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Day 13!

I think Damman has to get a little more inventive because several of the teas are the same day this year as they were last year.

I quite liked the smell of this dry tea. Reminded me of tart grapefruit. I was really looking forward to trying this tea. Same thing I thought last year. Then I read my review and didn’t seem to like this tea a whole lot last year.

I brewed it up, I am actually not getting too much jasmine at all this time, which is pleasant. The tartness now is definitely pineapple and not grapefruit. It is almost as if the jasmine with the pineapple makes grapefruit. The black base is fairly smooth.

Overall I wish this tea tasted a bit more like it smelled.

Free sample from Nina’s Paris. Thanks so much Laurent!

This one came as a sachet.

This tea is quite reminding me of something and I had a hard time putting my finger on it until I looked at the ingredients. It has rhubarb. It is quite similar to Dammann’s Jardin Bleu that was yesterday’s advent tea. How funny it is that they taste similar and are also French teas.

The black base in this one is quite strong. There is a strong rhubarb flavour with floral scents. I don’t think I have much experience with violet, which is what is in this tea, so I am unsure what I should be tasting.

Overall this one is good. It is a bit bitter but that could be a brewing issue. I have another sachet to try.

Day 12. Half way there!

This one is interesting. Before I read my last years review I thought the dry tea smelled of burnt caramel pastry, the kind with a cookie crumble base. The taste of the brewed tea is quite strong lemon. Unfortunately it is coming across as artificial and a bit waxy. I would definitely use lemon custard with Graham crust as a descriptor. Not getting much caramel in the flavour. There is a bit of tartness in the flavour.

Then I read my last years review and realized I had a totally different experience last year. That is what I love about tea, it is different each time.

I would say I don’t think I enjoyed it as much this year as I did last year. I do however still want to spend a Christmas in Venice.

Bravo Andrews and Dunham, Bravo!

This tea is fairly reminiscent of Tim Hortons steeped tea. And as a Canadian, it doesn’t get much better than that. Ha ha.

The tea is quite bold and thick. Not too much and not too little, but just the right amount of malt. I can’t really distinguish what type of black tea this is, but there are definitely hints of ceylon and a bit of Darjeeling. There are light hints of dark fruits, maybe plums. There is a heavy creamy flavour profile. It reminds me of eggnog, not the taste of eggnog, but how it coats your mouth. There is a slight burnt bitterness that is very pleasant at the end of the sip. It is almost like overly roasted nuts maybe. Overall a delicious cup. Very much the idea of the holiday season.

Day 11.

I would not associate the name jardin bleu with rhubarb. But nevertheless…

The dry tea smells like rhubarb and cream.

The brewed tea very eerily makes me think Harney’s Paris. I had no idea why. But I do a double take every time I take a sip.

The tea is thick but the flavours are not bold, this is a light and mild tea. There is definitely rhubarb in this tea. There is a hint of artificial strawberry in the background. Very minimal sweetness to the tea which I actually think makes it taste better. Sometimes too much sweetness can come across as artificial. There is a slight floral flavour. I know this is a black tea but I would not be surprised at all if the base was actually a white tea.

Day 10.

I said the same thing last year. Juicy fruit bubble gum. Ha ha. I don’t remember much of this one becuase I was in an intense meeting staying quiet, trying not to get noticed , shying away from eye contact and sipping my tea in fear.

The green tea base is very light. This tea is slightly floral. There is a definite fruity flavour that translates to bubble gum for me. I think I noticed some sweet candied citrus in there somewhere.

I got me through the meeting in one peice without being noticed. Big plus!

Day 9
I managed to make it 6 days before I forgot to bring my daily advent tea with me to work again. So this is for yesterday.

I love Earl grey. And to be specific, I love bergamot. So I was quite excited for this tea.

This was smells strongly of bergamot from the dry sachet. Once brewed it has a sweet citrus bergamot scent.

The tea tastes lightly of bergamot. The citrus essence is nice. The black tea base is moderately bold, is lightly dry but not stringent. I think the silver tips bridge the gap between the bergamot and the black tea. It adds a hay like taste and thickness to the tea. The flower petals smooth it out and add a faint hint of sweetness and pastry.

This is quite a good and interesting Earl grey. I would prefer a kick in your face black te and bergamot type Earl grey but this one is still tasty.

Day 8. A brand new tea to me.

This one smells strongly floral, rose petal floral. There were under notes of what I first assumed to be strawberry. I then read the ingredients and realized it was apricot and on tasting the tea again, I can agree that is was apricot.

This tea is fairly good. Slightly chemical tasting due to what I am assuming is the rose fragrance. But the Rose and apricot flavours go really well together. This feels like a really fancy tea. The white tea base is not terribly smooth, a bit of astringency but I had some brewing problems so it could be due to that. The tea is very thick and juicy tasting.

So it is my habit when brewing a tea bag, I always fill the cup with the hot water then put the tea bag it. I dislike when you pour hot water over a tea bag and it puffs up and floats to the tops. So I put my water in the cup, threw in the tea bag and turned my back for about 2 minutes. I could smell the beautiful aroma of the tea. When I turned out I realized that only the smaller corner of the tea bag was in the water, the rest of the bag getting somehow stuck on the rim of the cup, holding itself out of the water. So I put the tea bag in the water for another two minutes. But ther was a small portion of tea that had already been steeping. So I think that might have changed the flavour profile a bit. #teabagprobs

Day 7.

The smell of this tea very much screams HOLIDAYS!! It makes me think of when you go into one of those cutesy decor stores. The ones that burn scented oils and blast Christmas music and are always too warm. And you don’t want to move because if you turn your bag will slightly buffet the air which in turn will make thousands of delicate ornaments chinkle and then the lady working the counter will follow you around scowling until you leave. Ahhh, the holidays…

I thought this tea would be kinda chai, but it isn’t. The green base is strong but slightly astringent. There are hints of vanilla, sweet cinnamon, something nutty.

I liked the black tea version better. It is essentially the same but with an obvious black base.

Day 6.

This is one of my favorites. Today I am finding it with a bold black base. The citrus profile is also bold. It is not tart of bitter but also there is no overpowering sweetness. Because of this tea I had a period where I added an orange slice to my black teas. I am going to have to start doing that again.

Let the advent calendar continue…