2170 Tasting Notes
I was very distracted both while steeping this tea and while drinking it. I can say for sure that it was very chocolaty, a deep and dark chocolate flavor. Chocolate-flavored teas so often taste watery and bland, but this one was quite rich. I enjoyed it!
Flavors: Dark Chocolate
Preparation
Moving from one blueberry tea to the next. As much as I love black teas, I think I might actually prefer this blueberry honeybush to the blueberry black I had earlier. I love the nuttiness from the honeybush that comes through with the blueberry.
Flavors: Blueberry, Nutty
Preparation
According to my notes, I was very heavy-handed with the almond milk last time, so this time I added just a splash of cream instead. I don’t taste the tart, tangy creaminess of the cream cheese or the pastry notes of the danish, but I do taste the blueberry above all else.
Flavors: Blueberry
Preparation
2020 Advent Swap – Day 10
I liked the description of this but don’t care for it. If you like it, you’re welcome to the rest of the box!
I have to say, this has to be the most authentic apricot flavoring I’ve experienced. Now, I’m not sure how many teas I’ve had that included apricot, maybe none, but the aroma here is undeniably that of dried apricots. This is, I’m sure of it, the only apricot tea I’ve had where apricot is meant to be the star flavor. If I have had it before, it would have been mixed in with other stone fruits and likely lost behind the peach or cherry flavors. So this was a happy surprise. It also smells quite sweet and, bummer, like a bar of soap. Not hand soap or dish soap – specifically a bar of unscented Dove soap. Interesting. Thankfully, no soap in the taste. It’s back to the apricot again. For a white tea, it has a fair amount of flavor, but it’s still not enough for me. Not a bad cup for the morning, but it’s not something I would buy for myself. I hope you can find someone else who will enjoy it, Devon Bartholomew!
Flavors: Apricot, Dried Fruit, Soap, Sweet
Preparation
First, let me try to describe how beautiful this tea blend is. It looks like little pieces of autumn all gathered up and lovingly blended together with care. There are curled knots of rolled black tea, inch-long pieces of cinnamon bark, dusty rose flowers, and caramel-colored flakes of oatmeal. It may be one of the prettiest blends I’ve seen.
This tea has been hiding away in my tea cabinet unopened and sadly forgotten, no doubt due to the mention of raisins. I’m so happy to have found it once again. The aroma is strong and surprisingly reminds me of cherries in a slightly medicinal way. Not like cough syrup, more like a spiced elderberry syrup with cherries. The primary flavor is maple syrup, though it’s not overbearing at all (as it sometimes can be). The base tea isn’t bold, but it’s very flavorful and feels perfectly matched with the other ingredients in the cup. I don’t taste raisin or hazelnut, but I’m quite happy with all the rest.
Flavors: Cherry, Maple Syrup, Spices
Preparation
2020 Advent Swap – Day 9
Vanilla, Peppermint, and Spearmint – mmm.
This reminds me of Teavana’s White Chocolate Peppermint Rooibos but without the artificial aftertaste of the licorice root. The primary aroma from the teabag is rooibos, but the flavor after steeping is a nice vanilla mint. I enjoyed this one! I added a little cream, and it was a wonderfully warm tea for a frosty morning. Thanks, Devon Bartholomew!
Flavors: Rooibos, Spearmint, Vanilla
Preparation
2020 Advent Swap – Day 8
My roommate and I were trying to be cheap after enjoying a fancy expensive tea on an afternoon out, haha!
I have to ask, Devon Bartholomew, what fancy and expensive tea did you and your roommate enjoy that day?? This one may not be fancy, but it’s certainly hitting the spot tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea quite like it. Or I guess it would be more of a tea beverage? I’m not sure what to call it. After doing a little searching online, it looks like the main ingredients are black tea powder, milk powder, and sugar, so it reminds me of a powdered hot chocolate in tea form. It doesn’t taste like hot chocolate, of course, but it has that same creamy consistency. It’s like powdered coffee creamer. I think maybe it feels a bit nostalgic as well, even though I’ve never had it before, and it seems right for the holiday season. It’s almost got a bit of a burnt coffee flavor to it, or rather a deep roasted coffee flavor. It is not as simple as I expected, and while it’s not something I would buy a big box of, I am enjoying it tonight.
Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Coffee, Creamy, Roasted
Preparation
This is tea from Thailand – we had a boba tea (autocorrected to boobs by the way) (with the tapioca balls at bottom) and it was fine dollars a cup so we bought these and tapioca to recreate it. I hope you didn’t drink this at night it had the same amount of caffeine as for small red bulls, I forgot to point that out! Glad you enjoyed!
Ahh, how did the homemade boba go? I’ve been wanting to try making it at home. I did have this at night and was, surprisingly, still able to sleep. :D
2020 Advent Swap – Day 7
Another fabulous cold brew ice tea from TJ Maxx!
I was happy to see this one since I really loved the strawberry tea from St. Dalfour that I had a couple of days ago. Another one I shared with my husband, he drank his hot while I decided to take Devon Bartholomew’s advice and drink mine cold. It’s very lightly flavored, and though I can tell it’s meant to be fruity, I can’t say I taste cherry. It’s slightly astringent but also refreshing. It tastes like a solid straight black iced tea that I might have in a local restaurant. So even though I don’t taste cherry, I’m still enjoying the flavor of the base tea. I think perhaps the flavor may be different hot since my husband said he could taste fresh cherries in his cup.
Flavors: Astringent, Fruity
Preparation
It’s been a long time since I’ve read the Harry Potter books or seen the movies, so I don’t remember what butterbeer is supposed to taste like. In my head, it is meant to be a buttery butterscotch drink – warm and thick and creamy. Probably not accurate at all, but that’s what I expected. I was surprised then to see sarsaparilla in the ingredient list, and indeed it does smell like root beer.
This pouch is a couple of years old (I’m guessing here). I just opened it today, so the aroma is quite strong. I’m sending the rest along to Devon Bartholomew, but I thought I should at least give it a try before passing it on. Since sarsaparilla and licorice aren’t favorites of mine, I can say it won’t be missed here. I’m hopeful Devon will enjoy it. Everyone else seems to love this one.
Flavors: Licorice, Root Beer, Rum, Sarsaparilla
Preparation
Hmm nothing like what I would picture butter beer to be – I would think butterscotch, cream soda, maybe a little salted caramel or some cookie bits? Lol
Same here. I looked at the other tasting notes to see if my taste was off or something, but others also mention root beer so I think that must have been one of the intended flavors.
2020 Advent Swap – Day 6
My roommate brought this home for me. It’s an in your face tart tea. It reminds me more of a black tea, kind of misleading on the label.
I saw “tart” and immediately knew my husband would love this one, so I split the cup with him. I, on the other hand, am not a huge fan of hot hibiscus so I poured my share into a mason jar and put it in the fridge for later. Looking at it now through a clear jar, it’s not as dark red as I expected from the hibiscus. It’s more of a coral color, very pretty. I’m having it chilled with breakfast – tacos! – so it’s very cooling next to the salsa. The flavor is light – I can taste the hibiscus and that familiar gradual build of the licorice root at the end of the sip. It’s not too overwhelming, thankfully. This doesn’t come across to me as a green tea, more like an herbal, but I also don’t drink a lot of green teas so that could be due to my unfamiliarity. It’s refreshing due to the light flavor, but not something I would likely reach for myself. I’m glad to have tried something new though – thanks, Devon Bartholomew!
Flavors: Hibiscus, Licorice
Preparation
Just the words “hot hibiscus” make me shiver.
Much better chilled. When I bought it, I fell for the “Brambleberry” name without paying attention to the ingredients and thought I’d never use it all up.
Dustin: I’m right there with you. My husband, on the other hand, loves hot hibiscus tea!
gmathis: This was definitely drinkable chilled. The licorice was more offensive to me because, while I can enjoy cold hibiscus, I have a really hard time enjoying the licorice root. It reminds me too much of an artificial sweetener. My husband also likes licorice root. :)
Sounds like I would get along with your husband, Shae. I tend to like all the tea-things most people dislike, like hibiscus and licorice root!
You absolutely would, Mastress Alita! We have a nice setup though – since he dislikes most of the teas I really enjoy (black teas, anything smoky, chai, caramel, etc.), we can usually just switch cups if one of us doesn’t like something and the other will almost certainly enjoy it. :D
