2020 Tea Advent Swap

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First day – Glazed lemon loaf by Tazo – Inkling is my sender – I got this so early, I peeked for my first day, but I did wait til December 1 to drink it :)
I’m excited to have a cup of this again, it’s a sweet lemon, not a sour one – I had a cup of this on vacation a few years back and I enjoyed it.
Out of habit, I went to go make a cup of tea from my collection, but then I realized that I have a new little gift to open this morning – plot twist ;)
I have made a resolution for next year to swap out my tea bags for something new every day in 2021 – I’ve found a few girls to swap with, and we swapped for the entire month, so I have December, January and February taken care of – anyone else interested in doing this with me?!

Shae said

I’m loving these little gifts each morning too! I’m always open to swaps, so let me know if there’s ever anything I have that you’d like to try. I’ll probably try to avoid the post office until after the holidays, but it sounds like your tea friends have you covered for a while. Is your resolution to replace your teabags with loose leaf teas? Or is it just to have something new to try each day?

Just to try something new everyday!

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Day 2 – 2020 tea advent swap – Vanilla Chai black tea by Fava – loose leaf

Inkling sent this to me! I made a first steep, then immediately poured it in my tea pot and steeped a second brew, and mixed them, so I can make one giant pot of tea to sip on on this cold day. I’m even burning a spicy candle to enhance the comforting ambiance :)

I tried it without sweetener first, just out of curiosity, even though I know Chai is prepared with milk in it. It is a Chai I like – you can even see the whole cardamom pods floating in there! I like the spices they use in this blend, I’d definitely buy a small bag of this!

To put a twist on things, I thought this would be well paired with eggnog instead of milk – and I was right, it’s fabulous – the flavors of the eggnog marry so well with the flavors of the chai tea! I added some erythritol monk fruit blend.

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Just wanted to pop by to say how much I enjoy reading everyone’s advent reviews every night before I go to bed – so happy to be part of this project – I think I still have like six flavors I have opened that I haven’t brewed yet (sorry haven’t written daily – I’ll catch up! :)), but it’s so fun to open up a little present every morning :) And so cool to receive hand written letters on stationery, haha!

Shae said

I agree – this has been so much fun! I’m already looking forward to next year’s swap. :)

I have gotten behind on reading everyone’s notes though. Planning to go through some tonight.

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This has been fun, I’d say my favorite so far was an orange and cinnamon tea, Market spice by Market spice. It just seemed to fit the season. I might save a few until after Christmas, is that cheating?

I have double serving size of most of the tea from Shae! She meant it for my family, which I am grateful for, but not brewing for them everyday :D So, for me, certainly not a cheating :)

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I really have a good time with tea too. Especially trying to find a best and new photo arrangement. But I hope you guys like my photos :)

I don’t know if I am able to pick some best one, or worst (maybe not the latter after today). There are some blends I would not try otherwise, a tea with hawthorn was certainly a new experience for me… I am having fun :)

Shae said

I’m behind on reading notes, but I’ve enjoyed the pictures that I’ve seen so far!

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Dustin said

Thank you so much to AJRimmer for the advent and all the handwritten notes! The notes often made me laugh and I had fun trying a bunch of new teas. I hope your holiday cookie baking, ice cream making, cat cam and holiday stuff goes/went well!

AJRimmer said

It was really fun picking teas for you! I’m glad you had a nice time with it (: and yeah the cat cam has revealed to me just how frequently the cats lounge on the kitchen counter. Nothing is clean!

Dustin said

LOL! Little sneaks!

Shae said

A couple of our cats will sometimes sit on the counter and stare right at the camera when we aren’t home, no joke. I think they must be very proud of themselves.

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Would we want to maybe have a tea party on Facebook messenger or zoom so we can meet everyone who participated in the advent this year?
Go ahead and friend request me on Facebook.com/devon.bartholomew.7 :)

That sounds fun :) I had this idea too; but I would prefer Zoom than becoming friends on Facebook.

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