16790 Tasting Notes
Adventageddon Day 25
Gongfu!
Merry Christmas to everyone here on Steepster who celebrates. It seems like every year there’s at least one advent calendar with a bonus day on the 25th, and this year, it’s Inoki!! Most Wuyi Oolong that I typically drink are much more oxidized or roasted rock oolongs, but this one is greener and more soft, buttery, and floral. I’m not complaining, though, as the lighter bodied and aromatic notes of lilacs, orchid, sweet peas, coconut oil, and freshly whipped cream are so tender and fresh that they almost evoke that soft, fluffy and magical feeling of a heavy snowfall on a still Christmas morning – it’s a very peaceful way to close out this advent season, and one I was more than happy to get to sit with throughout the day.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEBHXLrBitn/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqUMdfXEhCY&ab_channel=RumJungle-Topic
Adventageddon Day 24
Gongfu!
I think this is such a cool tea to be ending the Tea Thoughts advent with, and I spent some time this afternoon reading about the Ca Phe Project and that really only deepened my excitement to try this one. It was so delicious, too!
Even from the first steep this is a pretty sweet and syrupy tasting black tea with a lot of upfront, bright fruity flavours. However, there’s an underlying depth to it as well that starts to come out more in the second and third steep. Yes, it tastes like sweet plums, cherries, and grenadine but also has that almost maillard burnt sugar and baked sweet potato flavour that’s complex, rich and brown tasting. I love the push pull sensation of starting with such lively red-feeling top notes before being pulled back into decadence laced with umami and malt.
This is one of the teas in the advent where a larger tea amount was given, and I’m so excited about that because the tea was so rich and lovely! Definitely something I really want to explore a little bit more in the future outside of the context of Adventageddon.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD-iurcyqIK/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW_q28dW7ag&ab_channel=Wilderado-Topic
Adventageddon Day 24
This is the only advent today that it’s finishing up – I’ll have one last day tomorrow. Part of me is kind of glad that we’re not closing things out on pure rose, but not because I have anything against the rose petals. I actually love rose as a flavour and I thought this was really lovely tasting, but it just doesn’t feel right as the last tea.
I brewed these straight in a glass teacup and it was REALLY interesting watching the pigment rapidly steep out of the petals. The liquor in the cup were from an initial blue to more of a grey-ish purple before finally landing at a soft, rose-y pink with the petals having virtually no colour left at all. My photo for this one was taken somewhere in the middle of all that.
The flavour was surprisingly sweet, and definitely very smooth and aromatic. If, like me, you like rose then you would have loved this because it was pure and pretty potent without going into hardcore perfume land. However, because it was so straight forward and authentic there’s nothing for those notes to “hide” with if you’re not a floral tea kind of person.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD-iurcyqIK/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe-PWjYOSfU&ab_channel=UMOVEVO
Adventageddon Day 24
Ending the Dammann Freres advent with a totally on theme banger of a tea! The flavours in the blend are really interesting and specific for a tea simply name “Christmas” – not at all when I would expect in a typical Christmas tea. Maraschino cherry, pineapple, caramel. And, honestly, I taste all of them and they’re a really fantastic balance between bright and fruity and sweet and more decadent. The combination makes me think a lot of pineapple upside down cake with the sweeter, dense brown cake and those candied fruits to top it. Balanced out with a really brisk and full bodied black tea base, though! Quite wonderful.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD-iurcyqIK/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBMDQzFPr1A&ab_channel=InnovativeLeisure
Adventageddon Day 24
Well, we’re practically at the end of Advent Season. Though, I will have ONE last advent tea to drink tomorrow since one of my advents this year has 25 days. I was a bit surprised to see this at day 24 for DT and not one of the more classic winter blends, but I thought about it while drinking this tea and I guess there is the poem/song about the night before Christmas where “sugar plums dance in your dreams” (or whatever the line is), and so maaaayyybeeee that was the thought process since this tea’s name sort of ties in there!?
Regardless, it’s a nice blend though I think unfortunate for it that it comes so soon after having had Pear Blossom in the advent since both are fruit infusions and it’s only natural to want to compare them. Pear Blossom is definitely juicier and more floral compared to the more dark baked/poached pear notes of this blend complimented subtly by warming spices, sweet brown fig, and just a bit of lingering fennel after the sip. I do prefer Pear Blossom, but this was a nice mug and quite different from anything else I got today so the contrast between the rest of the advent mix was nice.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD-iurcyqIK/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGgDZS8S7Dg&ab_channel=LAVALANDVEVO
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 23
I started the morning with a lot of caffeine, so I was actually kind of happy for once to see a “sleep tea” as my last offering of the day. Opening up the sachet I was blasted with two distinct aromas: lemon candy and black licorice.
Steeped up, those flavours really only get doubled down on for an overall cup that is bright, citrusy and fairly sweet. The lemon and anise combination really reads a lot like a throat lozenge and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it’s more one of those flavours I’d need to be in a relatively particular mood to want to drink. Very mouth coating, as well. Overall it was nice to break up all of the decadence of the morning, though. For me, this is a very straight down the middle of the road kind of tea blend.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD79dBPyeuo/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEKb_2vzkqg&ab_channel=EmileMosseri-Topic
Adventageddon Day 23
Y’know, yesterday’s DT tea was Silent Night and I wrote about how impactful it was for me to hear someone describe that as a “holiday classic.” Well, today’s tea is kind of quickly becoming another of those staple holiday blends – so a bit of an emotional one-two-punch for me at the tail end of advent season…
I’m not personally the biggest fan of coffee, which is so weird to me because I typically love roasted flavours. However, despite that, this blend is very special feeling to me. One of my DREAM concepts when I started working in R&D was to create a “Jack Frost” inspired tea blend, so this rich and creamy peppermint mocha blend was some wish fulfillment on my part.
I actually smell the aroma of coffee more than I taste it, but I think it’s lightly there alongside a very smooth and welcoming blend of black tea and pu’erh and then lightly sweet and decadent swirls of milk chocolate and mint. Ever so slightly cooling on the backend of the sip. I said a few days ago in another tasting note that I’ve kind of shifted in flavour preferences from wanting the INTENSE sweetness of Candy Cane Crush to something more like a middle ground between that tea and Santa’s Secret, and I feel like this tea does a good job of striking that balance. It also feels very “old school” DT in the way that blends like Red Velvet Cake, Chocolate Chili Chai, or Coffee Cake do.
I guess, overall, what I’m saying is a really love the balance of flavours and winter-y, romanticized feeling of this tea. It’s exactly what I wanted it to be. And I’m forever grateful that we kept the name Jack Frosted Mocha instead of just calling it Peppermint Mocha.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD79dBPyeuo/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2_IXfqYOWo&ab_channel=BennyBellson
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 23
Turns out my DAVIDsTEA matcha wasn’t the only matcha in the cards for me because Inoki surprised me by including a matcha right at the end here when all of the other teas have been loose leaf. Not a complaint! It’s also fitting timing to get doubled up matchas because today is Matcha Monday.
I whisked this up a bit strong and thick, but it was very good. Smooth and deeply creamy in both taste and texture with really fresh, umami and sort of brothy notes to it. At times it made me think of split pea soup? A bit sweet and a bit savory. I paired it with a white peach mochi puff and though the fruit element was maybe a touch at odds with all the unctuousness of the matcha I thought the whipped, creamy filling played very well texturally and did a lot to elevate the more creamy and fresh feeling of the matcha.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD79dBPyeuo/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdTXYXZi8Xk&ab_channel=TheWonderlands
Adventageddon Day 23
Matcha Latte!
It’s Christmas Eve Eve! The morning started off festive and minty with a set of peppermint blends from DT, including the LAST matcha in this year’s 12 Days of Matcha countdown calendar. Very fitting that Candy Cane was the flavour to close us out for the year. I mentioned this back in, like, I think November but I’ve been drinking A LOT of Candy Cane Matcha this year – it’s really resonated quite strongly with me this year.
Today I made it as an iced eggnog latte. Possibly my last eggnog latte of the season as this finished off the carton in my fridge and last time I went grocery shopping the store was totally sold out of eggnog already. It was a rich, creamy and slightly cooling drink though and a great note to go out on if it does end up being my last eggnog latte. I also FINALLY got a really cute photo of it and it only took me the ENTIRE 12 day countdown to get…
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD79dBPyeuo/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rUMtuVa9NI&ab_channel=AnnaJusten
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 22
I was super unexcited to see this one in the advent this morning because as pretty as butterfly pea flower may be it’s also quite unpleasant tasting on its own and I really view it more as an ingredient over something you’d drink on its own. So, that’s exactly how I approached this one.
I’ve had a lemon in my fridge set aside for a week or so now in case any of the advent teas that I’ve gotten would be good as a lemonade or with some lemon wedges, so I used that today to essentially make this into a bit of a lemonade. Though, I did drink it hot so not really a proper lemonade. Something I also did differently was make a charred lemonade. I don’t really know how I thought of the idea, but I was just feeling like I wanted something with a bit more depth and flavour complexity…
So, I cut my lemon into slices and grilled them so that they started to caramelize in places and burn in others – and then I finished them by bruleeing a bit of sugar on top. From there I “juiced” a few straight into the butterfly pea flower (I only steeped two or three buds – just enough to get a rich starting colour) which turned the liquor into a rich purple from the colour changing effect. Then I garnished with half a lemon slice that was prepped the same way but hadn’t been used for the juicing.
It was actually quite good! I’ve had a roasted peach lemonade before that was wonderfully complex from all those darker char and maillard notes and this was very similar tasting to me. Still has brightness and sweetness, of course, but is just a more full feeling drink with a little less acidity to it. I’d totally make it again, even without the butterfly pea.
Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD5YtkaSoDn/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z81vNSdV3fs&ab_channel=StillWoozy
