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Now that advent calendars are done, it’s time to get into the habit of taking the time to drink these Japanese teas on a regular basis, because my cupboard is overflowing with subscription teas from Obubu! Plus I just really love Japanese green teas, roasted or otherwise.

This was one of a few sealed packets left from a sampler set that I bought when I was at their tea farm in Wazuka last year. Seems an easy place to start for sipping things down! I used 160°F water in my kyusu, and did 3 steeps – 60s, 15s, and 45s.

To me, this is the essence of sencha. The beginning of the sip was very light and grassy with some hay notes, but an umami steamed spinach note soon appeared and grew in intensity over time. It filled my mouth and lingered in my cheeks long after the sip. I would describe it as green, brothy, and full of life – perfect for Spring! There was some underlying fresh grassiness present as well, and a creamy texture reminiscent of edamame. The finish was long and lingering, picking up soft floral and fuzzy apricot notes after the vegetal taste subsided a bit. I found little sweetness to this tea, as the savory and pleasantly bitter notes dominated and made me feel full of energy. A very full-flavored sencha with a nice intensity and a touch of astringency.

I found the name to be perfect, as I could just imagine the little shoots saving up all of their concentrated flavor over the winter months, and exploding with such energy and joy in the Spring.

(starting off with a conservative rating until I get a few more sencha in…)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJRu3kRAEEG/

From the November subscription box.

I reorganized the counter in my tea nook a bit last night, and put all of my subscription teas in their own little box so I can be sure to drink them in a timely manner! I also ordered a couple of acrylic divided bins to use instead of my current cardboard boxes with the flaps cut off… I’m also planning to do some acrylic bins in the cupboard to separate different types of tea and such, but haven’t decided on those yet. Anyway, getting off topic! This is the first tea I’m trying from the November subscription, as the combination of raspberry and marshmallow sounded so delicious.

Unfortunately, I’m not getting much raspberry, vanilla, or marshmallow in this pot. The base is a mix of green and roasted yerba maté, and I’m mostly just getting the grassy and herbaceous green flavor here. And I do like green maté, so it’s not bad, I’m just only getting a faint hint of raspberry and maybe a touch of marshmallow at the end of the sip. I can taste the roasted maté as well, it adds a nice hojicha-like note and roasty richness.

I wonder if I didn’t get enough raspberry in my scoop, although there wasn’t a ton in the packet and it was mostly small pieces. I’ll have to give this one another try or two before I assign it a rating!

ETA: I also added a Subscription tab to my tea spreadsheet! Yay!

Another one from my oldest teas box! This is from February of 2017.

This and the black version, which I already finished, might be my favorite strawberry teas. They have such a bright and tart strawberry flavor that’s really fresh and delicious. Obviously, this isn’t quite as flavorful as it once was, but it still has some of that lovely strawberry goodness. The green tea is very smooth with hay and dry grass notes, and a mellow sweetness.

I don’t remember if this is a Spring or Summer release, but I’m crossing my fingers that the Hawaii website will have some next year… :)

From the November subscription box.

What a strange tea this is. I get that they were going for a blue slushie concept, but the flavors here make no sense…

I like the blue color, and I do understand the mint as it makes some sense for replicating an ice-based treat. But wtf is with the jasmine? And wouldn’t raspberries have made sense for more of a “blue raspberry” type flavor, which is what I would expect from a blue slushie or snow cone?

It’s not unpleasant, it tastes like a mild mint and jasmine white tea with a hint of stevia. It sort of reminds me of a weaker blue version of their Nearly Nirvana tea. So weird, I like the concept but don’t understand the thought process around the execution…

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it! And Happy Holidays to all! ❤

This is my first tea of the day! I intended it to be this morning, but then there was an unexpected Zoom call with my husband’s family, so I had to jump in the shower and get ready for that, and then we were opening pug stockings.

So now I’m relaxing on the couch, watching Elf and drinking a pot of this tea. It’s not quite what I expected, but really good. The base tea and the cinnamon combine into a sort of creamed cinnamon honey flavor, which is reminding me of my beloved Taiwanese black teas. I start to pick up on a piney note from the rosemary about halfway through the sip, though it’s quite subtle. It’s strongest in the aftertaste, where it leaves a nice cooling sensation. As for the blackcurrant, I’m not sure I taste it specifically, but there is a sort of dark, rich, and syrupy sweetness in the background that I attribute to it. There’s also a light hay note, I wonder if there’s some Darjeeling tea in here?

Overall, it’s a rich and subtly flavored tea with a lovely sweetness to it. Looking at the description, it does have Darjeeling as well as Assam and Ceylon teas. Maybe next time I’ll try a slightly lower temperature just to see how that affects the flavor.

So far, very pleased that I bought this holiday tin set from Steven Smith!

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 24

My very last advent tea for 2020! And my tea of choice while watching The Polar Express tonight.

Meh, this one is pretty lame compared to other candy cane teas. I taste a lot of the base and the peppermint leaf, which makes it taste closer to a plain mint herbal tisane than a candy cane-flavored one. I do get a little bit of the slightly sharper and cooler peppermint flavoring as well. For some reason I’m also getting a subtle fruity note at the end of the sip, and I thought I saw a dried cranberry in my sample, which is odd given it’s not listed as an ingredient…

So it’s not great, mostly tastes like a decent mint tisane with some green rooibos mixed in.

As for the advent calendar, it was an interesting one. I agree with Mastress Alita that the amount per sample seemed to vary widely, and I think that’s because it was portioned to be the same weight per packet. Obviously that’s a mistake, especially for heavy fruit tisanes. There was a decent variety of bases, though I would have liked to see more green and white teas, and perhaps an oolong. It felt like a lot of herbals to me. Most of the teas were fine but nothing special, and I’m struggling to remember any that stood out to me. I liked the packaging with the little purple envelopes, and it was nice to see an unorthodox color. This calendar was $35, which seems quite affordable to me. It was nice to have an introduction to so many of Plum Deluxe’s teas without paying their usual (high) prices. I’m not sure if I would recommend it, though…

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJMA9FugSnn/)

This is another one from my oldest teas sipdown box! It’s also from December 2016. (gulp) I’m new to this way of prioritizing sipdowns, and honestly it’s so nice that these first few are teas that I really like and just didn’t drink often enough. It feels meant to be! :3

Anyway, I really like this one. It’s a very light tea, and I’m sure its age hasn’t done any favors to the strength of flavor here, but it’s so relaxing and yummy. The white tea is perfectly soft, airy, and creamy with tasty oat, grain, and hay notes. I’m not sure if I’m tasting the vanilla or if it’s just the creaminess of the base. The mint and cedar are both here, but subtle enough that they just add a touch of crisp and cool menthol and evergreen flavor. I think I can taste a hint of anise, but I’m not sure whether I got any in my scoop. Next time I’ll pay closer attention to make sure I’m getting all of the ingredients.

I still love this one. The medley of soft and slightly sweet flavors combined with a thick and silky mouthfeel make this such a lovely evening tea. I’ll have to add Bellocq to the list of places to order from in the future, I’ve only tried a few of their teas and they’ve been so unique and delicious.

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 24 (2/2) (from November backlog)

So this sounds like a more traditional holiday tea than the black version, having orange and spice flavors with vanilla and almond. The sachet smells lovely, mostly sweet cinnamon with orange.

It’s decent, but not great. Candylike cinnamon is the strongest note, followed by sweet orange and a bit of creamy vanilla. The ginger comes in a little bit more toward the end of the sip, adding an earthy warming flavor. The base tea is the same as other Dammann green blends – mellow, smooth, grassy, with a bit of a dry leaf note. I feel like I’m tasting clove in the middle of the sip, but it’s not mentioned in the ingredients so I guess it’s some interplay between the cinnamon and something else.

Anyway, it’s a somewhat generic holiday tea. The addition of the vanilla is a nice thought, but it’s too subtle to be interesting here, and the cinnamon is a bit too overpowering.

As for the calendar overall, I love this one. Even though a lot of the teas are repeated, I would get it every year because I just enjoy Dammann’s style. The calendar itself was quite pretty, a lovely bright coral color with lots of metallic gold accents. A lot of the teas were classics, but there were actually quite a few new ones that I hadn’t tried before, which was lovely. And I loved a few of them, and now they’re on my to-order list! Plus a lot of the sachet wrappers were really beautiful. This one is a good price, at about $23, however there’s also the shipping to consider… I will always recommend this one, as it’s my favorite, so clearly I’m biased!

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar – Day 24 (1/2) (from November backlog)

Ooh, double tea day! The day 24 window in this advent is double the size and there were two sachets behind it – this tea and the green version. So I steeped this one up to sip on this morning while eating French silk pie for breakfast… And I’m not even ashamed! :P

I will say, I find it refreshing that this is a Christmas tea with no spices. This has a nice subtle fruity flavor. I’m not sure which fruits exactly… I definitely get cherry, and maybe cranberry? There’s some orange in the aroma, but I’m not sure I can taste it. The base tea has a mellow woody flavor that goes nicely with the fruit. There’s perhaps a hint of caramel sweetness as well?

Anyway, it’s a bit muddled but I do enjoy the combination of fruits – not too sweet with a bit of tartness and depth. Looking at the description, it’s meant to be orange, pineapple, maraschino cherry, and caramel. Maybe it’s the tartness of the pineapple with the cherry that makes me think of cranberry? Anyway… I enjoyed it!

Palais des Thés Advent Calendar – Day 24 (from November backlog)

Hmm, another almond tea. At least this as a more interesting base, a mix of oolong and green teas. Dry scent is very heavy on the marzipan though…

Luckily the almond is quite light here, as are the other flavors. I get a touch of sweet cinnamon and a bit of a biscuity note. The base tea is a bit grassy but mellow and smooth.

Overall, it’s a little bland for me. If either the base was tastier or the flavors were stronger, I would enjoy it more. As-is, there’s not much here.

As for the advent calendar itself, this was one was just okay. The design was very conventional, with plain fold-out doors and a red and gold color scheme. I also had a few sachets that slid out of their spots and ended up somewhere else… As for the teas, I felt like there was a lot of almond going on. Which I guess makes sense as a festive flavor, it just got a little same-y after a while. I did enjoy trying a lot of their classic flavored teas, even if I didn’t love all of them. I don’t think I would necessarily recommend this one though, as the overall tea quality pales a bit in comparison to other French companies like Dammann and Kusmi. It was quite affordable though, at $32.