409 Tasting Notes
Advent Calendar from Kaylee: Day 16
My partner and I shared a few pots of this pu-erh on Sunday night, and it was a pleasant way to wrap up the weekend! I’m pretty new to pu-erh, but I really enjoyed the earthy, almost mushroom-y scent and flavor of this one. And the cute little “bird’s nest” shaped cake didn’t hurt, either!
I didn’t get much rose at all, either in scent or taste, although I could see some petals peeking through the cake.
Flavors: Earth, Mushrooms, Wet Earth
12 Teas of Christmas: Day 6
As a maple fiend, I approve this tea! I was really excited to see the name when I opened it up, and even more excited to drink it. It’s such a sweet, dessert-y, breakfast-y delight. The blackberries are abundant and juicily flavorful, and they really complement the maple. To my taste buds, this particular maple flavoring sits somewhere between pure maple syrup and artificial maple pancake syrup. I do find the scent a tad cloying after a bit, but not enough to really put me off this tea.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and I appreciated that I could taste more of the oolong on the second steep.
Flavors: Berry, Blackberry, Juicy, Maple, Maple Syrup, Pancake Syrup, Sweet
Everyone is taunting me with their notes on this T.T
With any luck it’ll go on the website after the holidays!
I have some remaining quantities of all the teas from the box – they will be available to those that bought the box December 25 – 28. On the 28, they will go live on the website. This is one of which there are very few quantities.
If there’s any left on the 28th I will definitely be placing an order! I’m not getting my hopes up, though, because it seems a very popular tea!
English Tea Shop Advent Calendar: Day 15
I accidentally over-steeped this one while puttering this evening, so I’ll abstain from rating it! It smelled really nice, with sweet berry notes, but there’s a bitter, metallic edge to it that I assume is because I over-steeped it. Or maybe that’s what garcinia fruit tastes like?!
Flavors: Berry, Fruity, Metallic, Sweet
I oversteeped this both times I drank it too, but I also noticed the metallic tang.
I’m sure there’s a second bag hanging out somewhere in the remaining advent days, so I’ll have to treat that one with more caution!
There should be! I said the same thing and then completely forgot, lol.
English Tea Shop Advent Calendar: Days 12 & 22
I am woefully behind on my notes for this calendar, but it’s partially because they keep repeating teas!
Day 12 was the first time for this one, though. I’ve got a nostalgic love for any kind of Candy Cane Lane-inspired tea, so I was pleased to see this one. Unsurprisingly, the ingredient list is chock full of random garbage that does not need to be there, but apparently that’s English Tea Shop’s MO.
Anyway, yep, this was a wholly inoffensive minty green tea. No flavors really stand out, and it could do with more of a creamy vanilla flavor to evoke a candy cane/peppermint candy, but it’s fine. Not a best in show when it comes to this flavor profile, but entirely drinkable.
Edit: This one showed up again on day 22, and I’m getting more of the creamy vanilla flavor today. Upping my rating accordingly!
Flavors: Creamy, Peppermint, Vanilla
12 Teas of Christmas: Day 5
The dry leaf was 100% underripe banana, which made me nervous — no matter how hard I’ve tried to conquer it, I have a powerful aversion to the flavor of even slightly green bananas.
Happily, the banana flavor is not as strong in the brewed cup. Instead I got a pleasant whiff of smokiness. I love lapsang souchong, so it was a welcome surprise! It’s odd that I couldn’t smell it in the dry leaf at all… maybe my senses are still a bit addled.
I’ve never had bananas foster but I think the smokiness is smart. Maybe a stronger burnt caramel note would help, too?
Flavors: Smoke, Sweet
12 Teas of Christmas: Day 4
This smells amazing, especially dry — so crisp and effervescent! Brewed up, I’m getting heavy notes of citrus and lime and not so much pomegranate. It’s really refreshing, though, and I bet it’d be amazing cold-brewed.
Flavors: Crisp, Effervescent, Lime
Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 17
I’m wrapping up the first semester of a part-time grad program, and this morning I banged out a draft of my final paper. I was powered mostly by a pot of this chai.
Despite a robust ingredient list, most of the spices here fade to the background behind pepper, ginger, and an unexpected creaminess. Yeah. It’s like a peppery caramel on a weak black tea base. I wonder how it would work with chili pepper instead of peppercorn — I feel like that would make sense, given the name!
As it is, I… weirdly kinda like it?
Flavors: Caramel, Ginger, Pepper, Peppercorn, Thin
Yawn Advent Calendar: Day 16
OK, this is ostensibly a coffee-flavored rooibos blend! Interesting! Most of the coffee flavorings in tea tend to remind me of old, stale coffee, not a fresh, aromatic cup. But the coffee in this one actually seems decent. Unfortunately, I’m barely getting any of it, either in small or taste. It’s more a suggestion of coffee.
That said, I can see what they were going for with the cappuccino inspiration. The sweetness of rooibos actually works alongside a gentle creamy, almost caramel flavor to suggest frothed milk. But every flavor is just SO dang light — it needs to be bolder!
Points for trying!
Flavors: Caramel, Coffee, Creamy, Rooibos
Advent Calendar from Kaylee: Day 14
Decided to try this as an iced tea because I wasn’t really into a hot herbal blend. I don’t know that I’ve ever had an iced rooibos, actually, but I don’t mind it. It seems like the medicinal quality of the rooibos gets tempered a bit. I’m mostly tasting mint and lemongrass, and it’s pretty nice. Not sure where the lavender and rose are going but I don’t miss them in this instance.
Very cooling and refreshing.
Flavors: Lemongrass, Mint, Spearmint
