Santa's Secret

My house feels alarmingly cold. I’m snuggled in fleece with my big dogs. It’s our first winter in this house and I feel like we may need to better insulate it. This is my first reveiw it what feels like a long time. I used to do one almost every morning until my car broke down (the parts arrive tomorrow YAY!)
This is an almost overwhelmingly cozy tea. All I need to do is start my fireplace and then I’m doing exactly what this tea is intended for. Smooth peppermint, with a hint of creaminess, vanilla maybe?
I want to put up my tree now.

I used 1.5 tablespoons of dry leaf for 375ml of water.

Astringency is not present with a shorter infusion time. Sweetness present. I really like the mint paired with the black tea base. The candy canes gives a soft savoury sweetness that trails into the aftertaste.

This is probably the definition of a big brand candy dessert tea. There are better chocolates out there but sometimes you just want the equivalent of an Oh Henry bar (for me it’s a Caramilk).

It turns out that a drawer well stocked with Caramilks is good for office morale.

I’ll actually be a little sad when this runs out.

Another tea I have not had in awhile. I shared this yesterday with my grandaughter Schey (18) while showing her Steepster and how all you lovely people review tea! She loved Santa’s Secret…the little candy canes, the minty flavor. I forgot what I was doing and let it steep about 12 minutes!!! It did not get bitter!!!! Wowzer! Unbelievable! This is one delicious minty welcome to Christmas any time of the year tea. I still love it and it was fun to share with my sweet Schey. I’ve got 6 grandkids to share tea with.

This is the 3rd time I’ll have logged this tea, but I don’t care. haha

So I’m going to divulge some details about myself because it relates to my tea this morning sort of… I’m a receptionist at a spa. My dream is to make it big as a writer. That’s my ultimate dream. I just wish it was happening now instead of later.

Anyway, I was working yesterday and the one lady did a perm on a client and the smell of it was horrendous. I couldn’t get over how strong it was. I got the worst sinus headache ever from it. It was off and on all afternoon/evening after that. It was just brutal.
So anyway, I finally got it to fade enough that I was able to fall asleep last night… My husband is the sweetest guy ever. He heard me coughing around 11 last night and came in to see me after he was done baseball. I told him about my headache and he brought me the Advil and some cold water and everything.

So, this morning comes and my head is hovering on the tipping point again towards full out migraine pain… and I have to work today again. I can’t call in sick either ‘cause there’s lots of paperwork later to do. I get up, pop some Advil and go to the cupboard for some tea. I would have killed for a plain black tea, but I finished what I had a few weeks ago and haven’t replaced it yet.

I starting mentally scanning all the kinds in my head and all I could think of was… which black tea is going to have a mellow enough smell that it won’t send me into a full out sinus/migraine pain?

That’s when my beautiful red flowered tin looked at me and quietly said, ’I’m here for you.’

I opened it and the mellow scent of the Santa’s Secret came to me and didn’t make me want to feel sick. And what’s more soothing than peppermint?

Sweet, sweet heaven again in this tea. It is a delight I get to enjoy this tea again today. I am so pleased I have it still and it is doing the job I need it to do today. It is calming me and very comforting while being nice and mellow. I think I’ll grab this one again when I have a migraine.

I have a sample pack of this from one of the David’s Tea crackers that my Mom and I opened on Christmas morning. I’m in denial that Christmas is already gone for another year, so I decided to enjoy a cup of this today to prolong the Christmas spirit for a little longer. This blend smells really minty and vanillaish, and is so cute with the teeny-tiny candy canes. David’s Tea must employ some cute little elves to make candy canes that are so delicate. The tea itself is a little bitter at first, but after adding some sweetener and a little milk the flavor becomes creamy and delicious. The black tea base is stronger than I expected it would be, and it adds a nice, malty undertone beneath all of the sweeter flavors. I will have to remember this tea for next year, this is one that I could drink every day during the holiday season to get in the Christmas spirit!

-Dry leaves have pieces of peppermint leaves and tiny candy canes. Wet leaves reveal partially dissolved candy canes.
-Dry leaves smell minty and sweet. Tea liquor aroma is minty with a hint of orange.
-Tea liquor is a light brown color.
-Slightly malty flavor with mint and a cinnamon-orange finish.
-Best with sweetener, milk optional.
-Very good tea. Perfectly sweet without being too minty. Adding milk makes a creamy cup.

I’ve been cold brewing everything, and this was one I had high hopes for, as I LOVE mint tea. This tuned out really well, I think I may like it better cold than hot.

This tea is keeping my spirits up the day after Christmas thanks to Sare! Sweet minty, candy-cane goodness, very refreshing! I need to stay in the holiday mood because we won’t watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special until tonight! This tea and the snow are helping!

Yes, I fell a day behind in the 12 Days of Christmas swap, but it’s been wonderful! Thank you LiberTEAS for starting and organizing this and all you wonderful ladies for participating! Hope all you Steepsters have had/are having a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year!

It’s back, it’s back, it’s back!!

I was pumped for this all year (can you tell?), but I remember it having a little more oomph last year. It’s like what some people were saying about this year’s Pumpkin Chai missing something (I didn’t try that one last year).

Has it really changed, or have I romanticized it and set my expectations too high?

It’s still tasty, but I’m gonna try a longer steep, or more leaf, or something…if there’s a secret to making this better, I must find it!

So I decided to try a holiday tea went to went to David’s Tea yesterday. I like this one, light in the minty flavor and it’s a black tea. he aroma was purely Christmas.