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“Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | December 2023 | A tea with a red ingredient This is a bit of a stretch, but I swear some of the freeze-dried plums in this blend look red! For whatever reason, I...” Read full tasting note
“Currently sipping this one iced! (Cold-brewed) This was a tea of the week from last month (July) – and I’m doing my best to get caught up with my work after being unable to do much of anything...” Read full tasting note
Tea of the Week for July 17, 2023!
What’s the best part of summer? Fruit!
With this blend, I decided to celebrate two of my favorite fruits: Peaches & Plums. I started with a blend of very special Fujian black teas: a Jin Guanyin & a Huang Jin Gui. Both of these teas are traditionally Oolong teas, but these were fully fermented into black teas! So you have the smooth mouthfeel of an Oolong but the deep, rich flavor of a black tea with this blend.
The combination of these two teas made the perfect base for the stone fruits. It’s sweet, smooth & delicious! It’s also vegan, gluten-free, allergen-friendly & all natural!
ingredients: black teas, organic peaches, organic plums & organic natural flavors
more about this tea: I don’t know what else to say but AMAZING! I love these two Fujian black teas. Typically, Fujian black teas tend to have a chocolate-y note. However, these two Fujian teas have a sweeter, fruitier tone to them, making them the perfect base for a tea featuring peaches & plums.
If you enjoy peaches & plums, I think you’re going to love this tea!
to brew: I recommend using 3g of tea (make sure there’s some fruit in your measurement!) to 12oz of nearly boiling water (205°F). Steep for 3 minutes. Strain & allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!
serving suggestion: I love this tea served hot without additions. I also enjoyed it quite a bit with a teensy bit of brown sugar in it which evoked memories of summertime in my gramma’s kitchen after she just baked a cobbler! Be sure to get the most out of this tea – it does well with a resteep!
This tea also makes a remarkable iced tea.
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Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | December 2023 | A tea with a red ingredient
This is a bit of a stretch, but I swear some of the freeze-dried plums in this blend look red!
For whatever reason, I could never get this one to work for me… it’s a smidge bitter and muddled. Which is a shame because it’s such a fun concept, and it’s just chock full of fruit pieces. Maybe I should have cold-brewed it or added some sweetener?!
2023 sipdown count: 57
Flavors: Bitter, Sour, Stonefruit
Currently sipping this one iced! (Cold-brewed)
This was a tea of the week from last month (July) – and I’m doing my best to get caught up with my work after being unable to do much of anything while I had the flu for about 10 days. I slept a lot (which is good) but I couldn’t really do anything – and I guess it’s better that I didn’t do anything while sick.
I used 2 different Fujian black teas for this blend – together, they created a very smooth tasting tea that made an ideal base for the sweet flavors of plum & peach. So, I loaded the tea with freeze dried peaches & plums, and wow! This is good. So refreshing – a perfect summertime tea.
Since we’ve been experiencing a heat wave over the past few days (well, over the past few weeks, really, but it’s gotten over 100 degrees over the last couple of days and I DON’T like it!) So with the heat, it’s nice to have a refreshing iced tea like this! One good thing about summer: iced tea!
How long did you steep it? Cold brewing is often a good idea, I find that it will soften any bitterness that I experience with a tea, but I didn’t get bitterness from this blend when I hot brewed so I’m wondering what your parameters were when you steeped?
Also, with just about any flavored tea, a teensy bit of sugar will often help define the flavors. The flavors are primarily soluble at the “right temperature” of water (which is why I recommend allowing a tea to cool for a few minutes, this helps the flavors “activate”). They are often also soluble with natural sweeteners like sugar or honey (although sugar tends to be better to bring out the flavors). I always test a tea with both sugar and without. When the flavors come out on their own without sugar, I make note of it in my testing notes (which can be found on the tea listing on my website under “serving suggestion”). Otherwise, I do make a note that a little bit of sugar will enhance the flavors. Generally, I only add a little less than 1/2 a teaspoon to any 12oz cup of tea, because I tend to prefer my teas unsweet.
I want to say I brewed it at 205 for 3 minutes, then let it cool a bit? I may have overleafed it because I wanted to finish the bag, though! XD
Hmm – well, it may just be that this flavor didn’t work for you. I’m sorry! In the future, if you encounter something that doesn’t work for you and you followed the suggested brewing parameters (which I believe you have here in this case!) a teensy bit of sugar may help to not only soften the bitterness but also help the flavors shine.
When I do my taste testing, I test first without sugar, and then I test with a little bit of sugar (usually a little less than 1/2 a teaspoon per 12oz of tea) – in most cases, this little bit of sugar will enhance the flavors because as I stated before, the flavors are both water and sugar soluable. Quite often, the water temperature will bring out the right flavor, but with some teas, a little sugar will help encourage it to be more flavorful. I haven’t tried other sweeteners (such as low calorie/sugar free options) because I simply do not like them, and in the case of aspartame, I’m allergic. So, I’m very thoughtful of when I sweeten, I don’t generally sweeten my teas. But occasionally, I’ll find something that is just a little bit better with a bit of sugar, this is generally with a dessert-y type of tea (because desserts are supposed to be sweet, I suppose!)
Aw, there’s no need to apologize! It wasn’t the most mindful brewing process on my end, honestly. I’ll try a smidge of sugar next time!