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additional notes: I thought I had failed Pi Day today by not drinking a pie tea, but I must have subconsciously prepared myself. I had David’s Sweet Potato Pie tea earlier. Now it’s this one. Next time will be a sad sad sipdown but a long time coming.

additional notes: Sad to say that this is just another tea from a recent S&V order that is
Just.
Not.
The.
Same.
as a previous batch that I have tried. I have steeped the new harvest a few times and it just seems muted compared to the older batch. Lighter black tea. Lighter/ less special in flavoring. I would not give this tea a rating of 95 now. What is happening to my favorite teas???

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2025 Tea #3 – an herbal tisane

Finishing this one.  It was just okay.  The hibiscus made it more of a mulled cider sort of tea, which I guess if I think of it like that, it’s acceptable.  It should have been named that, I guess.  Fusion still has this for sale, for any of you curious about it!
2025 sipdowns: 14
2025 unique sipdowns:13

A sample from S&V — thanks very much!   I know I have tried a Nahorhabi tea in the past.  Looking at the leaves, I remembered it a bit.  So much gold in them there leaves!   But not fully gold.  This is the look of leaf I find so promising and appealing before I steep them up!  The leaf also has a look that I would describe as “choppy”… whatever that means.  The flavor is just what I wanted today.  It’s assam, but not a super strong type — it’s sweet, fruity, layered, actually a hint of gardenia.  Maybe just a hint of tomato soup.  It’s bright, refreshing, maybe a hint of citrus like a marmalade or maybe just the barest hint of some other flavored jam  (strawberry or guava?)  So maybe a mix of marmalade/strawberry/guava jam?  Why isn’t that a thing? Then at times it most reminds me of Yunnan.  Delicious.   The second steep seemed much more like a traditional assam flavor, losing its uniqueness of the first steep for a bit of harshness.  Either a 3 1/2 minute steep was too long, or this one is just fine with one teaspoon instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons. The high rating I’m giving it is much more for the first steep than the second.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 3 1/2 min steep

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2025 Tea #2 – a good resteeper

Any good puerh could and should be resteeped.   One steep would be a waste.  This is the last of my samples on this one, so a proper sipdown.   It was an okay puerh.  A VERY slow unraveler. So I’m not even sure by steep #3 if the leaves have given their all. So yes, definitely a re-re-re-resteeper.   Fun to try but nothing I need a cake of.
2025 sipdowns: 13
2025 unique sipdowns:12

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – March 2025 Tea #1 – March 8 – International Women’s Day – drink tea from a woman owned company

A quick search for ‘women owned tea company’ had many more results than I thought, even for some tea shops that I currently have with me.  So I had plenty of options for this prompt!   This tea is from CameronB - thanks again.   This blend was just calling to me with its awesome ingredients- it has so many ingredients I love.  Really, the majority of it looks like roasted yerba mate.  A little bit of puerh, a chocolate chip here and there.  The flavor is like a mocha yerba mate. Tasty, if mild.  The flavor is sweet, creamy, a bit roasty and a bit like coffee.  I think I might try adding this blend to another ripe puerh and see how that does.  I bet more puerh would dial it up a bit and add richness, as I would really love for this blend to have more puerh.  Or I could just actually use two teaspoons as the tin suggests… (it says 1-2 teaspoons.)  Today I’m also drinking Dessert By Deb’s Houjicha Caramelized Butterscotch Blondies — another women owned company.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 6+ minute steep

From CameronB!  Thanks again!  Such a tiny fruit, it’s about enough for three Western steeps of tea.  Of course, I throw some peel in the infuser, along with the actual tea.  Sadly, the black tea is so incredibly light flavored to me, it’s just not something I want to steep up.  The orange really takes over, even though that is quite light too.  The orange that does appear in the flavor is very much like a rind flavor.  It’s just a bit sad that a tea that isn’t really that great would be put through the trouble of being stuffed inside a tiny orange.   Luckily, this isn’t a big orange, and was just enough for me to sample to know that this isn’t the tea for me. :)
Steep #1 // 15 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

additional notes: I recently restocked this… a bit sad to say it is not the same. I guess I was going by the photo for the tea on Golden Moon’s site, it looked like my very ancient sample of it (probably over ten years old by now). So my decision to buy it was probably mostly photo based. But upon getting the new batch, it just looks different, both in the black tea base AND that I really can’t see many vanilla pieces in the blend. The description SAYS there are still vanilla pieces, so I think they must have dialed it back. It also seems to rely much more on vanilla flavoring. My older sample pouch says nothing about flavoring at all. Only: black tea, vanilla pieces. I asked Golden Moon about it and they said “we haven’t made any changes to the Madagascar vanilla recipe”. But like I said, it HAD to have changed from my ten year old sample, even if they weren’t trying to change it. I wouldn’t give the new batch a rating of 88. Probably somewhere in the 70s now. I really need to stop expecting tea to stay the same. :/

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2025 Tea #8 -A tea best for afternoons

Well, it’s in the name!  Afternoon!  An obvious choice, as usual. :) This is from Cameron B, thanks very much!  I like this one.  It’s unique and intriguing. It has a gentle smokiness, like a fragrant campfire.  Probably because there is rose here too.  So maybe if some roses were thrown into that fire.  So drama. There should also be vanilla and bergamot here, but I’m not noticing those as much.  I wish I were tasting all of these… what an interesting combination:  lapsang, rose, bergamot, vanilla.  Though I like the general effect of this tea, I guess I was imagining a better balance of the flavors.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 minute steep

sigh. I hate to mention it on such a beloved tea. I steeped my older batch of this tea yesterday to compare, the new batch I just bought a month or two ago I steeped today, and tried to steep them exactly the same. Sadly, this is just not the same blend anymore. It’s still a great tea, but it isn’t a tea I would rate a 99 anymore. The black tea seems lighter, the flavors seem lighter without that extra pop of apple + cinnamon + bakey goodness french toast the older tea has. The older tea STILL has incomparable flavor to really any other tea. The older tea actually TASTES fresher and it is YEARS old. Hopefully this is just a one time thing for this tea and it goes back to being it’s great self with future batches. I’m very sad about it though.