Tea swaps are a thing of beauty. They really and truly are. Switching out your unwanted teas for hard-to-find favorites or samples of new blends…what’s not to love? And sometimes if you are lucky, tea swaps can lead to making tea friends. You know…the people who you meet up with to exchange teas and talk about your lives. Now, if you are REALLY lucky, you might even find a tea twin. For me that person is the wonderful Roswell Strange, a former Sororitea Sister. Her and I started our tea journey at the same time and quickly learned we liked the same flavors. We began to swap teas constantly since we knew the other would love everything we sent (or at least appreciate the opportunity to try it). Swaps grew to gifts and now, even as our tastes have grown apart, we have maintained our tea twin love and continue to share our tea stashes.
More than just tea, we have realized we share other interests as well and as Roswell Strange decided to make her tea drinking an experience by adding song pairings, she graciously gave me the opportunity to partake as well. My awesome tea twin took the time to not only pack up a bunch of tea samples but she provided me a song pairing for each, creating a mix tape of sorts. Now for those wondering what I mean by this, Roswell Strange picks a song that she thinks matches the tea in some way, thus making for a heightened and more focused tea drinking experience as you combine your tea sipping with a complimentary song.
For this particular blend, she picked the song Electric Feel by MGMT. Now, while most other songs she picked were new to me, this is an old favorite of mine (it might even be my ringtone). Knowing the song, I definitely expected some whimsy from this tea and the dry scent with its creamy citrus and light vanilla showed promise. So I got my song ready to go and my tea brewed up and began.
The first thing I noticed was the smoothness of the tea. With strong flavors like grapefruit, mint, and vanilla, it seemed like there should be more of a disconnect but everything blends into one harmonious taste. This to me reflects the song since there is also a lot of different components that come together to make up one awesome whole. Yet, if you focus, you can detect each distinct flavor hiding in the mix or lingering in the aftertaste. The slight tang of the grapefruit starts the sip, and just like the intro of the song amps you up for whats coming. The vanilla slides in and levels everything off, just like the vocals of the music coming in and taking over the music. Well the mint lingers underneath it all, like the base note, adding depth and keeping the beat going under the vocals. And even though this tea should be harsher, it is calming, which is what has always been my thoughts on this particular song. I mean just listen to the lyrics about being “shocked like an electric eel” and yet the melody is almost poetic in how relaxing it can be. In my mind, like the song, this is not something that should work but it does. It definitely does!
Thank you tea twin!! And for those who don’t know the song, check it out here.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Rooibos/Honeybush Blend
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Description
A dazzling synesthetic experience where sound is like temperature and color has flavor. Warm and cool sensations move in textured rhythms. The myriad of tastes and scents wind and twist like shifting colors of an opal. With each sip there is a distinct, dreamy dominant note. One moment, it’s pale yellow vanilla, then another, electric pink grapefruit. Yet another time it’s bluish green mint, then brick-red earthy rooibos. Beauty is not always linear.
Ingredients: south african green rooibos, south african honeybush, grapefruit peel, peppermint, flavoring
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Field in Innsbruck Black from August Uncommon
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Tea Description:
As the Austrian Alps warm they offer a multitude of aromas and colors. The woods come alive with light flickering through branches, beaming in unexpected clearings redolent of grasses, herbs and wildflowers in full bloom. The bright spruce aroma overhead and earthy fir needles melding with the soil underfoot. Brushing your hands against the sticky juniper bushes, gathering fragrant herbs and ripe blackcurrant berries warmed by the sun. Capture the fleeting majesty of the aromatic journey.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a while since I’ve written a review here on SororiTea Sisters but that certainly doesn’t mean I’ve stopped drinking wonderful, strange and unique teas such as this tea from August Uncommon!
This is such an interesting tea; any time you encounter a ‘savory’ tea with different kinds of unconventionally used herbs and spices, such as the rosemary and thyme in this blend, you know you’re going to be getting an outside of the box tea drinking experience. The dry leaf of this tea certainly has a very pungent aroma of thyme which is quite enticing. There’s also a slight earthiness which adds depth right off the bat, even before pouring any water!
The aroma of the brewed tea is surprisingly smooth with both a familiar, comforting aroma and air of exoticism. However, I just feel like once you begin drinking the tea it fails to deliver the level of flavour that you’d expect from all the wonderful aromas that have been experienced at this point. Not that it tastes bad! It’s just that I feel like this blend doesn’t quite commit to being either sweet OR savory. I taste a distinct flavour of thyme with hints of rosemary but not in the potency I expected or wanted. The sweetness comes from a hint of jammy flavour provided by the juniper berries; I’m missing the distinct pine flavour of the junipers though and that’s a slight disappointment too because I think that flavour note would have really sold the title for me. The whole thing is supported though by a very smooth, earthy base though and I’m REALLY loving that element of the blend.
And of course, like I said, it truly isn’t a BAD blend. On the whole, I actually find it really delicious – I’m just having to mildly adjust my expectations while drinking it. I absolutely recommend trying it if you get the chance. And for people who haven’t had savory teas before I think this would be a really good way to branch into that type of flavoured blend.
