Maddy Barone Send Message

Etsy Tea Advent Calendar Day 18:

Ah, an herbal mint tea. Delightful. I enjoy herbal mint teas. Hard to screw up a plain peppermint tea. I checked the website for an ingredient list. Oh. Redbush (rooibos). And spearmint. That might be a nice change from peppermint. And vanilla. Okay, I could see that adding a touch of creaminess to the tea. And hibiscus. HIBISCUS??? I do not like hibiscus.

I brewed up the cup. The liquor was very dark. Common with rooibos . I sipped. Nothing. I didn’t detect any mint. Or any hibiscus. What the heck. I let it cool a bit and tried again. A hint of cool mint. Still no hibiscus. Some woodiness from the rooibos. Still no real flavor. I drank half the cup and then gave up and made a cup of plain peppermint tea.

I have to say, this tea advent calendar has been a bit of a disappointment to me. On the one hand, it is beautifully presented with each tea bag wrapped in heavy blue paper with Christmas/winter designs and tried to the Snowflake wall hanging. And it is nice to try teas I have never seen before. I am a tea snob, but there are several bagged teas I enjoy like Good Earth Sweet & Spicy, Twinings Prince of Wales, Scottish Breakfast by Taylor’s of Harrowgate, and more. I just don’t care for most of the teas by Eastern Shore Tea Company. But we do still have a few days left, so maybe I will strike gold in one of those. :)

Etsy Tea Advent Calendar Day ?

I am completely off on my days. This week through me for a loop. On Monday I had quarterly my MRI and CT scan. I couldn’t eat or drink anything from Midnight on Sunday until after the scans were done, which wasn’t until 1:30 Monday afternoon. Then I went to work. And after that I went to bed. Those scans are not painful. I just find them very tiring. Tuesday I met with the oncologist and learned that -praise God- the cancer has not returned. The pain I’ve been experiencing is from the start of a hernia, which is common with ostomies. So I have a special belly wrap to wear to support me, and I am not to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds for at least two weeks.

That was a long and lame excuse for why I haven’t been drinking my tea this week. :9

This tea may have been my favorite of the month. The spices are mild, but I can detect them. It feels cinnamon heavy, because I get that slightly mouth drying sensation I often get with cinnamon. I wouldn’t rush out to buy a box of this one, but I could easily drink another cup.

I promise to be more faithful with my teas for the next week. Hard to believe Christmas is only a week away! I am driving to my brother in Minneapolis for the holiday, so I might be iffy with the 23rd-25th teas. But they will certainly wait until untilI come home onthe 26th.

Etsy Advent Calendar Day 12

I was pleased that today was an herbal tea. I was busy busy busy all day and didn’t get a chance to open the package until tonight. I didn’t want a caffeinated tea tonight. Tomorrow I have an appointment so I need to go into work at 6:00 am.

AS usual the tea pack packet didn’t have an ingredient list so i went to the website. It has no base (being herbal, it doesn’t need one, but I thought maybe rooibos or honeybush). The ingredients are things that have the colors of the rainbow like rose hips, orange peel, lemon peel, parsley, cornflowers, and lavender flowers. That’s a lot of floral, which I m not fond of, but on the other hand the citrus peel might balance those out. On the third hand, there is no hibiscus, so that is a plus.

I brewed it for 5 minutes. The liquor is pale gold. The flavor… is mild. I kinda get the citrus, but it is a citrus overlaid with a soapy taste. AS it cooled the citrus came out more and the soapy receded. This is an interesting tea with lots of ingredients that might not go together very well. I think maybe they do. I can say that I was able to finish the cup. I’m not sure if I liked it, but then again, I finished it. There were no ratings for this tea. IN fact, I didn’t see this tea on Steepster, so I added it myself. I would love to know what others think of it. I am waffling on whether or not to recommend it.

Etsy Tea Advent Calendar Day 11

Not a fan of green tea. I wavered over whether or not to brew this one up, and decided I may as well. I am going to drink (almost) all the teas in this calendar. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to finish it.

I didn’t finish it. I forced three sips down. Very grassy. I know many people love that about green tea. Not me. So I am not going to rate this one, since many people might love it and it doesn’t seem fair to knock it for being what it is. That would be like reading a mystery novel and giving it a 1 star review because I couldn’t figure out who the killer was until it was revealed in the last chapter.

Etsy Tea Advent Calendar Day 9:

Wow, time is flying. Christmas is not that far away, and I haven’t done anything yet. Last year at this time I was resting between my infusion chemo treatments and my radiation/oral chemo treatments, so I did literally nothing for Christmas. I had 12 days off between chemo and radiation, and I was so sick I could barely get out of bed. I swore this year I would go whole hog with decorating. But … I have a new kitten. She is 6 months old now, so about fully grown, but still with a kitten’s play drive. And Little Miss Dottie is absolutely wild. So, maybe 2022?
On to the tea!

Here is another tea I’ve never had by a company I have not heard of. I am not fond of floral teas, which I assume this one is. In my head I relate floral teas to the little rose soaps my grandmother set out for company. This tea does not taste soapy, thank goodness. It is not sour or bitter or astringent, so I give it a mild recommendation. If you enjoy floral herbal teas this might be just the tea for you. AS it is. I think I will finish this cup and then brew myself a cup of peppermint tea.

I didnt’ get to my advent calendar tea yesterday until nearly bedtime. It was a very high caffeine tea so I decided to skip it in favor of a different tea: Santa’s Secret. It is also caffeinated but not so highly as Night Owl.

This is a favorite not so much because of the flavor (which is fine, smooth and sweet) but because it brings back memories of friends in Winnipeg Manitoba. Every time I have this tea I am surrounded by good memories of dear people. It was very good last night.

Etsy Advent Calendar Day 6

A Minty/Rooibos herbal tea. It’s not a favorite, but it’s not bad. On a cold night like this (it is 1 above, or -18C at 5:00 pm) a hot tea is welcome. It is not bitter. I do get a faint mint flavor. And I like that it is caffeine free. I’ll have no trouble finishing the cup and may even re-steep.

I think I am envious of everyone else’s advent calendars. I told myself I was not going to order an expensive advent calendar this year. And I didn’t. This one was very inexpensive. And I do like to try different things. Maybe I’m just a tea snob. The quality of most of these teas is just not there. But I am probably jumping the gun. There are several bagged teas I enjoy, and there are still 18 days to go!

And the more I have of this one the better I like it.

Etsy Tea Advent Calendar Day 5

I have never heard of Prince of Peace Tea so I googled it. Okay, some of their teas got decent reviews on Amazon. I brewed it up. It was a tad bitter, so I added a dollop of flavored honey. I was given a ton of those flavored honey sticks. Unfortunately, the labels saying which bundle was which flavor, so I am guessing it was cherry. Kinda tastes like cough syrup. The honey, not the tea. I think a plain honey or even sugar would have been a better choice. The honey overwhelmed the tea. As it cooled I found myself enjoying it more. If I were to ever have it again I would cut back on the sweetener and drink it after it cools for a few minutes. I am giving this one a cautious recommendation because I did enjoy the second half of it.

Etsy Advent Calendar Day 4

Finally, we have a hit! Again, nothing is listed on the wrapper as to ingredients, but I found them on the website. Fruit, and black tea. This is nothing special, but a pleasant tea to enjoy with shortbread and jam. After the first three teas I was beginning to despair of finding one i like. Mind you, I wouldnt’ rush out to stock up on this one, but if I saw it in a hotel tea caddy I would happily brew and drink a cup.

We are expecting our first real snow of the winter tonight and tomorrow. Not a lot in my area, maybe 3 inches. But with 25-30 mile an hour winds, 3 inches is more than enough to cause white out conditions. I may not make it to church tomorrow. We’ll see. A perfect to lounge around writing out Christmas cards while sipping tea.