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Sipdown! (3 | 396)

I cold brewed this one from my last subscription box.

To me it seems very similar to Strawberry Cake roll? In that it’s a green base with the same strawberry flavoring. The strawberry is very candylike, and there’s an almost floral, nectarous honey note as well. Not sure if that’s coming from the tea, the flavoring, or something else, but it’s very interesting. There’s a smidge of tartness here as well, probably from the apple and rosehips.

It’s fine, but nothing to write home about. Plus I already have a 100g tin of Strawberry Cake Roll that I chose with my giveaway winnings…

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This is one of only a few Darjeelings that I’ve really enjoyed, and it’s lovely cold brewed as well. Very smooth and bready with a touch of muscat character and hints of fruit and cinnamon honey. It’s light enough to be quite refreshing, but still has plenty of flavor.

A nice option for a cold tea in the summer!

Backlogged sipdown, cold brewed of course.

This one just didn’t work for me. The coffee is pleasant enough, and I enjoy coffee-flavored things. But there’s definitely some almond flavoring in here or something, because I got distinct amaretto-like notes. And I honestly never like amaretto or marzipan in tea these days, don’t ask me why. So that was the first strike against it.

Also, what’s with the tartness? I would have guessed hibiscus but it looks like it’s down to the apples and rosehips. I don’t understand why either of those ingredients is here at all… Tartness in a creamy coffee tea? Why?

Anyway, this was meh for me. Not awful, but disappointing.

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Hi there tea frens!

Sorry for the short hiatus, my mother was staying with me for the past two weeks, so I didn’t really touch my computer. She’s the type of person who’s really bad at just sitting down and relaxing, so we ended up doing a bunch of yardwork, gardening, and other assorted around-the-house type tasks. Needless to say, I wasn’t too terribly upset when she flew back home yesterday morning. XD

Anyway, just finished off a cold brew pitcher of this one, and it was delightful! I don’t remember being terribly impressed with this one hot, so maybe it just shines as a cold tea because of the lime. Hot lime is always a bit odd for me.

It’s a nice mix of lime and lemon with a very mellow and subtly earthy base. The bergamot is present but not overpowering, which I really like, as I can taste the other citrus flavors well. Would consider reordering it if I wasn’t drowning in tea already. Oh, and they probably don’t even carry it anymore after the rebranding…

I picked up a pouch of this in one-pot teabags to accompany my pretty new Ippodo glass carafe. I’ve been cold brewing constantly lately so they got me good when they sent an email advertising it… :P

The carafe itself is lovely, but holy shit is this tea smoky! I was quite taken aback because the only Kyobancha I’ve had is Obubu’s, and it’s completely different from this version. This is Lapsang-level smoky, like sitting next to a campfire with the smoke drifting directly into your face. I’m not able to taste the more nuanced notes of the roast well at all because the smokiness is so intense.

Maybe next time I’ll try a shorter steep or just one teabag per liter… o.o

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The last one from my Tea Thoughts countdown box!

This is so lovely cold. It has a rich and buttery flavor with oodles of starchy vegetal notes and soft grains. It’s a bit like drinking a somewhat more buttery green pea and asparagus gazpacho, but with hints of fuzzy apricot and cashews. Quite rich and yet refreshing at the same time! There’s a hint of bitterness, likely just from letting it steep too long. I’m not very consistent about how long I leave the leaves in my cold brew pitchers, but it’s served me well so far!

Sipdown! (13 | 381)

Another from my recent Tea Thoughts countdown box. I adore Bai Hao but have never tried it cold brewed before, so this was a fun experience.

It’s just as smooth and delicious as I would expect, with some surprising and refreshing lychee notes. There are also the usual darker syrupy sweet dried fruit, soft hay, and chewy grain flavors as well. It’s very light but still flavorful, refreshing yet still somehow comforting. And there’s honey of course, but it’s very light, perhaps something like acacia honey?

Even though I feel almost wasteful making all these cold brew pitchers (I guess because it takes a lot of tea?), it’s a fun experience trying all of these teas that I already love in a new way. :)

Sipdown! (12 | 380)

I got a sample pouch of this from the Tea Thoughts summer countdown box that I did last month, and decided to cold brew it (since that’s all I drink these days…).

It’s so lovely and refreshing, with a subtle creamy stonefruit note as well as fresh cucumber and honeydew melon. There’s also a sparkling minerality present, which is sort of a given for me with green oolongs. Perhaps some light starchy vegetal notes, like edamame or lima beans. I taste a definite floral character as well, though not enough to ruin it for me. It’s a lighter floral, like honeysuckle. Honestly, I would love to do some sort of workshop on floral notes to learn to distinguish them better…

Anyway, it’s lovely cold, and so refreshing for these hot summer days in Austin. Plus the name makes me smile!

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This was a free sample with one of my orders, and not something I would order for myself as I’m not a huge coconut fan and also haven’t had great luck with Deb’s other matcha green teas. I cold brewed the whole sample packet in about a liter of water overnight.

Yep, it’s coconut all right. But also the seaweedy umami note of the matcha pokes its head out every once in a while which makes it coconut seaweed. It also just tastes oily to me, probably because of the coconut.

Nope, not for me!

Sipdown! (10 | 378)

One of my favorites from Lupicia! I’d never tried it cold but the crisp fruit flavors seemed like they would be nice, so here we are. For some reason, I never tend to cold brew black teas – I guess I have this idea in my head that black tea should be steeped hot and then iced? But I did branch out and try the cold brew treatment for this tea.

I really do love the flavors in this one – the apple is crisp and tart, almost green apple candy but not quite. It’s a bit sweeter than Tsugaru. There’s a winey quality to it as well. I think there’s supposed to be apricot, but I feel like I’m getting more of a plum note.

I will say, I’m getting a lot more rose than I remember. Not sure if that’s because there were a lot of rose petal bits at the bottom of the tin, or because of the cold brew. It’s not awful, but rose really isn’t my favorite so it’s not as enjoyable for me because of that.

I’ll have to try to remember to look for this one this year. Although the seasonal teas really seem to sell out almost immediately over at Lupicia Hawaii… T.T