On Va Se Revoir

Long time, no posts! Been busy watching and dealing with the world falling down. Looks like Steepster was doing a bit of the same. Glad to see the site back up again and am crossing my fingers for a good revival.

I got a sample of this from a friend’s recent order. It has a nice mellow minty flavor with more depth behind it. I’m not quite able to pick out the bergamot in it, but I bet that’s part of the elusive background. I’m having this hot, but I think I’ll do a second steeping as a cold brew. I’m betting the flavors will morph quite a bit with temperature. As it is, it’s nice, but not something that is captivating.

Update: Cold steeping did nothing to bring out an epiphany with this tea. :/

Sipdown! 57/365

I assume this has a gunpowder base(?) as it looked like a green and was definitely smoky in flavour (some research tells me this is correct). I also picked up some mint (spearmint?) in the blend, but that was about it – the end result was that I didn’t much care for it, since I don’t like minty teas. Thanks for the share regardless, MissB!

ETA: After going through my backlogged pile of teas, I realized that this must have been the tea where I got a delicious creamy note in the aftertaste. Not enough to combat the mint, but it was enjoyable.

So I made this seeing that it was a green, and didn’t think to check ingredients. Oops!
I was finished more than half my cup before making it upstairs to see that the eeeeevil blerg plagued this blend. Welps. That isn’t good.
Well, kindof. I’ve been meaning to test the waters and see if I’m still sensitive. After all, I seem to be ok with vanilla and jasmine now. Of course, I always had the strongest reaction to Blerg (and lavender oil).
Anyhow. I had noticed that my tongue was a tad numb, but I’ve experienced something similar before with minty teas so simply assumed that was why.
I also didn’t notice any citrus at all, either in the dry/brewed scent or the taste.
Sighs. Inconclusive!
Anyhow, asides from the numbness, I found this cuppa nice but not mindblowing. I’m glad to have tried it, and hey I didn’t die!! yay. Sorry, my sense of humour has swung to the dark side today :P
Thank you MissB for the sample, and Sil for the distribution!

When the mint, pepper, and smokiness of the gunpowder(?) are all paired together my imagination goes down the road of savory lamb roasts and stews. Yet it’s also citrusy, refreshing ,and floral. I finished off the sample quickly enough but I still don’t know what to think of it (mostly enjoyable).

I was eager to try this after OMGsrsly listed the unlikely pairing of ingredients, and ever since Sil’s and MissB’s notes first appeared. Thanks for sending this my way! I always enjoy my gunpowder greens and mint.

Sipdown (132)!

Queued Tasting Note.

Thank you MissB for the sample! I did a blind tasting with this one, and based on the obviously minty smell I decided to cold brew it because iced/cold brewed mint teas are so refreshing! And really just perfect for the nice Spring weather we’ve been having.

The green base used in this is pretty mild, and really takes backseat to the added flavourings. I thought that maybe it was a little bit nutty in addition to the vegetal taste, but mostly just like a regular green. Visually, I’m guessing it’s Gunpowder? It looks pretty similar to most gunpowder teas I’ve ever seen. I’m seeing now that, in the reviews, you guys think it might be a greener oolong? I definitely didn’t think it tasted like oolong…

This has some solid, kind of “mid range” spearmint notes to it. I say mid range because they were strong but not enough so to cover up the base entirely or mask the other flavourings. Mint can be unwieldy if it’s disproportionate and this one didn’t reach that level for me. This had a very weird finish for me; and it’s pretty much only in the finish that I tasted the weird flavour notes.

They were definitely quite peppery; like cracked black peppers and I also tasted some subtler gingery notes as well as maybe fennel? Something a little bit sweeter, anyway. Honestly my first thought was that this sample had been contaminated by something else it was being stored with because I was pretty sure this was just meant to be a high quality Moroccan Mint blend – but I couldn’t really recall having anything Chai-like where I was keeping it, so I didn’t know what was the ’cause of the weird flavour notes. I was actually kind of shocked when I finally looked up the tea/read the description because I was so sure this was just meant to be Moroccan Mint. Turns out I was very dead on with calling this one peppery.

As for the bergamot, though, I just don’t see it! Or, taste it I should say. Nothing about this gave me any indicator of citrus – and bergamot is usually such a distinct flavour, too.

Overall, this one wasn’t bad – but it sure as hell was weird! I’m going to conclude, now having read the description, by slightly altering my initial ‘closing thoughts’: It’s basically an unconventional/non-traditional take on Moroccan Mint. Worth a try; not worth stocking up on.

I’m with MissB on this one…looks like an oolong. I figured today was the day to try this one since i’ve had all sorts of things i wouldn’t normally drink today. This one is a green/mint/blergamot blend….

brewed, this is much more mint than anything…but you can tell the blergfactor is there. mostly though…not something i would drink again. I appreciate the share though MissB!! it’s a lot of fun getting to try these teas out.

So.. are we sure this is a green? The guy at the store said it was, and it says the same on Steepster. This, however, looks to me like an oolong, which of course always makes me horribly ill within a few minutes of drinking some (no idea why, lots of theories). Needless to say, I’m a bit hesitant to try it, even if the smell is like a minty spring breath of fresh air.

So.. are we sure this is a green? The guy at the store said it was, and it says the same on Steepster. This, however, looks to me like an oolong, which of course always makes me horribly ill within a few minutes of drinking some (no idea why, lots of theories). Needless to say, I’m a bit hesitant to try it, even if the smell is like a minty spring breath of fresh air.So, it’s brewed up brown (odd for a green in my experience) and is much… heavier? stronger? has more depth? that most green’s I’ve had. There’s mint, but it’s much more subdued than the smell. I want to say… pepper? Something curry-like? Granular? Such an odd tea for me, and I’ve got an almost instant headache.

So.. are we sure this is a green? The guy at the store said it was, and it says the same on Steepster. This, however, looks to me like an oolong, which of course always makes me horribly ill within a few minutes of drinking some (no idea why, lots of theories). Needless to say, I’m a bit hesitant to try it, even if the smell is like a minty spring breath of fresh air.So, it’s brewed up brown (odd for a green in my experience) and is much… heavier? stronger? has more depth? that most green’s I’ve had. There’s mint, but it’s much more subdued than the smell. I want to say… pepper? Something curry-like? Granular? Such an odd tea for me, and I’ve got an almost instant headache.Okay, so this one isn’t for me, even though I’m finding it really intriguing and multifaceted.