2171 Tasting Notes
I don’t have a cold, but my stomach was feeling a little unsettled after dinner so I found this tea bag with peppermint and ginger. Unfortunately, it also has licorice root and I’m not a fan of the flavor. It’s not nearly so bad as I remember it though.
Flavors: Licorice Root, Mint
Preparation
This is a very light brew – should I have done a rinse? Is that normally done with black tea (balls)? At least I know the second steep will likely be stronger. The tea ball barely unraveled in the first steep. The flavor, though light, is very lovely. I taste more rose here than I did in the Rose Dian Hong from Teavivre that I had earlier.
Flavors: Rose
Preparation
Trying this side-by-side with Teavivre’s Yunnan Rose Dragon Ball Black Tea. This blend of black tea and roses is light in flavor, both the tea and the rose. I wish it were a bit bolder with more rose flavor/aroma. It could be though that the rose teas I’m used to drinking have flavoring added, while this one is only using rose petals.
Preparation
Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
December 2022 → An earthy tea
If any tea in my tea cabinet would be considered an earthy one, surely it would be this tea. I thought I’d finished it a long time ago, but I came across this bag during my last tea cabinet clean-up. I don’t remember much about it honestly, so I’m really pleasantly surprised by how much I’m enjoying this. It’s earthy, yes, but also has a delicious bittersweet chocolate note coming through. I know the Liquid Proust shop is still up and running, but I don’t think Andrew is doing the blends and flavored teas anymore. Those are the ones I miss!
Flavors: Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Earthy
Preparation
He primarily focuses on Pu-Erh and Aged Teas now. He does include occasional blends when he experiments with Bourbon or Whiskey Barrels, but he mostly curates less main stream teas. He will occasionally sell some of Wang Family’s Teas that they don’t sell on their site, which are amazing. I know he’s been focusing on other places to build communities to build tea education connection. He also has his own opinion about blends upcharging over the actual cost of the tea and labor behind it, so he avoids it when possible unless there’s something he think will work. He sold Rye Scented Laoshan a year ago that was incredible, but he only did it for a limited time because it’s an expensive process and it would fly out of stock fast to the point of unsustainability.
Made the mistake this morning of being frugal and thinking I’d actually enjoy eating the stale end piece of a loaf of bread as my breakfast toast. I don’t. I really don’t. I recently signed up for Wildgrain so at least I can look forward to fresh bread tomorrow. It’ll be a great accompaniment to our Bonne Maman advent.
I’m still working through my sipdowns but it’s slowed down a great deal since I don’t have any single servings left in the tea cabinet (yay!). I don’t think I’m going to meet my goal for the year – I’m still 49 behind – but I feel good about the progress. There’s always next year! I’ve had a lot of fun with the prompts so graciously provided by Mastress Alita and they’ve really pushed me to drink some of the teas I don’t have regularly.
Today’s choice is a sipdown and it’s a tasty one, though I thought I might enjoy it more given the Steepster rating. It’s good, but it doesn’t knock my socks off or anything. I have others I think I’d reach for first, so I don’t think this will be a rebuy.
