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I think this makes my 5th cup of tea today? I didn’t think I’d have any room left after the days advents, but I needed something to put some Bailey’s in and this happens to be the perfect thing! The flavors of the two drinks meld together perfectly and gives me a little booziness to take the edge off a really crappy day that could have been way worse.

Advent day 3! Three bags of this tea are in the 3 slot, another plentiful sample. I’m not usually a fan of oolongs, so I’m always surprised when I find one I like and doesn’t have that flat taste I associate with them. When opening this bag I was struck by how fruity and juicy it smelled. It’s just as delightful steeped. The pear and peach are the dominating flavors, but there is a slight sweetness that rounds out the fruit flavors. I’d guess this would be delicious cold steeped and might take a little cream well. This is a tea I’d totally buy!
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Advent day 3! Polterspice, LOL! I love the name! It is full of spices, that’s for sure, but there is a deeper scent like the spices were baked. I can pick out some heat, maybe cinnamon or cayenne? The spices blend together well enough that I can’t pick them out individually. There is something almost, but not quite soapy in the finish. It has a slight sweetness to it, something slightly earthy. I’ve almost consumed the whole cup sipping away and enjoying it! I’d take a second steeping of this!
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Advent day 3. I’ve been cheating . I’ve been opening the next day’s tea in all 3 advents the night before to plot my course of action for the morning cups. I’ll open them and smell them and tuck them back away. When I opened this, there was so much tropical fruit scent that I feared it must have hibiscus in it. I was relieved when I steeped it that the water didn’t turn that tell tale pink! It’s been a stressful morning and I have been sipping this from my travel thermos while distracted. Now that I’m sitting for a few I’m noticing a lovely passion fruit flavor. Lupica used to have a passion EG, Loke Lani, that was wonderful and this brings that tea to mind. I can taste a bit of the tea in the sip, but the finish is all passion fruit. I’d consider a purchase of this and I’d be tempted to add a little Earl Grey in the mix. Not sure where the “fire” in Tropical Fire comes from, but this is a solid tea either way.

Advent day 2! I didn’t like this when it was hot, but now that it has been sitting around for several hours it is better. I can smell an almost fermented orange. Reminds me of the preserved orange peel candy in Asian markets. This has a similar taste with the earthy addition of ginger. It’s not a ginger with any sort of bite, it’s an older ginger. I’m trying to think of nice things to say about this tea. I want to like it, but it isn’t doing it for me.
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Day 2 of advent. Dry this smells like chocolate covered red fruit. It has a deep rich scent that I can’t quite put words to. This steeps up dark and reminds me of Lupicia’s Chocolate Strawberry Puer, which is one of my favorites. It smells like puer too. When sipping, I first get the puer taste that I can only describe as musty cave flavor that is toned down from other puers I’ve had. It sounds unflattering, but I don’t mean it that way. There is a red berry flavor in the finish along with something that hints of chocolate. I assume from the name that this must have assam in it. Maybe that is what is toning down the puer with a touch of malt? It was a good cup and I’d say it was like that Lupicia tea with the berry toned down and puer more center stage.
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Day 2 of the advent contained three teabags of this! It smells rich like liquor and raisins. The steeping suggestions say 90c which is around 198F, lower than I usually steep my black teas, but I tried it anyways. My first cup was on the light side and the second at a higher temp was a little richer, but I think a hotter first steep may be a better way to go. It still had that depth to it, but the flavors on top of that seemed muted. I could taste a chai mix, but it was more of a murmur. Luckily, with Theodor being so generous with their advent servings, I have two more bags to test steeping parameters on!

Also known as weihnachtskräuter, or 1181, this tea is in day 1 of the advent calendar. It was a challenge to figure out what the English name for this was, especially because they don’t offer it on the US site. I hope the rest of the teas are easier to identify. It tasted like it has some chamomile in it with that licorice root sweetness to it. I steeped it for 4 minutes and the flavor was really light. After letting it steep much longer than that, it had developed more flavor and was enjoyable, but wasn’t something I was wowed by.
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This tea was day 1 for the Theodor advent calendar! It came in one of those silky tea bags along with a card to make tasting notes through the month and a description of a game with a single prize for the winner. It’s a clever way to engage with the customers who bought an advent!
This is a verbena tisane, but the flavor was more like light chamomile and a hint of mint. I’m a little surprised that they didn’t try to dress this up a bit and blend it with other flavors to make it more complex. It was nice, but I wasn’t taken by it.
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I’ve been waiting anxiously to dig into these advent calendars and the day is finally here! I drank this tea while going about my day, including a visit to the Dickens Fair. The dominant flavor was a light cinnamon which muted the green tea. I tried to imagine it as carrot cake, but carrot has never been a flavor that translates well in my brain to tea. It was an enjoyable cup, but not something I’d seek out.
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