4363 Tasting Notes
2024 Holiday tea #12
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – December 2024 Tea #5 – December 21 – Winter Solstice: drink a warm and cozy cuppa
I forgot this was the prompt day for a cozy cup, and had already steeped this up for the day, but this CERTAINLY is cozy. I would definitely think of this one when thinking of particularly cozy teas. It’s a good one to have on this snowy day. Happy solstice!!
2024 Holiday tea #11
Delicious as usual. I will say, I’m glad I don’t rely on grocery store chains for teas. I have seen NONE of the holiday teas. Not from Bigelow, Celestial Seasonings, etc. Someone let me know if they see Celestial Seasonings Nutcracker Sweet out in the wild!
I always wonder how stores find room for seasonal things, so maybe that is the problem…
Endcaps. Endcaps are where I find the bulk of the seasonal items. That or the cardboard stands stuck in the isles.
From Cameron B! Thanks again! Wooee, to make this “caramel” I think they doubled down on the sweet elements. It’s cane sugar. But also stevia. I think they wanted to rely on both of these things to carry any hints of caramel. It should also be “salted” and I don’t notice any of that at all. When I’m looking for an almost too sweet, almost cloyingly sweet cup, I’ll go for this one. I like it, but just barely! If it was ONLY stevia, oh no, that would be bad. It’s interesting, because the Sipology pumpkin matcha I had the other day didn’t have cane sugar or stevia. So I guess I can appreciate that one even more now. Sipology also has a Caramel Rooibos Latte blend that uses fenugreek to sweeten it, and I think that works really really well.
Flavors: Stevia, Sugar
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – December 2024 Tea #4 – A smokey tea
As a Sherlock fan, I really wanted to try this one! I guess the PBS show led me to eventually read some of the books. I really should read the others at some point (I have a big ol edition of all the Sherlock novels in one.) To the tea! I was intrigued by a smoky cherry tea. I would say the dry leaf smells more cherry than smoke. But then the flavor is more smoke than cherry. But what cherry here is pretty good. I’d say it most reminds me of maraschino cherry, which certainly could be interesting with smoke. It’s not a LOT of smoke. Just enough to be hinting at it. My main problem with this blend is that the black tea is too light for me. Doyle really deserves a nice murky black tea with some depth to it. Needs that caffeine to solve those mysteries (or write them anyway). The second steep, really just seemed like a plain mild black tea… somehow even the smoke notes were gone, definitely the cherry. Maybe a hint of smoke when it cooled. That’s a shame, as the first cup was enjoyable. I entirely forgot that hibiscus was included in EITHER steep, so that’s nice. I guess with this one, I won’t have to resteep, which I usually don’t miss on most other teas. Overall, the flavor of the first steep is enjoyable and unique.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 21 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep
Flavors: Cherry, Maraschino, Smoke
I’m fairly sure I would hate this based on the cherry ha ha, and yet I still feel intrigued to try it. Tea people problems, am I right? XD
Some of the classics DO hold up over time. :D
2024 Holiday tea #9
My holiday tea for today. Next time it will be done and gone. BUT I must say, it just warmed my heart when I walked into my corner store for my usual bagel run and I just happened to see that they had a selection of S&V’s tins for sale! They definitely weren’t on the shelf last time I walked by. It’s a small shop I like supporting another small shop I like and I LOVE that. I have never seen S&V “in the wild” before so I’m very glad of it. I didn’t ever expect S&V would really be available in shops — that really they would only be available for online ordering? So it was great surprise to see. :D
Oh yeah, a local boutique carries S&V teas, and my friend bought me some for my birthday! It was a nice surprise!
Nice! Hope S&V is featured in all the little shops.
additional notes: Now how am I the only one to write a tasting note for this one? Seven years ago? Hmm. This was quite good! I have almost finished it (samples). I used half of one sample this time around. The first steep was WAY too weak, but that was entirely my fault (cooler water), and the bit of cake was hardly unravelled. The second steep was much richer — bread, coffee, very sweet, almost a mouth numbing or buzzy mouth quality to it (or probably lingering effects of walking in the brisk wind while it’s barely double digit temps…) Steeps two and three, also delicious. NO negative characteristics here. It’s quite a good cake and Teavivre is still selling it, if anyone (other than me!) would like to try it. It’s $56.90 right now for a 357gram cake. Pretty reasonable considering it’s from 2011. Odd that my review is missing from Teavivre’s site though, and there are only four other reviews, so it’s not just a steepster problem low on reviews….
2024 Holiday tea #8
The holiday tea for the day! There is already a hint of an offputting scent to this… probably the aging pecans, is the only thing I could guess. The flavor is still doing okay though. So many sweeteners in this blend though! Still mostly boozy flavored…was hoping a bit of that would dissipate by now…
