405 Tasting Notes
2021 Sipdown #35
Final piece of sipdown spam! This was the next tea we used for my partner’s sore throat. I was sad to see this one go, as it’s one of my favorite green teas to have warm or cold but it went to a worthy cause. The next time I get anything from AU, I’ll definitely pick up some of this!
2021 Sipdown #35
I don’t normally buy green teas but it turns out that my partner is really into them, so I picked this up for him in my first Plum Deluxe order. I like earl greys so I figured that even if he didn’t like it, I might. Luckily, we both enjoyed this one! We ended up going through it rather quickly this weekend, as my partner is sick and this was his soothing tea of choice
2021 Sipdown #33
I’ve been away for a while due to traveling and health issues (mine and family members). Hopefully I’ll be drinking more tea as the weather cools down.
This was an old tea so I didn’t get much out of it. My fault for letting it get old, nothing wrong with the tea itself
D is for.. Dark Chocolate Orange
Between the dashboard being down and me having to travel a bunch, with long drives through boring countryside, I fell out of the habit of checking steepster. I was in the middle of drinking teas alphabetically and kept drinking this one and forgetting to log it, so I’m going to do my best to sum it up.
I tried this both hot and as an iced latte. I personally prefer it hot, I feel like more of the flavor comes through that way. It tastes much more like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange. I do miss the pu’erh of the old one, it brought something special that this one doesn’t quite have. But I know realistically that the pu’erh is probably intimidating or unappealing to a lot of people and therefore a tough sell. This blend does have stevia, and when it’s hot I can get past it enough to enjoy the tea. However, when I made it as an iced latte, the stevia ended up front and center and super strong to the point where I couldn’t taste the other flavors. It was pretty intense but my fiance liked it that way, so he ended up finishing off the iced latte.
C is for.. Chocolate Earl Grey
I did this one up as an oat milk latte today. It helped mitigate the stevia flavor so that the main taste was chocolate but it was still extremely sweet. And that all kind of drowned out any tea or earl grey flavors. It also left an after taste that made me think of the flavor left in your mouth after drinking sugary coffee drinks. I think if I make this as a latte again, I might try half this and half some other earl grey to try to bring out both flavors!
B: Blue Sapphire
I’ve probably had this tea for about five years now. The store only sold 3oz bags and I grabbed one randomly, not thinking it would hang around for so long! Surprisingly, it still has a strong scent to it! A very sweet, candy-ish fruit scent. It claims to be “Black tea with coconut creme, strawberry, kiwi, and blue petals.” There is a little tartness that could maybe be the kiwi.
The flavor has definitely faded, but again it is still there! I feel like what I’m tasting is mainly candy strawberry-ish if I had to put a name to it, but it’s pretty vague. Not getting kiwi, coconut, creme, and only a tiny bit of the base tea.
I think I’ll try this one as a cold brew and see if it can bring anything else out!
B: Breakfast in Paris
Today’s one cup is a tiny part of an ongoing attempt to chip away at the accidental pound I bought of this. Unfortunately, today’s cup was not a very good one. I like lavender but this was overwhelmingly floral and soapy.Definitely the worst cup of this I’ve had by far. Each cup is so dependent on the exact mix of ingredients you get in your scoop that it’s a bit of a gamble each time!
I’ve been inspired by Varitea to use the alphabet to get me back on track for sipdowns and to try out some of my forgotten and ignored teas. Sooo
A is for: A Field in Innsbruck
Much like the last time I tried this tea, it was forgotten behind a number of other teas. This one is an interesting, savory tea but I always want it to lean a little more into the savoriness. Steeped up, it smells like a barn (in a good way), lots of earthiness and hay. The flavor is kind of a general savoriness mingled with the tea itself. Unfortunately, in the taste I’m loosing a lot of the individual notes that I could smell. I might try steeping this longer next time just to see if they come out anymore. Personally, I feel like this tea could have benefited from some smokiness to pull out the other flavors and bring them together but I also just love smokey teas!
Preparation
I feel like I’m having trouble getting flavor out of some of these Plum Deluxe black teas, I’m guessing due to the lower brew temp from the higher altitude. With this, I’m getting the faintest hint of what a feel like could be the orange and cream and that gives me hope! Besides that I’m mostly getting the base tea with a hint of bitterness.
I think I’ll try this iced next, and if I have any left after that I’ll try playing around with the steep time and see if I can pull out more flavor
