Maddy Barone Send Message

I didnt’ get to my advent calendar tea yesterday until nearly bedtime. It was a very high caffeine tea so I decided to skip it in favor of a different tea: Santa’s Secret. It is also caffeinated but not so highly as Night Owl.

This is a favorite not so much because of the flavor (which is fine, smooth and sweet) but because it brings back memories of friends in Winnipeg Manitoba. Every time I have this tea I am surrounded by good memories of dear people. It was very good last night.

Etsy Advent Calendar Day 6

A Minty/Rooibos herbal tea. It’s not a favorite, but it’s not bad. On a cold night like this (it is 1 above, or -18C at 5:00 pm) a hot tea is welcome. It is not bitter. I do get a faint mint flavor. And I like that it is caffeine free. I’ll have no trouble finishing the cup and may even re-steep.

I think I am envious of everyone else’s advent calendars. I told myself I was not going to order an expensive advent calendar this year. And I didn’t. This one was very inexpensive. And I do like to try different things. Maybe I’m just a tea snob. The quality of most of these teas is just not there. But I am probably jumping the gun. There are several bagged teas I enjoy, and there are still 18 days to go!

And the more I have of this one the better I like it.

Etsy Tea Advent Calendar Day 5

I have never heard of Prince of Peace Tea so I googled it. Okay, some of their teas got decent reviews on Amazon. I brewed it up. It was a tad bitter, so I added a dollop of flavored honey. I was given a ton of those flavored honey sticks. Unfortunately, the labels saying which bundle was which flavor, so I am guessing it was cherry. Kinda tastes like cough syrup. The honey, not the tea. I think a plain honey or even sugar would have been a better choice. The honey overwhelmed the tea. As it cooled I found myself enjoying it more. If I were to ever have it again I would cut back on the sweetener and drink it after it cools for a few minutes. I am giving this one a cautious recommendation because I did enjoy the second half of it.

Etsy Advent Calendar Day 4

Finally, we have a hit! Again, nothing is listed on the wrapper as to ingredients, but I found them on the website. Fruit, and black tea. This is nothing special, but a pleasant tea to enjoy with shortbread and jam. After the first three teas I was beginning to despair of finding one i like. Mind you, I wouldnt’ rush out to stock up on this one, but if I saw it in a hotel tea caddy I would happily brew and drink a cup.

We are expecting our first real snow of the winter tonight and tomorrow. Not a lot in my area, maybe 3 inches. But with 25-30 mile an hour winds, 3 inches is more than enough to cause white out conditions. I may not make it to church tomorrow. We’ll see. A perfect to lounge around writing out Christmas cards while sipping tea.

Day 3 of my Etsy Tea Advent calendar. This is one from Ahmad Tea. I have had a few things from them I’ve enjoyed. It looks like this advent calendar will feature various bagged teas from a number of different tea companies whose products may be easy to find in the grocery store. In a way that is nice. In past years I’ve done advent calendars from David’s, Damann Freres, Bird & Blend, The English Tea Shoppe and Tea Forte. They all had hits and misses, and was a great way for me to decide which teas to re-order from that company. This one, being (apparently) made up from fairly easily obtainable bagged teas, is a little different. I think I like it, although I haven’t LOVED any of the teas yet.

I am not a fan of hibiscus, so I kinda thought about not brewing this one. But I gotta try it, right? It brews up a gorgeous shade of dark pink, like hibby does. It looks so pretty in my white bone china cup. The flavor is hibiscus heavy, but not unbearably so. All I am able to taste is four things: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. This is a bit (quite a bit, to me) sour. Some people love sour things. Jolly Ranchers, anyone? But I have never liked sour, even before I lost my sense of smell. I added a small dollop of honey and that helpd. I was able to drink the cup.

It’s really not fair of me to rate tea since I completely miss most of the complexities that make tea such a great beverage. I guess I’m like an armchair art critique. I know what I like. I would like to have my sense of smell back, but it will be at least a year before I can have that steroid that restores my smell for a few weeks. Chemo completely destroyed my immune system and with the Covid pandemic my doctor refused to give the steroid to me when i saw her in October. But maybe next October? And hey, I beat stage 3c colorectal cancer. It would be a shame to die of Covid just because i wanted to be able to smell for two weeks.

So I am giving this tea a cautious recommendation. I think if you like hibiscus you will like this one.

Day 2 Etsy Tea Advent Calendar

I am not a fan of green tea. It always has a grass clippings edge to me. I almost didn’t brew it. But heck, it’s just one bag; why not try it? I like coconut.

Did not like this one. Glad I tried it, but I am not getting any coconut, only that grass clipping coating on the back of my tongue. Even worse, it is grass clippings that have been rained on and then sat in a very hot sun too long.

Others who like green tea might very well enjoy this one more. It is not for me. Even if a friend served this I wouldn’t drink it. So far my my tea advent calendar is 0 for 2. But we have 22 more days, so surely there will be some I like. Meanwhile, I think I will brew myself a little something I know I like.

Day 1 of my Etsy Tea Advent Calendar from Blue Moonstone.

I did not order a tea advent calendar from any of the usual places. I looked on /Etsy because I have found some good tea there. Specifically, A Quarter to Tea, which i dearly miss. I found this seller and thought I;d try it out. The advent calendar is a sturdy foam snowflake about 15 inches in diameter, and there are 24 packages individually wrapped in heavy paper tied to the snowflake.

So, Day One was a teabag of Gingerman. The first thing I noticed was that there was no ingredient list. Then I saw there were no leaves in the bag. The contents looked like they had been ground into grains. I thought maybe it was a rooibos based tea. I went out to the website and saw the ingredients were black tea, vanilla, cardamom, ginger and cinnamon. That sounded appealing.

It was… warm water. Now, I can’t smell, so i don’t always taste much. But cardamom? Cinnamon? Ginger? I should get something, So I don’t think i can recommend this one. Although if someone with a working nasal appendage tries it and enjoys, it I am wiling to chalk it up to very subtle flavors and let it go. At least it was not bitter or astringent. I mean, if a friend had me over for tea and served i could drink it.

I tell myself I really need to finish a tea before opening a new one. PHHHHTTT!

I had this one last night as my before-bed cup. It was yummy. Smooth, mildly sweet on its own, with a warm finish. I think it’s the maple that I like so well. It really is a cozy cuppa!

After seeing Evol Ving Ness’s tasting note I remembered I had this one unopened in the tea drawer and decided to brew it up. For some reason I was expecting something smoky. This is not smoky. It is black licorice (I love black licorice, but only a couple of pieces, because it quickly becomes too much) I saw some reviews that said it was bitter and astringent, but I am not finding it that way.

For someone without a sense of smell, this has a definitely anise flavor. The sip ends with a slightly sweet note. The flavor, for me, was enhanced as it cooled. I enjoyed it very much. It might become a little much if I have more than one cup at a time. As with black licorice, a little bit goes a long way. But this one will go into the regular rotation.

This was perfectly lovely! I can usually taste lemon because ‘sour’ is one of the flavors my dead tastebuds can discern. But i didn’t get any sour here, just a hint of tartness, but was buried under an almost creamy flavor. I bet if I could taste, I would ADORE this one. As it is, I do love it. It was a perfect after supper cup for a chilly evening.