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I sprained my ankle about ten days ago and haven’t been able to move around much. Which means that the task of making tea has fallen to my wonderful partner. It’s been lots of straight ginger tea and DavidsTea’s salted caramel oolong, because that’s what I have in safe, easily accessible teabag format. I should really get it together to make a separate tasting note for that one. But tonight I just couldn’t take the monotony anymore and hobbled into the kitchen to make myself a cup of this hojicha. (Not a slight to the other teas, it just gets a bit dull and frustrating to basically only have two tea options for over a week). This is one of my comfort teas – roasty, great at any temperature, and just an all around workhorse of a hojicha. There’s only a handful of teas that I keep perennially in stock; this is one of them, and I feel its absence if there’s a gap.

Day 18 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar. I was excited to see a white tea in here! This brews up a nice amber color. The dry leaf smells clearly of apricot, bergamot, and almond. The apricot and bergamot flavors are both pretty strong and balance each other nicely, though the overall impression is a touch more tart than I’d like. I think I’d be ok with it if it wasn’t also so drying; tart plus drying doesn’t leave the most delightful after-sensation. No idea where that almond went to!

I’m looking at the ingredients list now and it shows mango, not apricot. I had apricots for breakfast this morning (several hours ago), so that flavor is very fresh in my mind, and this still reads closer to apricot than mango for me. If I had to guess, I’d guess that my brain is reading the combination of the sweetness of the mango flavoring and the tartness of the bergamot flavoring as a tarter stone fruit. 

I iced the second steep and had it a couple of days later. When I came back to this tasting note to add details from that steep before posting, I was surprised to see how consistent the experience was. That iced steep also had a tart stone fruit flavor. Not overly sweet, but definitely fruity. What did come through in the second steep that I didn’t find much in the first was a slight floral note.

Disappointingly, I didn’t get much from the base tea here, besides that drying sensation and light-to-medium body. To the blend’s credit, the base doesn’t clash with the flavorings, and perhaps is supporting them so seamlessly that I just can’t tell. But after so so many black tea blends, I was hoping for a white tea that would really wow me. This is tasty enough but I’m not floored, you know?

Day 17 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar and it’s yet. another. bergamot blend on the same. black. base. Even though I am generally not a fan of Earl Grey and was dreading this one, I actually found it pretty enjoyable today. THIS bergamot with THIS base, today, is working for me. Possibly because it also isn’t muddled with a bunch of other flavors, so I don’t feel resentful that the bergamot is stealing the show. Here, I can appreciate the balance between the bergamot and the base, and that the bergamot doesn’t have that weird chemical-y taste that it sometimes can. 

ETA: Since it was late in the day, I had to stick half this mug in the fridge for the next day. Surprisingly, this is really good cold! 

Day 16 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar. I’m afraid my notes on this one are a little sparse, unfortunately. Hot, the most prominent notes were cherry and cranberry. I couldn’t taste the lemon so much as feel an acidic citrus juiciness at the end of the sip. I quickly decided that this would be better iced and let it cool/stuck it in the fridge. But then I drank it during a busy workday and forgot to take notes! I remember enjoying it. I definitely thought it was better iced than hot. But nothing sticks out in my memory as to particular tasting notes, or thinking “wow this is really good,” or even “wow this is really bad.” It did the trick, it was kinda different than what I normally drink which made it fun, but it ultimately just wasn’t super memorable.

One thousandth tasting note!!!

I wanted to be intentional about which tea I chose for this note. After much consideration, I decided to go with a Butiki because this company was so instrumental in my growth as a tea drinker. Butiki is really how I came to appreciate what a truly great flavored tea can be, and also was my introduction to a number of straight teas that I hadn’t seen elsewhere at that point in my learning. If it wasn’t already evening, I probably would have gone with the Maple Pecan Oolong, which is my all-time favorite Butiki blend; I have yet to taste a maple blend that quite matches it. Sadly, my stash of Coffee Ice Cream is long gone, so that wasn’t an option for an herbal. But I do still have some of this lavender chamomile and it’s quite respectable. In many ways it reflects what made Stacy’s teas great to begin with: high quality base ingredients, blended well. This is a simple blend – just lavender and chamomile – but it’s still better than a lot of similar ones because a) both of those ingredients are good quality and b) they are blended in a good proportion such that neither overpowers the other. Through her artistry, Stacy taught me to appreciate the craft of tea blending. I’ll be forever grateful for that, and for Steepster – both for introducing me to Butiki and for generally being one of the better corners of the internet, where I can come talk about my quirky hobby with like-minded folks.

Yay, Steepster is back!

Day 15 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar, and one of my favorites so far! Not because I can make out all of the ingredients in the brew, but because the overall effect is pitch-perfect. It’s got a strong cocoa flavor, like a robust cacao tea. The cinnamon here is dialed in at just the right ratio: definitely present and noticeable, thereby making the brew more robust, but still playing a supporting role and not overwhelming the whole thing. I got two good steeps out of this blend. This is one of the few days in this advent I’ve really wished for more of the blend.

Day 14 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar. This is… fine? It’s an Earl Grey with a lime twist. I’m not a big fan of Earl Grey generally, which means I don’t have a great sense for what differentiates a mediocre Earl Grey from an exceptional one. The bergamot and lime citrus are assertive but don’t totally overwhelm the brisk base. There’s nothing in here that tastes off or alcoholic to me. The bergamot hits first, followed by the lime, but the lime is definitely present and works well with the other flavors. I just fundamentally don’t enjoy the bergamot + black tea combo inherent to most Earl Grey blends, so it’s hard to enjoy this one.

I’m already a bit behind on Sipdown September, but going to do my best to catch up. My goal for the month includes finishing off everything I have left from last year’s advent calendars! I definitely ordered way too many and won’t make that mistake again this year.
This is Day 13 of the Dammann Freres advent calendar. For some reason I thought this was their regular chamomile tea, which I quite enjoy. Looking at it in my steeper, it’s actually a blend, which I would have realized if I had paid attention to the whole name and not just the first word. The chamomile in this is beautiful: big, plump, bright yellow flowers to make you think of spring and happiness. The dry leaf smells of sweet chamomile and an earthy note. In the brew, that translates to a floral chamomile, a hint of sharpness, and an earthy herbal note. It’s interesting to me that apple pieces are literally an ingredient here, but I’m still finding this to be a more floral than apple-y chamomile. Overall, one of my favorites from this advent calendar so far.

When Roswell Strange first posted about this one 6 months ago, I was disappointed that it was an in-store exclusive since there sadly aren’t any DavidsTea stores left in the U.S. (or at least not in or near my city). So when it was released online – along with Jelly Donut, which I had already been waiting for the site to restock so I could try it – I made that purchase so fast it’d make your head spin.
I’m pleased to report that this blend does not disappoint. At the moment I’m having it as an oat milk latte, which is really upping the “cream” angle, but it’s flavorful and well-balanced without additions too. I really like the peach flavor here: sweet and ripe without being completely candy-like. The whole blend just works, in a deceptively simple way. So so glad they released it online!

Ok so I haven’t posted in a week, partly because I’m really burned out work-wise and partly because the way I’ve started coping with that is I’ve started restoring my old Polly Pockets from childhood. Turns out I missed a pandemic trend of collecting and restoring classic Polly Pockets, so now I’m catching up and glad that there are folks who have made videos to help me figure this out! There’s something oddly satisfying about taking something small and old and loved and fixing it up, plus it really rewards the detail-oriented way my brain works anyway.

This tea brought me back to Steepster though, because I picked it up in my big recent order and cracked it open today. It’s so delightful! Which, admittedly I’m an easy mark. Rose, cinnamon, and vanilla are three of my favorite flavors. In this case, the rose and cinnamon definitely dominate. Both are strong, in a way that I really enjoy. There’s also a great sweet note and even a cookie-ness to it as a hot latte. I had forgotten about the vanilla again until I sat down to write this, but my guess is that the vanilla flavor folds into the cookie flavor/effect. While I was able to get a second steep, it wasn’t as good as the first. I think I’d probably rather just do a strong single steep. Overall super glad I got this. Would not recommend for anyone who hates rose or cinnamon!