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I had such high hopes for this one :( Normally I find 52Tea really nails their genmaicha flavours, but this one had no eggnog (or nutmeg) or marshmallow. It tasted like any plain genmaicha. Granted, the green was smoother than most green bases, but even smelling the looseleaf bag I can’t smell anything different. Hopefully I got a weird bag and other people get a flavour packed one. No eggnog, nutmeg, creamy, dessert, or marshmallow notes at all in mine.

My caffeine free Amoda order arrived! So spoilers ahead, please skip if you have not received yours yet

This seemed like the most promising out of the batch of four that I received. It is hard to go wrong with maple or nuts. There certainly was a great deal or maple and some nutty notes, especially because of the rooibos. I actually thought this tasted more like a honeybush because of the nuttiness. I taste a lot of cinnamon, and as I drank the cup I kept thinking of oats. I wouldn’t call this cookie flavour at all, but I do love oats in my baked goods. I had a cardamom pod in my cup but couldn’t taste it. I had my first cup plain, but I can’t wait to enjoy this with milk. I only wish I could have more cookie so it would taste like cookies in milk.

Thanks to Teaside for the free sample of this to try. This is the final of the four samples I received and most of these samples are quite large, so I still have many cups left to enjoy.

This review is for the 2018 harvest

Once again this reminds me of a honey black (or maybe an aged white like moonlight varieties). I wouldn’t say this is quite like any Chinese or Taiwanese oolong I’ve tried before. As an oolong, it isn’t what I would pick as it doesn’t seem distinct enough to me. If I wanted a plain black or white I might pick this. I get Earthy/mineral notes, some sweetness from the honey taste and aroma, and something similar to dry autumn leaves (probably why this reminds me of aged white teas). I’m not getting the fruity notes that other reviewers have mentioned. If you live in an area what a lot of oak trees, you know the smell I’m talking about. When oak leaves start to dry up at the end of Summer/into autumn they give off this very sweet dry leaf scent that makes me thing of season. I find it very pleasant.

Thanks to AJRimmer for a sample of this tea (can’t remember what day # it was)
As I was driving the other day (with this tea in hand) I was thinking that it is a very British tea and probably one that Rimmer would have enjoyed. (Red Dwarf is one of my favourite shows)

This is quite similar to Tazo’s lemon cake tea. I don’t get quite as many cakey notes but it is still a delicious lemony and zesty tea. I had this with soy milk and enjoyed it a lot. I brewed 2 tea bags ~30 minutes in very hot water (cooled down a bit by the soy milk)

Thanks to AJRimmer for this sample! DAY #6

I do love genmaichas and this was a similar tea. I can’t say I noticed the oolong too much but it didn’t have the bitterness that greens often have. The toasted rice was a welcome treat for such a bitter Canadian winter day (joking, we don’t get snow on Van. Island, only TONS AND TONS of rain). The sweetness from the popped rice is really nice with the slightly thick oolong base.

Thank you to AJRimmer for the sample of this for tea davent calender day #7.

I have contemplated ordering this one myself, since I like decaf blacks and vanilla flavoured things. However I’m in a new bracket thanks to vanilla comomo and every other vanilla tea just isn’t as great. I will hold off on ordering this next time I put in a Adagio order.

The black tea is a bit dull, even though I overleafed it and steeped it for over 20 minutes. The vanilla is nice, but has nothing on other vanilla teas I’ve tried.

Thanks to AJRImmer for a chance to try this blend!

Thanks to AJRimmer for a chance to try this! This was day #1 of my advent calender.

Also thank you for the advice to add some sweetener! I’m glad I followed this because I think if I had tried this plain or even with just milk I would have found this blend lacking. The milk and sweetener are necessary to fully enjoy this blend. The black blend was alright, but the cherry isn’t as strong as I would have expected. It isn’t a medicinal cherry or anything it is like you would expect from a black forest cake (cherry pie filling). I wouldn’t have minded more vanilla and some prominant cream notes. The cocoa also should have been stronger.

Thanks to AJRImmer for a chance to try this tea. It was included as day #4 in my advent calender.

I do find it odd that there is a distinctly floral element here. When I hear fig crumble, I think oats, brown sugar, toasted grain, desserty notes, maybe some distinctly figgy notes. I do taste dried fruit, but the floral and candy flavour is far more prevalent. I also dislike the after taste because it reminds me of the smell of coats/bags that my asshole cats have peed on.

I made myself a homemade advent calender this year with samples and whatnot that I need to finish off or have never tasted/reviewed before.

Day 1: Citrus Green Tea (teabag)
I generally shy away from greens, especially bagged greens. That is why this has sat in my drawer for numerous years (I have no idea when or how I acquired it). I am seriously impressed by how good it was, though. This is one of the best flavoured greens I’ve ever had and I can only imagine how good it would be as a looseleaf or a fresher tea.

The citrus is really well done. I get fresh orange, some zest, and some blood orange or grape fruit notes. All of them are really bright and go well with the lightly toned green. Surprisingly, NO BITTERNESS. A citrus zest and green tea blend without bitterness? I have heard of such legends but never before have I seen one in person. It also resteeps! I made three great coldbrew cups with this one.

I’d keep this in my cupboard permanently for coldbrewing if I knew where to get it.