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Day 8 of DIY mostly Adagio advent. This one smells better than it tastes. At least it smells great, though! The cookies and cream scent of the dry leaf got my hopes up. The brew didn’t live up to it. The cream flavor is ok, but the base is so tannic it detracts from my overall enjoyment of the cup. A two-minute steep might have been better than the three suggested on the packet. I tried adding oat milk. That didn’t do much to make it less tannic. This was drinkable but not worth the caffeine.

Day 17 of Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. I don’t totally get why blueberry & cinnamon is a Christmas blend, but sure let’s go with it. This definitely tastes of blueberry and cinnamon to me. The sweeter versions of both of those, though. Like there’s not really any tartness to the berry or sharpness to the cinnamon. More like blueberry cinnamon frosting. Which is sort of what I wish they’d called this blend.

Day 16 of Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. This smells so cozy. The nuttiness seems distinctly macadamia, both in aroma and flavor. The vanilla shows up more as adding creaminess to the cup than a distinct pure vanilla flavor. There’s nothing inherently wintry about this but it is giving me winter vibes anyway.

Day 15 of Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. I didn’t get to this one for a few days because I kept wanting to save it for bedtime due to the sleepy ingredients. Yes, this is particularly silly because chamomile doesn’t really seem to make me sleepy anyway. But since I’m already tired from a few nights of particularly poor sleep, it seems like a good time to reach for a soothing tea that might help me sleep better tonight, either chemically or as a placebo. This is actually a pretty pleasant blend! Chamomile hits at the front of the sip, with tart citrus following shortly after, and a gentle puff of spearmint at the end of the sip. The chamomile itself is decent, not incredible, but it does the job quite well in this blend. Apparently I liked this in the advent two years ago too!

Day 7 of DIY mostly Adagio calendar. I made this as a rushed oat milk latte between meetings, so I only steeped it for three minutes. Not bad for an herbal chai. Cinnamon and clove are the prominent spices. The rooibos is very woody but I think that works well with the spice blend and oat milk. I can’t make out a distinct vanilla flavor, but it might just be blending into the creaminess of the oat milk. Apparently I had this 11 years ago and was not a fan because I found it too clove-heavy. Possibly this version is balanced a bit differently, or the oat milk is toning down the clove. But I did find it pleasant enough if not notable.

Day 4 of the 52teas advent calendar. Drank this hot with no additives. I would have sworn this was a straight black tea with coconut and nothing else. I like coconut, so that’s fine by me! There’s some briskness and astringency that I was chalking up to the base but I suppose could be the bergamot. Overall a pleasant and cozy cuppa for winter.

Day 3 of 52teas’ advent calendar. I enjoyed this in last year’s calendar so I’m glad to see it back again! Even though I prefer to drink it cold/room temp, it’s very much a fall/winter tea in my mind because of the cranberry. That cranberry note is just right, and I’ve been getting the soda note pretty consistently by brewing it hot and then allowing to cool. It’s almost salty in the way seltzer is. This won’t last long!

Day 6 of DIY mostly Adagio advent calendar. I needed this palate cleanser after the Orange Pomander. This struck me as a very solid mid-range jasmine. Floral in a way that feels scented, not like jasmine essence has been added. A bit dry. I like a whiff of sweetness in my jasmine teas, but I’m not picking up on any here. I stopped after two steeps to avoid over-caffeinating for the day. I added agave syrup to the second steep, which complemented the jasmine nicely. This would make a perfectly reasonable daily drinker, especially on days where you can’t give the cup your full attention so you maybe don’t want to be using your fanciest stuff.

Day 16 of the Lupicia advent calendar. Just a single sachet, thankfully. I have done it, everyone. I have found Lupicia’s worst tea by a mile (or kilometer, or any other measure of distance). I brewed this as instructed, which feels really important to note here. This was not an overbrew. Upon taking my first sip, I exclaimed “WHY” to an empty room. It’s just a mouthful of clove. The cloviest clove that ever cloved. Somewhere behind the clove is maybe a hint of citrus, if you can make it past the sea of clove to find it. I think my cup personally has all of the clove flavor that others could barely detect in theirs. I felt guilty about pouring this out because the calendar was so expensive, but I found it literally undrinkable. I forced down a few sips for science. That was the most I could manage.

Day 16 of the Tea Thoughts winter countdown. Peeked ahead and gong fu’d this yesterday with the teeny tea tray that I’m still in love with. Even before I looked at any information about the tea, I was jotting down notes about how creamy it is, with a slight marine note at the back end of the sip and overall big “high mountain oolong” vibes. So zero surprise that this is a high mountain oolong made with jinxuan cultivar. Made some more today in a smallish steeping mug. It’s even creamier today. Loving it.