251 Tasting Notes
BrutaliTeas advent, day 2
This was an interesting tea. Caramel is a favorite flavor of mine, but I worry when I see it in tea – it doesn’t always come off well. This was sweet and warm caramel, but not cloying or artificial. Ginger and cinnamon also came to mind. I enjoyed that I could still taste the tea itself through the flavoring, even as it cooled. I’m not sure I noticed anything that reminded me of pumpkin or the other standard pumpkin pie spices, but I’d be willing to give it another shot.
Flavors: Caramel, Cinnamon, Ginger, Sweet
Preparation
nerdfelt advent, day 2
A tea called Second Breakfast felt like a good place to start my day.
It honestly didn’t seem like black tea at all. The mint and lemon were so strong, the color so light, that it seemed like an herbal. I liked the lemon peel – it was less artificial than a lot of lemon teas. In all, a pleasant cup, but it didn’t stand out for much but the name.
Flavors: Lemon, Mint
Preparation
Bird & Blend advent, day 1
I finished yesterday with two cups of this brewed separately. The first bag had a noticeably higher number of peppercorns, and this showed in the taste. While the first was a powerful mint with a subtle peppery note underneath and a touch of sweetness, the second was really only a slightly sweet mint.
Flavors: Mint
Preparation
BrutaliTeas advent, day 1
The scent is rose and strawberry when dry, but the strawberry disappears when steeped. The rose scent is strong enough that it’s surprising the initial flavor is a slightly fruity black tea. The rose comes back at the end though, and it lingers. This is lovely hot, though less enjoyable the more it cools.
I’m a floral tea fan and love rose in particular, so this is a win for me. It’s not an exciting blend, but it is absolutely a pleasant rose I’d come back for.
Flavors: Fruity, Rose
Preparation
nerdfelt advent, day 1
This advent is my first experience with nerdfelt teas, and I’m looking forward to the experience. I think a favorite part so far is you can’t spoil the teas for yourself by perusing the package, since the tea labels are inside the packages of tea.
I opened yesterday with this, which made an excellent morning tea and would have also been pleasant for dessert. The scent of cinnamon is strong, and the flavor is also clear and present but doesn’t overpower the smooth black tea (until you’re down to the very end of a cold cup). The cacao nibs lend a light hint of chocolate. I did oversteep it, but it seemed to come out okay despite – I missed the alarm doing other things! In all, an opening I quite enjoyed.
Flavors: Chocolate, Cinnamon
Preparation
Funny that I didn’t pull this from an advent, given how much it makes me feel like I’m drinking a candy cane. The dry leaf has a potent mint chocolate scent. It’s much more subtle in the cup; instead of an overpowering peppermint, it’s as if I dropped a small candy cane into a cup of straight tea and let it dissolve. I get a little cream but no obnoxious sweetness. I don’t know if I’m noticing any chocolate in the flavor at all, honestly. But it is certainly a tasty cup!
Preparation
Somehow I missed the note on the bag that this was both a black tea and an herbal infusion, and I was expecting a straight black from the bag. This is definitely not that.
There is a lot happening here and not all of it feels great together. When hot, there’s a bit of a sweet, floral black tea happening. I didn’t drink enough of it hot to get more defined than that; it tasted absolutely awful with my food so I put it aside! Cool, the apple is much more apparent, with a bitter herb and light mint finish. All I get in the aftertaste is the woody rooibos. sigh