I have had Capri by August Uncommon once before. The tea, made with turkish apple, rosehip shells, peppermint, thai pineapple, melon pieces, pear pieces, and flavoring, seemed like the perfect tea to be iced. However, I found myself disappointed by the iced tea. It was vaguely sweet and mostly mint. So today I decided to try it hot.
The mint acts more as a foundation in the hot tea. It is definitely there but mostly as a cooling freshness at the base of the tea. There is a melon flavor on top of the mint but it is so subtle. You really have to look for it. It’s just the faintest bit of sweet atop the mint. Unfortunately I am still disappointed. I want more melon, less mint, and really anything else. Pineapple would be nice or some pear.
Honeydew is a subtle flavor naturally so a honeydew flavor in tea is hard to capture. For me, this was a bit of a miss. It’s a nice mint tisane but it just fell short of what the ingredients might suggest you’re getting.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Description
Have you had the pleasure of drinking fruit tea? Throughout Europe, teas made of dried fruit are well loved yet have been missing from American tea culture until now. Capri is a flavorful, cooling blend of fruits and peppermint, with a rich honeydew melon flavor. When it’s iced, it’s the perfect beverage for a hot day. Hot, it’s excellent after dinner or to wind down the day.
INGREDIENTS: turkish apple, rosehip shells, peppermint, thai pineapple, melon pieces, pear pieces, flavoring
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
The Settlement/August Uncommon. . . .
It’s been a while since my last yellow tea so I was super excited to try this one!
The ‘one’ I’m referring to is The Settlement from August Uncommon Tea. Not only am I excited to sip on a yellow tea but I’m exciting about a tea from this company because I haven’t tried many of their teas thus far.
The aroma of the leaves is a combo of sweet, wet wood and brunt molasses. Once the leaves have been infused it smells even more like brunt molasses and paired with a roasted peanut aroma as well.
While I was sipping on this tea the first thing I thought of was roasted peanuts and burnt molasses, too. This offers a really unique aroma, flavor, and tea sipping experience. Even tho it’s been a couple of month since my last new-to-me-yellow-tea I have to say this one stands out for several reasons. It doesn’t taste anything like the others I have had and I say that with full excitement and respect because I am always looking for something different.
At the time I wrote this review I noticed that the company not only slashed their prices – they are offering free shipping in the US, too! So if you haven’t checked out this tea offering or this tea company I would HIGHLY suggest it. The Settlement from August Uncommon Tea. It’s yellow tea from Anhui province grown at 1,000 meters above sea level and pretty darn special!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Yellow
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Description.
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Breathless – August Uncommon Tea
I need to stop looking at Facebook at 2 in the morning. It causes me to make sleepy purchases. One recent middle of the night purchase I made was from August Uncommon tea. I kept seeing adds on Facebook for August Uncommon and had been very interested in their unique blends. I saw that they were offering free shipping and many of their teas are available in sample sizes so I decided to order a few at 2 am. I am so glad that I did! The samples arrived very quickly and included an information card on the company. Their premise is that August is “like no tea you’ve ever tasted before. Our tea is wild, intense, and radically different.” I don’t know if I would say that the tea blends are “radically different” as I have seen a lot of unique blends in my tea journey. I will say though that the blends are interesting, fun and very flavorful.
One of the teas that I purchased is called Breathless. The description of the tea is “boozy black tea, white chocolate and prune.” This is an interesting combo for sure. The package indicates that the tea is gluten free and non gmo. I appreciate that August also includes tasting notes to let the consumer know what we should be tasting. In the case of Breathless it should taste like armagnac, prune, dark cherry and whipped cream. Interesting. I had to look up what armagnac is as I am not up on my liquors. It appears it is a brandy.
I will say that one aspect I appreciate on their packaging is that in the ingredient panel August actually tells us what type of black tea is being used in the blend. Often companies just simply put black tea down in a blend. August goes one step further and indicates it is an Indian Assam black tea. Other ingredients include hazelnut brittle (yum), sweet blackberry leaf, white chocolate, dried plum and flavoring. The package does not make any distinction if the flavoring is natural or artificial.
The first sip of the tea is nice, I get the initial hit of a pretty malty black tea base then the fruity plum develops followed by an ever so slight creaminess in the back end of the taste. I can certainly see where why they say that the this tea tastes like dark cherry because the plum notes coupled with the malty black tea gives a dark cherry flavor.
I really like this tea. It is very complex, dark and enjoyable when drinking straight. When I added a splash of soy milk the creamy notes developed more and gave a very dessert-like quality to this tea.
Overall I am very impressed with all of the samples that I purchased from August Uncommon. I think that they are doing a fantastic job of reinventing what the basic perception of tea is. They have left the safe confines of a traditional earl grey or english breakfast and are branching out to offer unique and interesting flavor combinations. I think they are certainly worth checking out!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Description
This tea has a boozy aroma with soft tannins, and a touch of fruit and leather. It is inspired by our favorite ice cream flavor in the world: Agenaise. This is a luscious ice cream laced with armagnac-soaked prunes made by the incomparable Parisian brand Berthillon. White chocolate gives it a super silky mouthfeel and a creamy finish reminiscent of ice cream melting over hot pie. This tea practically begs for milk to turn up the richness of its flavors.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Big Easy from August Uncommon Tea. . . .
Big Easy by August Uncommon is a sweet sencha green tea with lemongrass, pineapple and barley. It is said to taste like pineapple cake, caramel beignets, and dried lemon peel. Well…here goes nothing…
I cold brewed this for almost 24 hours and since I had some left, I also steeped about 1.5 teaspoons in 12 oz of 175F water for 4 minutes.
Sipping on the hot tea, the first thing I notice is the sweetness. Yes, the pineapple is sweet but there is more to it than just pineapple. I was surprised that there is a caramel-like sweetness akin to what I remember a Werther’s Originals tasting like. Upon further investigation, it would seem there is caramel in the ingredient list so that caramel is meant to be there and not my mind playing tricks on me. Anyways, the two sweet elements combined manage to not be overwhelming while also capturing pineapple cake. I think it is the lemongrass that reigns in the sweetness and perhaps the tiny bit of rosehips. In addition to the gentle herb-citrus quality of the lemongrass, there is a brighter orange note that underlines the sip. All the while, I think the barley gives this body and helps capture a breadiness/cereal note that provides a solid foundation for the other flavors.
The cold brew is a little less complex than the hot tea. The pineapple really takes over with a sprinkling of citrus throughout. The caramel is more just sweet than distinctly caramel and the barley is gone entirely. It is not bad but can border on cloying and mostly just feels familiar and done before. As a hot tea, it feels more unique.
All in all, I enjoy this tea, though my preferred method of brewing it would be hot. It is an interesting tea but given it has a fairly distinct flavor, at least as a hot tea, it is one I can see enjoying for a while but growing tired of it overtime. That is the problem with something that is so different flavorwise…it is fun for a while but easy to grow bored of. Still worth trying and enjoying at least for a little while.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: August Uncommon Tea
Description
This tea is not available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Breathless from August Uncommon . . . .
August Uncommon is churning out some very unique blends. Some…amazing! Others…not so much (I’m looking at you, Black Lodge!). Yet with each new August Uncommon tea, it is clear that you are about to experience something different, at least something different from other tea companies and this tea, Breathless, is no exception.
*PSA:* If you’re already intrigued and want to check out the tea, please note that the images on the Breathless page might be a little NSFW if you are employed in an uppity office like I am. Just saying. You’ve been warned.
Anyways, back to the tea…
The smell here of the brewed tea is creamy and dessert-like thanks to the white chocolate and hazelnut brittle. That creaminess comes through in taste as well with the overarching flavor being the brittle. There is also a booziness here that blends seamlessly with the stonefruit flavors that make up the body of this tea. At first it feels like a rich and creamy dessert, a little bit boozy and a lot sweet. However, I will say the more you drink, the nuttiness builds and it almost begins to take on burnt quality that I just don’t enjoy.
This is a nice tea, though probably best in smaller doses. It has a nice flavor and one that you won’t find anywhere other than August Uncommon. For that reason, it is a fun tea to try, though maybe not one I personally will keep stocked.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Description
This tea has a boozy aroma with soft tannins, and a touch of fruit and leather. It is inspired by our favorite ice cream flavor in the world: Agenaise. It’s a luscious ice cream laced with armagnac-soaked prunes made by the incomparable Parisian brand Berthillon. White chocolate gives it a super silky mouthfeel and a creamy finish reminiscent of ice cream melting over hot pie. This tea practically begs for milk to turn up the richness of its flavors.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!