1443 Tasting Notes
A.C. Perch Advent 2021 Day 24
A day late for this tea, but I hope everyone had a lovely day (if you celebrate today), and a lovely day regardless!
This tea is quite nice. I steeped it a bit lower and shorter than recommended (yesterday I steeped it as recommended and there was a bit of bitterness I wasn’t fond of). There is a floral-ness that’s very Darjeeling-esque here and it’s quite lovely. I didn’t pick up too much else, but overall enjoyed my cup. Plenty more to enjoy as this came in an oversized container for day 24!
Preparation
B&B Advent 2021 Day 24
Last day, and it seems like a bold choice! Smoky, spicy, and peppermint? Honestly, I’m not looking forward to it XD. I began my morning with the best of intentions, but I smelled the dry teabag and it had the scent of smoky baked ham and I just couldn’t bring myself to steep this up. Advent blasphemy to skip a day, and the last day at that, but I just couldn’t.
I’ve put these teabags back in their wee advent box and have it in a back corner of my cupboard to include in any swaps (if anyone is interested)!
B&B Advent 2021 Day 23
This one is kind of mildly orange flavoured hot water. It looks like I said the same thing last year. Perhaps I’ll chill the rest of my mug. Ah yes, the rocket candy flavour is coming forward as this cools – not my fav.
Preparation
Another sample from Cameron, thank you! :)
I used all the powder (~2 tsp), which may have been overkill, but I have a big mug so I felt okay about it.
I heated the kettle to 185° F and poured just enough water to be able to whisk the powder. Then I steamed a wee bit of soy milk with our espresso machine steamer (!) and poured that on top. I took a sip and it seemed a bit bitter or something akin to bitter, so before drinking any more, I added 1/4 tsp of coconut sugar to the top.
This is pretty tasty, and does have lovely banana flavour. I do wonder if this would be better cold. The addition of the sugar I think adds to the banana-ness here, but maybe the hojicha makes it more toasty than I was imagining. Whenever I see a powder tea, my mind just thinks of matcha and it can’t seem to reconcile this as hojicha haha! Nevertheless, a fairly tasty cuppa, but not something I need for my own cupboard.
Preparation
A.C. Perch Advent 2021 Day 23
I left this a wee bit too long on the sidetable as I worked, so its’s more lukewarm than actually warm, however!
The taste is really lovely. I don’t know if I would call this a chai, but it’s really tasty. I wasn’t really in the mood for chai this morning, so I’m secretly happy the taste is more muted. There’s some spices in there, with the vanilla overlain. The taste of the rooibos is not intrusive and works well with the spices added. Also, the vanilla isn’t upsetting my stomach, which is often does in other teas. Finally, this is yet another smooth tea!
Preparation
Thanks to Cameron for another wonderful sample!
Steeped, this smells mostly of a green tea base with just a subtle scent of grapefruit. I just took a sip and wow grapefruit! And I love it! It’s so lovely to have a green tea I enjoy, because it’s a rare occurence!
Interestingly, Lexa had the opposite experience. She said it smelled very grapefruit-y to her, but then she got almost no taste! How funny.
Preparation
2021 sipdown no. 114
Lovely sample from Cameron!
This smells of fuzzy peaches once steeped, but not anything over the top.
I’m quite excited to try this because it’s sitting in my DF cart and I trust that DF can do justice for a peach flavour. I always say to Lex “In Dammann, we trust.” XD.
The peach flavour is fairly realistic here, with subtle hints of fuzzy peaches. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps the apricot is adding a bit of complexity, which I expect from a nice peach apricot mix. There’s also a slight tartness at the end of the sip potentially from the apricot. Even Lex took a sip and adored this one.
I’m happy to keep this one in my DF cart (hopefully I’ll place this order at the beginning of January)!
Preparation
B&B Advent 2021 Day 22
Well, I wasn’t too excited for this one, but how wrong I was! The steeped scent was very dark chocolate with hints of spice that immediately reminded me of this delicious chocolate spice cookie we make. The taste translated almost exactly and I’m so happy I was wrong. I would say the chai fell to the background (which I’m thrilled about), and the dark chocolate came forward with a spicy kick in the back of the throat. We both downed our cups at record speed and agreed we absolutely must order this one!
Preparation
There are big chunks of dark chocolate in this blend, which I was quite excited about, but the scent is very lavender forward.
Well, I don’t taste a stitch of chocolate here. It’s more like a slightly creamy lavender tea. I don’t mind lavender at all, and actually quite like it. But still a bit sad this didn’t live up to its name!
A random aside that I find tea names so important because (at least for me) it sets such an expectation and even if the tea is tasty, I find it difficult to get past when it doesn’t match the name.
Thank you to Cameron for sharing this one! :)
