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Oddly enough, I’m drinking this while watching Grimm and season 2 ep 8, by pure coincidence, includes one of the characters explaining what gyokuro is (while another just wants them to stop, a not unfamiliar dynamic).

Circling back to this tea from Kelmishka’s homemade advent calendar. This was Day 7, but I had put it aside for a day when I can really savor it because it’s one of my favorite types of tea.

This has the expected umami and grassiness for a gyokuro, as well as a smooth, medium-thick mouthfeel. I think it’s suffering by comparison a bit from my having had Ippodo’s premium gyokuro yesterday, which is downright brothy and silky. This was also slightly bitter on the second steep, even though I steeped at a low temperature for a fairly short time. The third steep didn’t have that issue though. Overall, this is a nice gyokuro that I happily savored today – it’s just not the best of its kind that I’ve ever been lucky enough to have.

Starting the new year with a sipdown of this delicious gyokuro. I had a small amount left in the bag so I made several small steeps to use it up before it goes bad rather than waste it. I am always blown away by how thick and savory-umami gyokuro is, even though I know it is and that’s why it is one of my favorite types of tea. This one did not disappoint today!

Happy New Year! Unsurprisingly, seems I’m going to be working on advent calendars into 2023. I finished the Steepster homemade, Clipper, and Teeccino advents and the Plum Deluxe Hannukah sampler. Still working on the Dammann Freres, Kiani, DavidsTea herbal, and Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendars!

This blend is Day 10 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. The flavors in this are distinct but work well together. There are clear orange and vanilla notes over a malty black tea and woody rooibos base. From the name, I was expecting something more like an orange creamsicle vibe, but the base teas are too assertive for that. It doesn’t  claim to be an orange creamsicle tea, though, that’s just me misinterpreting the name.

Day 9 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. This one’s particularly refreshing cold. Lots of nice mango and citrus flavor. It’s not particularly sweet, which I think is part of the reason why the flavors don’t come across as juicy the way that fruit flavors sometimes do. I like it exactly as it is, though.

Arbitrarily selected Day 8, and final day, of the Plum Deluxe Hannukah sampler! I’m a little bummed that I ended on this one, as it’s my least favorite of the bunch. I found it tart and sweet, with dominant notes of cranberry and hibiscus as well as some that I couldn’t quite place that were probably the moringa and possibly even the date. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, as it were.

Overall, I enjoyed this sampler! These were tasty, enjoyable blends. Some were more on point with the theme than others, but I appreciate the effort. It would be nice if this sampler had the same kind of tracker postcard that the advent calendar comes with, for marking down the names of the teas and whether you like them – it’s cute, convenient, and makes it feel just a little more special. This one has a high likelihood of making a return appearance for me next year.

I brewed this up to compare it to Plum Deluxe’s Creme Brulee Grey. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I like the Plum Deluxe blend better. The DT version has a similarly brisk black tea as a base and a soft creamy/vanilla flavor that softens the bergamot, but it’s still pretty straightforward and distinctly Earl Grey to me, whereas the Plum Deluxe blend is more like a complicated blend on an Earl Grey base. I also find the Plum Deluxe blend a bit sweet, whereas the DT blend doesn’t seem to have any sweetness to it (I know, I know, it seems like I’m rarely satisfied with the level of sweetness in a DT blend, it’s often too much or too little or too stevia – I’m very particular, I guess!).

Day 14 of the DavidsTea herbal advent calendar. Credit where it’s due. The aroma and flavor of this tea is exactly on point for cotton candy. I like that it’s sweet, but not so sugary that it leaves a film on my teeth. This is also one of the few times where I can get on board with silly sprinkles. It’s a fun flavor, and the sprinkle crystals are sparkly pink and purple/blue to reflect that. It’s not a tea that I would drink every day, but I can see this hitting the spot for a fun, sweet tea.

Day 13 of the DavidsTea herbal advent calendar. I was so happy to see this in the calendar! I have had this before and enjoyed it greatly. Right now it’s tasting like Big Red gum, but my experience has been that it doesn’t always and I generally like it! Keeping my rating where it was before.

Day 12 of the DavidsTea herbal advent calendar. Not a huge fan of this one, honestly. Just not sure what’s going on here. The first time I made this, it brewed up light pink and tasted a bit watery – sweet and ambiguously berry, with a touch of tartness. It seems that there was an uneven distribution of ingredients in the leaf; the second time, I doubled my usual amount of leaf and it made a big difference. Literally the tea came out a different color, a rich garnet red. The flavor was stronger but still sweet, slightly tart, with a sort of generic berry flavor. I found it very muddled in flavor. On the up side, despite the assorted variety of sprinkles etc. in the leaf, it’s actually just the right level of sweetness, mildly sweet but not overly or cloyingly so. And the stevia didn’t bug me, though that may have been because I was distracted trying to figure out what this is actually supposed to taste like. As I got closer to the bottom of the mug, I noticed that the brew was more of an amusingly purplish color, so that was a bit fun. But I wouldn’t drink this again.

Arbitrarily selected Day 7 of the Plum Deluxe Hannukah sampler! I’m not generally a fan of Earl Grey, because I don’t like bergamot, but this is more pleasant than I expected! There’s a creaminess and floral quality that smooths out the bergamot and makes this more balanced and less aggressive than I find most Earl Greys to be. I had a bag of DavidsTea’s Cream of Earl Grey, so I brewed that up for comparison. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I like the Plum Deluxe blend better. The DT version has a similarly brisk black tea as a base and a soft creamy/vanilla flavor that softens the bergamot, but it’s still pretty straightforward and distinctly Earl Grey to me, whereas the Plum Deluxe blend is more like a complicated blend on an Earl Grey base. I also find the Plum Deluxe blend a bit sweet, whereas the DT blend doesn’t seem to have any sweetness to it (I know, I know, it seems like I’m rarely satisfied with the level of sweetness in a DT blend, it’s always too much or too little!).