English Tea Shop

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Recent Tasting Notes

61
drank Festive Spice by English Tea Shop
681 tasting notes

This was in the advent calendar two days running, and because I’m just drinking through it and ignoring the dates, that means I had it twice in one morning. I’m not complaining though, because I didn’t really fancy anything else, and I quite enjoyed it both times. As I was drinking my first mug, I noticed some astringency and wished I’d added a splash of milk. So when I saw it in the next slot of the calendar, I remedied that and made my second cup with milk. I enjoyed it both times, but I think the winner was with milk, as the black tea is quite robust and not a particularly nuanced one that loses anything with the addition of milk. There’s a gorgeous, sweet aroma coming from the steeping leaf that makes me think it’s going to be a dessert-type tea, but it doesn’t quite come through in the sip. It is a little more mellow than most ‘spice’ blends, and possibly has a touch of vanilla in there. The cinnamon is also quite forward, making it feel on the sweeter side of chai. Not one I would buy, but one I will happily sip on on this cold December morning.

Preparation
Boiling 8 OZ / 236 ML

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69

Lo and behold, another winner from the advent calendar! Two in one day, how thrilling! Despite the name, this isn’t particularly minty. It’s billed as a ‘green tea with cinnamon, peppermint and liquorice’, but weirdly I taste melon?? The cinnamon is, big surprise, almost non-existent, but the liquorice comes through towards the back end of the sip, and it’s a liquorice root sort of liquorice, not black liquorice. While I’m happy about that because I’m not a black liquorice fan, it does get a little too sweet as the cup cools. Nevertheless, I’m pretty happy with this one!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Dustin

Cinnamon, peppermint and green tea seems like such an odd combo!

Nattie

That seems to be their MO! But tbh it’s not that weird, because the cinnamon may as well not be there, so it’s more like just peppermint green which is a much more common combination.

Lupiressmoon

I do the same thing, will taste something not in these teas and wonder where it’s coming from lol

Nattie

It was super weird! It was stored in the calendar away from my other teas so it’s not contamination, but it definitely tasted like melon! I don’t think it was the green tea base either, judging by the other greens I’ve had in the calendar. Maybe the liquorice?? Idk but it was weird.

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61

When I typed the name of this tea into the Steepster search bar, only one tea came up – something called ‘Lemongrass Peppermint Tropical Punch’ by the same company. Like many of these advent calendar blends, I suspect that they’ve renamed it for this ‘organic’ version and that it’s essentially the same tea, particularly as peppermint features heavily in the ingredients list of this blend.

This is a very average tea, but because my expectations were so low after the other teas in the calendar, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It’s essentially a fruity lemongrass tisane, though since the only fruit in here is apple (which is definitely recognisable as apple and can’t pass as something more exotic) it is beyond me why they decided to label it ‘tropical’, making me expect something like mango or papaya. Maybe it’s the addition of hibiscus which inspired the name, but all this really does is add a characteristic metallic hint to the end of the sip so I almost wish it wasn’t included. Despite being high on the ingredients list – 2nd after lemongrass – peppermint is barely discernable until the end of the sip, and it’s definitely more earthy than minty here. Chamomile is also listed in the ingredients, but isn’t noticeable at all. As it cools, the hibiscus becomes more noticeable, so it’s definitely best drank hot if you’re not a hibby fan.

Overall, I wouldn’t buy this, but it’s better than most of the advent calendar teas have been, and fine as an accompaniment for the Cajun chicken flatbread I’m having for lunch.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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42
drank Spooky Spice by English Tea Shop
681 tasting notes

I’m ready to scream, why is everything in this advent calendar so samey?! Generic, astringent green tea base, with the same blend of chai-style ‘holiday’ spices as all of the others, and again I can’t taste any of them. I’m drinking this at the same time as an iced black coffee, and the coffee is genuinely more enjoyable. It certainly has more flavour.

It seems they’re just swapping one or two of the spices around without much thought and calling it a day for the majority of these teas. I’ve just counted from the ingredients breakdown on the back, and 7 of them sound extremely similar, which is not good considering they’re doubled up and there are only 13 ‘unique’ teas in the whole calendar, so that accounts for half of them! I don’t think I’ve tried them all yet, but so far there have only been one or two I’ve truly enjoyed, while the majority have been just this average blend of disappointing nothingness.

This rant is aimed more at the calendar than the tea itself, which is just the latest of these blurring together of samey teas, but it is probably the worst one yet. Maybe I’ll be in a better mood when I drink the second bag of this and able to give it a more constructive review, but for now I’ll just say that at least the box is pretty.

I’ve just remembered the garlic tea. Never mind, it’s the second worst.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
Lupiressmoon

Ugh, sorry on your rough start, .Today is December 1st here so I am still waiting to try both of my Advent calendar samples. Sorry on that with your blends :( Hopefully it improves

Nattie

This is an old advent calendar from last year I’m trying to use up, so luckily I’m nearly finished with it! I hope you enjoy your calendars! (:

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67

Another nice one from the advent calendar! You can’t really go wrong with a green mint tea. This one has a decent amount of mint without being overpowering, and there’s a hint of creamy sweetness rounding it out from the vanilla. There’s not as much green tea in the blend, it looks like it’s about 50/50 tea and mint leaves, and I think that’s a decent proportion. The green tea is definitely present, and gives the tea body, but it’s not astringent and just buoys up the creamy mint, which is the star of the show. As with the other teas in the calendar, there are a whole bunch of completely unnecessary ingredients which add nothing at all to the flavour, and just seem like a waste of time. The cinnamon, orange peel and chicory don’t come out at all. I’ve had better ‘candy cane’ type teas in the past, but I wouldn’t complain about drinking this again.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 8 min or more 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Michelle

Mint makes everything better, especially this time of year :)

Nattie

I do love me some mint!

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61
drank Happy Holiday by English Tea Shop
681 tasting notes

I don’t know what I did differently, but this is much nicer than the cup I had a couple of days ago! Maybe I used cooler water this time (I have to eyeball it since my temperature-variable kettle is packed away in the garage), but the green tea is less astringent, and the fruitiness comes through a lot more. I still wouldn’t say it tastes like pomegranate, more like blackcurrant, but it’s actually quite prominent and makes for an enjoyable cup. Still no sign of the spices anywhere, I have no idea why they bothered to add so many. Bumping my rating up from 52 because I’m actually quite enjoying it this time!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 8 min or more 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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61
drank Happy Holiday by English Tea Shop
681 tasting notes

Of all of the English Tea Shop advent teas I’ve tried so far, I think this has the longest list of ingredients, and most of them are completely undetectable. I’ve also noticed that a lot of them are quite similar in their ingredients, so I’m not too impressed with this one. The green tea base is weirdly more astringent than the last one was, I was hoping that a longer steep would bring out some more of the flavours but in the end I had to take the teabag out as the astringency was becoming more prominent. It’s mostly an average green tea with some nondescript fruitiness which I wouldn’t say tastes like pomegranate. I can kind of smell the cinnamon, and if I concentrate really hard I can just about convince myself that I can taste it, but the rest of the huge long list of ingredients fades into nothingness. Not my favourite!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 8 min or more 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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72

Welp, I did not remember to take the teabag out and improve on the tea like I hoped in my last note. In fact, I steeped it in too-cool water (for the second time today) and all I got was the metallic note without any of the yummy berry. So sad. I really should read these things before I finish my cup, not after…

Well this is gone now. Not technically a sipdown since I never added it to my cupboard, but only one tea left from last year’s advent calendar and then I’m free to drink whatever I fancy!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 8 min or more 8 OZ / 236 ML

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72

This one is nice!

The green tea base is delicate and not very astringent, it’s barely there until the very end of the sip, which I don’t mind as I’m not really a lover of green teas. After a couple of minutes, it was a really nice berry tea, most likely from the acai, and I probably should have taken the teabag out like the instructions said. But I left it in, and it still has the juicy berry note, but it’s competing with a slightly earthy, slightly metallic note I could have done without. It’s still nice, and not at all unpleasant, I just wish I’d taken the teabag out and kept that delicious, bright juicy berry tea! The advent calendar I’m working through has a couple of each of the teas in it, so I’ll have to remember that for the next time and hopefully improve on the rating. This is my favourite from the calendar so far!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 8 min or more 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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37
drank Chai Charge by English Tea Shop
681 tasting notes

Ugh, this one again. At least it’s the last of it from the advent calendar, and I will never have to drink it again! Garlic still prominent, sadly. It’s mostly a plain rooibos in the sip, with a lightly spicy, lingering garlic aftertaste. Just, why?

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 10 OZ / 295 ML
Lupiressmoon

Ew, Garlic? Mixed with Rooibos?

whosbradpitt

Garlic and wet wood chips (which is what rooibos tastes like to me) – no thanks!

Nattie

Yup, it’s a big no all round

Leafhopper

That doesn’t sound appealing at all!

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37
drank Chai Charge by English Tea Shop
681 tasting notes

Teabag left in during drinking.

This is a weird tea. At first it smells super sweet, but it contains turmeric and garlic and after a couple of minutes the garlic really comes through. Vague spiciness in the background, but really, it tastes mostly like a garlic-y rooibos and that’s just not something I’m on board with.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
gmathis

Garlic? In soup, maybe …

ashmanra

37 was generous

Nattie

@gmathis – I love garlic in my food, but tea is where I draw the line!

@ashmanra – lol, I think I might have been a bit too generous actually. It was really not good!

Martin Bednář

Garlic rooibos? Bleh, and I like garlic in general.

Nattie

@Martin – It’s not a good combination, I don’t recommend it! Believe it or not, it’s not actually the first garlic rooibos I’ve had XD

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57

As I noticed with my last English Tea Shop blend, this also seems to be a renamed organic version of an existing blend from the company – this time Ginger Bread Man.

I left the tea bag in to steep while I was drinking, and noticed that the ginger became a lot more prominent as I drank. At first, the cinnamon was the most prominent note in the initial sip, followed by the apple and clove intermingling, chased by the ginger, which was faint but present. As the tea steeped, the ginger became more prominent until it was the most prominent note throughout the sip, with the cinnamon, apple and clove becoming background notes which are only noticeable at the end of the sip.

It doesn’t taste much like gingerbread, and ginger isn’t my favourite flavour to begin with, but it’s a decent cup for a winter’s night. Not bad, but not one I’d run out to buy.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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55

Procrastinating writing an essay by writing a tasting note for the first time in two years, apparently…

Bag left in while drinking. Nice malty black tea with very little astringency, slight hint of the spices with the star anise the most noticeable, followed by the cloves and then not much of the ginger except for a little warmth at the back of the throat. Take this with a pinch of salt though, I’m drinking through an advent calendar from last year so there’s a good chance the tea has just gotten old and lost flavour! (I will admit though, with some shame, that I have much older teas than this in my cupboard which still have much more flavour).

Anyway, I’m going to attempt to get on with my essay now and not get too too distracted! If I start writing dozens of tasting notes over the next few days, somebody please stage an intervention.

Edit: The more I drink, the more I feel like there is some mint coming through, though it’s not listed in the ingredients. Looking at English Tea Shop’s ‘Spicy Anise’, which looks very similar but lists mint, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be the same blend but renamed for the ‘organic’ version.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
gmathis

Well, hello! Glad you put off the homework long enough to check in!

Nattie

@gmathis – hi there! It’s nice to check in and see that there are plenty of you still here. I hope you’re well!

ashmanra

I hope the essay flows smoothly for you! Almost time for winter break!

Nattie

@ashmanra – thank you! It’s actually flowing too well, I have 4000 words of a 2000 word essay and I’ve only written 1/3 of the points I wanted to make!

Martin Bednář

Hello there! Happy dance as I am seeing you here again. I believe I have still some tea (coffee flavoured, AffogaTEA) for you? Nevermind, I am just happy to see you again.

ashmanra

Nattie: Oh my! I’m not sure if that is better or worse than being stuck or drawing a blank!

Nattie

@Martin – hey!! Glad to see you! Hope you’re well. Oh gosh, I’m so sorry to have disappeared for so long, I can’t believe you still have that tea! I will send you a message when I have the time (might be a couple of days though). So nice to hear from you (:

@ashmanra – Lmao, I do this all the time with my essays and I’m still not sure myself! At a certain point I just have to cut my losses and delete all the stuff I wanted to include.

Martin Bednář

Nattie: I have to find it first! But I believe it is somewhere over there, put aside.

Nattie

@Martin – don’t worry about finding it just now, I’m not in any hurry! (:

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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80
drank Sour Peach by English Tea Shop
1194 tasting notes

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