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I purchased this sample at a co-op in San Francisco that derk told me about, back in… 2018, I believe? (I don’t think I’ve even been able to get back out to California, where my best friend lives, since that time…) I drank a cuppa western yesterday morning, but decided to gong fu brew it this morning (What?! Two gong fu sessions this month?!) Just enough leaf left for one more western brew, as well.

Using as my (final!) March sipdown prompt, “a tea with spinach/artichoke notes.”

180ml (mini pot) | 10g | 205F | Rinse/25s/30s/35s/15s/15s/15s

The leaf after the rinse has a strong sour vegetal aroma (an amalgamation of kale, spinach, and basil), and the leaf has expanded so much it fills my tiny pumpkin teapot! The tea on the other hand smells sweet and floral… lilacs, honey, and cream. The flavor tastes a bit perfumy on the first infusion, with a strong sharpness at the end of the sip and a coating, somewhat oily floral left on the tongue. Second steep was the same, leaving me to question if I just haven’t figured out leaf ratios for gong fu correctly since my western cup was smooth smooth smoooooooooth without any sourness or overly-obnoxious floral. Third steep was a bit more mild, but still more astringent than I prefer… the floral, however, had subsided a bit and vegetal notes started to come out, a bit of a spinachy/garden peas note. On the fourth infusion I decided to cut back the infusion time rather than increase it, which helped some, but I still wasn’t a fan of the thickly floral aftertaste.

I finished out the water I’d boiled at six steeps. Perhaps I botched this gong fu session, but I preferred the western cup, which was a very smooth cup with that lovely lilac cream aroma, with a warm garden peas/spinach vegetal note followed by honeyed cream and soft lilacs, and absolutely no sour or astringent notes. Rating is based on the pleasant western brew rather than this lackluster gong fu session. I’m glad I still have enough leaf left to do another western brew cup!

I have a large bag of this from 2018, still sealed… sealed too well, as no matter how hard I tried after cutting free the top, the resealable part would not separate! I had to cut it off to get to the tea, so hopefully I can finish this off quickly before the “roll the top down and clamp” doesn’t do the job anymore. For the March sipdown prompt “a favorite pancake/waffle topping.” (I actually wanted to go with butter, which I always slather on in copious amounts before adding any other toppings, but I have a lot of older maple teas right now to get through…)

The last few genmaicha 52Teas blends that I’ve had recently from around this time period fell very flat on any flavorings and just tasted like plain genmaicha, but this one has such a strong maple aroma that the whole room smells lovely! There is definitely a potent maple flavor to the tea, which is actually coming off with a slight alcoholic taste to it… I wonder if the bag was sealed so tightly it just needs to air slightly? It’s still nice though, with a very sweet maple flavor lingering on the tongue after the sip. The roasty and nutty flavor of the genmai tastes really nice with the maple! They are very complimenting, rather than the genmai note overpowering everything else.

I got this as a sampler in a very long ago teaware order from teaware.house back in 2018. I figured from the name that this would be a floral-leaning oolong, so I decided to brew this gong fu style this morning for the March prompt “a floral tea.”

180ml (mini pot) | 7.5g | 205F | Rinse/20s/25s/30s/35s/40s/45s

The leaves after the rinse smell strong of bitter melon and lilac flowers, and the rinse liquor smelled similar, with a stronger floral/muscatel presence. On the first steep I’m getting aromas of wildflower honey, stewed fruits, and a mix of a raisiny musctatel smell with bitter melon. The first infusion tastes strongly of medicinal bitter melon, with a pungent and biting bitter aftertaste. The aroma was already smelling more mellow by the second infusion, with a nuttiness coming forward. The tea tasted of syrupy floral honey, raisins, nuts, and stewed fruits, with the edges mostly smoothed out now and none of the face-scrunching bitterness of the first steep. As the tea cooled, a soft lilac florality settled into the aftertaste. The floral notes were more pronounced in the third steep: mostly lilac, but also a bit of that “grapey” jasmine note and an aftertaste of lavender. The last few infusions were quite mineral and floral. Steeped a total of 6 infusions. Plenty of floral, never got any butter. As far as oolongs go, I found this one not unpleasant, but a little meh.

I was going to use this for “a floral tea” on the scavenger hunt this month, but after drinking it again, I realize it doesn’t taste like rose at all (there are some rose petals in the blend, but they appear to be decorative rather than a flavor element). Then I realized this is “Rosé Royal” and not “Rose Royal”… I’d left the accent off my spreadsheet and assumed it was a rose tea from the name, hahaha. So instead I’m using this as “a tea that makes you happy” because it definitely fits for that!

I’m actually really sad this is one of the teas that never made it over to the selection when Lupicia moved from California to Hawaii, because I really like this one and am going to miss it! I can’t drink alcohol at all due to my chronic migraine condition, so I love teas that have a sort of alcohol flavor to them. This one has a dry/effervescent alcohol taste, a bit like a champagne or white wine, with a really sweet strawberry fruitiness. I’ve only had it hot in the past, but decided to ice this batch and am finding it’s very smooth that way, with some of the astrigency I remembered from the base mellowed out in the cold tea, but still with that lovely fruity strawberry/dry alcohol taste. Very refreshing!

We’re getting dumped on with far too much snow to make me happy in March (to be fair, I’m not happy about tons of snow any other time of the year, either!) which make me want to reach for something robust or roasty… instead I’m checking off the “green tea” prompt from the sipdown list this month. (Perhaps I can vicariously live out a nice spring day that way?!)

My steeped cup smells a bit strong on the lemon than the berry, though I can make out some raspberry on the nose. To taste, mostly I’m getting a fresh, bright, pithy lemon note, which blends nicely with the base. The base looked a bit gunpowder heavy to me, which is not a green tea I favor much, but the ashy taste I get from it is completely gone under the smooth and bright citrus, leaving just a mellow earthy/vegetal backdrop. I’m not really getting the raspberry much, if at all… there is a fruity sweetness to the cup, and I do get a whisper of a berry note as an aftertaste from the swallow.

I would’ve liked the berry to pop more, but I’m always down for a strongly citrus green… even when the weather doesn’t want to cooperate with that choice.

The weather here has been frustratingly fickle lately… there will be beautiful clear, brisk days in the 50s that are just screaming, “Spring is coming!” and then suddenly we’ll be dumped on with snow for several days before the pattern continues. Waking up to a thin and frosty white blanket outside this morning, I found myself craving black tea, perhaps a chai…

So I pulled out this old packet from 2018 and am using it for the sipdown prompt “woman-owned company.” The dry leaf smells like a sweet cinnamon custard, which is very pleasant. The steeped cup has a sort of smoky/peppery undertone, with a sweeter honey/caramel and cinnamon aromas.

Mmm… this base tea is delicious! In addition to that smoky/peppery undertone, I’m getting a cherry compote fruitiness. The cinnamon, while smelling quite sweet, is actually on the more savory/woody side… it isn’t spicy, but is very pleasantly warming on the back of my throat. A little honey/caramel sweetness comes through on the sip and smooths some of the edges.

Such a satisfying tea on an unseasonably cold morning!

While my favorite Girl Scout cookie is Samoas, I’ve really gone gangbusters on clearing out all my coconut teas, so for the sipdown prompt “tea with a flavor note/ingredient from a favorite Girl Scout cookie,” I’m going with my second favorite, Tagalongs.

This tea reminds me a lot of a tea I really loved that TeaSource used to carry called “Chocolate Stout.” I’m guessing that tea was discontinued by whatever wholesaler produced it, as I haven’t been able to find it anywhere anymore.

Both this tea and Chocolate Stout have a strong sweet apple/cocoa flavor for the base, while Chocolate Stout edged a little more into chocolate liquor territory, and this one veers into nutty territory. I actually do taste peanut butter from the nutty flavor notes, but that may be because it is quite sweet and paired along with the chocolate. I’m really enjoying it!

I’m using this tea for the “discontinued/unavailable” slot in the March sipdown prompt list. I’m surprised I haven’t reviewed this before, since I had finished off a pouch last summer and am now on my last pouch…

I love this tea, and I’m really going to miss it once I’ve sipped down this pouch. I’ve never gotten rhubarb from it in taste, but I do taste a strong Raspberry Cream Soda flavor, which is very nostalgic to me. It’s very sweet with a gentle fruity tanginess as well. I like it coldsteeped, and find it very thirst-quenching, but since I got my Co2 infuser last summer, my favorite way to drink it is to add a little carbonation, which makes it taste, hands down, like actually Raspberry Cream Soda pop.

Things are looking grim for me having more soda teas in my stash… I think I’ve sipped down nearly all that I had, and I love soda pop flavors in tea. Nnnnnnnnuuuuuuuu!

For the sipdown prompt “a sleepytime tea.” It could also work for a “discontinued” tea, though I’ll probably try for another sipdown for that prompt. I’m very close to finishing this now and have to say… I don’t really think I’ll miss it. I love how functionally, valerian root does really help get me drowsy, but the bottom of this bag was a bit unpleasantly too strong on the valerian root flavor/aroma which I don’t love. I think maybe it settled at the bottom of the bag? I remember much stronger fennel and mint flavors on earlier cups.

Dropping the rating again… I just think there must be tastier options that utilize valerian root out there. (The hard part is finding those that don’t have chamomile… props to this for being a sleepy tea that definitely doesn’t taste of chamomile!)

I don’t have any French teas (I tried samples of several for the first time last year, courtesy of Dustin and Cameron! But, in a surprising turn of events, I actually finished them off in a timely manner and didn’t horde them.) So I’m using this for the sipdown prompt “Drink a French tea” since it has “French” in the title.

This is such a lovely vanilla rose black tea. It reminds me a lot of Tea Chai Te’s “Vanilla Rose Chai” or 52Teas’ “Breakfast in Bed” but sans any spices. The base is sweet with just a hint of smokiness from the Chinese black, which comes out with a sort of honey/caramel note mixed with the vanilla. The rose is sweet but it is not strongly floral (since I love rose I could’ve done with even more, but this gentler touch is still very pleasant).