inspired blend like this since I’m not huge on chocolate teas, but the inclusion of pandan really piqued my curiosity and convinced me to give it a go.
Somehow I missed that there’s also a decent amount of fruit in the blend and I kind of only clued in to that when I saw raspberry granules in the dry leaf while steeping. I had even smelled the dry leaf days earlier and remarked to myself that it was surprisingly bright and fruity for a chocolate tea – very “red fruit”. However, European chocolate blends tend to be much, much more fruity tasting compared to North American chocolate blends – it’s just one of those regional flavour differences when it comes to innate preferences. So, I sort of assumed it was just an extreme instance of that.
Steeped I think I actually liked it a lot more than I would have were the fruitiness not so distinct. I got chocolate for sure but it was almost matched by a sweet bright raspberry and cranberry type of flavour that really made me think of whatever the raspberry equivalent of a Black Forest Cake would be. Really dark, fudgey chocolate with that offset of bright syrupy fruits. Maybe a little creamy. The pandan gets lost in the strong flavours, which is a shame, but it’s still a very pleasant tea without the addition of it in the taste profile.
Nutty, sweet, smooth and a little roasty. Tastes like the more fatty and oily peanut butter you would get from the health/Organic foods aisle of your grocery store, or even an almond butter made with roasted almonds. Less processed and still with some chunks of unblended nuts; maybe with the roasted skin still on them. The kind that separates if you don’t mix it together. Delicious. Nostalgic.
So I’ve been craving this tea since about Thursday, and I just could not pry the lid off the tin. It was driving me insane, but I finally managed today to get something under the rim to use as leverage and pop it off that way. I’m all for an air tight seal, but geez.
The tea is well worth the effort though because it’s satisfying that several day long craving immensely. Very, very nutty with such a distinct creamy peanut butter flavour with undertones of heavily roasted almonds and honey. It’s sweet, rich, savory, and soooo good if nuttier teas are your jam!
(Also, definitely made sure to GENTLY put the lid back in. Fingers crossed for next time.)
I’m a little in awe of how deliciously and distinctly this tastes like peanut butter. It reminds me a bit of DT’s Nutty Granola Crunch (which I know was polarizing) but even more rich and nutty. Like, aside from a hint of a fruity apple sweetness in the top of the sip it’s the perfect accord of nutty, creamy, and roasty flavours to really make me think I’m drinking liquid peanut butter. Wow. Wow! I cannot wait to latte this.
Steeped and sipped while washing dishes last night.
It’s not really a pineapple flavour, but it’s very gently/naturally sweet and fruity in that kind of confectionery glaze way and with the combination of a nice flaky pasty and very buttery note it does make me think of something loosely fruit tart inspired. So I’m not mad that the taste isn’t perfectly dead on/distinct. The nod to the titular flavour is enough for me, at least in this moment during this week.
Steeped this one up last night and I like it quite a bit!
I definitely got the sense that oversteeping would be really easy with this blend as it is a quite robust black tea base and there was a little bit of a tannic/astringent edge, but overall the flavour was pretty well balanced. Definitely a burnt sugar/caramel type of note alongside a lighter sweet pineapple that was a more like a pineapple glaze than a sweet juicy fresh pineapple. The mild syrupy fruit notes with that almost bitter burnt sugar are awesome together though and it makes for an indulgent fruity profile that makes sense for a pineapple tart.
I feel like I always over steep this…
Anyway, it was nice enough. The peach is very, very light but I do like that because it’s more of a floral white peach it marries well to the oolong itself which is also floral. Was a bit coarse though because of the over steeping – mostly in terms of astringency, not bitterness.
Over steeped this bad boy. As a result the cup was this upsetting mash of beautiful floral white peach and biting astringency and bitterness in the finish. Tasted a bit too harsh and perfume-y thanks to my unfortune steeping mishap. I know how lovely this gem can be when brewed with care, so it was a particularly sad infusion because of that.
This is such a lovely, simple white peach flavour – nice and medium bodied with the perfect balance of juicy sweetness and floral notes that marry perfectly with the natural floral rose and orchid notes in the greener oolong base that it’s blended with!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgCndtlufVd/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or0hRxUyGPQ
Got a massive haul from ETTE tea that I’m just super excited to dig into!
It was a really large order since ETTE is inconvenient to order from. I had to reach out to the company on IG to see if they would ship to Canada since that wasn’t an option through their site, and the shipping was EXPENSIVE. Sooo… I order a lot of teas to help justify the cost. Like, a lot a lot.
I thought this one had one of the nicest dry leaf aromas of the bunch – a very soft and dewy floral peach! Steeped up I think the taste was a little bit less distinctly peach than I had expected it to be, but the light and mellow fruity taste and floral green oolong was so pleasant and refreshing.
