New Tasting Notes

Adventageddon Day 17

Thank god it was a matcha day today because I woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a car. And I have been hit by a car, so I know that feeling well. I slurped this up pretty quickly before heading out to the office today, but I did really enjoy the sweet and nutty pistachio flavour and the softer creamy undertone. Reminds me of the Jell-o branded pistachio pudding mix which, to me at least, is a very nostalgic flavour.

This is probably one of my favourite matchas to be released this year. Maybe only topped by Pina Colada…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDsgx80yZkj/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAUJex2wVsQ&ab_channel=KishiBashiVEVO

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Adventageddon Day 17

Hard to pick standouts today since there were a lot of familiar favourites either literally, like in this case, or in a more general sense like with Inoki’s Keemun where that specific tea was new to me though I have a love for keemun overall.

I started my day with a mug of this though (paired with a chocolate raspberry yule cake) and it was perfect for two reasons. The first is that it was bold, spicy and intense enough to perk me up on a morning I woke up feeling EXHAUSTED and the second was that it felt quite festive which also helped with my mood because I knew it was going to be a long, loooonngggg feeling day since I had so many projects and pieces of information to hand over at work today given that…

I am officially on vacation! First proper vacation of 2024, and it’s actually for 26 straight days. I am so, so excited to just chill out and drink copious amounts of tea.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDsgx80yZkj/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yROdqOxjWog&ab_channel=JoeHertler

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Haven’t written about this one in (literally) years, but it’s a pantry staple at my house for medicinal purposes, whether it be stress, colds and flu, or a case of “just one more bite of Cheryl’s chocolate chiffon pie” at the work Christmas feast. (I’ll let you guess which one it is tonight.)

Other than that, comments from my very first review are still apropos:

… boy, this stuff will cure whatever ails ya because it’s:

An immuno-modulator that balances and improves the immune response of the body in fighting antigens (disease causing agents such as bacteria, viruses, microbes, allergens etc.) and maintaining health

I won’t get radiation poisoning either.

So here’s to good health, a better day tomorrow, and not glowing in the dark.

Tea Thoughts Winter Countdown: Day 14

Hmm! I’m honestly not super familiar with chrysanthemum, and I suspect this is not the most high-quality place to start — but still fun! I was getting some kind of wet rag, chamomile notes when I sniffed the freshly brewed tisane, but thankfully there’s none of that in the cup. It’s mildly floral, with some hay notes, and then a cooling menthol effect at the end. Not sure I’m getting much from the goji berries, but maybe they’ll show up in my second steep!

knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 17 (my pick)
Theme: Santa’s Reindeer
Her pick: Reindeer Fuel from Adagio

Apparently I’ve never written a note for this?! I should really go through my virtual cupboard and find all the older teas that I haven’t tried or written about…

Anyway, I really like this one. It almost reminds me of a white tea, it has that same light and airy hay and oat flavor, with just a touch of green-ness. The oat tastes a bit raw, a touch earthy. It’s lightly creamy and then the caramel toffee part pokes it head out near the end of the sip to give a sweet finish. Just really unusual and lovely!

Day 6 of DIY mostly Adagio advent calendar. I needed this palate cleanser after the Orange Pomander. This struck me as a very solid mid-range jasmine. Floral in a way that feels scented, not like jasmine essence has been added. A bit dry. I like a whiff of sweetness in my jasmine teas, but I’m not picking up on any here. I stopped after two steeps to avoid over-caffeinating for the day. I added agave syrup to the second steep, which complemented the jasmine nicely. This would make a perfectly reasonable daily drinker, especially on days where you can’t give the cup your full attention so you maybe don’t want to be using your fanciest stuff.

Day 16 of the Lupicia advent calendar. Just a single sachet, thankfully. I have done it, everyone. I have found Lupicia’s worst tea by a mile (or kilometer, or any other measure of distance). I brewed this as instructed, which feels really important to note here. This was not an overbrew. Upon taking my first sip, I exclaimed “WHY” to an empty room. It’s just a mouthful of clove. The cloviest clove that ever cloved. Somewhere behind the clove is maybe a hint of citrus, if you can make it past the sea of clove to find it. I think my cup personally has all of the clove flavor that others could barely detect in theirs. I felt guilty about pouring this out because the calendar was so expensive, but I found it literally undrinkable. I forced down a few sips for science. That was the most I could manage.

The 4th Tea of Christmas . . .

I know that I just mentioned that the 3rd tea of Christmas this year (Crisp Cranberry Soda) is one of my faves, this tea IS my fave. Or at least, within the top 3 all-time favorites. I absolutely love this tea.

I think it is probably on the poll every year & It is quite often reblended as a result, however, some years, it doesn’t quite make the vote. I’m quite sad when that happens, because it’s one I WANT to reblend. (And quite often, when it doesn’t quite make the vote, I’ll end up reblending it the next year during a “reblend” month just because I want to reblend it.)

This is the tea. When I first crafted it – I was inspired by my favorite cafe/coffee shop drink – a London Fog. The cafe that I would go to occasionally would make – at my request – a london fog using coconut milk rather than cow’s milk or other milk alternative. And that was my inspiration to craft this tea, because as I would sip that london fog, I found myself loving how the hint of coconut flavor from the coconut milk melded with the bright citrus notes of the bergamot & the overall creaminess of the cup. But I wanted MORE coconut. So, this tea was born.

I love it so much. This tea combines three of my favorite tea flavors in one cup: bergamot, vanilla & coconut. It’s simply perfection in my eyes & if I were to rate my own tea (which I don’t) I would rate it a 100 because I love it so much.

This batch is no exception to that. I love it. It’s a 100!

The 3rd Tea of Christmas:

I know I should have posted this yesterday as the proper day for the countdown for this tea was yesterday, but yesterday was a bit weird & I totally procrastinated it. Sorry!

Anyway, this tea! This is one of my all-time faves, which is especially surprising for me as the caffeine-free teas that I craft, while I do enjoy each & every one of them, I would have a hard time saying any one of them is a “fave” but this one is definitely an exception to that! This is a fave!

I first crafted this back in 2016, it was part of the first 12 Teas of Christmas box that I put out there – those of you who have been with me since the start of my 52Teas takeover might remember that the first Christmas that I did as the Mad Tea Artist was a 5 “holiday” tea special set that included some amazing teas, but the following year, after much feedback from the customers, I brought back the 12 Teas of Christmas, but with a few changes from Frank’s 12 Teas of Christmas. His version of the 12 Teas of Christmas included 11 reblends from the best selling teas of the previous year & 1 brand new seasonal tea as the 12th tea. Mine, as you probably know, includes 8 reblends as voted on by YOU, the customers, and 4 brand new blends with the season in mind.

This tea was crafted as one of the 4 brand new teas that I crafted that year – and it is one that I get requested for reblends all throughout the year, every year! It is well loved throughout my base of customers & it is well loved in this house as well.

I cold-brewed my batch of this tea this time around. I don’t usually cold-brew a lot during the colder months, because I prefer the cozy hot tea vibe, but I decided to just go for it because this tea is AWESOME as a cold-brew. It’s just better served chilled because it IS a “soda” tea after all. Soda tastes better cold.

The green rooibos base is crisp & light, perfect for the hints of lemon & lime as well as the star of the show – the bright, tart cranberry! It’s sweet, tart & so refreshing!

Advent Day 16

Woooo this is minty! I poured the hot water, placed the teabag in my cup and then the phone rang, but I had my headphones on so the sound was coming through them and couldn’t track down where my phone was. I went into a panic because I didn’t want to miss the return call from the company who installed the gutters on my new house in ’21. We have had two storms come through and the gutters have overflowed into the attic which then leaks down through two stories of 140 year old Victorian house and a scramble to manage the leak ensues. The result of the call was they are sending someone out tomorrow to look at them and WAIT…. I HAD A CUP OF TEA STEEPING!!!! That was what it was like in my brain minus the other five things spinning in it at the same time.

Minty cup, but not bad at all for having been oversteeped. The green base of the tea comes out a little more as it cools, but I mostly just get mint. I feel like a lot of the teas in this advent would be better cold steeped in the summer. Can someone put out a mid summer advent for just that purpose, please?

Advent Day 17

This… yes. I really enjoyed this cup. It had such a warm baked flavor to it. In my morning haze I didn’t realize it was ginger until I reread the name. It’s a baked ginger… like banana bread kind of baked, but with ginger. I had no idea that there was a thing called gingernut biscuit, but I wonder how it compares to gingersnaps. I over steeped this tea and it was very forgiving. I tried for a second steep and got a not too bad, but lighter in flavor second cup. I’m into this tea.

S&V Advent Day 17! This tea is a bit smoky, and it steeped up pink from some fruit that’s in the mix, but I don’t taste too much of that. I’m drinking this at room temperature with milk and sugar, and it’s a bit different, but not something I’d seek out. At the very end of the sip, I might catch a hint of fruit.

Sipdown! (1 | 157)

Yep, first sipdown for the month lol! XD Hardly unexpected though.

I just got my winter OBTC subscription box, so I figured I would finish off this one last tea from the fall one! Really enjoyed this, Green Chile Biscochito is a favorite of mine, and the addition of more cinnamon really bumps up the cookie aspect. And I do think the woodiness of the rooibos goes very well with the other flavors. Perfect for winter, too!

As for the winter box… sigh. They did a sort of Mele Kalikimaka theme (they didn’t call it that, but that’s the vibe), which means half of the box is tropical and basically summer teas. I get it, they don’t want it to be the same every year so they come up with new ideas, but come on… Fall and winter are my favorite seasons, and summer is my least favorite! And no, I don’t really want a mango green rooibos in December! Obviously first world problems lmao, but I just thought I would whine a bit to my fellow teaholics. T.T

knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 17
Theme: Santa’s Reindeer
My pick: Cereal Lover Caramel from Dammann Frères

Ooh! I’ve been curious about this for a while. It’s one of those teas that sounds good to me in theory – a chocolate mint black tea and maté blend – but that I’m hesitant to actually purchase in order to try. Chocolate flavoring and I don’t get along, plus Adagio and I often also don’t get along… So thanks Marjorie, for picking this so I get to try a sample!

As I expected, it’s not my favorite. The peppermint is very murky-tasting, and something else is very, shall we say, earthy. Maybe it’s the ginger? And then the chocolate flavoring is quite prominent, and has that fake, almost alcoholic chocolate taste. It’s all very sharp together, and a touch bitter (though it has also now cooled). Drinkable, but very, very muddled for sure.

But super happy to have tried it, now I don’t have to be curious anymore! XD

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 17

Hooray! A Fortnum tea I have never tried before!

I asked Alexa (my Echo device) what was in this before I made it this morning thinking she would say she didn’t know. Instead she lied to me and told me it was a peach tea. I have had their Black Tea with Peach and really didn’t think they would put peach in a blend called Albion. Look on the website and I was right. This is a black tea blend with Assam and I believe it said there was some African tea (Kenya?)as well.

It is a hearty tea that I would classify as Irish Breakfast style. I was really surprised to hear that Ashman drank it for breakfast without any additions. This is one where the Assam is strong enough to tempt me to add milk, but I didn’t and had it at both breakfast and lunch and it was pretty good. It isn’t what I would consider a luxury tea but rather a decent daily drinker type.

Edit to add: just tried the final cup with milk (no sugar) and this really elevated it. Yum!

Very happy to have tried it, because I love trying new Fortnum teas!

not sure about this one… it’s chai, so of course it’s very comforting and nice for the chilly days we’ve been getting here in mtl, but that fake rum flavour can be a bit offputting. tried preparing this the “traditional” way one would make masala chai (not so traditional of course since these are tea bags lol) and it was a LOT better than simply steeping it in hot water. still, that rum flavour is a bit too weird for me and i don’t think i’ll be purchasing this again – i was just a bit curious as i usually quite like stash’s offerings.

Kelmishka Homemade Advent Day 16! I’ve received this tea in the subscription box several times throughout the years, and I’m always happy to see it. It’s so smooth, creamy, and minty, but well-balanced. It’s perfect cold with just a little sugar. It’s definitely my favorite minty tea!

ADVENT DAY 17, tea 3/3

Yes, a relaxing blend. How welcomed today!
Doesn’t taste anyhow special… herbaceuous notes with hints of lemon from different sources and hints of floral notes thanks to elderflowers.

Nice and mellow, enjoyable especially warming up in the bath.

additional notes: Restock! Yup, this is the keemun for me. The keemun I prefer. I have tried some others, but this is the one. :D

ADVENT DAY 17, tea 2/3

Gongfu, 3 grams / 100 ml (not filling full gaiwan) / 90°C (as suggested)

Nice and grassy sencha, with no seaweed, buttery or salty taste; instead I got nice meadow and freshly cut grass notes.

I wasn’t paying too much attention to the steeps, so some were good, some worse and one or two were truly exceptional with very long mouthfeel and nice flavour and aromas. In those exceptional steeps are definitely also notes of mountain and morning dew (no matter how lyrical this sounds) and to be honest, maybe I just didn’t noticed or it’s not there… there was no umami (or very low).

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 17

Two literary black teas in a row? Interesting choice. Sometimes I wonder how much thought tea companies really put into the order of their advent teas ha ha. But we haven’t seen many holiday teas yet, so they must be saving them for the end, which does imply they thought about it…

Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to make of the ingredients for this one, but it’s actually quite nice! I was a bit afraid of the puerh, but luckily it’s quite mild and blends well with the black tea. The balance of black tea, puerh, and lapsang is very good – a nice mix of smooth, satisfying, earthy, and savory smoke without anything overpowering the other elements. I do think it needs a touch more bergamot, as all that is a lot to compete with ha ha. I can taste some bergamot, especially in the finish, but would like more to better offset the hefty base. My sample must have not had enough beet pieces in it, because my cup is a reddish brown at best.

Still, quite a nice one! Would happily sip again.

The jam today is… strawberry and strawberry ha ha. It’s Strawberry-Wild Strawberry Spread. I don’t have a concept of what wild strawberries taste like, the ones I tried when I was young mostly tasted like water. This was delicious though, very punchy and intense strawberry flavor and not too sweet.

ADVENT DAY 17, tea 1/3
Tasting note #2000

More or less similar to Scottish breakfast blend, but milder and more malty. Also very strong in caffeine, robust and strong tea. Less of the woody flavours. Tasty overall, but somehow I prefer the Scottish. Maybe because it tastes just stronger, maybe it actually is… maybe I didn’t liked Ceylon here enough?

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar: Day 16

Someone over at S&V must’ve been so pleased to realize that Jane Austen’s birthday is in December!

I’m a huge Austen fan and reread the canon every few years, and I was also lucky enough to take an Austen-centric class during undergrad (English major reporting for duty!). Her dry, understated humor and boundless wit always delight me, and I love how keenly (and often mercilessly) she captures the foibles of human nature.

Anyway, I was happy to see this one yesterday, although I only steeped it up this morning (while reading some Ursula K. Le Guin, haha). It’s a pretty sedate black base with bright, cooling spearmint predominating, and then some and creamy, pillowy notes from the vanilla — it’s more marshmallow-y than vanilla-y, in my opinion! I get a smidge of lavender on the back of a sip, but I could honestly do with more.

This is somehow refreshing and cozy, which I appreciate. I might consider purchasing it and adding some additional lavender from my own garden.

Devon Bartholomew Advent Day 17

I’m not much of a puerh drinker , so this was an interesting change of pace for me today! It definitely has that deep earthiness that I associate with puerh, but thankfully none of that funky “fishy” flavor that I dislike! Perhaps it’s my palate that’s to blame, but I find this a bit flat and one-note. Not unpleasant, but just a bit boring.