The Moon Represents My Heart

Drank this one for the final prompt of the month: “National Sense of Smell Day”

CW: Serious injury

This prompt actually makes me hella sad. I chose this tea because it was one of my partner’s favorite teas of mine. Last October, we were at a friend’s basement show and my partner fainted out of the blue, falling on a concrete floor. She suffered a concussion and almost died in the hospital. It was a very traumatic time for obvious reasons, and as a result of her traumatic brain injury, my partner can’t taste or smell for the rest of her life. once those plates in your head have shifted, there is no going back.

Drank this tea to honor my partner’s loss, and so that I can get rid of it. I’m very close to this being a true sipdown. Most of the flavors I’m getting are hefty florals from the green oolong and jasmine. Perhaps there is a caramel note to it, I am finding the thick body to have some creaminess to it. I also see a slice of coconut or two in the blend, but I get no coconut notes in the tea at all. I also think there is supposed to be bergamot in this blend, but I simply can’t tell with all the other over powering floral notes.

This blend is so magical and beautiful (tears streaming down face). It smells creamy and comforting, and yet also very light and sweet. The sweetness is indescribable, it’s hard to pin down but it seems neither wholly fruity nor floral, and its not cloying. I think it’s the lotus? There is a also a delicately nutty aftertaste on the tongue.

I can’t believe it’s been six years since I last had this tea! The recipe must have changed since then because I see here on Steepster that the blend once contained coconut, but the tin I just bought and what’s listen on ETTE’s website do not.

It’s fascinating to me that my tasting notes now align so much with my tasting notes in the past. I like to think that my palate has changed and evolved so much in the last six years and it can be weirdly jarring to read something from that long ago in the past and realize I think the same thing when, with other tasting notes, it’s like night and day. Flavour is funny like that.

The dry leaf aroma of this tea is insanely buttery. It’s very clearly a flavoured milk oolong that’s used as the base. This doesn’t bother me; but it’s just something I can tell immediately now that my past self probably wouldn’t have been able to identify. Steeped, those very rich buttery/creamy flavours are what come to the forefront. This is especially true when the tea is still quite hot. As it cools, more of a sweet floral emerges. It reminds me a little bit of violet, though I know that’s not actually what it is. There’s something about the combination of florals and milk oolong that works magically well. Like my past self has observed, I do not taste the bergamot. I do not mind. That is probably the element of the blend I was least excited about anyway.

It’s a nice tea.

Finally, I made an ETTE tea purchase!
Thank you Black Friday / Cyber Monday :)

Why did I chose this out of everything? It’s an oolong blend that has bergamot, coconut, and other stuff, how cool is that?
I ended up with three steeps added together which ended up being a rounded milk oolong with some citrus notes and a cream to it that was pleasant.
This is something I enjoy and will continue to drink because of how smooth it is. Based on the smell and look of the tea, I wouldn’t think much of it. The milk oolong is tiny and the smell from the lotus is strong. That smell doesn’t carry over into the tea, THANK YOU TEA. Interestingly enough, the milk oolong used in this is quality because when it unfurls there are rather nice sized leaf which I would have not guessed by just eye balling it before the brew.

I’m unsure how just one brew of this would taste opposed to multiple, but I knew I wanted to have multiple to get a balanced tea because I didn’t want a strong bergamot nor a lot of coconut going on. Pretty glad I finally have an ETTE tea container; Victor’s marketing works well because I have been window shopping his blends for some time.

Someone better do another ETTE group buy… waiting a whole year doesn’t sound enjoyable.

This whimsically-named little tea caught my attention at milk oolong and held it… riiight up until bergamot. Put those torches out, I’m just telling the truth. I do enjoy the occasional earl grey, but the potential for bitterness always kind of put me off. Furthermore, I’ve never encountered bergamot outside of the Grey realm, so I went back and forth about this tea before I decided, what the hell, milk oolong is my jam, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Turns out I am. The first steep is very strongly bergamot, but the milk oolong rushes in and saves my damsel tongue from the citrus dragon. I’m hoping subsequent steeps will be a little more oolong and a little less bergamot. Still, this is one of the rare instances where I don’t really mind it overly much. It is very reminiscent of the “creme” versions of earl greys I’ve had before, but much lighter and very smooth courtesy of the oolong. I’m also getting soft floral notes, though I honestly couldn’t say whether that’s the forget-me-not blossoms, the lotus stamens, or both of them working in concert. My only complaint is that I can’t really detect much coconut, though that could easily be blamed on the scoop I took out of the caddy, as I don’t see any coconut flakes in my infuser. Next time!

Also, I feel like it’s worth mentioning that this tea is gorgeous. I love looking at it, with the little blue flowers that I mistook for cornflower blossoms, and the coconut flakes rising out of the blend like shark fins. The oolong pellets are made up of variegated greens, ranging from nearly-brown to jade. Watching it unfurl was half the fun.