Gingerbread

After the success of Snickerdoodle I was excited for this one; I was up for a sweeter take or a heavy ginger. It went in neither direction. All I’m getting is the chicory.

There’s nothing wrong with it – it’s got the qualities of the darker chicory tea I’m enjoying a lot from teeccino – but it doesn’t have any element that makes me think ginger, bread, gingerbread, dessert, or anything the name might suggest.

sipsby bagged advent, day 14

peeks out from behind a Batman comic book

Uh… hi.

So, I haven’t logged in for SEVEN YEARS.

Whaaat.

Anyway, I am back. Life got crazy. I got diagnosed with ADHD, which is partly why I just dropped off for so long. I started grad school and coffee took over, but then turns out I have a severe sensitivity to caffeine!

So now it’s been all decaf for a while.

Uh, what else… I’m engaged, I’m in a PhD program now. I still love tea! I just haven’t drank as much of it until recently.

But, my return has been spurred on by signing up for a Sipsby subscription box, and receiving my first box.

It’s cold here, so I opted for the Gingerbread by Teeccino.

My initial thoughts:

Scent dry in the bag is gingery and a bit nutty. Slightly buttery and toasted, too, but not as much.

Scent while steeping and then once steeped, a very muted ginger scent. Very toasted.

As far as taste: it doesn’t scream ginger or gingerbread to me. It has a very buttery mouthfeel and aftertaste, which I love, and it takes cream really well. Cream brings out that buttery flavor.

But, there’s very little of the gingerbread taste. However, it DOES give like… toasted marshmallow? Like a toasted sweetness? Especially once you add a bit of sweetener.

So overall, it’s a flavor I enjoy, even if it wasn’t the flavor I was expecting. I also didn’t time my steep, and got distracted (ADHD, remember?) and so I am going to do a take 2 later with timed steeping, to see if that makes a difference.

Still a decent cup, but I want more noticeable ginger flavor, for sure.

Day 15 of the Teeccino advent calendar. I’m going to have to circle back to day 14 – it’s something more adventurous and I can’t handle that at 6am. I had to get up super early for a medical appointment, so I’m sneaking in a cuppa before I leave. This one has the familiar and tasty Teeccino coffee-like base. I wish the “gingerbread” aspect was stronger though. It’s very faint, like a shadow hanging out in the back of the sip. I liked the candy cane flavor more, as holiday flavors go – that one was stronger and truer to its namesake.

January sipdown prompt – drink a coffee flavored tea

This is a sipdown of the samples my friend brought, although I never added them to cupboard and so will not count them toward my total.

This was positively delicious today. I think it has the least coffee flavor of the Teecino blends I have tried, but made as a latte with milk and sugar is delicious and satisfying, even though I skipped the whipped cream this time. Drank it with lunch which was homemade veggie beef soup.

I’m liking yesterday’s coconut addition to the chicory more and more. This one one has swung the chicory pendulum too far and it is out of balance. Not enough ginger, not enough sweetness. I guess they can’t all be winners.

Last tea of 2022.

There was zero intention behind having this tea specifically as my last tea of the year – it just kinda worked out that way. I used to be really sentimental and cheesy about the symbolism of teas associated to things like that, but I’m trying really hard to let go of that for my own mental sanity.

It was a really nice cuppa though! It’s the same predictably roasty, cozy and darkly delicious base of ingredients that Teeccino uses across most of their flavours but with a bit more of a molasses-y note and a hint of ginger. Definitely one of my favourites of Teeccino’s line up – though the flavour could be stronger.

I feel like this one leans a little too heavily on the chicory or something, which I’m not as huge a fan of. I wish the gingerbread and other additions were stronger. With sugar and milk, it’s still quite pleasant, but not my favorite from the batch. I taste mostly coffee with a bit of something desserty on top. Thanks tea-and-cats!