The Angry Tea Room

Mastress Alita’s January sipdown challenge Tea #8: A tea that reminds you of an alcoholic beverage

additional notes: Since this definitely tastes like a fruity champagne, this certainly fits for the sipdown challenge! So much flavor in this cup and I didn’t even overleaf… it might be a cupboard essential for me. I have some more of this from a different shop (Tealyra?) so I’m happy to finish this sample from Mastress Alita’s stash (thanks again!)
2022 sipdowns: 10

Additional notes: Sipping a bit of this one for a bit of celebrating. I usually do NOT care about the grammys at all, but this year, I feel like many talented people I’ve admired for years are getting some awards, or at least some mentions: Bettye LaVette, Anderson East, Kendrick Lamar, Janelle Monae (though I’ve loved her earlier albums more), Punch Brothers, and most importantly, for probably my frame-for-frame favorite music video ever, ‘This Is America’ by the talented Donald Glover, Ludwig Goransson, and Hiro Murai. The video is the thing but I think the song won four awards? Yowzas. I instantly loved that video. I don’t even watch music videos and I didn’t even watch the grammys… but this is a tea website so I’ll stop.

By my calculations, there is about 154 different teas I never wrote a tasting note for. I’ve failed you, teas, I’ve failed you! Anyway…. Thanks so much for sending a bit of this along, Mastress Alita! I wanted to try this when I saw it over on Angry Tea Room’s website. This would probably be amazing iced, but I brewed this one up hot. I’m not really an alcohol drinker (drinking alcohol would mean less tea consumption anyway) but this has a flavor that tastes JUST like champagne. It’s uncanny. It’s the strongest flavor there is among all of these delicious ingredients: apples, papaya, rose, strawberry. But it’s the champagne that makes this so unique and tasty. Champagne with some fruit thrown in maybe. Then I read Mastress Alita’s description with memories of drinking champagne with frozen fruit to keep it cold: yep, that is what this tea is. I could definitely stock up on this one.

May Flowers! I got this at the same time I got the Sparkling Wine tea (man, do I love that stuff!) because it was their “signature blend,” and as much as I wanted to like this… ya… it just isn’t for me. The leaf looks great; a nice oolong base (my favorite type of tea, by far!) and lots of flower petals; nothing about it looks like this is going to be a really chamomile-heavy tea. But when I brew it up, all I can smell and taste is chamomile. For all the lovely, beautiful rose petals, I don’t get so much as a hint of rose flavor to help subdue some of that chamomile flavor, which is a shame, as I love rose, and though the tea boasts citrus flavoring, I can only very subtly make out a slight lemon flavor toward the end of the sip; it certainly isn’t strong enough against the chamomile to make this a pleasant cup for me. The tea does have a nice, silky mouthfeel from the oolong, but since I’m not really a fan of the taste of chamomile and only like it as a background note or more subdued against other, stronger flavors, this strong, “in your face” chamomile-tasting tea just isn’t for me. I plan to gift this to a friend who will hopefully appreciate it more than me.

Thank You Tea-Sipper! for this sample package of this tea.
Dry Leaf: The tea smells like cola initially with some spices.
Brewing: 2 TSP of leaf using just boiled water steeped for 3 1/2 minutes covered.
Added a tsp of agave and tiny bit of almond milk as recommended.

The milk made this tea very creamy. Flavor wise it’s like a mild chai with the additional milk and sweetener it reminds me of the traditional creamy masala chai that is served in indian restaurants. The spices come through in each sip, but I’m also getting a pop of something that tastes like cola. It’s a nice surprise. I’m not sure where it’s coming from though. I can’t detect any pumpkin flavor though. It’s quite different from any other pumpkin tea I’ve ever had in a good way. I can sort of see how the spices and creaminess might make you think of pumpkin pie. Agave really brings out any sort of soda aspect a tea has.

I woke up much too early this morning, but there was nothing for it. I was awake, so I prepped for my day, and brewed up a sample of this for my morning pot of tea.
Overall not my very favorite. The popcorn adds an interesting savory quality, but I found the caramel taste to be a little too weak to hold up to the popcorn. I would have liked a better balance.
But, as I consumed the whole sample in one go, it has sparked a possibly foolish idea. Can I get myself down to 40 teas in the cupboard before Black Friday and all of the dangerous tea sales? I might be able to swing it, and wouldn’t that be just the best thing? I would feel so much freer to try new teas, if I had my cupboard whittled down that far.
So this sipdown starts the beginning of that quest! I think I can!

I absolutely had to have a pumpkin tea today. Its pumpkin day! I will be heading off to the pumpkin patch to select my gourds, and so I needed an appropriate brew to take with me.
I brewed up my entire sample of this into a good little pot of tea, which I’m enjoying, but am not completely blown away by. It seems to focus a bit more of pumpkin than a pumpkin chai would, but I’m getting the typical thing of more pumpkin spice than pumpkin.
Still, I think this is a fairly good example of the breed, and I’ve enjoyed this nice little pot!
Also a sipdown!

I polished this off with my breakfast, and I’m afraid to say it hardly left an impression.
My quest for the most decadent vanilla black tea continues. This, alas, was not it!
Sipdown!

Tea of my morning.
The leaf smells very strongly of vanilla, but it doesn’t taste really like anything. I was hoping to get a lot of vanilla, but it just was a cup of rather mild black tea.

I drank this down over the weekend.
Its pleasant, more apple than caramel, which is a shame. I was hoping for something richer and sweeter.

Cuppa the morning.
I smell a lot of caramel in the dry leaf, but I taste mostly apple when brewed. I will try and see if I can get those two aspects to really meld next time, because that would be perfect!

The good/sad thing about samples is how quickly they are finished. Sometimes you love the tea, and wish you had more, but sometimes you’re glad you only committed to a little bit of it.
The latter is the case here. I just never got much in the way of an impression from this. Midly citrusy, but no particular taste of berry, and nothing that really said Autumn to me.
But now its a sipdown!

The first of my Angry Tea Room samples! I had part of my little packet yesterday morning, and my first impression is hardly an impression at all.
Hmm. I find it alright, but it is not making my heart sing in any way. It seemed a mild black tea with a hint of berry.
Well, I have more, and will experiment again!

This herbal blend I’ve had a few times and the elements just seem like they should be awesome together: fresh looking coconut, apple, rose, cherry, raspberry, banana, sultana…. and hibiscus but the flavor of that doesn’t come across too much. (I love the hint of that when the cup isn’t too red — no overly tart hibiscus, yay!) Sadly the huge delicious looking coconut flakes don’t show up more in the flavor. Overall, the flavor is mostly reminiscent of cherry and really only cherry which is disappointing for all these other ingredients here. Reminds me of the day I helped my grandma pick cherries from her tree in the yard for jam this summer. Sadly, one of the more fun things I got to do for a few weeks while visiting my dad in the hospital every day. I thought this was similar to a blend I’ve had in the past, but the brew definitely isn’t the same. Maybe I should have went with more than two teaspoons for more flavor, but that probably would have made it more tart. It’s a unique flavor to have around though.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons // few minutes after boiling // 6 minute steep

additional notes: I THOUGHT this would be the tea that is similar or same to Arthur Dove’s Caramel Apple Betty. But no match here again.  Even visibly, it doesn’t look the same, with mostly black tea, meaning relying on flavoring rather than ingredients, with an occasional tiny piece of cinnamon. The Arthur Dove blend has many more pieces in it that aren’t black tea. Drinking it now, this was previously my favorite caramel apple tea… I really liked this!   But I think this is now replaced by the Arthur Dove.    I think that is all the teas I have in the “cupboard” that might be similar to the Arthur Dove… so I will stop looking!  But the Arthur Dove is probably my new second favorite apple tea, after Simpson & Vail’s French Toast.

Additional notes: Enjoying this one in the autumn is especially nice. Got to love the apple teas in the fall! I love that this one has a bit of a bite to it. Probably because the leaves are so small. But usually I’m finding the black teas aren’t as brisk as I want them to be. I love the apple and caramel flavor… which is still holding up pretty fresh for a tea that’s over a year old now.

Thanks for this sample with my small order a while ago, Angry Tea Room! For some reason the label on my sample lists some pretty odd ingredients that I figured probably weren’t actually in the blend. Instead we have: black tea, apple pieces, natural caramel apple flavor and cinnamon bark. Straightforward and that is all you need for this delicious tea. There is definite crisp, fresh, bright apple flavor here. As well as some delicious sweetness to stand in for caramel. I would love if the caramel chunks from Angry’s lovely Caramel Popcorn Movie Night blend were included here, but I can live with this level of sweetness anyway. The black tea is a perfect base. The cinnamon isn’t very noticeable but I don’t think it needs to be. This is a solid caramel apple tea! I think both steeps were perfect. And now it’s nighttime and I’m drinking some of Angry’s Creamsicle blend. A perfect end to this heat wave I’m glad is over tonight!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// few minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

I can’t remember who sent me this, but it is labelled as “Angry Pumpkin” – Angry Tea Room.

I only used 1 tsp in a coldbrew, so I still have 5 tsp left. It is good though, I am not in a hurry to get rid of it.

Strong black base, slightly bitter. Strong flavours of cardamom, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, light on the ginger (chai spices). Lightly nutty. Overall, it is a good chai that makes me think of autumn or winter. I didn’t enjoy the base, but maybe 1 hour was too long a steep. I forgot I had it brewing until I went into the kitchen to find snacks (I ate some macadamia nuts…good pairing!) It isn’t something I would buy, but I did enjoy getting to taste it.

A couple months ago, AngryTeaRoom.com sent three generous samples with my SMALL order (thank you!) They must not have been feeling as angry that day. :D Also, the front page of their site right now has a few alcohol teas. This lavender bergamot blend is DELICIOUS and just such a perfect combination and the right balance. The bergamot and citrus and lavender that Angry has here just perfectly compliments each other. And it is amazingly balanced. So tasty I’m drinking it much too fast. The black tea is the perfect briskness. The lavender and bergamot are strong, just the way I like it. Floral and herby, yet sweet and citrusy. I would stock up on this one in a heartbeat! I’m missing some great Earls anyway. Did I mention this is just perfect today? Gorgeous.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 13 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

I bought this for the Black Friday sale. It came in a mason jar inside the cutest pumpkin mug! The tea is pretty tasty. I wouldn’t call it overly, definitely pumpkin flavored. But it isn’t too spicy either. Only an occasional spice ingredient here and there within the black tea (cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamom). It’s not an overt chai blend though. The black tea is robust enough. Mostly what makes this interesting is a hint of creamy flavor, like a whip cream on top of a pumpkin pie (it might be the flower petals too — I’m convinced this type adds a sweetness.) This blend would be to die for with actual pumpkin pieces or more actual pumpkin flavor. But this hits the craving as is.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep