New Mexico Tea Company

Have you ever licked a cedar chest? Can’t say I have. But I wouldn’t put it past the toddler version of myself to do so. This tea is fairly heavy with cedar influence when it comes to the flavor. The aroma, however, initially when the hot water hits it is woodsy. Then it changes to a strange medicinal pitch with a hint of vaseline… Luckily that went away pretty quickly and morphed into fresh barn hay. The flavor for the first 3ish sessions was stone fruit with cedar backdrop and after that became more woodsy. Around the 5th or 6th is was very cedar in flavor. The mouthfeel almost makes me feel as is Ive licked a cedar chest.

As someone who enjoys the bergamot flavors of earl grey, but in moderation, this blend is the perfect balance for me. It’s become my staple go-to tea for mornings and afternoons, and I’ll re-steep my pot multiple times. None of the flavors overpower, but instead all of them blend well into a nice subtle balance that can be drinkable at any time.

I tried this tea from White Antlers again, and this time I steeped it longer and crushed the berries.

It was a game changer! It was lightly lemony, a bit smoky, a bit piney, and finally a bit of the juniper. Overall, interesting combination; worked well alltogether, but maybe even more flavour would be nice. Longer steeps are the key.

Not a tea that I would crave for often, but certainly not a bad one.

Another pouch from derk. Thank you.
Steeped as suggested, 1.5 tsp, 100°C, 5-7 minutes.

I had to seach what “cota” is. In Czech it is called Marunek or Rmen. Never had it as a herbal tea.

It had somehow generic lemony taste, I was expecting some notes from juniper but nada. No pine notes too! Have I took bad teaspoons? Do I need to have more cota in, or more juniper? Should I crush the berries when brewed? So many questions, some tea left for trying. Won’t rate so far.

Sigh! I was really looking forward to this tea. New Mexico is one of my favorite places in the world and I was delighted to discover their website from which I ordered a number of samples. When it came to this tea I ordered a bit more solely based on the description and ingredient list. Biscochitos are the iconic New Mexico cookie. Hard to describe them, but if you’ve ever had one, you never forget the taste of it. I was pretty psyched to see someone had made a tea inspired by it. I will admit to have slightly been put off by roasted rice in the ingredients list, but I figured it was still worth the risk.
But the minute I poured the loose leaf tea into my steeper I knew something was off. The smell was strangely biscochitos adjacent. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I poured the water in and waited for it to finish enfusing. After all you never know with teas, sometimes they smell one way in the cup and taste different on the palate. I drank a cup and while it wasn’t a horrible tea, it didn’t taste as it had promised. Something was off. I made a second cup and as the tea bloomed in the steeper I noticed what at first I thought were pieces of dried fruit. On closer inspection I discovered the issue. What I had mistaken for dried fruit -which I should parenthetically add would have had nothing to do with the cookie in question-what I had mistaken for dried fruit was actually a chunk of star anise. I went back and read the ingredients list on the package and even pulled up the page on their website. Both stated this tea included “anise seed.” Not star anise. But what was unmistakably in my strainer was star anise. Somehow they’d blown the recipe. I don’t need to explain to anyone the profound difference between anise seed and star anise. They are not the same plant and really register in very different ways. Somehow whoever came up with this tea didn’t know what they were doing. Or weren’t familiar with the New Mexican cookie in question. Star anise is not a substitution for anise seed, any more than orange peel is the same as bergamot. These are very distinct flavors and it’s the whole point of making good tea blends.
So very disappointed in this tea. While in and of itself it’s not a horrible tea, it is most definitely not what it was aiming for.

SIDE POINT AS SILVER LINING: I need to add that in looking for this tea to rate it, I came across a different tea company a few miles up the road in northern New Mexico. I managed to reach them to ask if their take on this tea included star anise or anise seed. Fortunately they didn’t laugh me off the phone and offered to send me a sample which they most assuredly told me included anise seed. They shared my confusion as to why anyone would use star anise. So perhaps a silver lining for me and a new customer for them.

Sipdown 90-2021
I grew to really enjoy this tea. It tastes exactly as it presents itself- cardamom and black tea. Adding honey really helps soften the intensity of the cardamom.

Enjoying this with some honey. Really smooth, no bitterness. Cardamom flavor is extremely strong.

This is pretty straightforward- a bold black tea, and lots of cardamom. I love cardamom, so I’m really enjoying it. Added a bit of honey and it’s a really enjoyable cup. Would probably add a splash of oat milk next time.

I’m finding this one to be a bit bland. Not really any vanilla flavor, and the spices are too muted for my taste. Not bad by any means, just not a favorite.

Sipdown 78-2021
Sad to see this go, but I will be purchasing more once I get through some more sipdowns.

I’m really loving this blend, and I’m just about out. I’ll be repurchasing this one when I drink the last cup.

This cup wasn’t perfumey and synthetic like the last one was, which I was extremely happy about. The key seems to be under-leafing the cup a bit. Adding a bit of honey brings out the creaminess.

Reducing my score a bit because this cup was just so incredibly perfumey. It still smells lovely- sweet vanilla creaminess and jasmine. The jasmine flavor is just a bit too synthetic tasting.

I ended up overstepping this and it turned out a bit bitter (I didn’t read the label, and failed to realize it was a black/green blend). Still a very delicious cup of tea. Sweetened with a little bit of honey. It reminds me of a perfume I’m currently obsessed with (Nightgown by Solstice Scents). Creamy jasmine. It’ll probably do well with some cream next time.

The appearance of the long and flat dry leaf is the most interesting thing about this tea. The wet leaf smells like tobacco and camphor, and the brew is golden. The first few steepings were quite light in taste and color, the later steepings start out light and sweet, then end with the tobacco and camphor notes present in the wet leaf. Overall its not unpleasant but not really interesting enough for me to purchase again.