Friday Afternoon

I’ve dropped off this site for so long, but I just got back from the Seattle Tea Festival, and looking at my haul has made me realize I need Steepster’s cupboard tool just to keep track of it (along with all the little samples that have been accumulating in the drawers).

This is a very pleasant fall tea, the apple comes through beautifully though I don’t taste a lot of the caramel. Sweet and smooth.

The TTB has arrived today! So big, so many teas… no chance to try them all!
Tea #1

I have been today at work overtime of course. Blah.

So, when I have arrived home, the box was standing under the stairs and I brought it to my room. Indeed it is huge and after I have opened it, I found out that teas are sorted by types, which is great and took black tea bag. There I took a few random pouches and this tea sounded the most interesting from those.

I smelled the dry leaf and indeed the star anise is strong, but in brew it is much better.

I used two tea spoons and steeped it for 3-4 minutes and it was good. Nothing exceptional, but expected flavour profile was met. Star anise is the star here, black tea base is mellow and noticeable, sour cherries are fun giving additional fruity note and not too sour and all mellowed by cream (flavouring). Also, and not sure if it is that star anise or those sour cherries, there was some refreshing and little mint-like flavour. Nice start :)

Wow this is a gorgeous tea blend. The big fluffy tea leaves from the white tea base mixed with the pop of red from the dehydrated strawberry is really stunning. And then, of course, on top of that you have the light coating of silver lust dust throughout the whole blend that makes it shimmer so gorgeously as both dry leaf and when it’s steeped. I know luster dust is a gimmicky ingredient, but what can I say. I love the gimmick.

In terms of taste, this was so solid too. It’s basically like a lighter version of a strawberry lemonade profile. Bright and citrusy from the lemongrass with that juicy, tart berry undertone. The choice of white tea was smart because it lets those two flavours really pop while still adding some body and a nice, delicate floral undertone that compliments. I do find corn silk to be a weird ingredient. I couldn’t really figure out exactly what it was supposed to be doing other than getting past my basket straining and creating lots of sediment in the bottom of my mug. Distracting, but not disappointing. If that makes sense.

Final verdict? This may just be the first Pisces tea I’ve come across that I actually enjoy!

Since about Friday I’ve been feeling a little out of it and just haven’t had a lot of tea, but this is one of the few cups I made on Friday and it just hit good. Dark chocolate and deep, jammy red fruit notes that tasted like a mix of cherry and pomegranate. Definitely, as I think I said in my last tasting note, has a sort of Black Forest Cake kind of vibe that I really enjoy. But also, I loved the sort of roasty and earthy foundation that all those indulgent cocoa and fruit notes are layered over top of.

Geek Steep S39 – The Matrix

This is the tea I drank this our recording because I had just received my Friday Afternoon order that I’d placed following their break in during May.

Since this is from their podcast collection, I thought this was a fun tea to try for the first time on our podcast. The ingredients in the blend are what caught my attention here though, since I’m not super familiar with the podcast this is inspired by. My understanding is the podcast is very Greek Mythology inspired and I could see the ingredients in this blend reflecting the inspiration of the namesake really well.

The blend ultimately tasted a lot like Black Forest cake, and I really enjoyed it quite a bit!

This was a free sample and I didn’t measure the leaf so that’s on me for why it ended up slightly over-steeped. I can see a bit of the glitter and it’s pretty! The blueberry is relatively mild, and I couldn’t pinpoint that flavor specifically. The white tea is still quite pleasant but I wouldn’t order this one. It’s kind of boring and white teas just aren’t my favorite. Glad I got the chance to try it though!

This is just such a fun, whimsical feeling blend! I wasn’t sure how the peach/mint/caramel flavour would come across but it works surprisingly kind of well? I think the mint is the strongest, but it’s not dominating by any means. It’s almost like a Scottish “Caramint” crossed with, like, a Mint Julep made with peach puree? That probably sounds weird but it all sort of just works and for some reason I can’t explain it seems to perfectly convey the unpredictable fantasy vibe of your classic D&D campaign which is just… so spot on.

So, I just couldn’t resist adding a bunch of Friday Tea’s Dungeons & Dragons/Critical Role inspired teas to my last order. I even tossed this one in, even though ginger forward blends aren’t usually my forte. I just thought the idea of a ginger tea (good for sore throats/upset stomachs) for a Bard was too fun and clever!

I find myself sort of just ‘whelmed’ by the blend though – neither over or under. The black tea base is medium to full bodied and malty, but honestly just a bit flat. I wouldn’t mind a more neutral base as a canvas though, were the rest of the flavours a bit more lively and strong. I do taste ginger, but it’s more of a subtle earthy ginger and there’s not the intensity or heat that I was expecting to get – especially considering there’s actually quite a lot of larger cut ginger pieces in the tea. I also don’t taste the vanilla flavouring at all, not that I necessarily feel like it should have been super strong.

It really does feel like ginger was supposed to be the star here, but there’s some “razzle dazzle” missing overall. I would be interesting in seeing if additions like honey might perk up some of those flavours, or if longer steep times could coax out more spice without also producing a bitter cup…

Just got in an order from Friday Afternoon Tea that I can’t wait to dig into!!

I’m most excited to start tasting through the many fandom inspired blends I picked up, however it’s been an unexpectedly stressful start to the week so I thought it might be better to start with something a little softer and more soothing. So, I’m starting with Daughter’s Rings – an aptly named green tea! It’s not my usual sort of tea, but the subtle sweetness and delicate grassy notes are actually hitting the spot quite well today. I feel a bit like I’m taking a respite from the chaos of the week in a calm, lush green meadow with Spring flowers and rolling hills as far as the eye can see, and I needed that today…

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Crv-5bWIDSp/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAlFHmSVpjA

Pleasant – maybe get again sometime? Not as much of a home run as I thought (ginger + rose + citrus) would be for me, though

Grabbed this sample from a TTB. It’s supposed to be chocolate and fig, but I don’t really taste that. The black tea tastes relatively high quality and has a pleasant depth to it. On top of that, I taste a mild fruitiness, but I really wouldn’t have guessed fig. I don’t taste the chocolate at all. Some bitterness does start to come out as it sits.

I don’t know what flavor this is supposed to be, but it’s super visually appealing with all the sprinkles. The flavor is surprisingly tasty since I haven’t loved most of the Friday Afternoon blends I sampled from the TTB. It tastes mostly like plain black tea, but it has a little something extra in there that’s really enjoyable. I shared this cup with someone else, but I wish I’d kept it all to myself! I’d like to order some to give it a more thorough try.

Sample from a TTB. This mostly just tastes like roasted oolong. It’s too burnt tasting for me to really enjoy. I taste some light fruitiness that reminds me of apple, but that’s it.

Grabbed a sample of this from the last TTB. The content is mostly fluffy sage. The flavor is surprisingly more thin and mild than I expected. I would definitely overleaf if I had enough for a second cup. I taste the sage and a bit of smokiness, but the tea base is a bit weak to my tastes. It’s also a bit more savory/herbaceous than I prefer, but I do find the idea of this one to be fun.

Grabbed this sample from the last TTB. It tastes like a pretty typical gunpowder green, but very high quality. I don’t really notice any other flavors except maybe some mild fruitiness. I like this better than most gunpowder greens. I shared this cup with my partner, who doesn’t usually like green tea. He said, “I like this one because it doesn’t taste like dirt.” So I guess that’s some high praise.

Grabbed this sample from the last TTB. I usually feel neutral toward fruity black teas, but this one is surprisingly delicious! It has a candy-like fruit flavor, and it’s so smooth. There’s no tartness or weirdness, just a perfect cold cup of tea. I wish I had grabbed a few more servings!

Oh wow, it’s a tea I don’t have to input to Steepster because I’m not the only one drinking it! Neat!

I liked this one, but not enough to want to buy it. It’s a cheerfully chocolate tea, strong in the nose, but when I drink it, the chocolate somehow got muddled in with everything else and I lost it somehow. This doesn’t make any sense at all, but it’s what my tastebuds did with it.

(Also, because it’s got real chocolate in it, it left a glaze of chocolate on the walls of my teapot and I had to wash it rather more thoroughly. Fair warning.)

Anyway. If a friend offered it to me, I would cheerfully drink it and be happy about it, but I don’t need to keep it in my cabinet.

This particular masala chai doesn’t do anything in particular for me. There’s nothing wrong with it? But it’s a fairly standard masala chai. It’s a little more mellow, a little more malty than the ones I usually drink – I suspect that’s because the tea itself is aged. The peppercorns aren’t particularly strong (nothing like Prepare For Trouble) and I can’t taste the cardamon at all.

Nothing wrong with it, but not one I need to keep around. It came as part of a sampler from bigger order we got from Friday, so when I finish off the last of my advent teas, I’ll be on to those, but it’s dark and gloomy here this afternoon, so I figured a dark chai might be the way to go.

This tea scratches the same itch that Tea & Absinthe’s “Elixer of Wisdom” does – namely, a black(ish) tea with floral notes. I don’t think I like it quite as much as I like Wisdom, but that’s a bit like saying I don’t like vegetarian masala burgers from Trader Joe’s as much as I like a gourmet hamburger from a specialty restaurant.

This is a fine floral tea. The aftertaste has a pleasantly minty feel to it, for all that it’s not mint at all. (I think that’s probably the green tea that my tastebuds strongly associate with mint.) The aroma is good, also. I can slightly make out the flavor of apple, but I’m not sure I’d know what an osmanthus flower tastes like, so I can’t tell if I can taste it. (I can definitely taste the linden. I’ve had linden honey. It’s yummy.)

My spouse wanted to know if I would drink this – he’s the one who bought it, as he’s more of an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan than I am. I will drink it! But I’m not going to be seeking it out, so it’s getting the top rating for something I’m not actively looking to put in my cabinet on the regular.

Good tea, definitely glad I drank it.

LEMON. Wow, that’s a lot of lemon. Possibly I’m not used to it anymore?

Spouse bought this one, and quite likes it, but wanted to know if I would drink it with him. (He’s not sure he can go through it regularly.) So he asked me to try it.

It brewed up relatively weak-looking by my standards (4 tsp. leaves in my 3 cup pot) and when I took a sip, the lemon punched me in the nose. It’s drowning out most (not all) of the other flavors – about the only thing I could taste in addition was the rose. Not the tea, and not the ginger.

This one is definitely not for me. Oh well!

Okay. Honestly not excited to try this because I’m not a huge fan of gunpowder green and the aroma from the dry leaf makes me think this has been defiled by other tea. The dry aroma is weird. Kinda smokey. Kinda cigarettey…. nose scrunch The green of the gunpowder is very apparent. Instead of Imperial soldier, I would have named this Civil War soldier. The taste is kind of bland. A little woodsy a little grassy, a little hay.

Always a bit disappointed when I see a delightfully twisted dark brown leaf like this but the flavor does not match. At least when consumed hot. I will let it cool in hopes of better flavors. Nope… still nothing that piques my interest…

Twilight Princess. I cannot think of anything else but that game when I see the name of this tea. This is a very herbaceous tea. The wet lead aroma is incredibly complex. The rosemary is easy to pick out (especially because I love it) but the rest merge into an amalgamation of herby goodness. The flavor kind of knocks your socks off too. So much going on in my mouth. Herbs, herbs, herbs. Rosemary, sage, slight oregano, and thyme. The pu er is a great base for this but the earthy base remains cautiously hidden.