Lebensbaum Advent Calendar: Days 4, 5, & 6

Day 4: Blütenkuss (Flower Kiss): Featuring linden, lemongrass, elderflower, lime blossom, lemon balm, and vanilla. “Start your day with a gentle kiss of flowers on your lips and let yourself be enchanted by our special tea.” Well, don’t mind if I do! I actually drank this one on Sunday evening. TIL that linden = lime blossom (not citrus lime, obviously). Despite all the very light-sounding ingredients, this one smells and tastes almost musty when it’s brewed up.

Day 5: Minze, Minze, Minze (Mint, Mint, & Mint): Based on the name, one might expect a minty delight. One would be sorely disappointed. Somehow this is not terribly minty?! Google Translate says the ingredients are “Nana mint, peppermint, apple mint, and white lemon balm” but I just got muddy muted mint.

Day 6: Würziger Winterapfel (Spicy Winter Apple): I glanced at the ingredients quickly, saw “Ceylon,” and assumed this was a black tea blend — perfect for my second tea of the morning. Butttt then I saw that the recommended steeping time is 10 minutes and quickly realized that “Ceylon-Zimt” is Ceylon cinnamon, not tea. Ha!

This is a winter spice blend with wild apple as the first ingredient. I’m not getting much apple, though, just a kind of drying, muddy, almost woody cinnamon flavor followed by a mouth-coating sweetness. I initially thought it came just from the licorice root, but then I realized that “Honigblatt” (literally “honey leaf”) is apparently stevia! There’s maybe a little apple as it cools, but in a weird, kind of sour way. Meh.

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Bio

I was an anxious child who didn’t like change, so when my parents flew across the country for my grandfather’s wedding and left us kids with my aunt and uncle, I was a nervous wreck. Our first night at their house was tough. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and padded into the kitchen, where my aunt was puttering around. She could tell I was distressed and offered to make me a cup of tea. It was just Celestial Seasonings’ peppermint tea, but it was exactly what I needed. The tea itself, the comfort it represented, the ritual of making it… I was enchanted. I’ve loved tea ever since.

I’m partial to strong, intense flavors and prefer loose-leaf to bagged, but I also appreciate the convenience of bags and sachets. I mostly drink my tea straight but once in a blue moon I’ll add a little plant-based milk, generally oat.

I live in Maryland, USA, with my partner, three dogs, and one cat, and I’m an editor at an animal welfare nonprofit. I use she/her pronouns. I’ve actually been a Steepster reader for years and years, but only started posting in late 2021. :)

When I’m not drinking tea (or sometimes WHILE I’m drinking tea!) I’m reading, rewatching comfort shows on Netflix, going for a run, knitting, embroidering, hiking, or puttering in the garden. You can find me on Instagram at @kelmishka. (My account is private, but feel free to send a request!)

Favorite ingredients, flavors, etc.

Maple (all-time fave flavor!), vanilla, caramel, and all things dessert-y

Jasmine, lavender, violet, and most floral flavors

Most spices, although I go through phases and sometimes get bored of generic-feeling winter spice blends

Most fruity flavors

Matcha and other vegetal flavors

Not-so-favorite ingredients, flavors, etc.

Bergamot (I tolerate it, but it just doesn’t do it for me)

Hibiscus

Overly artificial flavors (banana, coconut, mango)

Overly herbacious blends, although this varies!

Stevia, monkfruit, and other sugar-alternative sweeteners — blech

Chocolate — it’s hard to get it right in tea, though I love real chocolate!

Animal products, including honey (long-time vegan checking in!)

My ratings

90-100: The best! Will almost definitely repurchase.

75-90: Really good, and potentially worthy of a restock.

60-75: Decent, if not terribly memorable.

50-60: In the “meh” range, but possibly for personal taste reasons.

35-50: I’m not a fan, and this is not very good tea.

20-35: Varying degrees of bad.

1-20: Actively bad. Like really bad. I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing.

Location

Maryland, USA

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