New Tasting Notes

Good morning. Got a lot of backlogs to work my way through. I bought a Dammann Frères advent calendar for both myself and Kiki, but since I don’t live with her anymore, it’s been difficult to coordinate drinking the teas together. Hoping in January I can spend some time making tea for her and logging her reactions.

For now, these are mine and many are gonna be short.

DF Advent — Day 1

If you’ve been disappointed by mango-flavored teas and are still pining for an accurate presentation, Bella Blanca might be what you’re looking for. Full-bodied and viscous with a potentially earthy, white tea hay taste. Bergamot rings the high note. The mango is lovely, sitting comfortably in the midtone with it’s sweet, fruity notes and faint edge of pine. An almond cookie flavor softens everything and ties it all together. Don’t steep it too hot or too long, though, as it can get bitter and very strong. Maybe go less than the recommended steep time.

ADVENT DAY 14, tea 1/3

Yay, a flavoured green! Oh, jasmine… yes the buds are present. But fruits? Why to ruin it with fruits?

After steeping I noticed the jasmine for sure and base tea was okay; but that whiff of fruits, made from flavourings only (!) was just making whole tea muddled in flavours and it wasn’t working well with the flowers.

When something is called a fruit salad, I would expect an explosion of fruits… but that would cover the jasmine. Well, as I said, I don’t think that those two go together.

2024 Sipdown Challenge | December | A tea you don’t drink in summer

Logging this one for the sipdown. I’ve been holding onto this last teabag for a while and finally drank it last night. So cozy and warming… gonna up my rating by a few points.

2024 sipdown count: 44

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar: Day 14

I wish S&V included just a liiittle more tea in each packet, because I think some of the blends I’ve tried so far would really benefit from overleafing. I had a feeling that would be the case with this one, so I brewed it up with less water than usual. It still feels weak, though!

I’m mostly getting a zippy raspberry, with a noticeable tang coming from the hibiscus. I can pick up the scent of chocolate, but I don’t taste it… which is probably a good thing, because I suspect it would be that awful faux chocolate flavoring.

Meh, this isn’t doing much for me! The raspberry is verging on too sour without chocolate to balance it.

I went to a lovely french tea shop in Kansas City, Missouri and got to try this Lapsang Souchong. The tea house, Emilie’s French Teas, advertised this tea with the line – KC BBQ Style. If you know about Kansas City, you know how important the smoker is to the barbeque that is made her.

It was my first lapsang I have tried, but loving smokey flavor in whiskey and pork alike, I knew I would enjoy this tea.

And I wasn’t wrong, the smokey smell from the cup was sweet and delicious, the strength made me worry about the flavor, that it would feel more like liquid smoke, but instead there was a sweetness that I have come to learn is typical of lapsangs. The sweetness is extremely subtle, and did not stick around long after the swallow, just a couple of breaths.

On a cold day in Kansas City, this was a perfect warm beverage, and though I would have loved to experience the complexities of further brews, and will report when I do have a lapsang at home that I can tinker with, the two cups from the same brew that I had at Emilie’s was wonderful, particularly with the pain au chocolat that isn’t baked until the order.

On a trip to Shang’s I got to talking with the wonderful host there, Jackson, I believe, and in discussing the tea that is grown by the owner, and the wonderful complexities of lovingly crafted and well made tea, I got to try a sample of some of the teas that were brewed in house.

The Brick Aged White Stuck out to me. It was a delicious smell underlined with tobacco notes from the aging, and the taste was fanstastic, the tobacco coming through and the earthiness of the white tea felt like an autumn dream. I only had a small sample, unfortunately, so cannot speak on the complexity of multiple brews, but I now have this tea on my list as a special treat through the winter months to remind me of an autumnal walk.

The honeysuckle’s vanilla sweetness is the first thing you’ll notice, seconds into the first brew. It is an immensely pleasant aroma, and though it may seem that the strength of the smell will be a sign of overpowering sweetness on the tongue, the first sip is a velvet smooth sweetness. Don’t get me wrong, this tea is sweet, but it isn’t a dessert, the taste is light enough and complex enough (an attribute of Shang’s excellent white tea) that you will be interested in how the complexity develops in the following brews.

The taste is fleeting after the sip, not sticking to the tongue for undue time, and there is a nutty flavor underneath it all. This nutty flavor comes out more and more as the tea develops through the brew, but by the 4th brew, is not nearly as strong or complimented as the second.

Overall, it’s a wonderful tea when you want a treat of something sweet, and I would happily have 3 brews, but on four and beyond, the flavor loses some of its complexity.

This one really exceeded my expectations. Sometimes, PdT goes a little overboard on flavors, and when I saw cardamom and clove front and center, I was thinking this was going to be another Christmas tea that tastes more like Mom’s Christmas potpourri.

Luckily… happily… the different flavors here are nicely balanced. Can you detect cardamom? Yep. Is the clove present? Sure is. But they don’t overpower the orange peel or almond. The vanilla flavoring acts more to soften things rather than bring a vanilla-forward flavor, and the cinnamon presents more of a cooling effect on the finish than an in-your-face spiciness.

ADVENT DAY 13, tea 3/3
Logging a day late as I had a Christmas work team gathering. And actually drank on day 14.

Two steeps, each 2 minutes long.

It wouldn’t be truth if I say I never had Ceylon-grown white tea. I had and I quite liked them. But yes, they are quite rare, indeed.

Intense floral notes, slightly reminding me elderflowers; followed with woody notes. But from light trees; birch for instance. Second steep is definitely woodier, with honey notes.
Mouthfeel is long and oily, aftertaste is herbaceous.

Interesting twist of White Peony and I never heard about Ebony Springs Tea Plantation, but they have apparently a good tea. At least their white tea.

ADVENT DAY 13, tea 2/3
Logging a day late as I had a Christmas work team gathering.

Well, this one was fine. Not really sure if cookie enough; but I noticed cocoa and coconut. With very strong malty black tea base.

But none of following promise: “sweet honey and maple cookie taste”

ADVENT DAY 13, tea 1/3
Logging a day late as I had a Christmas work team gathering.

Prepared this tea as a morning tea in the office and well, it was fine. I have eyeballed the water temperature as I have there just a kettle without selecting temperatrure, so I did my old trick and listened to the water… and it was just right I assume.

It was mellow green tea, with more lemony taste than the ginger. Ginger was very weak and not much present in taste. All other lemon notes were present, for instance lemongrass and lemon myrtle.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 13

This was nicer than I expected. I was expecting a more chamomile-heavy blend, but actually I mostly tasted the sweet cinnamon (a touch candy-sweet, but not entirely) and apple, with the chamomile more in the background. A cozy and relaxing blend for Christmas movie-watching time! :)

Homemade Advent Calendar from AJRimmer: Day 12

There’s a hint of creaminess here, but it’s mostly a smooth, almost lemongrassy cup. I also get a little pithy bitterness toward the end of the sip, or maybe a lemon extract/oil sort of thing.

Not my personal favorite, but interesting!

Same thing for this RTD as the Magic Potion one I just logged: quickly popping a tasting note into Steepster because I had a can of it at our office holiday party and I know if I don’t do it now I’ll probably forget to record it in the future. Love how bright and tart this is, and I felt like this can had an especially crisp and clean feeling finish after each sip. I’ve been drinking a ton of cranberry ginger ale (the soda, not the tea) lately because it’s in season and there’s definitely a quality shared between these two canned beverages that I vibe with very much.

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.

What!? A tasting note for something other than advent teas!?

I just wanted to quickly log this one even though I don’t really have much extra to add here because I drank a can of it at our office holiday pastry today and I know if I don’t pop it in here to Steepster that this will be an easy one to forget about.

Smooth blue raspberry and black currant! I love that the RTD is stevia free since the LLT of this blend is heavy on the stevia. It’s a much more enjoyable way to enjoy the berry flavour of this blend to my palate.

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 13

To be honest I probably did have time today to brew this one up gongfu, but I just really wasn’t feeling it so I just went with a Western style mug. Personally, this was a little too oceanic tasting to me. Though the mouthfeel was pleasantly buttery I couldn’t get past the almost spirulina-like flavour of the brew. Though, it had undertones that made me think of alfalfa, which were a bit more neutral to my palate. Nothing against the tea though – I think it was a nice quality sencha. It’s just a style of tea that is a personal dislike.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDiNdwYye3L/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMD-R70Lnhw&ab_channel=WaxJackets-Topic

Simpson & Vail Advent Calendar: Day 13

I was not looking forward to this one after seeing y’all’s reviews today! But when I first opened the package and took a sniff, it didn’t seem THAT bad. Aggressively minty, sure, and with an undernote of organic matter on the verge of being too ripe, but not horrible.

And then I brewed it up. And took another sniff.

WELP. It’s like a wet dog rolled around in toothpaste and moldy marshmallows. Ugh!

Adventageddon Day 13

To be honest I thought this was a pretty boring tea choice for DF’s advent, but the tea itself was just fine. Smooth for a mate with a milder overall flavour. A little grassy and mineral with just the faintest sort of smoke note. I could see that it might be a nice introductory mate for someone who’s never tried it plain before.

As I just mentioned in another tasting note, today was our office holiday party and one of the activities was a pre-registered flower arranging class. Since I knew I was going to be doing that today I brought a couple floral teacups in the hope to get some pictures. I think this one came out okay! It’s very green tinted but, to be fair, the bouquet of flowers I made was also very, very green tinted. At the end of today’s advent photos are some extra flower shots, including the bouquet I made.

I was the only one who brought a mug of tea to the class which, given that we are a tea company, feels like it shouldn’t have been the case. I guess everyone was just really focused though. In the end this ended up being a nice “backdrop tea” which I did the workshop.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDiNdwYye3L/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E7QbiC5lEg

Adventageddon Day 13

Had this as a bit hot mug of tea with one of the fancy schmancy marshmallows I bought specifically for adventageddon. It was definitely intensely rich, but I love the extra creaminess from these marshmallows that just turn into a rich layer of goo on the top of the mug, and marshmallows and maple is a pretty splendid combination. Definitely a sweet start to the day!

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDiNdwYye3L/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDiNdwYye3L/?img_index=1

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 13

Cold Brew!

Even though I don’t love this blend, is it really the holidays if you don’t have at least one mug of Sleigh Ride!? I much prefer the mulled wine and cinnamon apple-type flavours of this tea cold, so that’s how I steeped it. Very apple forward today, but not in a bad way. It was the office holiday party this afternoon too, so I thought this was rather fortuitously timed for an extra bit of festive feels at work today.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDiNdwYye3L/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVyLy5sJnDo&ab_channel=MagicBronson-Topic

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.

Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 13

Oh, boy. I had tried this blend once before and had a horrible experience ha ha, but I was interested to try it again and see if that was a fluke or a bad batch.

Nope, still horrible! Tastes like a pile of wet rags, and also weirdly sour. There’s a cooling peppermint finish, but mostly sour rags. I’m so perplexed how anyone at Simpson & Vail could ever think that this is good, and equally confused by the positive reviews on their website. It makes me feel like I’m crazy ha ha…

Ah well, just another in a long line of peppermint bark tea failures for me. XD

knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 13 (my pick)
Theme: Woodland Walk
Her pick: Awake from Ivy Moon Botanicals

Ahhh, such a lovely blend. I love how this one is woodsy without being overly so – the woody base and a touch of cedar go so well together. And then there’s the elderberry, sumac, and rosehip giving a bright and tart berry flavor. The clove gives just a hint of spice. It’s just lovely, and I love how the different flavors blend together to bring to mind a stroll through a cool, wet forest.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDiPZ6NvcAT/

Advent Day 13

Eh. I’m feeling eh about this blend. It’s a light lemongrass mix with a few other things in it that don’t steep together to form an exciting cup. A little bit of licorice to add some sweetness, cardamon apparently just for show. Not my thing.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 13

Breakfast with Ashman who is off today! Once again, this is a black tea he will drink without milk and sugar. The first year we bought the Fortnum advent, he was still adding milk and sugar to pretty much all black teas that he drank. He felt that this one didn’t need it now and he said he liked it. He has always been partial to Ceylon tea.

I enjoy low and mid-elevation Ceylon teas, but high elevation by itself is too astringent for me with its bright, minty notes. This is a blend of low and high.

With food, it just tastes like a passable black tea, no outstanding characteristics but nice enough. When the food is gone and you are sipping the remaining tea, it does get a little brisk, but nothing I couldn’t handle plain. I wouldn’t reach for it on purpose if I wasn’t making tea to go with food, though.

The remainder shall be iced, Southern style.