Teeccino

Catching up on advent calendar notes today! I definitely got too many this year, so I’ll be doing this for a while. I think three is what’s actually realistic for me to keep this fun and interesting rather than stressful and overwhelming. This year I got the Teeccino, Clipper, Dammann Freres, Kiani, Plum Deluxe (advent and Hanukkah sampler), DavidsTea herbal, TeaThoughts, and did the Steepster homemade advent. I only managed to stay mostly on track with 4 of them, and even then my notes aren’t all up to date. TeaThoughts is a constant, but I’ll have to be more thoughtful and selective about my other advents next year!

French Roast is day 22 of the Teeccino advent calendar. Apparently I HATED this blend ten years ago, describing it as tasting like “burnt chicory, with a hint of carob.” It’s still not my favorite Teeccino blend, but I’ve softened on it with time. It doesn’t have any astringency or bitterness, but it’s thick and has a pronounced chicory note that makes it clear that it’s not coffee. The blend is particularly disadvantaged because I accidentally mixed up my mug with another and drank some incredibly good coffee thinking that it was this tea, then went back to this tea – so the not-coffee-ness of the tea was very acutely obvious. It’s less of a big deal in the flavored blends because the flavoring takes center stage, and somehow the dark roast seems to have been a better dupe for coffee. On the up side, my tastes have changed in ten years and I now quite like chicory, so I’m adjusting my score (up from 12!) accordingly.

Backlog – I keep scribbling notes as I go and then failing to type them up into coherent paragraphs.

I had a nice big Sunday breakfast yesterday and wanted a cup of coffee with my meal. I can’t really have coffee, so I thought I’d give this a shot instead.

I’d have done better drinking coffee. This just tastes like burnt chicory, with a hint of carob. I followed package instructions (brew 3-5 minutes using boiling water), so I don’t think the burnt taste can be attributed to user error. I found this thoroughly unenjoyable. I took a sip, was put off by the taste, ate until I forgot just how bad it was and decided to give it another shot, and was equally put off the second time. And the third. After that, I just poured out the rest.

Lucky this is a sample.

I can’t believe my original note for this tea is from ten years ago. whoa. Now thanks to Michelle, I get to see how my taste buds have changed after ten years. I think I remember these flavors! The chicory wasn’t my thing years ago, and it still really isn’t my thing. When I see a description that says dates, or vanilla, or nuts, or almonds, or dates. I’d really rather those flavors make an appearance rather than something like chicory. The chicory kind of takes over from the rest of that amazing combination. It is a dark cup though, which I like. And a change of flavors when I brew it up once every ten years. :D Getting over the disappointment of what I think these flavors SHOULD be for all of these great ingredients, this is actually a unique flavor profile, especially for no caff, that I wouldn’t mind having around in the cupboards.

James R sent me some of this with the Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Sunset I bought – thanks! This is interesting! Now, I’m no coffee expert — I drank more coffee when I was four years old (with milk in it). So coffee drinkers would probably scoff at this. But I like it! It’s like a watery coffee that tastes very much like coffee, but with added tea-like things that you wouldn’t find in coffee to make it better… like dates. And I like that it doesn’t have caffiene! This is a nice change from all this tea I’ve been drinking.

I do miss drinking coffee sometimes but not the acid reflux that always seemed to come with it. It doesn’t really taste like coffee but it’s dark and satisfying with a nice barley hazelnut and date flavor. I did add some soymilk and it’s a nice afternoon drink, I had some for dessert last night too. I liked it and will probably get more and try the other flavors. Although I guess it isn’t really a tea! ;-)

It’s no mocha – or Mayan chocolate truffle – not even close. But it is a great coffee alternative. My only complaint is that the chocolate flavor isn’t a little stronger to make it really stand out from the original Teeccino.

A good coffee alternative – the vanilla flavor is not too strong like some of the other Teeccino flavors – in fact it is quite mild.

This is a good alternative if you like flavored coffees. The cloying hazelnut flavor is a little overwhelming for me – but it doesn’t render the cup undrinkable – I just know that I have to pair it with the proper cookie :)

It’s not coffee. If the caffeine or acidity of coffee bothers your stomach, then you should try Teeccino. It tastes like mediocre coffee and gives you that warm feeling like drinking a cup of coffee gives you. It’s a nice alternative if you were told you shouldn’t drink coffee anymore.

OK, this has “coffee” in the name but technically it’s no different from some of the tisanes that have been reviewed here on Steepster as it’s really just a herbal blend. I wanted to share this here because of how freaking good it is!

I prepared this using a steeping basket and it turned out awesome. The fragrance is rich and chocolaty and there’s an indescribable depth. The flavor is bold, malty, full of body and the chocolate is very pronounced. There’s also a subtle heat from the chili peppers which enhance the chocolate flavor.

This is the best caffeine free chocolate beverage I’ve ever tasted. It’s a little pricey, but I’ll be keeping this in the pantry for the winter ahead.