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Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #7 – A tea you put off drinking

I just started a pouch of this ancient tea…I guess I have a lot of Frank’s SBT teas waiting around unopened until I finish a few others, so I only open a few at a time. I’m not brewing them as iced teas though… usually taking a teaspoon at a time out of the teabag to steep it hot. This in itself creates five servings (ten cups including resteeps) of tea. No wonder if takes me so long to drink them. For its age, it still has a lovely amount of cotton candy flavor on a brisk black base. I bet it was phenomenal before, as the collective steepster rating suggests. 89!

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #6 – A sunny tea to chase the Janu-weary blues away

MMMMMM… I couldn’t choose a better tea for this prompt today.  It’s a Frank blend, so it’s ancient, but on first sip, wow, I forgot how perfect, pillowy lemony it is.  Buttery with just enough of the green base to make the flavor great.  An essential tea for this below zero day.  It’s actually sunny, yet this tea adds a bit more sun.  And give a look at that pouch photo… if that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will. :)

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #5 – January 19 – World Snow Day – drink a white tea!

What a fitting prompt for the day – should be getting about six inches of snow today, which might be the most for the year yet so far which is unusual…  this is probably one of only two white teas I have with me, so this one it is.  It’s odd it is called a moonlight white, as it really doesn’t remind me of other moonlight teas I have had.  The leaves are much smaller — and sometimes I have to double check that it isn’t a green tea.   It really tastes more like a green tea.  Next time is a sipdown.

Another from my recent order.  This blend sold me on VANILLA and this sold me on YUNNAN.  Yes and yes.  It definitely tastes like a tea that I would guess is Yunnan if I didn’t already know it was Yunnan.   It has Yunnan flavor notes.  Do I know what those are? no.  (I will say, the Yunnan leaf looks smaller than the huge Yunnan leaf in the Eggnog Yunnan blend, but that blend was YEARS ago anyway… so not really sure why I’m mentioning it here…)  I like that there is a variety of vanilla ingredients here: flavoring, vanilla beans and vanilla crystals.  I don’t think the cane sugar makes it overly sweet at all (I really just see an occasional vanilla crystal in the blend anyway).  It’s also not overboard on vanilla. I will say the second steep was probably a little too much at four minutes — the black tea became a little harsher for whatever vanilla remained on the leaves. I would probably stick with a three minute second steep next time.
Steep #1 // 1 1/3 teaspoons for a full mug // 19 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #4 – Your oldest green tea

Why do I get the feeling I have used this exact tea for this exact prompt at least a handful of times?  Anyway… it’s always a solid tea.   A classic classic green.  Cupboard necessity.

additional notes: Sadly, the new batch I just bought of this is very different from the batch I loved years ago. (Seriously, at least a decade ago.) I had to look at my old tasting notes. I said previously that two teaspoons steeped would be too much, too astringent and strong. Here, I used 1 1/2 teaspoons and the base black tea is now incredibly thin and weak. That is very sad, as it needs that strong base to match the chocolate/cinnamon. It’s just very very different now. :/

Another to try from Cameron B — thanks very much! Woowwee, I think I used the directed half teaspoon but this was super sweet. One of the sweetest cups I have ever had. The grape here is a little like mashing up an entire bottle of grape vitamins, adding some water. Not complimentary to this poor matcha, I know. I have had worse teas, but this was A LOT.

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #3 – A tea you plan to buy again

I would very much buy this again, but it looks like Fusion doesn’t have it anymore.  It was definitely a favorite rooibos blend!  A rating of 97!!  I will miss it. Though I won’t miss this old coconut.  Not too bad here, but still. Old coconut.
2025 sipdowns: 2
2025 unique sipdowns:  1

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #2 – Your newest tea

This was just delivered in a 52Teas order, so it is my very newest tea.  A part of me felt I needed to buy this one, as I MIGHT be the person who has asked Anne to reblend Frank’s Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qu Hao the most.  Probably definitely.  It was still in stock on the site after a few months, so I decided to order!   It might be my favorite of Frank’s blends.  Definitely top five.  So I was thrilled that Anne tried to recreate a similar blend!  The Qu Hao base used in the original blend is rare, impossible to find when it isn’t expensive, so I understand it won’t be the SAME blend.  But I also was very happy that Anne aimed to recreate it.  The base in this blend is Gu Zhang mixed with Assam and Yunnan.  Sounds good to me!  Though I am not sure I have ever actually had another Gu Zhang leaf before.  (A quick search of all the teas that I have rated in my Steepster lifetime tells me no, no Gu Zhang in my tea drinking history, at least directly in the name.) I’m wondering if Anne has ever used it before? So I have no idea how the Gu Zhang tastes on its own. But I was also thrilled that Anne still has the original recipe for the Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qu Hao… as sometimes I hear many of Frank’s recipes were lost.  So there was a chance the flavoring would be similar!  AND IT IS.  The base probably isn’t as deep as the Qu Hao, but the flavoring is spot on.  It’s like a silky smooth mix of chocolate/ marshmallow/ vanilla and kahlua.  You know… exactly what the ingredients contain… minus the kahlua.  But wow, the flavors really meld together so well and very balanced.  (One of my favorite combinations of flavors is chocolate/marshmallow, so this is very much my thing.)  It’s amazing that the flavors are so spot on to the original blend.  It seems like a simple mix of flavors, but I have only ever noticed this exact flavoring with Black Silk Chocolate Milk Qu Hao before.  The third steep (milking the leaves for all I can) is quite good too — smooth, never harsh.  In a mystery taste test, I would definitely compare the two blends. So… mission successful!  I was so blinded by the lack of Qu Hao in the tea world, that I didn’t realize something similar could be recreated, especially by someone with Anne’s talents!  Thank you!  Very glad you put this together! 
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 23 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 10 minute steep

additional notes: RESTOCK! I can attest, S&V is still blending this one up real well. The same as my sample from a few years ago. Though initially I did not like this blend… to be fair, I tried it from a teabox and who knows how old it actually was. Then a few years ago I tried it again in S&V’s holiday sample box and loved it. So it’s a lesson. A reminder that teas age, or blend recipes change. It’s probably a rare example of stevia used perfectly in a blend. It’s strong mint, but not too strong, not harsh peppermint… and amazingly blended with the perfect amount of sweetness that also seems to have a hint of cream to it. So good. ONE teaspoon is perfect for a mug.