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Adventageddon Day 7

This was my top of the day, and I was super excited to see it this morning because I had frozen blueberries in my fridge so I knew I could whip up a fun blueberry compote to use in a matcha latte. I ended up mixing that sweet, jammy compote I’d made with a vanilla milk and the matcha to create this really rich and flavourful “blueberries and cream” sort of vibe that was just a good midafternoon cuppa!

For a long, long time blueberry matcha was my favourite matcha flavour from DT. I have a few I like a little bit more now, but it’s definitely still top five and this was a divine way to enjoy it while doing something a little fun and extra for advent season.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDSws7ry2bL/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8lPeWRBLvE&ab_channel=KylieMinogue

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 7

Not my favourite of the more dessert-y blends carried by DT, but it’s definitely a fan favourite around this time of year. I just personally wish the taste was a bit more caramel forward and that the insanely mouthwatering buttery aroma carried a bit more into the steeped cup. However, I do enjoy the taste. It’s just not entirely a shortbread profile for me because of the brighter, slightly tart notes of apple and cherry that pop up.

I drank most of the mug after it was cold/room temperature though, and I found the fruit notes a bit tempered at that point. More caramel in the finish/aftertaste.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDSws7ry2bL/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhOWfmRqA8M&ab_channel=Rikas-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.

Adventageddon Day 7

Gongfu!

I feel like it’s a tough act for this chrysanthemum tisane to have to follow the absolutely stunning and higher grade “Royal Chrysanthemum” that we started the Inoki advent with. However, I was certainly very surprised and impressed with that tea despite not thinking of chrysanthemum as a flavour I enjoy, so I did go into this cautiously optimistic.

It’s definitely not as nice as the Royal Chrysanthemum, but honestly not half bad either. I could have probably stopped brewing it after a steep or two but I kept going with the session until it was totally steeped out. Mind you, that was still only an extra couple of steeps since this isn’t a tisane with a whole lot of flavour payoff after the initial brews. But still. More of an effort was made than I think I’d have made if I had been presented with this tea, say, last month.

It was peppery and I think that was probably the strongest/most clear tasting note but overall much less intense/strong as the Royal. The tiny little flower buds were still pretty, though. Definitely light, refreshing, and smooth with a less “typical” floral composition.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDSws7ry2bL/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VepmXdGVB0k&ab_channel=CharlieHouston

Adventageddon Day 7

Well, we’re at the one week mark now for advents. How’s everyone doing? I swear, every year advent season goes by faster and faster…

When I opened this one up today I thought it might be just a simple jasmine scented green tea which would have been fine albeit a little boring. However, it’s actually much more interesting that that: jasmine tea with chocolate and cinnamon. At first I found the pairing conceptually very weird, but then I realized I like chocolate with jasmine tea infused in it so I’m not sure why the reverse was so strange to me.

Steeped up it was pretty enjoyable! Definitely still jasmine forward, which I appreciated, with a smooth and lush floral fragrance and taste. However, light notes of chocolate were weaved into that profile with just the faintest touch of cinnamon. Something about the combination did have a little bit of a musky sort of undertone, but overall this was surprisingly quite well balanced and sophisticated. Not too dainty or rich, and actually kind of cozy.

Would I buy it again? Probably not, but I think it was really interesting and I certainly wouldn’t turn away the chance to revisit again if offered.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDSws7ry2bL/?img_index=1

I feel like every year when I post this Christmas pigeon mug it never gets any love at all, and that seems to be the case so far today. One of my least engaged IG posts of the year. Such a shame, though – I just think this mug is SO COOL with the protruding beaks and the super saturated colours.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85PnKJz7BsQ&ab_channel=ClotheslinefromHell-Topic

Adventageddon Day 6

After two really strong days in a row from Dammann Freres we were bound to get something less appealing, and this was it. I really dislike chamomile and, to be totally honest, the taste of it was so strong in this mug for me that I didn’t even realize this wasn’t just pure chamomile tea. The ginger/sage were basically absent.

After sipping through maybe a fifth of the mug and just NOT liking it, I ended up adding a bit of whipped cream and caramel sauce from our office hot chocolate bar and that kind of made a bit of an improvement? It very loosely started reminding me of DT’s Valerian Nights which is also a chamomile/caramel blend with a lot of creaminess – though in that case the creaminess comes namely from coconut.

Glad I at least made it somewhat more enjoyable, but just not my jam.

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDvb3NQnwKU&ab_channel=IssyWood

Adventageddon Day 6

I steeped this sheng tuocha as a Western style mug of tea. I didn’t have time to brew gongfu today, and I can’t help but wonder if this maybe would have been better if brewed that way instead. It’s not that this was unpleasant tasting, but I did feel like it was a little bit flat? Kind of a softer mouthfeel with light and greener flavours alongside notes of barnyard hay and a cedar sort of woodiness. Just not something that popped for me personally…

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AERlkOk6MA&ab_channel=marlin%27sdreaming

Adventageddon Day 6

Not gonna sugar coat it – this one was rough. Ginseng is such an intensely strong and polarizing flavour, and I don’t even mind it usually either as part of a ginseng oolong or in different blends. However, straight ginseng was A LOT. It was so, so incredibly and uncomfortably sweet. I actually ended up adding in an orange and ginger flavoured honey which, of course, didn’t do much for how cloying the brew was but at least introducing other flavours helped break up the medicinal and woody notes that accompanied the mouth coating sweetness.

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNueNm-m8YI&ab_channel=ModestOda

Adventageddon Day 6

Definitely the best of the day’s advent selections, but honestly nothing today really stood out to me a whole lot. I do definitely like this Earl Grey over other’s offered by DT, but y’all know I’m not so big on bergamot. I found this mug very smooth and creamy though, but overall just a bit lighter and more delicate than DT’s other creamy/vanilla flavoured EG blend Cream of Earl Grey. Definitely classic, and has a bit of a festive vibe to it.

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZJ8hU-SPQ&ab_channel=NiceGuys

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 5

Probably my favourite of the day? Though, honestly, everything was pretty solid today. At first I was mostly just getting the sort of bright, sweet candied orange top notes of this blend and they were lovely but lacking a little in conveying panettone to me. However, this was definitely one of those teas where the flavours build on your palate over time, and after a few bigger sips I started to get a little more of the almond notes and a much more defined brioche-like baked and bready undertone that helped complete the overall profile for me.

Would maybe consider getting more of this as it does give off the vibe of the kind of tea you’d really grow to love with time – that sort of really consistent and reliable “fits all moods” type of blend. I do think maybe I have a few similar teas already, though…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDNnFftS3pU/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkx4bdbHXc4&ab_channel=SOFY

Adventageddon Day 5

Two days of back to back straight green teas is not super fun for me personally, but I did enjoy this one a lot more than yesterday’s bancha. I didn’t time to make it gongfu, so it was a larger Western style mug for the day. Definitely more medium bodied and quite smooth with strong notes of chestnut, edamame, and both corn silk and grilled corn. Not something I’d typically reach for, but all the other teas today were kind of decadent and sweet in one way or the other so it actually was a nice break up from that.

(As an aside, I’m not sure what makes this particular dragonwell “ceremonial”. It didn’t seem like an especially high quality/grade to me.)

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDNnFftS3pU/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULk3-fmFScI&ab_channel=TommyNewport