New Tasting Notes

Having a bit of a rough start to the year. Everyone came home from our holiday travels and came down with a bad cough, and my husband lost his job. Not having good job security is one of the problems about working as a government contractor. He has been submitting lots of applications, and has a couple of prospects and we rented out the apartment over our garage to help make ends meet in the meantime.

I have also been busy trying to catch up on housework after the holidays and putting together homeschooling portfolios for the fall semester so I haven’t gotten back to the TTB samples yet, but I have tasted and / or thrown together a few of my own blends this week.

I blended quince leaves with dried pairs and flavoring, and as I suspected, it made a delightful pear flavored blend. I am going to be very sad when I run out of quince leaf.

I also blended Teeccino Gingerbread with a bag of supermarket black tea that I keep around for making sweet tea for my husband and it was definitely more than the sum of it’s parts. I should try it with the decaf vanilla black from upton that I have been enjoying recently.

I also made a blend of pasilla pepper, rose petals, and lemon spice cookie that was surprisingly delightful.

I finished my last cup of carrot and nettle leaf and I want to blend more because I really enjoyed it and it is a quick and simple blend to make.

Finished off a 50g bag. Love this – pretty sure I have a couple bags left, but will repurchase at some point.

Carrots.  This tastes like carrots.  That would be my uninformed guess.  It really tastes nothing at all like mushrooms.  I bought this from the local shop, mainly for health purposes, mainly for days when I know I have eaten too many carbs (or to put more funly: bagels, rye bread, and turkey stuffing, etc.)   Trying to get the chagas to counteract the carbs in a decaf fashion.  The chagas here is chopped quite finely, allowing quite a bit of it to sift through the tea filter.  But that just means healthier, right?  And more carrots. (The description says “vanilla notes”. Nope. Carrots!)
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 25 minutes after boiling // 4-5 minute steep
Steep #2 //  just boiled // 10 minute steep

Stash Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 13
Red Velvet Treat

This is a weird naming choice to me, as this is actually a strawberry and hibiscus fruit infusion, and isn’t chocolate or cake-flavored at all. Yeah it’s red, but it’s not at all what anyone would expect for a red velvet tisane…

Anyway, it’s not my favorite. There’s a strong metallic note along with a mustiness, which kind of dampens my enjoyment of the star ingredients. Otherwise, it’s very mild red fruits with hibiscus. This one would probably have done better in a little less water.

Rating: 52

Casting Whimsy Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 13
Name Me

This one is a strawberry white tea. To me though, it actually has more of a honeyed flavor and aroma to it. There is a touch of strawberry jam as well, but mostly an authentic and soft honey note. There’s also black pepper and hyssop in this, though I don’t taste any spicy notes whatsoever. It’s enjoyable, as I do like honey, just not what I expected given the ingredients. There’s also just a hint of bitterness, perhaps because some of the particles were quite small.

Rating: 68

Assam Harmony (Mangalam Tea Estate); by Adagio.
Loose-leaf straight black tea, steeped Western-style, as directed in spring water, using a stainless steel micropore infusion basket. Nice characteristic Assam aroma and flavor, malty and slightly astringent, with flavors of stewed stonefruit, and a bright savory note that is hard to describe — neither fishy nor smokey — (maybe ripe tomato?) but pleasant. This is a bold tea, with a strong flavor that will wake you up! A re-steeping of the leaves gave a satisfying cup as well, just marginally less potent than the first. My 2 ounce bag is rapidly vanishing, but will be repurchased. Recommended and rated as 90.
Lot no. 94360. Fresh by: 03/2030

When I made my big B&B order, I guess I bought almost every tea I hadn’t tried before, even if it didn’t sound like it would be my sort of thing. The fruity tea on the green base is perfectly nice, but I’m not really on board with the hit of spicy pepper after that. I just don’t prefer that in my green tea.

I must start off by saying I am not a fan of red rooibos. This one unfortunately has that wet-dog note, but it’s not the worst I’ve tasted. The pear is rather on the artificial side. I’m afraid I am not the best reviewer for this one, as I don’t like the base tea, but I’m determined to get through all my advents/assortments in 2026, so on we march. On the upside, it does brew to an attractive brown-red colour and is not the worst red rooibos I have ever tasted.

DIY Lupicia Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 13

This is one I’ve seen many times on Lupicia’s website, but had never tried. Probably because it’s one of those teas where they don’t really tell you what flavor it is – just “a fruity aroma”. Well, it turns out it’s grape! Which surprises me, as they have so many other grape teas. This definitely seems like more of a muscat grape to me, rather than a purple one like Jingle Bells. I feel like there is some other fruit in the background as well, but I couldn’t venture a guess at what. Also, I didn’t realize there is some black tea mixed in with the green tea here, which explains the somewhat color of my cup ha ha.

Anyway, another tasty tea from Lupicia, but not one I’m sure I need in my cupboard given the myriad of other grapey options they offer. :)

ETA: Another reviewer mentioned green apple, and I could maybe see that, though it’s hard to tell if I’m just tasting the crispness and astringency of the green-black tea comnination.

DIY Fava Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 13

Not a huge fan of caramel teas, but I know this is one of their core bestsellers, so I chose it for my advent nonetheless. There is so much stuff in here, ha ha! Rice Krispies, toffee bits, big ol’ pieces of caramel… Thankfully it didn’t come out overly sweet, despite being quite cloudy in appearance. More of a mild salted caramel or butterscotch rooibos, it was enjoyable since the sweet caramel flavor wasn’t overwhelming. Still not my thing, but always nice to try something new!

Another one from the Simpson and Vail Advent, I approached this one rather warily as I find chocolate-themed gourmand teas rather hit or miss. The cinnamon was a wild card, as I cannot imagine an cinnamon brownie being something I’d voluntarily eat. But this tea sampling must go on, and I was pleasantly surprised. The chocolate note was indeed rather fudge-like, and the cinnamon was mild and complemented the black tea nicely. It did have a rather artificial vanilla aftertaste, particularly when cool. I did not steep this at boiling as recommended, since I think the flavours get muddled.

This is one of my favourite Earl Greys, robust and heavy on the bergamont and lavender, with a pleasant undertone of rosemary. The base is a Rose Congou black and has rose petals and lavender petals visible. The mix works wonderfully together, underpinned by a high-quality base. I daresay it is better than any British Earl Grey I have tried, particularly Harrods No. 42., at a much more reasonable price point. However, the second brew is rather weak and loses a lot of the rose/rosemary notes.

Another selection from the Lupicia Book of Tea, this is a rather standard houjicha that brews out on the slightly darker side. I thought it would have a stronger taste than it actually did. The bag’s aroma is lovely, reminiscent of a Japanese tea shop, but the brew is a rather standard one. It’s a fine houjicha, but not worth seeking out as it tastes rather like the standard grocery store brands.

Hibiscus, rose hips and black tea. It’s exactly as advertised, and does brew to a gorgeous ruby red colour as promised. I see this is not particularly popular, but to me it was inoffensive. It was zesty and tart due to the rosehips and hibiscus, with only a whisper of black tea. I imagine it’d be nice with a bit of honey for a nice wake-up cuppa. If you are not fond of hibiscus or rosehips, or “zinger” type teas, give this a wide berth.

For what it’s worth, I did not get any of the tomato-like flavour other reviewers have mentioned. My sample was from the 2025 Book of Tea- perhaps they reformulated?

I’m currently on a tea-buying ban. Why? Because this has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be opened since April 2025. So my sip-down status is a very high priority for all teas right now. Save for the ones that age well.

Dry Leaf: Dusty. Thicker rolled leaves that are curling and twisting like they’re in agony. Greyish green. Young hyson is supposed to include tender shoots and buds, but from the way this looks (and the fact that there are no trichomes present), I would think this is just a Hyson.
Aroma: Smells like a new wall. Plaster.
Flavor: It is a bit brisk for a young spring tea. To be completely honest, I don’t like it. It starts off a bit vegetal but then turns metallic. The nuttiness is akin to a walnut.
Wet Leaf: I’m seeing a few leaves that are buds and younger 1st pickings. However, a lot of these leaves are quite large, like an oolong. But perhaps when they say young leaves, they just mean the ones at the top that flush during spring, before the rains, even if they include the 4th, 5th, and 6th leaves.

I usually don’t drink tisanes, but I do like rooibos when I don’t want caffeine. This was much better than expected. Smooth, creamy, chocolatey -but not too sweet.

Finally, last tea in my advent calendar. This one has three bags which I drank through pretty quickly to get rid of. It’s nothing special…run of the mill spiced tea. Not my favorite. I have had better.

2026 sipdown no. 3

The blueberry is very genuine, like a fresh merging on dry berry. There’s no flavouring vibes here. This reminds me of Indigo Sky from The Tea Girl, except with a green base and more mellow (perhaps due to the base and/or the oatstraw). There were a few cups worth and one attempt of this was overstepped by a full minute without any negative impacts. Also, the second steep still has an enjoyable flavour. Thanks Cameron for this lovely tea!

Casting Whimsy Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 12
Turning Violet

Violet, you’re turning violet! This is a lovely blueberry and hibiscus herbal infusion. I’m not a huge hibiscus fan, but it’s restrained enough here to let the sweet and jammy blueberry shine, along with the lemongrass. Very sweet, tangy, and juicy while still having a syrupy undertone. Not something I would personally go out and buy, but very enjoyable!

Rating: 72

I’ve had this now more than a few times. I keep intending to make notes, but when I try all I can think is nothing.

The tea bag itself has scent, though I can’t really say what it smells like other than generic flavorings.

Taste wise, its very similar. Its not quite plain tea, you can tell there is flavoring there. But without knowing what’s in the tea, maybe vanilla flavoring is the only thing I might have been able to guess. Given the ingredient list, I almost expected something close to an Oreo vibe. About the only thing I can really name without knowing that ingredient list would be vanilla flavoring. Knowing it, I can kind of see maybe a shortbread vibe, but I wouldn’t have guessed it without. I can’t detect cacao or chocolate at all. This might be due to the fact that cacao nibs take a while to steep well. When I steep cacao husks, its usually a good 5-10m steep and I don’t like to steep tea that long. Chocolate flavoring has never tasted or smelled like chocolate to me.

What does kind of bother me is I just can’t really taste the tea. I know drink flavored teas for the flavors, but I like to taste the base as well.

Its not bad, very smooth and drinkable in fact. But at the same time, there’s just nothing special about it, nothing that really stands out one way or another.

A second steep does ok with an obvious loss in flavor. However anything past that is more slightly flavored water than it is in tea anymore.

Stash Advent Calendar 2025 – Day 12
Frosted Orange Cream

I love creamsicle type flavors, so I was interested to see this one. Not a very holiday flavor, but who cares? It’s nice enough, quite creamy with a sweet and bright orange flavor. I do get a bit of a paper or cardboard note, either from the teabag or the tea itself, which is a shame. If this was on a nicer base, I would definitely consider picking some up, as the flavoring is spot-on!

Rating: 68