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2022 Advent Calender Tea (I’ve forgotten which day is which now)

I had this iced as a long brew with a pinch of brown sugar and in a fancy glass. I miss summer. One teabag (sachet/mesh) and 600 mL cold water.

Delightfully fruity with strong peach and chamomile notes. A bit of general stone fruit
and then something else but I’m not sure what it is (apricot or kumquat, maybe I’m picking up citrus?) It tastes summery and refreshing without being overly acidic and hibiscusy. The sweetness and the acidity are well balanced but the extra touch of sweetness really makes this perfect.

This sample is quite old so it might be that the flavour has changed as it got older. Label says it is 2019 harvest.

Slightly bitter and not as thick as I remember. No creaminess but there is some lightly fruity notes like green melon (honey dew without the sweetness) and some floral notes as well. Not rose-type floral, maybe more like nasturtium or geranium. Overall nothing spectacular. I think if I had done a second steep it would have been better because I noticed the bottom half of the cup was better due to the little dusty bits giving it more flavour.

Homemade advent calender day #4

I think this tea is quite solid. I steeped just under 1 minute and then added some soy milk. If you steep longer it gets acidic. The first cup was quite tasty – fruity, sweet cinnamon, and it tastes like the holidays. The fruit isn’t exactly plum but more hibiscus combined with dried figs and berries. The chicory base is nice and tasty which actually goes well with the cinnamon and holiday spice theme. If you do very short steeps, you will have a much better time curbing the hibiscus sour.

Second cup was a long steep in cold water. I got much less acidity than the first short steep. Less distinctly cinnamon notes and more generic spices/blended spices. The roasted chicory comes through as well but is more present because the other flavours are subdued. One thing I enjoy about roasted chicory is its similarity to roasted nuts or toasted grains.

Homemade advent Day #3

This actually tastes a lot like the “Love You” tea from yesterday but with a more distinctly spearmint base. The lavender is subtle and the rose is very nice. It gives a more nuanced floral undertone than either one by itself. The spearmint is a bit sweet and is aromatic (very fresh). It almost has a sweet dried grass bit of sweetness at the end of the sip as an aftertaste (along with the floral and spearmint that lingers). I love this blend.

Homemade advent Day #2

I was very suprised when I went to add this tea to the database and found out its ingredients. I thought I had the wrong tea until I looked at the photos of the blend. I think the website only lists some of the ingredients rather than the main base ingredients.

This tastes primarily of mint, raspberry leaf, and rose. It is quite floral and has a suggestion of sweetness from the raspberry leaf but is not as sweet as I would have hoped given the strawberry and coconut. I did not taste any strawberry, cocoa nibs, or coconut. I’m very disappointed by the idea that both of my cups had none of the featured ingredients that I could make out.

Homemade Advent Calendar #1

Every way I brew this tea it tastes delicious. I tried it broth hot (10 minute long steep) and cold (even longer steep). The hot cup had more ginger and fennel but still was well balanced and had a hint of sweetness like dried grass. Lots of intricate spices and herbs happening with a bit of creaminess. I think this comes from the sarsasparilla root. I’m a huge spearmint fan so that also makes this a nice blend.

Cold – Steeped 6+ hours and really enjoyed this cup as well. I get more spearmint and less spicy notes from the fennel and ginger. I’m not sure if there is cinnamon in here but it almost reminds me of that. I think I can taste vanilla or something creamy but it is less creamy than the first steep where I had it hot.

I have been drinking this recently once a week or so and I’m just not getting as much maple as I would like. I use 1.5 -2 tsp matcha powder into hot milk and water (proportions vary but usually ~250-400 mL total liquid). It is a god cup but not distinctly maple.

Finishing off my free samples of this. This tasting note is a summary of two tasting notes I have written down from previous steeping sessions.

For some reason every chai from DT tastes pretty similar. This is no different. There are some chai spices but it tastes like gingerbread. I’m not getting maple flavour, although it smells like maple. I added milk and enjoyed the cup more but wouldn’t purchase this tea. It was fairly generic and reminds me of the woody medicinal flavours of chicory root and licorice root herbal teas.

This is a lovely tea and I am often reminded by these blends how much I like honeybush. It should be more common in tea blends. It tastes a bit like a graham cracker but in dried plant form.

I can taste the fruit although I wouldn’t immediately say “kumquat”. My teas are getting a bit older and I’m also not someone who eats a lot of kumquats. It does remind me of apricot and marmalade. I think this in on par with what I should expect from a citrus-type fruit like the kumquat but I think the flavour could have been a bit more distinct. I found it blended in a lot with the base (although, this is not always a bad thing).