Plum Deluxe

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar Day 10

This wasn’t bad. I like a caffeine free tea in the evening, but usually they are herbal or honeybush or rooibos. So a black tea is different.

This isn’t strickly a black tea though. It is flavored, and I kinda like the flavor profile. Sorta chocloate-y, sorta vanilla-y, with an underlying nutty note. I did enjoy this one. Maybe some day, like 5 years from now, I will have drunk a substantial bit of my tea drawer and have room for more. This could be an order at that point.

I kind of lost track of my steep brewing up a little pot of this as my night tea tonight, so I hope I didn’t turn it astringent. If it is… totally my fault!

The dry leaf smells very nutty, and I can’t help but feel like Plum Deluxe has laid heavy on the nutty flavors for quite a few days in a row now… brewed up, I’m finally getting some cinnamon presenting in the aroma, reminding me of cinnamon covered almonds from the Farmer’s Market (man I love those!)

It tastes pretty smooth (phew), very nutty, with a subtle hint of sweet cinnamon and vanilla. I’m not picking out much from the base tea itself under the flavorings, aside from a general breadiness. It’s a pleasant cup, like a nutty bread with a light dusting of cinnamon; maybe just a tiny bit drying after the sip, and a slight bitterness like biting into dry nuts.

I like it, but I think I’m ready for a new flavor profile!

AJRimmer Advent Day 10

I made a cup of this and put it in my new ceramic travel thermos that arrived today and I feel like the tea was tainted by the new mug. I had prewashed it and everything. :( Second steeping went into my regular mug and it much better. It’s a good cup of tea and it’s smooth, but I’m not able to pin the light floral flavors I’m tasting on top of the base which is also light. I thought it might be fruit, but as it has cooled it seems to have a rose aftertaste. The kind that eating petals leaves, not a rose candy perfume type of taste. There were cute and tiny buds in the tea mix that looked like mini rose buds. Heather maybe? There isn’t much info on the Steepster page for this tea and I can’t find it on Plum Deluxe’s website either. Thanks for sharing some of your newly acquired tea, AJR!

I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to get to making this cup of tea tonight… here it is, nearly bedtime, and I’m just barely getting around to it. My mom called right when I got home from work and told me that my aunt had passed, and it was very sudden and unexpected news, and I’m just still sort of in this state of shock/disbelief/don’t know what I’m feeling…

Tea smells nice in the cup. There is a strong stonefruit aroma… definite [cat on keyboard, get your fat black butt off!] ahem, definitely apricot, and I think I smell the plum as well. But I’m only getting apricot in the flavor of the steeped cup, which makes it feel a little bland compared to, say, Self Care Blend that I sampled before which had the apricot paired with elderberry. If the plum were popping a bit more in the steeped cup, that would be a lovely combination, but as is I’m pretty much getting an apricot honeybush; a nice apricot, juicy and fuzzy, and a nice honeybush, fairly smooth with a hint of a honey/vanilla touch. Not something I would pick over Self Care Blend or Vista Blend.

Advent Day 9

I have such a hard time picking out the flavors in this. I think I have that issue with a lot of honeybush and rooibos blends, although I do like the honeybush better. I can taste apricot now that I read it and my cup has cooled, but it was more generic fruit when it was hot. It just seems okay and kind of one dimensional. I’m not finding anything to support or enhance the flavor like spices or pastry notes. It’s just apricot all on it’s own.

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 9

Ooh, this sounds good! I like honeybush and apricot is one of my favorite flavors.

It’s tasty, but sadly not great. The honeybush has a nice nutty flavor with strong wood notes. I do get apricot, though it’s milder than I expected from the scent. It’s also more of a dried apricot note to me, versus a fresh one. I think I get a little hint of fresh plum?

It just falls a little flat for me. I think I need a bit more dimension from the apricot, perhaps a touch more tartness or something. But it was still a pleasant cuppa!

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIlVZ7VAeAO/)

Lovely apricot flavor, though the rooibos is a little nuttier than I’d prefer in this particular blend. I’m enjoying the juicy apricot and wishing this sample were bigger!

Plum Deluxe Advent Day 9
This is quite similar to the Vista Blend Plum Deluxe carries, but without the lavender. I prefer that one much more, as the lavender really sets it apart and works so well with the apricot. This is fine, though. Apricot. Honeybush. Pretty straightforward.

Advent Day 8

It’s a rooibos. Caramely. Fruity. Went down without too much complaint while watching the Mandalorian. I don’t know about the soul warming effect, but I’m even immune to the Disney on steroids cuteness of baby yoda, so do take that into consideration on my perception of what does and does not warm one’s soul.

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 8

Ooh, this one sounds really good from the ingredients. Hazelnut, chestnut, caramel, AND cocoa? Yes, please…

It’s quite good actually. At first I thought it was too light in flavor, but the nut flavors really bloom toward the end of the sip and they’re delicious and buttery. The beginning of the sip is mostly just rooibos, and then by the end it’s mostly yummy roasted nuts, the emphasis being on chestnut. There’s a nice creaminess to it as well, and I do get a rather dark burnt sugar sort of caramel note in the background.

Yummy, I’m really enjoying this one on the couch tonight, with my two little pug heaters on my lap. :)

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIirQD-Air7/)

Evening tea time. The dry leaf of this one honestly reminded me a bit of the pecan one, in that I got a strong “sweetly nutty” aroma, like caramel and nuts. That aroma became more apparent as my cup of tea sat steeping on the counter as I went about preparing my morning matcha smoothie. I’m getting a strong caramel dessert aroma, like some sort of caramel sauce with nuts?

The flavor… mostly it tastes like a caramel-flavored rooibos. I’m getting that sweet caramelly flavor (which may be amplified by some of the natural notes in the rooibos itself, as I get just a hint of a vanilla note here), and there is a subtle nuttiness that comes forth closer to the end of the sip. It isn’t a distinct nut flavor, but is a little stronger than the natural nutty notes I sometimes get from rooibos itself. There is a hint of woodiness from the rooibos but mostly I’m picking up on its sweeter qualities. It’s a pleasant, sweet evening cup, but not a flavor profile that is particularly unique.

Plum Deluxe Advent Day 8
I hate this. It smells and tastes like a bag of potpourri was left in a drawer with old nuts for too long. I’m just getting stale nuts and old candle…and rooibos. Blech. Won’t be rating because it just wouldn’t be fair.

This has a lovely chestnut flavor. For the price, I’d definitely choose S&V’s version over this one, but this is a pretty great cup. I’d love to try it with milk, but I only have the small sample. I like the rooibos they use, and the flavoring is nicely sweet and nutty and a little bit salty. I’d totally drink it again.

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 7

Ooh, this one sounds tasty. I really enjoy citrus in teas and the candied aspect makes it a little more festive-sounding. The dry leaf smells like marmalade.

Well, it’s not great, but it’s pleasant enough. The orange is somewhere between marmalade, orange juice, and vitamin C tablets. I don’t think I taste the base tea at all, perhaps a hint of dry grass? But it does add some body. The flavoring is definitely a bit too strong here.

It’s not something I would feel the need to order, but I’m enjoying it in my teapot this evening on the couch. :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIhQL2GAN6I/

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIgMNjsgAZc/)

Plum Deluxe Advent Day 7
Very excited to try this one! I love candied orange notes in teas. Added a bit of honey. Smells strongly of orange. Tastes like orange. This isn’t bad, it’s just not candied. It’s more of a sweet orange. A bit of drying bitterness in the aftertaste.

I normally cold brew fruity greens, but lacking the time I just warm brewed it, the full sampler packet to 500ml 175F water for a 2 minute steep to take back to work with me from my lunch break. As I wait for the tea to cool a bit, I’m getting a strong, pithy orange peel aroma wafting from the cup.

I’m not sure what about this is “candied”, as this is just a very strong orange-flavored green tea, very pleasantly citrusy tart. I find myself having trouble finding orange flavors in particular in teas overly artificial, and there is a little of that here, likely from how strongly its coming off, but otherwise it’s actually pretty nice in comparison to other artificial orange flavorings I can recall (which often taste waxy, metallic, alcoholic, or “candy fake”). The bitey nature of this reminds me of tangerine/clemintine, which I love. The flavoring is packing enough of a wallop that I really can’t taste the green base at all. It’s simple, but I’m enjoying it.

Dumped the rest of my sample into a mason jar and left it on my counter for an unknown amount of time. Now that I’m in the middle of descaling my kettle and can’t make another cup of anything, I’m searching for what is prepared in various jars.

Sipping on this plain gave a weird grapefruit tang to it that I didn’t like. Added a bunch of flaxmilk and it tastes better, but not amazing. It has a little bit of the orange cream flavor, but it just doesn’t pop. Added some half and half to up the cream factor. No. Added some sugar. Eh. Maybe I’m not familiar with candied orange and keep expecting regular orange? Not quite sure what’s up, but I’d pass on buying this.

Advent Day 7

Not sure what to make of this tea. It’s super strong on the orange, but it’s a smooth bright orange without a bite. I’m not sure what other ingredients there are that are rounding it out. I’m getting some lemongrass. It’s almost too much at the end of the sip where the taste starts to overwhelm and cross into unpleasant and then it leaves my mouth feeling really dry. It has the feel of sweetness, but not the taste. I bet it would be really good cold steeped or with creamer or both!

I’ve seen this one make the rounds on Steepster before advent, so I’m glad to finally have the chance to sample it! And oh my stars, the dry leaf smells delectable! It has such a deep caramelly/pecan sweet aroma! I hope that translates into the brewed cup…

Well, after brewing the whole kitchen smells divine, like a baked dessert. I’m still getting that nutty/caramelly aroma, but now a very strong sweet, baked cinnamon note is present, and it smells like some sort of pastry has just come out of the oven. The brewed tea is… hmm. I feel like I need a little bit more “oomph” compared to the strong aroma I’m getting, I think. That isn’t to say I’m not tasting anything at all, because I am; there is a sweet nuttiness with a lingering cinnamon aftertaste, and the nuttiness is starting to fill out on my tongue even more as my tea cools a bit. I think it’s actually the base that may be my issue, that I want it to feel a little fuller, as somehow the black tea itself is coming across a little thin to me? Fuller/thicker, with the same flavors, just amped up to compensate for a stronger base. I think that would make this just right.

So, excellent tea, I just feel a few tweaks could make it a more perfect execution. I would actually consider getting this one, because with more leaf and the ability to experiment a bit with steeping parameters, perhaps I could get it just a bit closer to what I’m looking for compared to a one-brew sampler.

I was able to get one more steeping out of this sample! Not sure how many days it was steeping in a mason jar, lost in the mess of tea related things on my counter. Maybe since the day it was the advent tea. Added maple syrup as a sweetener and got a really good cup! So far I think this has been the tea I’ve been most excited about from this advent calendar. I don’t recall running into too many pecan flavored teas. Pecans have a slight sweetness to them and the maple really enhances the pecan flavoring as a whole. Also probably helps that I have a maple association with pecan pie. There was one year Crown Royal put out a maple flavored bourbon and a ton of places that sold pies around Austin advertised their pies were made with that CR. It was seasonal and I don’t know that they ever brought it back, but I still have a bottle. I added some to a prebaked (as in not yet baked vs. baked before she brought it over) pecan pie my neighbor brought me the other day and it was SO delicious! Just like this tea.

I’m liking this a lot more today. I put the rest of the sample in a mason jar and let it steep for a day or so. Added a little maple syrup and took a sip. Wow! It really made it pop! Added a splash of cream and not so much. It didn’t ruin it, but it was better without the cream. There is a little bitter flash in the finish that makes me think pecans that have less meat and more skin. The skin on pecans is a little bitter.

Oooooh! I just remembered! A neighbor brought me a pecan pie that I need to cook in exchange for her borrowing my honey extractor! Between all the jars of honey and now a pie that people are giving me for lending out the extractor, this thing is going to pay for it’s self!

Advent Day 6

This is very aromatic… almost like a perfume version of pecan. The closer I get my nose to the cup, the stronger and richer the scent. Almost baked and sweet like the pie. The flavor is a little lighter than the scent, but a pretty good representation of pecan.

I used to hate pecans. It wasn’t until I lived in Austin and had two pecan trees in our yard that I really grew to appreciate the nuts. Fresh, they were a totally different thing than the old stale going rancid pecans I had come across in California. It’s a really good thing that pecan trees give bountiful tasty treats or everyone would chop them down for being such messy trees. In the spring they cover everything with a thick layer of yellow pollen and you better hope you aren’t allergic to it. Then they rain down pollen pods after that. Then the nut season, which is very loud when your roof is under their canopy and last is leaf season where they drop all their leaves and take a break for the winter before starting the whole process back up again in the early spring. They are also known for self pruning aka dropping branches when they get the hankering. They are also large and expensive to have chopped down when they catch some sort of root fugus. Ask me how I know about that one. :(

The more consistently I sip on this cup, the more the flavors edge a little too close to too much. Like an oversaturation of flavoring that gives a slightly artificial taste. I bet it would be phenomenal with cream. I’m really enjoying this cup and it’s the first that I might consider buying, but I’m not 100% there yet.

Sipdown! (49 | 253)

Okay, so I already know I don’t like this one, but I received a one-cup sample in a swap, so here we are.

It’s not awful or anything, it just tastes very artificial to me. Not really like pecan specifically either. I get sweetness, cinnamon, nuts, and artificial-tasting flavoring. I don’t really taste much of the base.

Luckily it was only enough for an 8-ounce cup, hooray! \o/

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 6

Ooh, I remember seeing a nice note on this tea from Arby a few days ago, so I’m excited to try it for myself! I do enjoy pecans, though pecan-flavored things generally don’t hit the mark for me. This actually smells very maple-y in the packet, though there is pecan there as well.

Hmm. Well I do get a good amount of pecan here, which is lovely. However, I’m not sure I’m a fan of the somewhat cloying sweetness of the other notes. There is some maple or caramel sort of thing going on, and there’s a bit too much of it compared to the pecan for my taste. There’s also a hint a cinnamon which I don’t mind as much.

It must be the “pecan essence” that has some additional praline or maple or something included, as I don’t see any other ingredients that would explain it. Also, I should’ve gone with a 3-minute steep, as the base is slightly astringent.

Anyway, it’s not bad! It just comes off a little more artificial to me because of the slightly cloying sweet flavors. And honestly I’ve had a similar feeling about pecan-flavored coffees so perhaps it’s just me. ;)

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIdqxdfAjbO/)