251 Tasting Notes

1

I was so pleased to have the forethought to brew this on my way out the door on this incredibly wet Saturday. A hot cup of lemon tea sounded exactly right.

Unfortunately, one sip in and I was slammed with the memory of an old stale box of bagged herbal lemon tea in my mom’s pantry, the kind I would reluctantly pull out for a sore throat but otherwise ignore. I tried passing it off to my partner, but he just looked at me and said “lemon pledge”, so that option was out too.

At least it smelled alright going down the drain.

(That feels so mean! But also it made me laugh so I’m keeping it.)

Plum Deluxe Caffeine Advent, Day 9

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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80
drank Re-Cranimator by BrutaliTeas
251 tasting notes

Catching up after some busy work days, but it goes slow as new surprises keep cropping up and taking me away from the house (and my tea).

Re-crAnimator is a fun blend. The scent is festive but light. I get spiced cranberry with orange, which is also reflected in the flavor. The orange in particular here was strong, which surprised me. My cup came out a fairly pale pink despite using the whole sample in a single mug, but it didn’t detract from the flavor. I have a lot of other similar blends currently. Still, this goes on the list as a possible purchase in the future.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 8

Flavors: Cranberry, Orange, Spices

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92
drank Golden Lily by DAVIDsTEA
251 tasting notes

A strong win for me two days in a row on this calendar, and I’m quite pleased! This tea was a hit with me and with my partner, who took the rest of the leaf for a couple mugs of his own. We each steeped twice. I love that this is a mild vegetal flavor with no bitterness and a hint of something toasty. Both rounds were lovely, though the second was perhaps even lighter. I wouldn’t call it floral – that was something that genuinely surprised me in the description – but certainly fresh, and smooth as well. We’ll need to grab more of this.

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 8

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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40

I’d love to hear recommendations for a strawberry tea that really blew your mind, because I love strawberries and even strawberry candy flavor, but strawberry in tea is so often a miss for me.

This is a subtle tea. The artificial strawberry is present in the scent, but the tea itself seems to shine through the other flavors. I get a little bit of chocolate strawberry at the aftertaste. But it’s the typical stale, bordering on medicinal artificial strawberry, and I wouldn’t do this again.

Plum Deluxe Advent, Day 8

Flavors: Artificial, Chocolate, Strawberry

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
ashmanra

Chocolate and Strawberry Puer from Lupicia, and really most of their strawberry teas are great. Marco Polo from Mariages Freres is very good but can be finicky.

Cameron B.

I agree with ashmanra, I like Lupicia’s strawberry teas a lot! Dammann also has some good teas with strawberry in them, like Jardin Bleu and Fraise Pistache.

Shae

Throwing in my vote for Lupicia!

ashmanra

Also note that shipping looks high but every time I order I get a refund of $5-$6 on shipping within a day or two.

whosbradpitt

Interesting note on the shipping, but I’m glad that there seems to be consensus. Adding Lupicia to my list to try – after advents are done! :)

Nattie

Love Potion by B&B – it’s a seasonal tea that comes out around valentine’s, it’s chocolate strawberry and rose and one of my absolute favourites.

whosbradpitt

Rose definitely has my attention! I’ll have to pay attention in February and try this one.

ashmanra

Yume is lovely – strawberry and rose!

Nattie

I hope you love it!

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76

Working from home gives me so much more time to enjoy tea! Playing a little catch-up today.

This green tea gives a strong berry scent and a mild berry flavor; while several berries are listed it’s very blueberry to me. I think it’s pretty in the bag, with the blue cornflowers. While I drank this hot yesterday, I could see myself throwing a bag in for some cold brew or other iced tea.

Plum Deluxe Advent, Day 7

Flavors: Blueberry

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70
drank Terrormisu by BrutaliTeas
251 tasting notes

I can’t say too much about this tea because I was in such a rush drinking it yesterday. It was tasty, with definite bitter coffee/dark chocolate flavor permeating. It’s a dessert tea without a whole lot of sweetness (so my partner enjoyed it more than expected). It seems like it would have been perfect for me, so maybe the rush was impacting my rating, but I just sort of felt… meh about it.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 7

Flavors: Bitter, Coffee, Dark Chocolate

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95
drank Genmaicha by DAVIDsTEA
251 tasting notes

One week in! This is absolutely my favorite from this advent calendar so far. I only learned about genmaicha last year, but I find it delightful and will need to get some into my stash.

At a 3 minute steep, this is just the right amount of toasted rice flavor; I can still get the green tea underneath while enjoying the warm toastiness most of all. This cup makes me feel both cozy and refreshed, which is a fun balance (and nothing feels cloying or lingers too long).

DAVIDsTEA Around the World Advent, Day 7

Flavors: Toasted Rice

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85

Wrapped up yesterday with this interesting blend. It feels like a tropical fruit punch in scent – a strong scent both dry and steeped. The flavor is not as intense, but it has the notes I’d expect from the scent. I’ve got to admit to being generic about tropical fruit because I don’t know many of them, and I couldn’t even tell you if I’ve tasted dragonfruit! I taste tropical fruit with a good sweet/tart balance that leans a little more toward tart, and it’s all smooth and tasty. I really want to try this one iced, so I’ll be buying more.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 6

Flavors: Tart, Tropical Fruit

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20

I put this off about as long as I could yesterday, but I really do want to keep up with these three advents, so I went ahead and steeped it in the evening. Just my luck, a double coconut day.

You know, for a coconut tea, this one really could have been worse. While the primary scent and taste are definitely coconut, it’s a blend I can best describe as smooth. I see why it would be a dessert tea, but it’s also not overwhelmingly sweet. I managed about half of this before I was completely over it.

Plum Deluxe Advent, Day 6

Flavors: Coconut, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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10

Just wasn’t doing too well on the tea front yesterday. After two general misses, I went for this one (avoiding an expected miss from another advent calendar as well), and it didn’t work for me.

Hot, it has a little bit of a fruit element, mostly overpowered by a sweetness that must be the custard – and rooibos. As it cools I get nothing but rooibos (well, maybe still a hint of sweet, but not enough to override wet wood). I know I do like some rooibos blends even with red rooibos, but I’m starting to get really nervous about the rest of these!

Bird & Blend Caffeine & Caffeine-Free Advents, Day 3

Flavors: Artificial, Sweet, Wet Wood

Kelmishka

I remember this one being very disappointing in last year’s B&B advent!

Roswell Strange

This is actually my favourite B&B tea – just goes to show how much tastes can vary from person to person, haha.

Nattie

Aww no! Like Roswell this is a favourite of mine! So sad you didn’t enjoy it. I hope the rest are better!

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Profile

Bio

College instructor, mom of 2, and general homebody in California.

Great at buying tea, good at drinking tea, bad at timely reviews. Drawn to fruit, floral, spice, smoke, and flavored teas in general; prefer those that stand well without milk or sweetener. Black is fine, green is better, and red rooibos is trash.

I aim to rate when I finish a package or a complete sipdown, except in advent season.

My ratings are for me, so I don’t accidentally buy something that sounds amazing but I’ve already tried and disliked. I struggle a bit with wanting to be “fair” to a tea that other people would probably like, but then my system won’t work!

90-100 A: loved it; would make this a permanent member of my stash
80-89 B: tasty; would pick it up again
70-79 C: good; could grab with a good deal or to try in a different style
60-69 D: okay; would keep in a set but probably would not repurchase on its own
1-59 F: various shades of bad; would not purchase; closer to 1 means may not even drink again if offered.

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