Holiday Tea-son! So, an eggnog tea in the advent calendar today… I… have never had eggnog. It’s just always kinda looked sort of repulsive to me. I love eating eggs, but something about drinking them never appealed to me, so I never bothered to try it, and the fact alcohol was usually involved meant I couldn’t anyway (migraine trigger). So I have absolutely no frame of reference for this one. I realize as an American I should, but I don’t. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. In fact, when I smelled the dry leaf, it just smelled like lime to me for some reason? What is eggnog even supposed to smell like?
My brewed cup looks like a proper rooibos, and after it is brewed, it just smells like… cinnamon rooibos. I honestly don’t know what else I’m supposed to be getting, nor why it smelled so wildly different before I brewed it. Perhaps some sort of alcohol flavoring is in this? After taking a sip… I’m inclined to believe that must be the case, because I swear I taste lime! I’m getting a nice woody and caramel sweet base from the rooibos, with a cinnamon sweetness that is a strong flavor note but not heated or overbearing, and then this odd, brisk citrus lime flavor on the end of the sip.
It’s… a little weird to me. The flavors just don’t really mesh to me. This is probably meant to be taken as a latte, since the actual drink is thick and rich. But with only a single teabag, I don’t really have enough tea to do a proper latte. I did try adding just a small dash of milk to my cup, but it didn’t really help much… it’s that weird citrus flavor! It just throws the whole cup off for me. It that were missing, I’d be fine with this. I think this is a really nice rooibos base, and the cinnamon is on point, being nice and sweet and tasty instead of overly spicy or that annoying red hot candy flavor. Then that odd citrusy lime flavor — which if it is supposed to be some sort of alcohol flavoring really doesn’t taste like it to me, but then, I don’t drink alcohol, so what do I know? — comes in at the end and sort of mars the whole experience for me.
Is this what eggnog tastes like? If so, I don’t feel like I’ve been missing out on anything all these years.
Flavors: Caramel, Cinnamon, Citrus, Lime, Sweet, Wood
Agreed. Lex and I felt the same.
I remember having this in a past advent and it was a citrus bomb back then, too. Guess I had hoped they had fixed up the recipe, but…
Eggnog teas are damn near impossible to pull off!
Sad to hear they’re still brewing it citrusy. meh