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ADVENT DAY 5, tea 3/3

Oh dear, this one sounds fancy! Used all 5 grams in one western session; using only 80 °C water.

The dry scent and liquor scent is the same. Puffed rice / corn cakes, rice krispies, and so on. Naturally it reminds me the sticky rice oolong I had this year. It was very light in flavour as well as in the colour. Less vegetal than that oolong; more of the rice aroma here.

Delightful and probably a tea that I would buy for further experimenting.

ADVENT DAY 5, tea 2/3

I drank this as well in the office, prepared shortly after noon as I needed some wake-up call; I was just sleepy after lunch and some work had to be done.

Absolutely non-offensive herbal tea with extra energy thanks to Maté. Slightly lemony thanks to lemongrass and lemon verbena.

Just gulped it down, woke me up and brought me joy. At least that much as much you can be happy at work. No, I’m joking… but it was fine and pleasant.

ADVENT DAY 5, tea 1/3

Very, very traditional tea. Not a flaw of the calendar, though. Because this EG is one of the better I had. Very round black tea base, with refreshing citrus — bergamot notes. There was no astringency, bitterness or other notes to ruin the session. I assume that the Keemun base was the key for that.

And if you think that the sachet isn’t aromatic too much, well, just put it in the water and let it steep. The level of bergamot is just right.

ADVENT DAY 4, tea 3/3

Eh, nope, not a fan. And putting Valentine’s Day limited edition tea to the Advent?

Pink colour is nice and looks pretty, although I am not a real fan of this colour. But that’s because my gender I guess :D. But sadly, the flavour is just the mess. It tastes like powdered sugar with rose flavour and with absolutely weird mint freshness that doesn’t pair the rose florals… and in aftertaste it is nothing else than floral soap. Absolutely lacking some base, hibiscus isn’t working well for that, luckily enough it’s not tart because that.

Finished, but definitely not a fan.

ADVENT DAY 4, tea 2/3

I have accidentally closed this note before saving, so only short recap below. Noone is interested in long notes anyway.

Gongfu, 2 grams / 125 ml gaiwan, 80°C water, longer steeps (15 s + 15 s increments)

Interesting flavour profile: corn and corn husks, followed by hay and grassy notes, with longer steeps there are buttery notes; from 4th steep astringency and bitterness, but still perfectly serviceable tea; and can’t wait for more focused session with remaining 3 grams.

ADVENT DAY 4, tea 1/3

On the box there was clearly stated that today tea is Choc Orange. While I wasn’t impressed to have two chocolate teas in a row, I thought it is actually intended as two caramel teas were in a row too.

But then I steeped this, in boiling water for 4 minutes and I saw it is not definitely a black tea. It was green liquor. Did they omit the black tea base? That would be hilarious error. But then I smelled it, tasted it, and I got a familiar flavour, but it wasn’t definitely orange! I was so puzzled.

Finished the cup, which was flavourful and bright, and I was actually able to pick up the flavor. It’s like watermelon chewing gum. Ah well, watermelon I thought. Did they put wrong sachet in? That could happen, especially when the wrappers are just numbered and there is no ID of the tea.

And I started to research. Opened their website and line-up and what I saw? Yes, today tea is Watermelon oolong. Hm, have I overlooked what’s on the box? Let’s check… and answer is nope. Clearly there is black tea written with name Choc Orange.

But this tea was tasty too. A bit too candy-like to me, but watermelons are like that; and boiling water definitely didn’t hurt the tea. It was creamy and drinkable. I just have been prepared for different flavour profile.

ADVENT DAY 3, tea 3/3

And last one, served at home, steeped western all 5 grams in 300 ml of boiling water.

I remember having Doke black tea once and I wasn’t too impressed, but this one is better than the previous experience. It was very strong with high caffeine content, full-bodied and malty tea. There is quite strong tannic note and hints of woodiness in the flavour, not really sure if I like it in my afternoon cup. It rather tastes like one of the breakfast blends. I have had much better black teas, also from India… probably Doke isn’t the region that impresses me.

ADVENT DAY 3, tea 2/3

Seeing this, I wasn’t too impressed. I am not fan of chamomile; and combination with honeybush, in a tea bag; well, “it will be just herbal blend like many others”.

Not that much. It was actually quite tasty, and its bright yellow color glowed in my office (not the warehouse one) in gloomy, grey morning (later than Chocolate Cake by 3 hours). Prepared for Teams meeting that was supposed to be 2 hours long but actually we have finished in 15 minutes. The weather outside was just awful, imagine temperature just a little above zero centigrade, rain/snow fall, with cold wind gusts.

Happy I was in the office and happy having the hot mug.

It seems I digress a lot about this tea. Sorry!
It was actually quite tasty, honey-ish both from honeybush and chamomile, but without wet rag smell and taste that chamomile sometimes have. I assume that the peppermint was making it even a bit refreshing, and makes it “far away” from just a herbal blend taste.
Definitely a nice surprise, though not a caffeine-free tea I would buy right away.

ADVENT DAY 3, tea 1/3

I have planned teas for today yesterday and… decided to bring two of three to the work, having in mind that the afternoon and evening will be busy and I don’t want to repeat yesterday “drink all the tea in 4 hours”.

It has worked well to me, this one was a breakfast tea and whoa what a tea!

It was not artificial, it was not boozy, it was not terrible and it was actually very, very good. And without toffee, caramel and those :)
It was fullbodied black tea with natural and genuine chocolate flavour. It has got pastry note, it was quite creamy too; like a chocolate cream (we call it Parisian, but not sure if it is in English too). Smooth, easy drinking mug, hearty and chocolatey!

Really like it. Of course, biting real chocolate cake would be a bit better… on the other hand, this has got (almost) no calories :)

Well, apple-day I guess? Two apple teas and now with toffee. As I wrote yesterday, not much a fan of sugar-based sweets. But again, it probably suits well the season.

Pinkish and bright color, strong apple aroma, almost artificial; followed with definitely artificial smelling toffee.
In taste very, but very sweet tasting toffee with slight acidity and sweetness of red apples, so definitely this blend is true to its name; but sadly I am not a fan of those flavours. That makes rating hard to me, so I am keeping it without it. Because I believe there are guys out there who would like it and my personal preference doesn’t allow me to enjoy it that much.