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Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – December 22nd

Ooh, I think this is the only tisane in the calendar. To be honest, I’m not sure what to expect. Inside the sachet I can see crushed green leaves along with cardamon pods, red peppercorns, and cinnamon bark. There are also some other things and some flower petals. Dry scent is sweet and spicy.

The steeped tea’s aroma reminds me of gingersnap cookies. I’m actually surprised by how mellow this tea is, especially given all the spices in it. And it really does reminds me of gingersnap cookies! I’m surprised that I can’t really taste the licorice root here, not even the sweetness from it. Yummy!

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – December 21st

Hmm… I was not excited when I saw this one. Any tea with Versailles in the name immediately makes me think of roses and other florals, so surely this one will not be for me. Thankfully, reading the description assuaged my fears a bit. There is no rose in this tea, and the florals that are involved (orange blossom and violet) are sweet and not overly heady ones. There are certainly a lot of flower petals mixed in with the green sencha leaves. However, the dry scent is strong on the bergamot, with perhaps a touch of fruit.

The steeped tea smells very lovely – a nice balance of bergamot, fruity sweetness, and light floral tones. Wow, the base tea is very strong here, and quite grassy. The bergamot is, thankfully, nice and light as opposed to overpowering. For some reason, this is coming off a touch bitter to me, and I’m not sure if it’s because my sense of taste isn’t quite all there yet or if possibly 3 minutes was a touch too long this time. I don’t taste much peach until the very end and the aftertaste, though there is a light floral presence throughout the sip. Overall, it’s not bad, but not my favorite. I don’t think I particularly enjoy bergamot on a green base.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – December 20th

Ooh, I remember seeing someone else’s review of this tea and thinking how delicious it sounded. Well, luckily for me, DF appears to have read my mind and included it in the calendar. According to miss Ysaurella, this is meant to be a toffee or caramel apple flavored tea (thanks dear, I wouldn’t have known by the name alone). There are a lot of flower petals and small pieces of apple mixed in among the black tea leaves. Dry scent is very caramel apple, yum!

The steeped tea smells lovely as well, though I do catch a bit of that French powdery quality. The flavor is lovely and appley, though I think I would categorize it more as a cooked apple than a raw one. The caramel is a lovely accent, but it doesn’t overpower here. There’s a touch of floral that I wouldn’t associate with caramel apples, but sometimes the French just can’t help themselves. ;) Overall, it’s yummy, but perhaps more of a caramel apple pie than the apple itself.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – December 19th

Ooh, this one sounds quite delicious by the description. I must say, I think this whole concept of different Christmas flavors for different cities is quite interesting. I admit, most of them (this one included) I wouldn’t know enough about to assign them holiday flavors. This sachet was almost all black tea leaves with a few stray pieces of citrus peel. Dry scent was sweet and chocolaty with vanilla and orange.

This is actually quite yummy! I agree with Dinosara that it tastes like there’s hazelnut in here even though it’s not listed. The other main flavors I get are creamy chocolate, vanilla, orange, and apricot. There’s also a strong sense of whipped cream that goes along well with the vanilla. I could see this being delicious with cream and sugar! :)

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – December 18th

Oh, hello again. I’ve been sick over the past few days, so I haven’t been around. I also couldn’t really smell or taste well, so while I did open my advent calendar door every day, I put the single sachets aside until now. And I do confess, I’m definitely not at full smelling and/or tasting capacity yet, but I’m far too fed up with being sick to put tea drinking off any longer. So while I suspect I won’t do these justice, I’m going to drink them anyway because I’m tired of waiting. So there!

I didn’t look too closely at the sachet, but I did notice red peppercorns mixed in with the rooibos, which I thought was odd. Dry scent is orange and perhaps grapefruit with a touch of spice. The steeped tea… smells and tastes like bubblegum to me, which seems to be a recurring theme when DF tries to mix fruit and spice. Strange! I can taste a bit of orange, but otherwise it’s all bubblegum.

Today I received my first-ever Amoda subscription box! The box itself was quite cute – stamped with their logo on the front and their name along the sides. (You can see it here: http://amodatea.com/) My teas were wrapped in tissue paper with was sealed with logo sticker. There was a very nice glossy info sheet just explaining their general concept, and also a companion sheet for the teas describing their flavors. Also included were a few disposable filter bags and a chai-flavored marshmallow. Very well-packaged and snazzy overall. This is a rooibos tea with apple, orange, and spices. I can see big chunks of fruit and some rose petals mixed in with the rooibos itself. Dry scent is kind of bubblegum-esque with a spicy edge.

I can definitely smell the clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the steeped it, with just a little bit of sweet apple aroma. Hm… It also tastes like bubblegum a little bit, which is not appetizing. I can definitely taste the clove over everything else. Next strongest are the cinnamon and apple flavors. I can’t drink this without thinking bubblegum… :/

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – December 17th

I admit, I’m always a tiny bit disappointed inside when it’s a green tea inside the little door. I generally prefer a black or even white tea as a base for flavoring. That being said, the green teas in this calendar so far have been fine, I’ve even liked some of them. :P Inside this sachet are large green leaves and pieces of dried strawberry. Dry scent is delicious strawberry and cream with vanilla!

Mm, the steeped tea smells like whipped cream and strawberries. The taste is actually a bit heavy on the base tea, which is a bit grassy. There’s a little bit of tart strawberry, but mostly I taste a lovely creamy vanilla flavor, which unfortunately does not go well with the grassy base. There’s a weird tart aftertaste as well that comes off as a bit artificial. I need to try the black version of this one!

This is the last of the samples I bought from the local The Whistling Kettle location. I think I chose this one because I like white teas and the leaf smells very nice. I don’t really know anything about this tea other than that it’s Chinese. The leaves are somewhat twisty, and a combination of silver and darker grey/green colors. The dry scent is reminding me of something extremely specific, and I’m annoyed that I can’t place it. It’s somewhat close to dried apricot, but it also has a sweet hay quality to it.

Steeped, it smells creamy with strong hay and a touch of savory smoke. I think I oversteeped this a tad, but that’s okay. It’s not straight-up bitter, but it’s developing a slight bitter edge. It has a nice deep hay flavor, and there’s actually a bit of muscatel here. There’s definitely dried fruit, perhaps a combination of prune and apricot. There’s a slight floral characteristic as well. This almost reminds me of Darjeeling a bit, which is odd for a white tea.

This is the next-oldest untried sample from my cupboard! This was actually a free sample from Bird Pick, thanks guys! I must say, I’m quite surprised that all these giant leaves are intact inside the little resealable pouch – I fully expected them to be at least somewhat broken. They’re long and flat (almost like they’ve been ironed) and they kind of remind me of kelp or something. Dry scent is mildly vegetal and grassy with a lot of sweetness. I didn’t really know how much to use, so I just put a bunch of leaves in my basket and then added one more for good measure. :P

The steeped tea is very pale in color, and smells mild and creamy with sweet vegetal notes. Hmm… this is not what I expected. It actually tastes like a Japanese green to me. It’s quite savory with strong seaweed notes. It does have a creamy and nutty taste, but in a savory way. The aftertaste is somewhat grassy but light and refreshing. Not what I expected, but not bad! Next time, I would use more leaf, as it was just a tiny bit on the weak side.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – December 16th

Woo, back to Christmas teas! I have to say, the first things I think of when I see a tea with “Provence” in the name are lavender and ick. The description for this one doesn’t actually mention lavender, and I didn’t see any inside my sachet either, so hopefully I’m safe. Dry scent is figgy and sweet, yum!

Mm, the steeped tea smells like figs and strawberry jam… Yummy. It totally tastes like some kind of fig & strawberry jam combo. I think the honey and fig and so intertwined that I can’t tell them apart, since fig is kind of a syrupy sweet fruit. There’s a little bit of an earthy quality to the base tea, especially in the beginning of the sip. Thank goodness, no lavender! :D