16841 Tasting Notes
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.
Adventageddon Day 12
This is the second flowering tea to come up in this advent. I didn’t mind the first one despite not generally loving blooming teas, so I wasn’t as disappointed to see it this morning. However, I am hoping it will be the last one.
As far as aesthetics go this was fairly pretty for a bloom! It had a nice long string of white flowers that made a bit of an arch, which was a semi-unique shape. Not quite as pretty as the rose, but close enough. The taste was fine. It tasted floral but much more softly and in a more generic way – wouldn’t say it was distinctly lily or anything like that. However, the overall profile was smooth and silky with fresh grassy notes. It didn’t dip into the bitter/astringent zone so many flowering teas seem to wind up in.
I drank the pot over the course of my afternoon while working and it was good background tea during a busy afternoon. Just a little grounding/soothing too.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDfpFk7ptSS/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU2sHhl3eK4&ab_channel=FIG
Adventageddon Day 12
There were a lot of oolongs today between all my advents! But thankfully they were all quite different from one another. This one I’ve had once or twice before since I actually ordered it at the same time as the advent. I liked it more today than in previous times I’ve tried it. Though I still don’t totally get passionfruit, I do get rhubarb and it’s a really nice sweet and floral rhubarb. Very fresh, and complimentary to the smooth oolong base.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDfpFk7ptSS/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1fSPeIFX2E&ab_channel=DavidDeanBurkhart
Adventageddon Day 12
I made a total mess with this tea in the morning because I thought it would be fun to do a caramel rim, but of course I didn’t factor in how quickly the caramel would melt once I’d poured the hot tea in the cup. I’d actually made my caramel sauce with a bit of eggnog in it, which added an extra layer of richness that really complimented those thick, golden toffee notes and the hint of salt. Despite how drippy it was, it was pretty delicious!
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDfpFk7ptSS/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY3Ztl9UOTg&ab_channel=Release-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 12
Gongfu!
We’re halfway there, folks! It’s been a couple days without a good gonfu session, and I was both up early enough today and the sun was bright enough to allow for me to indulge in one – and this was the perfect tea to do so.
The liquor of this tea was actually a surprisingly bright yellow/gold that I felt didn’t totally match the much, much more toasty flavour profile. You could definitely tell this was a TGY with some roast on it from the deeper, nuttier and more mineral notes that popped up. Roasted almond, instant coffee, golden syrup, barley, and a mix of other different toasted grains and cereals. Very cozy, and perfectly aligned with what I woke up craving today.
I got four good steeps and a fifth rather rushed one. Thankfully the sample portion today was generous enough that I will get to have a second session in the future!
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDfpFk7ptSS/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STfu1ZjRv5Y&ab_channel=ColemineRecords
Adventageddon Day 11
Today’s DAVIDsTEA selection is not only a brand new tea blend, but also one that’s completely exclusive to the advent! How fun!
It’s a green tea with a relatively simple ingredient list including cinnamon and vanilla. If it weren’t obvious from the name, this inspiration is definitely eggnog. DT has carried eggnog inspired teas before, the most recent and iconic of which is probably Let It Snow which is also green tea. That’s a blend I have a personal love/hate relationship with. I like it a lot as a latte, but I find it so sweet and the stevia in it can be a lot for me, even as someone who typically doesn’t mind stevia in my teas.
So the goal here was to do eggnog in a less cloying sort of way and with simpler ingredients, but without sacrificing on fun and flavour. Here’s a little behind the curtains for you all: before we landed on the name Noggy & Nice the “working name” for this blend was Great Aunt Ruth’s Spiked Eggnog. A bit of a mouthful, for sure, but definitely cheeky and playful. Plus, it makes sense in the context of the blend because this isn’t just eggnog. It’s eggnog if that crazy out there relative from the big family holiday get together spiked the eggnog with a little buttered rum. And, to that point, really “old school” DT fans might find there’s some similarities with this blend and the much older Buttered Rum black tea blend. Both are creamy and just a little sweet with that almost butterscotch-y lifesaver candy undertone. Of course, this one is also pretty custardy and has a light touch of festive cinnamon.
I really enjoyed this blend and, even though it’s advent exclusive, I’m just kind of glad that in some way I got to share it with more people. It was a fun concept to work on!
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDdEnRYpD_0/?img_index=1
I wanted to take a cooler photo for this tea since it’s so special, but it rained all day today and the lighting was just sad and grey. So I don’t really feel this does the tea justice, but I guess better than nothing.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzUHKsywhrY&ab_channel=THUNDERJACKSONVEVO
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.
love seeing your Adventageddon progress! i’m looking to give one as a gift this year — of the 3 you’re working through, which would you recommend?
I think it definitely depends on what type of tea the person you’re gifting drinks, and also probably where you’re located to an extent.
I’m enjoying Inoki overall, but I don’t know if I feel it’s worth its high price point. Dammann Freres is always a favourite, and I find their shipping quite fast even though it’s coming from France. However, maybe not a great option is your giftee doesn’t like tea bags and it’s got small portions per day than the others I’m doing.
Noting of course that I have a bias with DT, I find the selection pretty well rounded and there’s typically enough tea each day for two mugs. It’s loose leaf, so if your giftee is totally new to tea maybe not the best fit? Also, if your giftee is mostly a straight tea drinker they might find some of the much fruitier or decadent/dessert-y blends not totally to their taste. Also, if you’re not in Canada, the shipping time might be longer.
Thank you! DT is sounding like a good option. We prefer loose or pyramid bags. Found some unique festive ones on Bird and Blend so might check that out too :)
Adventagedon Day 11
Matcha latte!
I had a bunch of strawberries in the fridge that I needed to use up, so I was kind of hoping today would be Strawberry Matcha – however, Vanilla was basically the next best thing. I ended up turning those strawberries into a sort of jam/puree situation combined with some fresh vanilla bean caviar, and then used that on the bottom layer of a matcha latte to create this sort of “strawberries and cream” concoction that was very, very good. Plus, I made the matcha strong enough that it really did hold up to that bright jammy berry sweetness quite well.
Now I’ll just need to think of something different to do with strawberry matcha when that one inevitably pops up.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDdEnRYpD_0/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVk8qt7yqkM&ab_channel=AnimalsInTheAttic-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 11
Definitely not a fan of the name of this tea – I think DF probably could have picked a name without roots in colonialism and the broad fetishization/exoticism of Asian people and culture that would have still gotten the “vibe” of the tea across…
But, name aside, I also just didn’t love the taste of this tea either. I’m not 100% what the fruit flavour is supposed to be, but to me it tasted like maybe a mix of red fruit and a more pine-y and resinous mango? It was very medicinal though, and the more I drank the cup the more it started to remind me of cherry cough syrup.
So, unfortunately, hard pass on this blend for me.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDdEnRYpD_0/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/RHqsYVpf4Kc?si=dx2VDqi8SmbiWwBx
