1711 Tasting Notes
Advent day 17. I’m really glad they number their teas and that the numbers translate from German to English because all of the pouches in this advent calendar are printed in German which makes the teas difficult to look up without the number system.
I get a dusty fruity green in this cup. I can’t identify the fruit as citrus, but I think the mate gives it a dusty flavored note. I like this better than yesterday’s sencha, but I’m not finding anything unique about it compared to other fruity greens.
Preparation
Advent day 16, Apricot for Destruction. Such an awesome name on a tea filled with hibiscus. :( I think I could taste apricot under the strong metallic taste that hib translates to, but the metal is just too distracting to know for sure. I love Guns n Roses and wanted to love a tea named in their honor. I feel like something way more caffeinated would be appropriate.
Advent day 14, Oh La La. I can’t find any info for this tea on Theodor’s website. It is a black base that they suggest steeping at a lower temperature. I can see various spices like anise stars in it. It smells and tastes like it has a hint of cranberry with those spices. It smells very festive and is an interesting blend with a unique taste. The serving of this is extremely generous (they sell sets of teas together in 4 wedge shaped bottles and this tea came in one of those bottles), so I have plenty of chances to get better acquainted with it. Suggested steeping temp is lower than most blacks for this.
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Preparation
dvent day 15. It looked like a black tea so I steeped it at those parameters, but it came out a bit bitter and burnt. Adding some creamer mellowed out my mistake and brought out the blackberry flavors. They are nice, but subtle. I didn’t get a super strong bold flavors.
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Preparation
Advent day 15. This is a strange blend! I get sweet spices mixed with savory. Fennel is prominent in the sip, but there is almost something like rye in the finish. I don’t know about this one. It puzzles me.
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Advent day 14. This smells like some citrusy candy from a vague childhood memory. This is such a strange blend of various citrus. I can’t quite name which fruit I’m tasting. It’s bright, crisp and sweet. I added a little cream and sugar, then forgot my cup until it cooled. I’m enjoying it chilled quite a bit now. This would be fantastic iced. Not quite sure if it makes my buying list, but I have two more tea bags to decide.
This calendar was expensive. Maybe around $80? It was a splurge, but I’m delighted to say that the portions and detail put into this are pretty big. Most days have three tea bags when a lot of other brands do only one. I’m already tempted to get one next year.
Preparation
Advent day 14. Cream is a hard flavor for me to pick up on when it’s on it’s own. I feel like I can grasp another flavor being creamy, like fruit, but just cream seems so neutral. The flavor seems to translate to mild malt. There is something kind of ashy in the sip too and that is distracting. Adding a creamer makes it… creamy. I don’t hate it, but I’m not at all impressed either.
Preparation
Advent day 12. This is the strangest root beer tea I’ve had! The others have usually been on a black base, while this is on a white base. It smells strongly of root beer, but has an additional green note after being steeped. It tastes similar on the sip to how it smells; root beer with a bit of green. The finish is totally rootbeer. It’s good, not amazing. Rootbeer is a hard flavor to translate to tea.
maximum chaiage. muhaha