1301 Tasting Notes

90

Day 10 of the 52teas advent. I’m amused that I hadn’t had this at all and then I got it two months ago in the TTB and again now. Good thing I like it! It’s definitely light. Not weak, just not heavy/intense. The cranberry flavor is fresh and spot on. The “soda” aspect wasn’t really there in the first cup, but I made another one today and am getting both the slightly saline flavor of soda and even a hint of fizzy sensation. Maybe I’m imagining the fizz but I’m going to roll with it!

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drank Spiced Orange Chai by Plum Deluxe
1301 tasting notes

Day 23 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent. Quick note because some family stuff in the past 24 hours has forced a complete change in Christmas plans and I suddenly have a lot to do today. Everything is fine, but my partner’s family abruptly had to go somewhere on Christmas so we are not doing Christmas with them for the first time ever. We’ve… never done Christmas at home. If anyone has any advice for making a cozy Christmas for two, I’m open to suggestions – I am so out of my depth! We have a little Charlie Brown tree I’m going to set up and maybe do Christmas movies and still figuring out food…
Anyway this is a nice orange spice tea but I’m not sure it’s chai-level spiced. It’s a nice sweet orange. Other flavors are cinnamon, basil, I want to say clove but there isn’t any in here. Even the ginger is hard to make out except for the occasional back of the throat burn with some sips. I like it fine, it just doesn’t quite live up to the name.

Mastress Alita

I don’t have any friends or family that live anywhere near me, so I always do holidays on my own, just me and the cat. I think making your own traditions is a good way to go (for example, I have “Thaisgiving” where I get a bunch of Thai food to eat over Thanksgiving). I celebrate Festivus rather than Christmas which is already much, much more low-key (I have the aluminum pole and everything!), but ordering in pizza, taking a luxurious bath or shower, and lounging in PJs on the couch with the cat are all things I look forward to during the time off from work. (A cozy afternoon tea session with some sweets is also nice!)

Kaylee

Love that you have the aluminum pole! Thank you for the advice.

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92
drank Candy Cane by Teeccino
1301 tasting notes

I was really wanting a minty latte after a heavy dinner tonight. Since neither of my current advents had a minty or latte-able tea today, I reached for this festive option. It remains one of my favorite Teeccino blends, coffee substitutes, and holiday lattes. The mintiness is specifically “candy cane.” The base is the classic roasty Teeccino base. Just beautifully executed.

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drank White Chocolate Peach by Plum Deluxe
1301 tasting notes

Day 22 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. In theory, this is an interesting flavor combo. In practice, I’m not getting much out of it. Before I looked at the name, I couldn’t even place it as “peach” – just “slightly sweet and vaguely fruity” on a surprisingly not-woody rooibos base. Now that I’ve looked at the name, ok, I can see how this is peach. But I’m still not really getting “white chocolate.” This is completely inoffensive and totally drinkable, but it doesn’t quite line up with its name and it doesn’t really pop for me.

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Day 9 of the 52teas advent calendar. This has more of a “raspberry jelly on toast” vibe to me. I think it’s the malty, astringent quality of the base that’s translating as toasty. Some brown sugar brings out the raspberry jelly flavor more, but washes out the toast note. Alas, I’m not picking up on the peanut butter flavor, with or without sugar.

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90
drank Banana Eggnog Oolong by 52teas
1301 tasting notes

Nom nom nom. Day 8 of the 52teas advent calendar. The first steep isn’t particularly eggnoggy (not that I’m a huge fan of eggnog generally). It’s more banana cream on a floral, buttery oolong base. The second steep is a little more eggnoggy, in that the creaminess is joined by a cinnamon note. On the other hand, the banana is fainter. So the two steeps end up tasting very different. And then the third is pretty similar to the second. Not sure how much I care whether this lands “eggnog” specifically though – I just like the banana cream flavor.

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87

Day 7 of the 52teas advent calendar. Maybe it’s because I’ve read so many other people’s notes so my brain is primed, but this does taste like buttery caramel popcorn to me. Especially getting a buttery note and a malty base, and the roasty popcorn note feels light but clearly present. The flavors aren’t as strong in the second steep – there is still a caramel popcorn flavor but the butteriness has faded and astringency from the base has crept in. Overall a very enjoyable cuppa though!

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85

Day 21 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. I like this more than I expected to! The dry leaf smells like blackcurrant, but once it steeps up it’s clearly blueberry. The blueberry hits at the front of the sip, followed by a nice medium-burn ginger, and a cinnamon gum note at the end of the sip. All three linger on the palate and meld together really well. A surprise winner given that I don’t like blueberries and don’t particularly enjoy cinnamon-gum flavor in my tea. But in this case it all works!

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94
drank Pineapple Whip Green Tea by 52teas
1301 tasting notes

Day 6 of the 52teas advent calendar. SO glad to see this in here – it sold out before I could pick some up before. This is absolutely fantastic. Easily my favorite so far. The pineapple is oh-so-slightly tart but leans sweet. The vanilla is creamy and smooth. The base is buttery perfection. I got two steeps out of it. Probably should have tried for a third but I was trying to squeeze in another caffeinated tea so I don’t fall too far behind on advents.

Flavors: Cream, Pineapple, Vanilla

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drank Pomegranate Pear Black Tea by 52teas
1301 tasting notes

Day 5 of the 52teas advent calendar. I oversteeped this by about 5 minutes so definitely not getting the intended experience! The good news is that it survived the oversteep pretty well. The pomegranate flavor is surprisingly clear – usually pomegranate ends up reading as generic tartness to me. The base is astringent, of course, but honestly not as bad as you’d expect from an 8 minute steep. The pear is a bit vague though. It just translates as non-specific mushy sweetness. I’ll have this again at some point; it’ll be interesting to see how different the flavor is when brewed properly!

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she/her

Geek and nerd (shoutout to GeekSteep). Still trying to get a handle on this whole work/life balance while ALSO succeeding at work thing. I have some chronic illnesses that make that harder. Tea is my respite.

Favorite tea types, in order:
oolongs
green
herbal
white
yellow

Don’t drink:
black
pu’erh

A sampling of tea shops I like:
Te Company
Calabash
Volition
Tea Thoughts
Harney & Sons
Yunomi
Teavivre

RIP Butiki

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