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I had planned to check in my advent calendar teas on my phone while away from home, but in the end I not only didn´t do that, it took me some time after returning home to get me on steepster again… so this was Day12 from Origines Tea Advent Calendar, which I drank more than a month ago for the first time. Having tea calendars with pouches big enough for at least 5 tea brewing sessions has its advantage ;-)
This is a fresh tea, according to Origines´web page also great as an iced tea over Summer, which I can fully understand as it smells very minty, like an old fashioned chewing gum. Once steeped, the herbal taste of the green tea base comes through. This combination lingers on for a long time, which is really nice. Hopefully I can get myself to reserving the rest of the pouch for iced tea.

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 11
Spicy Chai …and indeed it is true to its name ;-) Spicy nose, with especially peppery taste, full of character, …and quite OK for once (as a “chai”, that is, I´m normally not a huge fan, to say the least). I use a glass glass and infuser, and the micropores of my infuser got completely blocked by this tea, so I´ll refrain from using this glass and infuser for the rest of the pouch as the steeped tea isn´t great to watch either (very hazy).

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 10
Chamomile and me don´t go well together ;-) A few years ago I had my worst tea/infusion experience with a chamomile blend, and now, I´m always really careful when I get the typical smell of chamomile…and yes, here it is! I admit it´s subtle and there are sweet honey notes coming through as well. The brew however is all chamomile. It was OK, maybe the elderflower and apple in the blend manage to take away the reaction I normally have with chamomile, so ouph!!!

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 9
Rayin de soleil (sunray) is a sencha green tea based blend, where fruit flavourings and flowers (marigold, cornflower) add to the elegant tasting experience. Warm with a good bite, where especially the apricot stands out. Indeed a ray of sunlight during these short days…

Origines Advent Calendar- Day8
Positive Teatox is a blend of yerba mate and green tea – and then I would instinctively say “boring” ;-) – with added citrus and tropical fruit (flavourings). These peach and mango flavourings stand out in nose, while the brew tastes like an unsweetened icetea, a home made one!
complex

Origines Advent Calendar – Day7
Rouge Délice is a cherry/strawberry/cranberry aromatised black tea, which normally wouldn´t interest me too much, as I find these type of teas very often too artificially and strongly flavoured. Moreover, cherry aroma´s very often smell like “mon cheri” to me, a boozy kirch like aroma which I don´t like. Here strawberry comes through more in smell, and it stays fruity. Once steeped, there´s an extra herbal, slightly bitter touch (cassis leaves?); finish is long. Not too bad ;-)

Origines Advent Calendar – Day6
A first real Xmas tea on Day6…on a red rooibos base, with cinnamon and biscuit in nose and in mouth more like s strudel, but not too sweet (fortunately). It reminds me – in a way – of a rooibos based blend by Bird&Blend which tasted just like custard…an amazing tasting experience! Honestly, I´ld wish all Xmas blends would be like this, i.e. w/o overdoing it with clove and cinnamon!

Origines Advent Calendar-Day 5
As its name already indicates, this is a litchi tea, on a white and green tea blend base. The base teas are nice big leaf teas of good quality, and the litchi flavourings are natural, not overly sweet (which I honestly was afraid of) and well in harmony with the rose petals and rose extract also used here. Litchi in nose and mouth, but it stays elegant, naturAL and not over the top…

Origines Advent Calendar – Day4
Indeed, I´m having some delay writing my tasting notes of the advent calendar teas ;-)
Origines tells me this tea is a “sobacha”, or a tea with “soba”, or buckwheat…I think this is a first for me, and I just adored it! I´m already preparing a trip to Japan, but as I´m really fascinated by the country, I´m afraid to go too early, i.e. to go w/o enough preparation…so, now I really want to try more sobachas :-))
I smell cacao when opening the pouch; this turns to something malted (cf. in ale) once steeped. And it drinks like a very aromatic chocolatey drink…nice!

Origines Advent Calendar-Day3
Tropical fruits like mango blend well with rooibos, I think. This is an example of it, really enjoyable both in nose and mouth. It´s quite surprising that it “breathes” mango, while the pieces of fruit in this blend are really apricot so the entire mango vibe comes from the natural aromas added.