2170 Tasting Notes
Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
April 2022 → A tea paired to the weather
Woke up feeling stuffy this morning so found this to fulfill my prompt and (hopefully) clear my sinuses. This tastes infinitely better than I expected. Really it’s just a peppermint tea with a bit of spice at the end of the sip. One of the better herbals that I’ve tried.
Flavors: Peppermint, Spicy
Preparation
Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
April 2022 → A tea with the flavor of your favorite jelly bean
I don’t really eat jelly beans that much. They are okay but not a favorite. When I do, I prefer the Jelly Belly ones. I don’t know if I could pick a favorite flavor, but I do like the coconut ones. This seemed a good fit for the prompt. It came out a touch bitter but still very enjoyable.
Preparation
Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
April 2022 → A woody tea
I was surprised to see that someone else marked this as having a woody flavor. It’s been a while since I’ve had this one, but I don’t remember it tasting like wood. I agree with one of the other notes that it tastes like a very light black tea. In fact, I think that’s one reason I prefer this herbal over others. If I can trick my mind into thinking it’s a black tea, I’m much more likely to drink and finish it.
Preparation
Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
April 2022 → A tea paired to a book
I’m pairing today’s tea with An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, part of her Outlander series.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6104759-an-echo-in-the-bone
It’s the seventh book, so I won’t say much for those who might want to read the series at some point. I’ll only say that the chapter I’m currently reading takes place in September 1777 in Sarasota, New York. I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw this prompt and realized I had a tea that fit perfectly with my current read.
This tea is neither great nor awful. It just is. Nothing special about it. It’s not memorable but it’s drinkable. I used two teaspoons today since past notes mention it being too light. It did come out a bit bitter, but I’m sure it’s because I overleafed or oversteeped. I’m not even sure this tea is still available for purchase. I found it at a TJ Maxx, I believe, several years back. It’s not something I’d purchase again, either way.
Flavors: Drying, Malt
Preparation
Nice literary match!
Nice match and tea seems pretty basic, but it is probably what they were drinking in 1777. Apparently, we have this series in libraly, so I may borrow it one day (probably at first after finishing The Saxon Stories).
Yes, this turned out to be quite the coincidence! I saw the prompt and knew I was in the late 1770s in my book but I couldn’t remember the exact year because it jumps around a bit. It was a nice surprise!
Martin, it’s a great series! I think it’s marketed as a romance, but to me it feels more like a good historical fiction. I mean, it’s both but I like the history aspect of it most. And yes, this tea was quite basic. How interesting it would be to get a taste of what they were drinking back then! Doesn’t Oliver Pluff & Co. market their teas as reminiscent of early American blends? I haven’t tried them but I’ve always wanted to.
Yes on the Oliver Pluff historical angle. I can vouch for the quality of their Congou black and Singlo green teas.
Oh that’s good to know, thank you!
Upton makes a Griffin’s Wharf blend with congou and lapsang. I recommend it more than the old south meeting house blend which is a bit harsh.
I put that one on my list to try – thanks, Michelle!
I agree on Oliver Pluff. A local eclectic shop sells lots of their blends, and Colonial Williamsburg may still carry them. That is where Superanna bought mine.
Do you have a favorite, ashmanra? It looks like they have a lot of different options!
Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
April 2022 → A pu’erh tea
A tea I’ve had in my cupboard for quite a long time. I don’t drink it often, but I always enjoy it when I do. I’d almost go so far as to call it a staple. It’s always cardamom-heavy, but today I’m also picking up on some pleasant earthiness. It has more body than other bagged teas I’ve tried and definitely tastes different than a black tea (I suspect that sometimes puerh blends are merely black teas in disguise).
Flavors: Cardamom, Earthy
Preparation
Mastress Alita’s Monthly Sipdown Challenge
April 2022 → A caramel tea
Having a cup of this before passing it along in the TTB. There are bits of what I assume are caramel in the dry mix, so I plucked one out and ate it. It had a crumbly texture, almost like pressed brown sugar, and tasted as though it had a fine salt coating. Once steeped, I didn’t notice much of the expected flavors and so found this to be pretty underwhelming. Hopefully someone else will enjoy this much more than I have.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Salty
This is so unexpectedly delicious! I mean, I thought it would be good with a name like Birthday Cake, but it doesn’t taste or smell at all like I anticipated. Instead of cake or batter or frosting, I’m tasting amaretto/cherry. It’s so good! Even though it doesn’t quite fit the name for me, I’ll be ordering more of this one next time I buy from Bird & Blend.
Flavors: Amaretto, Cherry
What a week, whew. Wednesday took an unexpected turn toward busy and today has been my first day since to really sit down and take a breath. My body knew long before today that I’d done too much so, of course, it decided to feel like utter crap on my first real day off. Yay me. Then it’s back to work tomorrow. I seriously need a vacation. Anyway, I’m working on boxing up the TTB today since I was supposed to do that days ago. Probably won’t get anywhere close to finished though because, again, I feel ugh. So if you’re on the TTB list and wondering what in the world is taking me so long, there you go. I promise I’ll get it out just as quick as I can manage.
I was scrolling through my list to see which tea I wanted this morning, and this one jumped out at me. If anyone saw my post about decaf tea and you’re wondering why I’m drinking this fully caffeinated delight, I’m putting off doctor’s orders until I my new decaf stash starts rolling in. She didn’t say I had to start immediately, after all. ;)
This tea is near absolute perfection. I mean, it probably is perfection. It’s about as good as it gets for me, at least. Not sure why I only rated it an 81 the last time I had it, but I’m bumping it up. All the way up. This is one I don’t ever want to be without. I was a little worried about the coconut since I’ve had this awhile, but there is no hint of any issue whatsoever. I’m in love with this.
Flavors: Cream, Strawberry
