3986 Tasting Notes
Compagnie & Co Advent Calendar 2023 – Day 21
A goji flavored green tea? Interesting…
I don’t have a ton of experience with goji by itself, but in blends it usually tastes a bit tart to me, and this doesn’t have any tartness at all. It’s quite sweet, in fact, with a flavor that maybe reminds me of strawberry? It’s not quite, but I can’t think of anything closer. The base is a mixture of green teas, but I feel I’m mostly tasting the grassy sencha with a bit of extra earthiness and minerality from the chun mee.
It’s a nice fruity tea, but it doesn’t really taste like goji berries to me. More like strawberry meets dried apricot maybe?
Flavors: Apricot, Berry, Earthy, Fruity, Grassy, Hay, Mineral, Smooth, Strawberry, Sweet
Preparation
DIY Kyoto Obubu Advent Calendar – Day 21
So because I had Sencha of the Wind recently, I feel like I can tell that these two are similar. They’re both spring-harvested and feature the Zairai cultivar, but Wind is shaded while this one is not.
This still has that lovely vegetal flavor with savory, brothy notes of cooked greens, fresh grass, and a touch of squash. It’s much lighter in texture than Wind, but I can still see similarities in the flavor, including a slightly fruity finish. This also has some lighter notes – mellow flowers, pollen, and warm hay.
Light and fresh and just delicious. I love them both, and they suit different moods.
Flavors: Broth, Clean, Floral, Fresh, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruity, Green, Hay, Nori, Pollen, Salad Greens, Savory, Seaweed, Squash, Tart, Umami, Vegetal, Zucchini
Preparation
52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 9
Okay, so this is pretty delicious. I was drawn in by the wonderful dry scent, and while the steeped tea isn’t quite as good as that, it’s still really good. The raspberry is spot-on for jam, with a balance of syrupy and tart notes and a nice intense flavor. The peanut butter part doesn’t really taste exactly like peanut butter to me, maybe almond butter? Anyway, it’s close enough that the overall flavor does remind me a bit of a PB&J.
Flavors: Almond, Jam, Nutty, Peanut, Raspberry, Savory, Smooth, Sweet, Tannic, Tart
Preparation
Sipology Advent Calendar 2023 – Day 21
Ugh, lol. Still, I’m thankful that there are only two “naturally sweet” teas in this whole advent. It could’ve been much worse ha ha.
This one is an odd choice for stevia IMO. Mostly tastes like a smooth black base with a lot of powdered ginger, and the earthiness of the ginger is a somewhat odd combination with the sweet stevia. I could see honey or sweetness going well with more of a ginger root type taste, like those instant ginger honey crystals. But here it’s weird IMO, since it’s definitely the powdered type of ginger flavor.
Honestly not undrinkable though, the stevia is more subdued than I expected. But definitely not something I would want to drink again. :P
Flavors: Dust, Earthy, Ginger, Musty, Smooth, Stevia, Sweet
Preparation
Tea at the White House Advent Calendar 2023 – Day 21
Another vanilla/caramel tea huh? It feels like they did a lot of the festive teas early and this middle part has been mostly more generic desserty blends. Hopefully there are some more holiday teas since there are only a few days left!
Anyway, it’s fine. Vanilla with a bit of richness and creaminess, which does make sense for a vanilla custard. I could see it being flan-ish. Smooth and earthy black base. Not bad, just not my particular type of tea.
Flavors: Creamy, Custard, Earthy, Rich, Smooth, Sweet, Vanilla
Preparation
Bird & Blend Matcha Advent Calendar 2023 – Day 21
So I expected this one to be similar to Raspberry Ripple, but actually I find it reminds me of Nordic Berry? There’s something a touch medicinal about it that I don’t love, and almost an herbaceous minty note? I must be crazy lol, because that makes no sense for a strawberries & cream matcha…
I guess I’ll have to see how I feel about it when I try the other serving. :P
Flavors: Berry, Herbaceous, Medicinal, Mint, Sweet
Preparation
Compagnie & Co Advent Calendar 2023 – Day 20
An interesting choice for a holiday tea, green and white teas with red fruits and baked apple. It’s a nice evening tea, very mellow base with a similar candy-sweet red fruits flavor to the black version I had the other day. I do taste the apple as well, it actually blends seamlessly with the green tea. The red fruits is the stronger of the two flavors, but the apple gives a nice sweetness and makes the whole thing just a bit more comforting.
Flavors: Apple, Candy, Cherry, Dry Grass, Fruity, Hay, Jam, Raspberry, Red Fruits, Smooth, Sweet, Syrupy
Preparation
Sipology Advent Calendar 2023 – Day 20
There’s something about this that smells like spoiled coconut, yet there is no coconut here at all. It’s less noticeable in the taste, but still there’s a hint of something acrid.
Nope! :P
Preparation
DIY Kyoto Obubu Advent Calendar – Day 20
Mmmmm, delicious. Lovely sweet and slightly intense yet smooth and soft vegetal notes. Something in the taste reminds me of the smell of fresh, sweet hay. Creamy acorn or butternut squash notes give a lovely richness.
Fresh, nutty, creamy, smooth. Just so nice, I’m glad I have more of this in my cupboard. :)
Flavors: Alfalfa, Butternut Squash, Creamy, Hay, Nori, Nuts, Silky, Spinach, Squash, Sweet, Vegetal
Preparation
52teas 12 Teas of Christmas 2023 – Day 8
Ooh, this sounds right up my alley!
It’s good, but I mostly get banana and oolong, not so much the eggnog part. It’s a bit of a banana taffy type flavor, and the oolong is clean and mineral without a lot of floral presence. Searching for some nutmeg or cream but sadly not finding it.
Still a nice tea though, just not very eggnog to me.
Flavors: Banana, Candy, Clean, Mineral, Silky, Smooth, Sweet
