Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tippy’s Tea
Tea Description:
Tippy’s own unique afternoon blend. Drink it in the afternoon or it is really great as an everyday tea. Smooth and well balanced with malty undertones.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried a couple of Tippy’s Teas now, and I have to say that I’m very happy with what I’ve tried so far! This Midday Flight is lovely!
When I think “black tea,” generally, I think “morning tea” because I usually enjoy the black teas early in the day and by ‘midday’ I’m usually switching to either green or Oolong tea. But, every once in a while, I want the rich, rewarding flavor of a black tea in the afternoon.
Today is one such afternoon. I need something to give me a little more of a boost (read: caffeine) than I get from a green or Oolong tea, so it’s black tea to the rescue! Specifically, this Midday Flight from Tippy’s Tea.
This is rich and flavorful and very smooth. The combination of Ceylon, Keemun, Assam and Darjeeling is wonderful and I like that I can taste ‘components’ of each tea. I taste the rich, malty flavor of the Assam. I taste a slight smoky character from the Keemun. I taste the smooth, even tone of the Ceylon. And I taste the light, crisp note of the Darjeeling.
The sip starts out with notes of malt and smoke. It starts out with a strong, earthy flavor. There is no mistaking that I’m sipping on black tea the moment I start sipping. It’s not aggressive though. It’s approach is smooth. By mid-sip, I pick up on wine-like notes with fruity notes of grape and citrus. The earthy qualities remain throughout the sip. Beneath these notes, I taste a light sweetness that is honey-esque with very subtle molasses notes.
The finish is dry but not overly astringent. There is some astringency and it does build – the first few sips were barely astringent and now that i’m more than halfway through my cup, I am noting more astringency than I experienced at the start. But it’s not a bitter or jarring astringency. It is as though my taste buds grabbed a little towel and patted my tongue dry so that it could be ready for another sip.
Very satisfying. I’m enjoying this tea immensely. It’s rich and flavorful and very smooth. One of the best Afternoon blends I’ve ever encountered!
Thanks for taking the time to review our teas. It’s very kind of you. We put a lot of work into creating our teas. A lot of people won’t realize this but we originally intended on not making flavoured teas at all and focusing on blended black teas. An awful lot of effort went into creating our non-flavoured black tea blends, by effort what we mean is a lot of tea drinking, and for me at least, lots of jitters from my inherent caffeine sensitivity. This tea was developed mainly out of a desire to create an afternoon tea that was light, easy to drink and devoid of that generic taste that often times curses teas that have the moniker ‘afternoon’ or ‘breakfast’ attached. Not that these teas are bad, they are alright, but not great!
We think that we have succeeded with this tea and we are very happy that you enjoyed this tea as much as we do. If you have any suggestions with how we can improve our teas we would love to hear your input. One thing about us is we are new and self-aware enough to know that we are also inexperienced, so me must also be humble enough to realize that we are not always going to hit it out of the park. Even with the teas that are deemed a success, there is always room for incremental improvement. Our goal is to provide our customers with a phenomenal tea-drinking experience without having to pay through the nostrils for it.
Again we enjoyed reading your review of our tea and we hope to hear more from you guys in the future.
Take care,
Brian
tippystea.com
Hi Brian: Thank you for taking the time to visit our site and writing such an in depth comment! I appreciate that a lot.
I have a few other Tippy’s teas waiting ‘on deck’ to taste and to review, so watch for more reviews in the coming weeks!
~Anne