Origines

Origines Tea advent Calendar – Day 24
To end the Advent Calendar, Origines decided to propose the most (traditionally) Xmassy Xmas tea, and although the spices are very present, this isn´t just “another Xmas tea”. Like the other spicy tea blends of the advent calendar the blend is complex and has a balanced profile that might seem a bit weird but …it works! In this case, the orange water goes wonderfully with the ginger or with the nutmeg, for instance. Definitely a Xmas tea to be enjoyed out of season!

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 23
Origines really impressed me with their mastering of tea blending, and the rooibos blends particularly stand out. Also here they combine red and green rooibos, and further add fruit and fruity flavourings…these latter are natural, but at least in nose they seem quite artificial to me (especially with the dry blend). Fortunately in mouth the fruitiness is well supported by the rooibos backbone, making this another enjoyable cuppa.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar- Day 22
A very aromatical tea this is, almost like a perfume really, with mango and bergamot in harmony. It tastes as a fruity green tea with a long fruity finish. A shame that the citrus (bergamot) doesn´t come through as much as I´ld have liked it. Origines recommends this blend also as iced tea, and I think this can work maybe better.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 21
This is a black tea based blend, but the added nuts and salted caramel – although together they only make up 1/3 of the blend – manage to imitate a chocolatey drink in nose, and a – rather weak to be honest – nut infusion in mouth. Not at all to my liking (but that needed to happen to at least one of these advent teas ;-) ).

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 20
Another infusion w/o tea, but this blend of dried fruit and lemon verbena is way more complex than I would´ve expected. The dry infusion smells like a fruit compote (over the winter months this is an example of comfort food for me!), the steeped infusion is fruity in a gentle way, both in nose and in mouth…also very comforting imho.

Origines Tea advent Calendar – day 19
This is another original Xmas tea from Origines, this time combining tropical with mint on a green (gunpowder) tea base. It´s really surprising how well these seemingly completely different profiles blend in together, with the mint standing out in nose (very subtly still), but in mouth the tea tastes warm with a refreshing minty long finish.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 18
This blend is Origines´way to honour its “terroir”, the “vignoble de Bordeaux”, and I think they succeeded in their objective. It contains not only grapes but also vine leaves and a bit of marc (the dry and solid remains after pressing the grapes in the process to make wine), and this surely presents itself in the aroma´s of the dry infusion, where it blends in brilliantly with the raspberry aroma´s. Once steeped, it smells more like an elegant rose (not bad either ;-) ). In mouth the grape and rose fuse together wonderfully, with the hibiscus not overwhelming all the rest in taste. I had it warm, but I can imagine it being as nice as an iced tea, just what Origines also indicates on its web page.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar _ Day 17
Celebration in the stars, so is this green tea blend called…but smelling it, “peperkoek” (for me, in Dutch), or “pain d´épices” (in French) comes to mind. At least for the dry tea leaves, as steeped the ginger (a whopping 19%) takes over. The brew tastes as a no alcohol grogg again, with the typical clove taste very present. A very christmassy tea blend, and a quite different one as well! Nice.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 16
A decent black tea backbone with added natural citrus aroma´s, where I only can clearly tell the content in bergamot of the dry tea leaves. Once steeped, the bergamot sort of fades away. In taste the Lady Grey blends always are far softer than the Earl Grey blends, and this is no exception. I prefer a more intense Earl Grey for breakfast though.

This is another tea, infusion really from the O&O Collection Chocolat, the collaboration of Origines tea&coffee company with Origines chocolate company. Also this infusion (cf. Cocktail Tropical) contains cacao bark, here in a blend with a few types of nuts. This nutty chocolate character overwhelms in the dry tea, and turns into a grogg-like smell for the steeped tea. It tastes like a chocolatey drink, quite strange.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 14
Fine green and white teas blended together with elderflower and (tropical) fruit aroma´s. Fortunately, these aroma´s are not at all overwhelming, which results in a subtly fruited elegant tea. Maybe even too subtle, as it´s difficult to get the elderflower (despite its 8% in composition) coming through and the pineapple is about the only fruit I can definitely notice here. When I first tasted this blend, I described it as a fresh piña colada over green tea.

Origines Tea Advent Calendar – Day 13 : this is a collaboration between Origines and another Bordeaux based company with expertise of chocolate. In this rooibos (blend of red and green rooibos) based infusion the chocolate-like addition is the cacao bark, which adds a dryness to the tropical fruit aroma´s in nose (for the dry tea blend). Once steeped, a ripe mango smell dominates. In mouth the tropical fruit smoothens the wooden character of the rooibos.

I had planned to check in my advent calendar teas on my phone while away from home, but in the end I not only didn´t do that, it took me some time after returning home to get me on steepster again… so this was Day12 from Origines Tea Advent Calendar, which I drank more than a month ago for the first time. Having tea calendars with pouches big enough for at least 5 tea brewing sessions has its advantage ;-)
This is a fresh tea, according to Origines´web page also great as an iced tea over Summer, which I can fully understand as it smells very minty, like an old fashioned chewing gum. Once steeped, the herbal taste of the green tea base comes through. This combination lingers on for a long time, which is really nice. Hopefully I can get myself to reserving the rest of the pouch for iced tea.

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 11
Spicy Chai …and indeed it is true to its name ;-) Spicy nose, with especially peppery taste, full of character, …and quite OK for once (as a “chai”, that is, I´m normally not a huge fan, to say the least). I use a glass glass and infuser, and the micropores of my infuser got completely blocked by this tea, so I´ll refrain from using this glass and infuser for the rest of the pouch as the steeped tea isn´t great to watch either (very hazy).

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 10
Chamomile and me don´t go well together ;-) A few years ago I had my worst tea/infusion experience with a chamomile blend, and now, I´m always really careful when I get the typical smell of chamomile…and yes, here it is! I admit it´s subtle and there are sweet honey notes coming through as well. The brew however is all chamomile. It was OK, maybe the elderflower and apple in the blend manage to take away the reaction I normally have with chamomile, so ouph!!!

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 9
Rayin de soleil (sunray) is a sencha green tea based blend, where fruit flavourings and flowers (marigold, cornflower) add to the elegant tasting experience. Warm with a good bite, where especially the apricot stands out. Indeed a ray of sunlight during these short days…

Origines Advent Calendar- Day8
Positive Teatox is a blend of yerba mate and green tea – and then I would instinctively say “boring” ;-) – with added citrus and tropical fruit (flavourings). These peach and mango flavourings stand out in nose, while the brew tastes like an unsweetened icetea, a home made one!
complex

Origines Advent Calendar – Day7
Rouge Délice is a cherry/strawberry/cranberry aromatised black tea, which normally wouldn´t interest me too much, as I find these type of teas very often too artificially and strongly flavoured. Moreover, cherry aroma´s very often smell like “mon cheri” to me, a boozy kirch like aroma which I don´t like. Here strawberry comes through more in smell, and it stays fruity. Once steeped, there´s an extra herbal, slightly bitter touch (cassis leaves?); finish is long. Not too bad ;-)

Origines Advent Calendar – Day6
A first real Xmas tea on Day6…on a red rooibos base, with cinnamon and biscuit in nose and in mouth more like s strudel, but not too sweet (fortunately). It reminds me – in a way – of a rooibos based blend by Bird&Blend which tasted just like custard…an amazing tasting experience! Honestly, I´ld wish all Xmas blends would be like this, i.e. w/o overdoing it with clove and cinnamon!

Origines Advent Calendar-Day 5
As its name already indicates, this is a litchi tea, on a white and green tea blend base. The base teas are nice big leaf teas of good quality, and the litchi flavourings are natural, not overly sweet (which I honestly was afraid of) and well in harmony with the rose petals and rose extract also used here. Litchi in nose and mouth, but it stays elegant, naturAL and not over the top…

Origines Advent Calendar – Day4
Indeed, I´m having some delay writing my tasting notes of the advent calendar teas ;-)
Origines tells me this tea is a “sobacha”, or a tea with “soba”, or buckwheat…I think this is a first for me, and I just adored it! I´m already preparing a trip to Japan, but as I´m really fascinated by the country, I´m afraid to go too early, i.e. to go w/o enough preparation…so, now I really want to try more sobachas :-))
I smell cacao when opening the pouch; this turns to something malted (cf. in ale) once steeped. And it drinks like a very aromatic chocolatey drink…nice!

Origines Advent Calendar-Day3
Tropical fruits like mango blend well with rooibos, I think. This is an example of it, really enjoyable both in nose and mouth. It´s quite surprising that it “breathes” mango, while the pieces of fruit in this blend are really apricot so the entire mango vibe comes from the natural aromas added.

Advent Calendar Origines-Day2 : Douce Harmonie
green/white tea base of good quality. The natural strawberry flavourings stand out in the nose. The rose petals and extract are not overwhelming (some similar teas almost seem perfumes ;-) not my cuppa BTW). Long finish.
This fruity floral tea reminds me so much of a typical British afternoon tea, to acompany high tea, in a tearoom with Laura Ashley designs for decoration…all the while reading a Jane Austen novel ;-)

This year I ordered a wonderful tea advent calendar…of a French company I hadn´t heard of before, Origines. I saw their tea and coffee (which I also bought, to share with my husband) advent calendars and they convinced me with their intention of making an advent calendar to be enjoyed by a family or a group of friends as every pouch has enough tea (or coffee) for quite a few cups (15-20g for tea, 40g for coffee). Furthermore, the calendar comes with a leaflet giving a lot of information about the tea blend (or the origin of the coffee beans), practical information to brew and taste the tea/coffee…and the ingredients are all bio as well!
So far (I´ve tasted a few already, as I´ll be travelling soon to my parents´place and I don´t intend to take my teas with me) the blends have been really great, and I can only recommend Origines´advent calendars.

Advent Calendar Day 1 – Earl Grey des Amoureux
Not the usual earl grey as the main citrus notes come from yuzu, and in nose yuzu and rose blend together wonderfully. Pale yellow in colour and particularly floral in mouth, which makes this overall a very elegant tea, maybe too easy going on the taste buds to have it at breakfast…