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Sipdown (198/202)!

Well, sort of a sipdown. There’s enough for a cup left but that’s being set aside until it can be sent to someone else in a swap VariaTEA, so I’m just gonna take it out of my cupboard in the meantime.

This is my first Hojicha but I’ve read a fair bit about them so I had a relative idea of what to expect. Dry, it smelled like straw and steeped up, it smelled very much like a Genmaicha.

Taste wise, it was like a Genmaicha in the toasty, roasted quality of it but it didn’t have the “puffed wheat” taste. It gave me the same kind of “hug it close to your body for warmth and comfort” kind of feeling, though. It was really yummy, although it got relatively bitter by the time I was at the end of my mug.

I hope VariaTEA likes it! I’m not sure why, but I just have this feeling that she should really try it.

Sipdown (199/203)!

Ha! Finally under 200 teas – let’s see how long that lasts. My guess? Not even three days. Of course, I do hope I’m wrong.

I must say, I had mixed feelings on this one because while I do like apricot – peach is a flavour I’m very fussy about, and neither are flavours I immediately turn to or reach for the same way I do with pears or bananas or pineapple. That’s why I was really surprised when I brewed this one up.

The black base here is really nice. Very smooth and I’ve found kinda malty, and it doesn’t get bitter or astringent very easily. All of those are things I can get behind, and I don’t think it’s premature of me to be saying that I’m really a fan of the black base used by Just Organic Tea.

The flavouring in this one was an interesting experience in and of itself. Where I was expecting peach/apricot I was immediately sucker punched with the lemon myrtle/calendula which was very tasty and creamy and just delicious. However, I found that they were the dominant flavour in this tea and the apricot very heavily sat in the background. I couldn’t even taste the peach in this at all.

So, I have to rate this accordingly because it was incredibly delicious as a black lemon tea, but it fell really short on its name because it was not a Peach/Apricot tea at all.

Sipdown (200/204)!

I cold brewed that last of my sample of this one! I probably should have let it cold brew longer because this was rather weak in taste, but I was being impatient to drink it and get my next cold brew started, so I took it out after about six hours of cold brewing. Weak may not have been too bad though, because it lacked the somewhat off putting sourness it sometimes has.

This is more than likely going to make a reappearance in my cupboard come summertime. Right now, it’s missed but not in an immediate capacity.

Also part of my round of whites teas, probably because I was still in a coconut mindset following the amazing Coconut Oolong that I enjoyed.

This one is really very tasty and very light (less buttery, though) – but a slight downside of it is the oiliness, which was really pronounced (more than usual) in this mug. Maybe that’s because I’m getting even closer to the bottom of the bag and the pieces are becoming increasingly more broken. It’ll be a really sad day when I run out of this.

It needs a triumphant return.

Had a round of white tea while there was company over. Nothing new or all that fancy – just some teas that I find to be really consistent in flavour that I knew would be enjoyable while Kristina was over.

Of course this was one of them! It’s my first flavoured white love and my favourite currant tea and just so delicious!

So I remember that this came from the “Take it Away” thread, and that it was added in as an extra by the same person who added in the Taiwanese Mountain Assam, but I can’t for the life of me remember whom that was from! Damn! So sorry to whoever that package came from – I definitely appreciated it even if my lack of recollection may make it appear otherwise.

Dry the smell from this one is intense. I have it double bagged right now and can still slightly smell it. It’s amazing, delicious coconut – and so fresh, too.

Steeped up, this is really, really damn good. It’s a very buttery, and true kind of natural coconut. No frills or anything fancy to it – just coconut. I like that; it’s not trying to be anything else and it doesn’t over complicate itself because it doesn’t need to in order to be flat out amazing.

Why did I let this sample sit so long before trying it? I’m really happy to have more cups left of it, anyway! Mmm!

Backlog begins.

Had to have it again yesterday with the newly discovered pumpkin flakes to see if the magic from that cup could/would be replicated. I must say, it was still better than without the pumpkin flakes – but not as tasty as the cup I enjoyed the day before.

This is my cold brew for the day. Something told me this would make a really interesting/good cold brew and I seem to be dying of heat (even though it’s not really so hot in our apartment) so a cold brew definitely seems right for the moment.

In total, this cold brewed for about eight hours. Taste wise, it’s definitely a vegetal green with some very nice peach notes to it – and I can get behind the vegetalness of this one because it has actual vegetables in it. Quite thirst quenching and refreshing, indeed. I think this is better cold brewed, too – even if the peach is a little less strong. When I send some to VariaTEA I’ll make sure to add enough for her to try it hot and cold, though.

Unrelated, I am so thankful I’m going to the dentist’s again on Tuesday because I’m back to being in a lot of mouth pain again – and my pain meds are almost all gone. That said, only like half of it is actually coming from my teeth – the rest is from the inside of my left cheek where I cut myself on a piece of silverware, like an idiot. I think maybe it’s infected? At the very least – it’s really sore.

Sipdown (202/205)!

Thanks VariaTEA for the sample. It was neat comparing it to Forever Nuts and all the similar blends, but it wasn’t much of a comparison because this tastes exactly like Forever Nuts anyway.

For that reason, not sad that it’s gone because I have lots of Forever Nuts left.

Sipdown (203/206)!

Today has just miserably dredged on – and I think part of that is that there are practically no listings added on weekends so it feels like I’m not accomplishing anything at all. Additionally, no mail on Sunday so that’s just one other thing to not look forward to at all, and all of that is definitely putting me in a “non tea drinking mood”, so these are my first teas all day. Yup – it’s been a late start.

I’m trying to make this late start count, though, by making both morning cups sipdowns. Again, thank you VariaTEA for the sample of this one. Ultimately, this is a good tea and a decent fruity/floral greener oolong but it’s just not anything special to me, and so for that recent I’m happy this is a sipdown and one less thing in my cupboard.