12201 Tasting Notes
Adventaggedon Day 7: Tea 7/7
There’s a possibility I’m not putting this tea under the right page, but I think it’s the same thing. What I had in my advent today was called “Sweetest Dreams” but the ingredients appear to be the same as what’s listed here. Perhaps it’s just a name update…
I saved this one for last today for, well, obvious reasons. Sleep teas rarely do much of anything for me (the insomnia is too strong) but better to be safe than sorry when it comes to drinking them during a work day. The dry leaf aroma was very nice though – it smelled sweetly of honey and fresh picked flowers. Steeped up I’m getting much more chamomile than anything else, which is a little bit of a no go for me. However the gentle notes of linden, creamed honey, and just a bit of delicate lemon as counter balancing it a fair bit. Thankfully I am not getting the rosemary. Under most circumstances I would be excited for rosemary in tea, but here I feel like it would only pile onto the chamomile and amplify that flavour. There’s definitely elements here I’m into, but the overall cup isn’t really for me – but I see how it would be for others.
Adventaggedon Day 7: Tea 6/7
This was very lovely and definitely the type of straight tea I was in the mood for when I was opening up all my advents in the morning – I just didn’t know it until I saw the packaging! The only disappointment for me what that it came on a day where I didn’t have enough time to actually steep the tea gongfu like how I would have wanted…
What I did end up doing was making it in a cupping set at work and then resteeping that a couple times over the course of the afternoon. Very light but crisp and sweetly vegetal. All of those cucumber pulp notes that I go starry eyed for when it comes to a nice white peony.
I wish I had more space to store teas (or perhaps just less teas taking up the space) because this is the type of bai mu dan that I’d like to keep more regularly on hand but I just find keeping bags of bai mu dan/white peony stressful. It’s such a light and fluffy tea that it really takes up so much volume in terms of storage… Ugh!
Adventaggedon Day 7: Tea 5/7
As I said earlier tonight; the universe wanted me to drink pumpkin teas today. I was actually glad to see this one though because, to me, advents are all about giving things you wouldn’t normally think to choose for yourself a tea. I was not a big fan of this tea when it initially came out so I have not revisited it much at all. This was a very good excuse to do so…
I steeped it up as an iced latte because, frankly, I didn’t want to make it hot and I’m enjoying taking advantage of the milk at work since I don’t normally keep milk at home aside from a carton of milk alternative (usually cashew or coconut) that is generally utilized in cooking.
I will admit that I mostly just got a sweet and creamy white chocolate/custard type of note and very little in the way of pumpkin aside from an almost nutmeg-like simple spice note that falls in that pumpkin spice realm. However, I did find the overall brew refreshingly sweet and decadent and not as bad as I was remembering it.
That said, it’s still not something I’d buy for myself/want to keep around. I’m glad I got to re-experience it, though!
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.
Adventaggedon Day 7: Tea 4/7
I know the overwrap of the sachet isn’t the most important part of the tea but I just found that I kept smiling when I looked at it today. It was a bright yellow colour with blue dots and white swirly lines… and a chicken wearing a suit! That imagery combined with a name like “Hunky Dory Breakfast” just felt so fun and whimsical to me!
It was kind of just the cherry on top that the tea itself tasted very good too. Really similar black tea base style to the previous breakfast blend from Paper and Tea – Tip of The Morning. The different was a very subtle and mild addition of toasty sweet almond, golden honey, and a lovely fresh baked bread/grain note. Definitely all those cozy vibes and the “honey nut” combination with the black tea base which was so malty and rich was just delightful! I could very easily see this being someone’s very gentle twist on your classic breakfast tea. It’s fun and flavourful but not too out there or intense to be the type of tea you’d ‘burn out’ on after having it ritualistically from day to day to day.
Adventaggedon Day 7: Tea 3/7
The universe today wanted me to drink pumpkin teas – which is maybe a little weird during a holiday advent!? I ended up with two today though, this obviously being one of them. I steeped it up hot and straight but pretty strongly. It was nice. Classic. For me, most pumpkin spice/pumpkin chai type teas taste very similar – there’s just not a wide range of variation when you’re sticking to the classic “pumpkin spice” spice mix. So, it was good but predictable.
Probably would have enjoyed it a little more were there not snow on the ground.
Adventaggedon Day 7: Tea 2/7
An incredibly simple blend, but one of my favourites from the day. The spearmint in it is so strong that I could faintly smell it through the packaging – definitely the first case of that with any of the overwrapped sachets from the advent so far. I steeped it up as my first tea of the morning and that sweet and soothing spearmint with the slightly smokey and vegetal green tea base was so calm and relaxing. Like a little morning moment of aromatherapy – especially with the golden glow of the rising sun.
I had the last half of the teacup with a spoonful of homemade gooseberry jam because I felt inspired to try and loosely recreate the gooseberry/spearmint combination in DT’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Definitely more spearmint in this tea than the DT blend by a lot but it was a fun nod to that unique flavour combination!
Adventaggedon Day 7: Tea 1/7
Another incredibly busy day today but hopefully that’s the two most stressful days of the week out of the way. I’m so tired though, so we’ll be continuing with short tasting notes for today’s advent teas…
There’s kind of a lot going on with this blend. In fact, I think it has the most crazy ingredients list that I’ve experienced with any Brutaliteas blend yet. With that said, the flavour is pretty cohesive! It’s based a chili and chocolate tea with strawberry. I find it very, very similar to DT’s Chocolate Chili Chai but with a slightly more noticeable chili heat and then of course the soft strawberry undertones. I never would have thought to combine chocolate/chili/strawberry together but it’s working very well and I love the more delicate flavour approach that embraces that black tea base. I’d consider buying this one for sure. It’s exactly the right amount of chili for me and the perfect type of chocolate profile as well.
Also, shout out to the chili loops in the blend! Adorable!
Aventaggedon Day 6: Tea 7/7
I was really prepared to not enjoy this tea but it actually ended up being kind of alright. I steeped it up hot with a generous addition of cream to give it more of a “golden milk” type of vibe and help mute some of those more aggressive spice notes. It was still deeply peppery tasting with a lot of earthy hot turmeric and ginger and just a bit if cinnamon. Definitely not the type of profile I would typically turn too – just too much spice overall. However with the cream the mouthfeel/texture was really pleasant and I felt cozy while drinking it which is something I sort of needed today because I was just more grumpy than normal.
Aventaggedon Day 6: Tea 6/7
The dry leaf of this smelled amazing, so it was the first tea I steeped up this morning. I was so eager to drink it because it smelled sweet and like very fluffy cotton candy/fairy floss with that hint of almost berry taste to it like what you’d get at a carnival.
However, the taste was very disappointing. It does taste a little bit like cotton candy but mostly it just tastes like butterfly pea flower which is, uhh, not a great taste. Like musty/dirty flower water. But with a hint of cotton candy/sugar. Not enough to make up for the unpleasantness of the butterfly pea flower.
At least it looked gorgeous and deep blue though!
Aventaggedon Day 6: Tea 5/7
Ah, yes. The dreaded sencha.
I thought this was a little bit herby and a little bit nutty, but ultimately just far too grassy and marine to work for me. I appreciate that it does work for others, but my mindset was very much “ah shit, better get this one out of the way early so I can focus on the others teas” while I was drinking it.
