Tin Roof Teas

October Sipdown Prompt – World Food Day: have tea with a favorite food

Still had a bit iced so I enjoyed this for lunch with our copy cat of Sprout’s Honey Nut Chicken Salad. Delish. Recipe is simple – diced chicken, mayo, T honey, handful of Craisins, handful of pecans, salt, pepper, and Penzey’s garlic powder. Chop chop with Mr Choppy and I don’t know what he is really called but his job in my childhood was to chop my spaghetti. Looks like a biscuit cutter with a handle but has a serrated or scalloped edge.

Sipdown

The aroma of this tea is magnificent. You could simmer it in a pot and enjoy it all day for a spot of sunshine. My only complaint with it is that the base tea is incredibly light. To remedy this, I mix in a teaspoon of a strong black tea for a small pot, or use it half and half for sweet iced tea.

Not being much of a pumpkin spice guy, I initially tried this one because I just started working at the coffee shop I ordered it from (and I take knowing our menu very seriously). I was surprised to be delighted from the very first sip.

This is an interesting take on a fall flavor because it isn’t really spicy. It’s sweet, rich, tempered with an almost delicately salty edge that reminds me of the caramel frosting I used to have on pound cake. My mouth feels swaddled in the warm caress of brown sugar. This is definitely a comfort cup.

September Sipdown Prompt – a tea Animal would drink

I am so glad this is available at Tin Roof Teas, semi-locally. My first batch of it came from White Antlers and was from TeaGeschwendner but Tin Roof carries lots of their teas and I am thrilled I was able to replace my gift bag of it when it is was empty. It is so rich and chocolate-y. I drink it plain but I bet as a latte it would knock it right out of the park as the sugar and milk magnify the chocolate and boozy notes. It is delicious. You could add a little sploosh of whisky, and Animal would, I am sure of it. But that isn’t really a good idea at 6:45 a.m.

So why do I think Animal might drink this? Well, we know he drinks alcohol because he and other Muppets have been shown with beer. In fact, there is a great deal of alcohol consumption amongst the Muppets. Check out their Wiki!

In one show (one of the movies or specials, I think) he is chanting “NOG!” as he downs his beverage. So he likes rich, alcoholic beverages. And this is the closest thing I have.

In a Lipton ad, Animal gets in trouble with Miss Piggy because she has served water at her outdoor dinner party, and he yells, “NO TASTE. BORING!” or some such and spits out his water, hitting the pasta entree she is bringing out. Kermit saves the day by producing a big pitcher of iced tea, which Animal enjoys. Of course, that was for the paycheck.

I think Animal would also dig raw puerh. He would get into the bitter ones and totally trip out on the chi.

This is a sample sipdown from a box of tea sent by Youngest – many thanks!

I have never been a rooibos fan but I was curious about this one and decided I needed a quiet and solitary cup of decaf before bed last night.

It really wasn’t bad! The bergamot wasn’t harsh and really tasted altered by the base, while the rooibos came off very woody which slightly offset the Robitussin taste. I had made the whole sample and decided to chill the rest, unsweetened, to have with lunch.

Cold and with food, I found that it left an aftertaste far longer than I liked. After the first sip, I decided to just save it to chug after the meal rather than altering the flavor of all of my food.

I greatly preferred the way it tasted hot. I can even see developing a real taste for this if one drink it often enough. It reminds me much more of the Fortnum and Mason plain rooibos tea than of Harney and Sons organic rooibos, the only two plain rooibos teas I have tried.

This tea was a gift from Youngest – many thanks!

I looked this up on the Tin Roof website. If you search for the tea, it says no results found. Tried more than once. If you just click the category for aroma oolong you will find it. And you should find it if these are flavors that appeal to you because it is really good.

Tin Roof recommends making it at 176F and steeping for three minutes, so that is what I did.

This is a floral green oolong and it pairs so beautifully with the apricot flavor. There are pieces of dried fruit in the blend as well as flavoring. There is a deep note that hints at baked apricot but not pastry. It is a lovely balance. The taste is green oolong up front and then the fruit flavor blooms and finishes strong. It is not an overpowering flavoring, though, and I find it to be clearly apricot and not peach, which can come offasting very similar.

This is a tea I would repurchase one day. I wonder how it is iced…..

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I drank this for second breakfast.

First breakfast was at 5:30 am outside with Ashman. Toast and Fresh Strawberry tea by Perennial Tea Room. He had eggs but I didn’t because I know me and having breakfast that early was sure to be a mere warm up.

After working in the garden a little while and doing laundry, I wanted French toast. Often I try to pair tea that will be a contrast to the food but this just sounded like a nice companion for the French toast. It was, too.

I would have sworn there was almond flavoring here, but there is none listed, unless it is included in their final ingredient of the list – “natural flavoring.”

Even without milk and sugar (it doesn’t need it, oh boy oh boy it doesn’t need it) this knocked my socks off. Thank goodness the tea base isn’t thin like so many I run into with flavored teas. It is TEA and it has FLAVORS and best of all it has SMELLS and they are GREAT smells.

They nailed oatmeal raisin cookies.

Would purchase for sure. Planning to order some this fall. Yum.

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July Sipdown Prompt – a tea you will re-order

This wasn’t in my cupboard but should have been. Always welcome, especially as an afternoon treat with chocolates, cake, or cookies. I am enjoying this cup immensely and it fills the flavor profile I got from Fig Formosa but even better, I think.

Definitely one I want to have again.

June Sipdown Prompt – a white tea

This tea arrived in a box of many teas that I am excited about from Youngest today! Many thanks!

Opening the pouch, the first thing that hits me is the same aroma I found in Fig Formosa Oolong from this company. When you read the description of Fig Formosa they do mention it having grape flavor. I think it must be the very same flavoring as was used in this tea.

I made a pot of tea and poured one cup hot and then flash chilled the rest. The hot cup was a very nice balance of white tea flavor and grape flavor. The grape flavor does not cover up the white tea.

The flash chilled tea initially seemed to have more white tea flavor with a bit of a musky, grape must edge to it. As the tea sat out in the pitcher coming closer to room temperature, the grape flavor and sweetness seemed to grow, although the white tea base was still present.

This is really delicious, makes a great cold tea even unsweetened, and would probably be good sweetened as well.

This morning I followed the museum weather to tour a nearby collection on the history of country doctors. I carried off a decent haul of relevant literature that demands a tea equal to the task, or more accurately, a tea that is randomly chosen in the hopes that it will be found equal to the task – more specifically, this tea.

The smell is something I instinctively wanted to call leaf-litter but have since settled on tobacco foremost. It’s a complex mingling of sweetness, dryness, and bitterness that is distinctly inanimate: wood, subtle hazelnut, and chocolate all come to mind, but the taste is mild, clear, and refreshing. Paired somewhat redundantly with a cigar, it could be almost indistinguishable from a good puerh. The resteep is decently comparable but I don’t think I would push it as far as a third cup. My overall impression is that this is what it would taste like to be one of the antiquated medical texts I viewed this morning, or perhaps a forgotten lamp with a crown of dust in the study of an affluent but incredibly stressed lawyer.

This morning I woke up with a neck so sore that I am not certain it’s the same one I went to bed with. I nearly scrapped all of my plans for today to pencil in some therapeutic wallowing but was unexpectedly revitalized just in time to make it to a library presentation on obituary-writing. For my bravery, I believe I have earned the selection of a new tea from my admittedly overstocked cabinet while I reflect on my fondest memories of myself to immortalize.

I was uncertain how a oolong would respond to my unsophisticated methods, but this one clearly needs no help. I was stunned by the richness and fullness of the aroma, warm and intensely nutty – walnut or brazil maybe – with a vegetal or hay-like sweetness that clings coolly in your mouth. Near the bottom of the cup, I got a much more specific read on it that took me back to a barbershop-turned-bar where I once had a carrot juice cocktail and a dish of perfectly steamed edamame which, minus the delectable sprinkling of everything bagel seasoning that I have preferred on my edamame ever since, tasted not dissimilar to this tea.

After a long, stressful week of 12+ hour workdays, I am finally settling in to a hard-earned weekend. I have stolen hasty cups of this tea all week as able, but having put away a tasty chestnut ale, I finally find myself prepared to settle in to a review while I rewatch Twin Peaks. And with this blend, we achieve redemption for the rooibos experiment.

This earl grey is everything it should be, with brisk bergamot tinged with the acidity of lemon and the familiar, dusty floral of lavender atop a balanced blend of sweet, mild black teas – an ideal base for a london fog or a strong contender for any earl grey lover. Nothing is lost between the dry leaves and the brewed cup; here’s an earl grey that keeps its promises.

There are two defining elements to any successful earl grey (change my mind) and those are 1) the unmistakable taste of an acrid soup made from the juices of 83-year-old window blinds and 2) Froot Loops?

Maybe this is a personal delusion, but wherever I smell lavender and lemon together (or cardamom alone), I smell Froot Loops. Does anybody know what on earth I’m talking about?

I am locked in battle with this tea.

I have braved the trials and illness of days 4 and 5 in caffeine purgatory, only to reward myself with a troubling blend indeed. Zealot that I am for basically everything in this ingredient list and for artificial grape flavor, this tea seemed destined to be my soulblend. I stuck my nose into the bag eagerly and was met with an aroma that could be said to be grape in the same way as the aged, grape-scented eraser that fit snugly in the miniature juice carton for the family dollhouse growing up – sort of faded and elusive, but yes, maybe grape? The smell is sweet and marshmallowy but the grape is difficult to pin down without pulling the bag on over your head.

Moving on, I followed the recommended steeping directions and the result was, I think, concerningly pale in color and in palate. In trying to magnify the flavors enough to get a detailed read on them, I have gone ballistic. I made a second cup with an increased steep time and water temperature; I have sniffed the leaves and the cup until I have gotten lightheaded; I’ve sipped, I’ve swished, I have LITERALLY gargled with this tea, but I am having the most devilish time unlocking the flavors sufficiently to really enjoy and analyze this cup. I will file this one away to be reassessed when one or both of us are better disposed to cooperate.

Today I am passing Day 3/7 in my decaffeinated prison. I woke up with a headache probably equally related to dehydration as caffeine deprivation, but dreaming of a hot americano all the same. As punishment for my meditative weakness, when I finally managed to coax myself out of bed at the ripe hour of 2:30PM, I perused my cabinet for my lowest caffeine tea, and the winner would appear to be this rooibos-based earl grey blend. So here goes.

Admittedly, I don’t know much about rooibos, and most blends I have tried of this variety have been inoffensive. The dry leaves are about what you would expect and smell almost tart or lemony compared to other earl greys. In the prepared cup, however, I lose track of the bergamot oil. The steam carries a honeyed raspberry aroma, and with the delicate touch of tartness enfolding my tongue, I begin to wonder if our friend bergamot has not taken a wrong turn and gotten lost in the wilderness somewhere on its way. A pleasant, low-profile cup, but whether it has earned the eponym of Earl Grey remains to be told.

I survived day 1 of only tea-derived caffeine, successfully powering through the day on nothing but a single cup of black tea and pure vibes.

After another night spent feeling under the weather, I met Day 2 rolling out of my slumber in search of something indulgent to accompany my reading of The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. I settled on this Oatmeal Raisin Cookie blend for a much-needed boost, and oh. My. God.

Despite its delicate, amber coloring, the aroma coming out of my cup is so insanely raisiny it’s like diving into the congealed gummy center of the most fabulously flavorful raisin you have ever tasted and bathing in its cinnamon sweetness. It’s a smooth, syrupy cup reminiscent of curling up in a blanket watching sunny autumn leaves and going back to sleep. I feel like the pat of butter on a warm stack of fluffy pancakes, slowly melting away.

After the week spent me like life was a slot machine, I haggardly drew the conclusion that my lifestyle – currently characterized by sleeping like garbage, going to work at 4AM and chugging 400mg caffeine in energy drinks before 9AM just to make it to noon – needed a reboot. What I mean to say is that energy drinks are expensive and I dropped a pant size in a week, so a friend has pressured me into DAY 1/7: no caffeine excepting whatever I get from tea. After passing an insomniac episode all night playing a PC game called “A Night in the Woods” (a cute, cartoonish side-scroller centered around a feline protagonist in a story with an intriguing balance of wholesome mediocrity and unexpected darkness), Day 1 has met me with a weird start.

Escaping work early, I decided to finally check out a nearby tea shop and foolishly thought I might find a couple teas that could pique my interest. The moment I stepped in, I was quickly overtaken by my folly in underestimating their selection. There wasn’t a single tea I didn’t want to try, and I fear the old adage against shopping while hungry also applies to shopping while under-caffeinated, because I shelled out for a bag full to the brim with goodies and a freshly brewed cup of their Karma Kahwa blend for the road. Does it constitute a relapse if I haven’t gone a day without caffeine yet?

Unfortunately, the ambush-like stealth of Tin Roof Teas’s formidable selection forbids this tea being on their website (I think it may be seasonal as well), so I am attempting to conjure the ingredients from memory and taste. Clove is easily the foreground of this flavorful tea with a colorful supporting cast of spices like cardamom and cinnamon lending complexity and complementary sweetness in the background – the almond is there if you look for it and rounds out a festive, dessert-like profile. A little bit drying, this tea was the perfect accompaniment to a sunny but cool day uncertain of its seasonal loyalties and meteorological temperament. I wonder how it tastes with a shot of espresso in it…damn it. Focus on the mission!

March Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a favorite herbal tisane

It’s a sipdown! We make this one iced by the pitcher. It is a purple-ish-and-tea color and not super attractive if you were expecting blue/purple tea, but as a sweet iced tea it is quite refreshing. Ashman really enjoys it, and I like it very well, too.

Just noticed I never posted a tasting note and I have had it for at least two years but probably three, or more. I reviewed it for Sororitea Sisters long ago so that is probably why I didn’t put a note here.

I have two teas sipped down this month, but just received an early birthday gift of three new ones and there is one arriving Monday. And I bet I am getting tea from someone else for my birthday, too! (Insert laughing face with tears!) I need to get moving on the sipdowns!

I reviewed this for Sororitea Sisters and it has posted, so now I can share the tasting note!

http://www.sororiteasisters.com/2021/01/22/strawberry-vanilla-no-961-tin-roof-teas-ashmanra/

I first tried this tea about seven years ago and I continue to pick it up now and then because it is really good to have on shelf. It is so easy to like and appeals to people who already love tea as well as people who are just starting on their tea journey. It pairs well with desserts and is lovely as a stand alone cup.

Although this came from Tin Roof Teas, I am 99.9% sure that it is sourced from Teageschwendner.

My excuse for buying this when I already have tons of tea is that my husband loves strawberry flavored teas, and he doesn’t like as many teas as I do, so I keep this on hand FOR HIM. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

The green base is a blend from three countries – India, Japan, and China. I think Indian green must be excellent for aroma teas because I am pretty sure Harney and Sons uses a lot of it in their flavored greens. It is pretty mild and very smooth, and has just enough briskness to make this go really well with food. If tea is too mild, food flavors can overwhelm it so you taste pretty much nothing, like drinking a cup of hot water.

The strawberry flavor is fresh and the tiniest bit tart like a real strawberry. This is all smoothed over by the lovely hint of warm vanilla.

I like to steep this at 175F for three minutes and resteep right away, combining the two for an economical pot. It works really well.

Tin Roof Teas is in Raleigh, NC. They do ship and some of their teas are available on Amazon.
Their Moroccan Mint is blended in house and is my hands down favorite of the type. And their Tung Ting is mouthwateringly good. There is a 15% discount for your first order after signing up for their newsletter, so go wild!

Now, not related to the tea but a funny tale about the Ashman that I wanted to share!

We had mild weather last Saturday so middle daughter hung her blankets out to dry. Unbeknownst to her, a little bee nestled on the fabric and as temps dropped toward evening he fell asleep. (This has happened before with both bees and lizards.) She brought the blankets in and left them in the laundry basket where the bee woke up due to the lovely warmth! Bee flies into den, Ashman gets an empty granola bar box to catch it because he doesn’t want to kill it. The bee practically flew right into the box, which he covered with a magazine and carried outside.

He comes in and I ask him if he released the bee and he said….he put it on the fleece blanket over the back of the porch rockers. BUT he tucked it into a fold so it wouldn’t get eaten by a bird in the morning before it has a chance to warm up.

Y’all. He tucked in a bee.

Sunday morning, he checks his bee and it is still sleeping peacefully in the blanket. So he pulls the rocker into a sunny spot and turns it so the bee is facing the sun. Hours later, he reports that he checked the fold of the blanket and his bee has flown away.

I hope this summer to have a story about jars of honey mysteriously appearing on our doorstep.

Ashmanra sent a little sample of this tea our way, not for me, but for the hubster. Now, you have to remember that his oolong gold standard is bagged supermarket Bigelow Oolong, oversteeped until it can stand up without the cup. Set the pricey stuff in front of him, and he generally fusses because it is too fruity or too flowery.

So I was surprised at his reaction to this one: “I’m getting honey. Or maybe honeysuckle.” And while it wasn’t quite a rave review, he didn’t politely “forget” the cup until it was too cold to be useful. Baby steps.

I got honey, too, but with a little toasted homemade bread underneath. Very gentle, very nice. Looking forward to a rerun cup shortly.

July prompt – a tea from an American company.

This is a sipdown today, and wouldn’t you know it? I have been hammering away at it trying to get one more thing out of my cupboard and today it tastes just about the best ever, making me want to purchase more. I will not do so until the cupboard is under better control but it may be a re-purchase someday.

The floral notes really stood out today and I am a sucker for floral notes.

I bought this at a shop just two hours away. Once upon a time, all of their were sourced from Teageschwendner, but around the time I started going they began to get a few from other places. They do their own Moroccan Mint blend and it is THE BEST. But I digress.

The first time I drank this I was disappointed. I was expecting it to taste like a similar tea I had tried around that time and it I didn’t drink it again for a while.

Now I have had it several times more and I wonder what was wrong with me? This is really good!

This is a green oolong, not roasty toasty like Dong Ding (they sell a very good one of those) or Da Hong Pao. It has a nice floral high that rises at the outset, nice in the aroma, and there is a bit of minerality, too.

Even though it is a green floral oolong, I served it with our late breakfast of cinnamon raisin bagels in the rockers out back. It went well and had enough flavor not to drown under the cinnamon and schmeer. We kept sipping until the ants found us. It was getting too hot out there anyway.

What’s left of my packet had woogled down to the bottom of the odds and ends basket (you have one of those, don’t you?) so I didn’t expect too much in the way of flavor and freshness when I steeped a tumbler this morning. Not so—it was still pastry-like and tasty, even more so when I iced it. Makes me think of a cream puff that’s been in the fridge. Oh…now I AM thinking about cream puffs…and frosting…and cookie dough…and…

Marzipan…wouldn’t that be a good name for a gold-and-white cat?

This was also a little surprise from Ashmanra. I proceeded extremely cautiously this morning, because I’ve had many almond teas that go bitter very easily. So I pulled it at 3 minutes (recommendation was 2—4) and ended up with a very mild, sweet, drinkable dessert tea. The marzipan/pastry character and scent is detectible, but faint enough I think we can add that extra minute when I try again.

I went through the whole package (~25g?) before reviewing because I was determined to give this a chance, as it’s from the closest thing I have to a “local” tea shop (at least an hour away)…but I couldn’t get it to work for me. Package directions for western brewing are 1 tsp/8 oz/ boiling water/3-5 min. All I could taste this way was roast; not “roasted something,” just…roast. Fortunately it didn’t quite cross over into straight-up carbon, but it was close. If I focused really hard I could sometimes get an ambiguous nutty aftertaste. I tried more and less leaf, different infusion times, and cold brewing – but no improvement. Finally I tried brewing at 90 C, and that helped a little. I could make out a bit of earthy/wet foliage taste in the front, a little cocoa powder in the finish, but still the almost totally dominant flavor is roast. Really can’t recommend.