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Bird & Blend Tea Advent Calendar – Day 1

Last one for the day! I’ve actually tried this blend before, as it was in the November subscription box and there was a free bag of it added to my recent order.

Luckily, I do enjoy this one! I’m not always fond of coffee-flavored teas, but this one has a fairly light hand with the coffee. The wood notes from red rooibos base really help sell the whiskey element of the Irish coffee.

Personally, I would prefer just a bit more cream here. But it is sweet, roasty, and tasty nonetheless!

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar – Day 1

(originally written November 1st)

Continuing my November tea advent-ures with the first tea from the Simpson & Vail calendar! I’ve just recently tried my first couple of teas from S&V and really enjoyed them, so I’m very happy to have bought their advent box.

I was also excited to see this blend lying on top when I opened the box, as I’m always looking for more caffeine-free options for the evenings and candy cane is such a festive flavor! It looks as though they’ve stopped putting the cornflowers in, as my packet just looks like plain green rooibos.

Wow, the dry aroma hits you like a ton of bricks! SUPER candy cane scent, good for opening the sinuses. ;) These packets seem to be the perfect amount of tea for a 16-ounce pot.

Happily, the steeped tisane is not as strong on the peppermint flavor. I find it just strong enough! The candy cane is still very present, but it doesn’t overwhelm me and make me feel like I’m eating an Altoid. There’s a bit of creaminess to me, perhaps a hint of vanilla? This blend does have stevia (boo), but luckily it’s not too much. And I suppose it makes sense to sweeten a tea that’s based on candy… I can just barely taste the green rooibos base, and it adds a mild grassy herbal note.

This is definitely a very good start to the Simpson & Vail calendar! Which is very encouraging after the perfumey mess that was the Tea Revv tea for Day 1…

I’m definitely adding this one to the list to pick up the next time I order from Simpson & Vail. A great option for a sweet nighttime herbal blend!

Palais des Thés Advent Calendar – Day 1

Yay, more advent teas! I’m happy to have this calendar from Palais des Thés this year, as I’ve considered ordering samplers from them multiple times and this really is the ultimate sampler pack. So hopefully it will include most of their best-selling classic teas!

This one is a green base with citrus and ginger. I’m not the biggest ginger lover, but I don’t mind it as long as it’s not overpowering. I’m always charmed by these muslin tea bags that French companies seem to use often. Much cuter than the plastic pyramid kind!

This blend is quite mild, perfect for relaxing in the evening with my knitting. The base is smooth and a bit grassy with dried leafy notes. There is a nice touch of citrus, and it’s light and sweet as opposed to zingy. The ginger is equally mild, and blends nicely with the citrus flavors. Apparently the citrus is a combination of lemon, orange, and grapefruit. I’m not sure I’d be able to pick out all of those, but I do definitely get the lemon and a bit of sweet orange.

This isn’t a tea that I would feel the need to purchase, mostly because when it comes to relaxing green blends, I would prefer mint in place of the ginger. But it is a good combination, even if it’s not my preference.

Tea Revv Advent Calendar – Day 1

(originally written November 1st)

Hooray, it’s the first day of tea advent calendar time! I’m writing to you from the past (oooooOOOOOOooo scary ghost noises). Since I purchased no fewer than five tea advent calendars this year, I am drinking through two of them in November. But in order to avoid spoiling the advent calendar surprise fun for my beloved fellow Steepsters, I’m storing these November notes in the tea note vault until December.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

I love the art on these Tea Revv calendar packets. Last year, I hung this calendar from the mantle using festive holiday-colored twine and mini clothespins. But now I’m a year older and a year lazier so I didn’t bother… XD

This packet is labeled “Frosted Fruit Spice #6”, but appears to be the same tea (and the same number) as “#6 Sugar Plum Spice” on their website. So I’ve added the second name to the existing tea listing here on Steepster. The art on the packet is a cute geometric penguin!

Wow, the dry leaf has a powerful (and mouthwatering) sweet fruity aroma – perhaps candy apple? I steeped the entire packet (around 2 tsp) in 12 ounces of water.

Hmm… This tastes unexpectedly perfumey, and not very fruity. I guess I can taste a bit of that candied apple from the dry leaf, but mostly it tastes of floral perfume. And as most of you likely know by now, floral flavors are not my favorites. Although I’m not sure anyone would enjoy this amount of perfumey floral…

Nope, it’s not for me. In fact, it’s gross.

P.S. – I think Tea Revv is just a reseller and this is actually “Sugar Plum Spice” from East Indies Coffee & Tea.

Bird & Blend Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 1

Happy December, everyone! Yay, it’s advent calendar time! ❤

This matcha happens to be in single-serve stick form. The stick seemed to contain just under a teaspoon of matcha, so I prepared my matcha milk with just under 8 ounces of soy milk.

This is very tasty! It’s grassy and sweet, and very smooth with no bitterness. There’s a small hint of umami as well. The strength of flavor is much better than their flavored matchas I’ve tried, which is nice. Too bad this one was only a single serving!

So I also have a Bonne Maman jam advent calendar! And since I’ll be drinking these matchas in the morning, I’ll be having my daily jam on toast as well and adding it to these notes. This is just for fun, the rating and flavors still all apply only to the matcha.

So today’s Bonne Maman jam is 3 Citrus Fruits (3 Agrumes) spread. I’m not generally a big fan of marmalade, as I find it too bitter. But I’ll try it with an open mind! The three citrus fruits included are orange, lemon, and grapefruit. There are pieces of peel mixed in as well.

Wow, it’s quite zingy from the grapefruit! It is quite bitter though, so not something I could see myself eating often. But the citrus flavor is nice and bright.

Home – 11:30 PM

So I picked this one up at the Whole Foods flagship store in Downtown Austin. They had a decent tea selection, including some blends purchasable by weight. I chose this blend as I’ve been liking red rooibos more lately and I love blueberry. So here we are.

This is actually pretty good. It does have some hibiscus tang, but I feel like it actually goes well with the berries here. I definitely taste blueberry, elderberry, and strawberry. I have no idea what a schizandra berry is or tastes like, but according to the description they have a “cranberry-like tartness”. So that’s likely melding in with the hibiscus. The rooibos base is very mild, only contributing a very slight woody flavor.

If I were making this, I would likely reduce the hibiscus just a bit. But it’s still a perfectly nice berry rooibos for the evening.

Home – 8:30 PM

This is another of Bird & Blend’s store-inspired blends, this one being named for Tunbridge Wells. It smells encouraging, with a very tart orangey aroma.

To me, this one actually tastes like a fruit tea. I would have no idea that it’s on a green base if I hadn’t read the ingredients. It mostly tastes of orange and a bit of hibiscus.

To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed. The description calls it a “right royal, floral blend” but the flowers don’t add anything in the way of flavor. It’s also described as “Earl Grey like”, but to me there’s no comparison.

At leas the hibiscus isn’t overpowering, but I’m not personally a fan of fruit teas so this one isn’t for me.

Work – 12:00 PM

I made a small order from Harney & Sons during their Cyber Monday sale – just this and one other tea. It was just under $13 total, which I found extremely reasonable for two 3-4 ounce tins.

I don’t normally enjoy sweetener in teas, but I do like Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Spice regardless of its very sweet taste. I guess because it reminds me of Red Hots or Hot Tamales, so the candylike sweetness sort of makes sense? That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

So this is basically Hot Cinnamon Spice with a bit of apple thrown in. It’s sweet candy cinnamon à la Red Hots. The apple is more subtle than I expected, and it comes in mostly at the end of the sip, once the strong and sweet cinnamon has calmed down a bit. It’s a bit of an apple cider / apple juice flavor, which I think is perfect for this application.

Overall, I do really like it, as I knew I would. It’s like Hot Cinnamon Spice +. ;)

Perfect for autumn & winter!

But keep in mind, if you don’t like Hot Cinnamon Spice, you definitely won’t like this one either!

Home – 10:30 PM

The Great Cupboard Excavation
Untasted teas remaining: 0!

This is the last one! Of course, now I have new teas I’ve ordered since I started counting down, but at least all of the older ones are sorted through. Now I’ll have to go through all of the ones I don’t want to keep and weigh and price them so I can post a stash sale. Sounds like a weekend project… ;)

So this one smelled a bit milder in the packet than the Laoshan Gan Zao Ye. I steeped it the same way, as I would a green tea. The wet leaves are a really gorgeous rich jewel green color.

Wow, this is the bomb diggity. It’s so heavy on the roasted grain and oat flavors, almost like soba cha. But there’s a nice fresh grassy flavor here as well that reminds me a bit of matcha. Perhaps just a small hint of seaweed, but not in a fishy way – more in an oceanic fresh sort of way. And there’s a lovely natural sweetness throughout the sip.

This almost tastes like a matcha latte with some additional roasted grain notes. Yummy.

Oddly, there’s a slight note in the aftertaste that reminds me of Dijon mustard. I realize that sounds weird, but it’s actually not. And it’s a very slight hint.

Home – 9:00 PM

So I had to look up what exactly Brighton Rock is, because not being British I had no clue. So it turns out that rock is basically the same thing as those round disc hard candies that are generally white with a colored border and a small image in the center. But generally it’s mint-flavored, and it’s not sliced so it’s sold as a stick rather like a thick candy cane. It’s not specific to Brighton.

Wow, clearly I didn’t notice that this has butterfly pea flower in it, and was rather surprised when I saw the deep blue color!

So this is basically just a peppermint-flavored oolong with peppermint leaf. I do appreciate that they added peppermint flavor as well, because I like the sharper flavor compared to herbal peppermint. Really I would have preferred spearmint, but you know…

I can’t really taste the oolong much here, so perhaps a bit less peppermint would be better.

It’s tasty. It’s not something unique enough for me to want to stock it, especially since I really loved Peppermint Cream in comparison.