Sipdown (131)!
My tattoos are so damn itchy; and I know that’s an entirely healthy part of the healing process and I haven’t caved at scratched/picked at them because I’m determined to make sure they heal well; but man my will power is being tested!
This was the tea I made for the way to work though; I had it in a new ceramic double-walled travel mug I bought for myself (it’s got lots of vibrant spring coloured flowers on it and it’s really pretty) because I thought I’d lost the leaky glass double walled thermos I normally use; I had forgotten it at work, and when I couldn’t find it anywhere in the staffroom I just assumed some asshole had stolen it. Funnily enough, when I got to work I saw it sitting on the counter so I snatched it back up and now I’m back to two travel mugs (other than my timolinos; I still use those, but these guys let me drink my tea immediately). I guess whoever took it saw me looking for it and brought it back?
Anyway, this sample comes from – of course, MissB! It’s one of what seems like few black teas from her – not that I don’t appreciate the greens. Black tea is sorta my jam though; and this one certainly sounds interesting if nothing else!
The smell of the dry leaf and as it steeps is more floral than anything else; definitely kind of rosey but I was totally getting more of a softer lavender vibe than violet. Somehow, the sort of dry bitterness of grapefruit translated into the smell? I don’t know how it did that – but it’s absolutely what I was thinking of.
The taste is on point for me though; it’s quite soothing and pacifying with a sort of daintiness about it, and the floral notes match the tea related cravings I’ve been having the last few weeks as we really transition from Winter to Spring. I would call it a good “bad day” tea.
While I still picked up on some lavendar like notes as well as the obvious rosey ones, I did start to see the violet as well. And, the fact that this doesn’t taste like drinking perfume despite all of those floral notes impressed me.
The real star is the grapefruit though; I’ve actually not had many grapefruit teas to my recollection and I don’t really eat a whole lot of the actual fruit, in fact I can’t even remember the last time I had a grapefruit – because I typically find it much too bitter, but this somehow managed to very authentically capture the sweetness of the fruit while keeping the bitterness at bay. It was present just enough to kind of affect the mouthfeel and add more dimension and layers to the tea but without detracting from the experience of drinking this one. However, I know I was also very reserved with how long I let this one steep, and I can see a longer infusion bringing out some very negative traits; too much floral and too much bitterness being the worst offenders.
But overall this was, not so surprisingly, very good – I was impressed how well the floral notes and citrus cooperated while still maintaining some juxtaposition and the black base was smooth. If I have any criticism it’s probably that I would have wanted a smidgen more grapefruit flavour.
