768 Tasting Notes

95
drank Santa's Secret by DAVIDsTEA
768 tasting notes

I had to go into the office today. In fact, I’ll be in the office every day this week and next Monday too. We have having training on the new computer system we are getting in mid February. So, 7 hours of training every day, plus I have to get all my regular work done too. So I punched in at 6am, worked until 8 am., drove to work,m sat in horrifyingly boring training in an overly warm room before driving home and going back to work for another 90 minutes. It is going to be a long week.

After the hot stuffy room the air outside (13F) seemed SOO COLD. When I got home I put on the kettle and brewed a cup of this tea. Ah. So nice. I do like this one. Lately I’ve been drinking herbals in the evenings. Peppermint, rooibos/cinnamon/the Pukkah lemon and ginger that I don’t care for. This was a much better choice. I love the mint with the hint of creamy vanilla. Just delicious.

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60

I had this last night. I hate to have a nearly full box of tea that I don’t want to drink. But I don’t really like this one, so I think it will languish. It was actually a little better than I first time I made it, but I still only managed half the cup. Sad, huh?

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94

To celebrate shoveling the car free of the enormous drifts left by the latest blizzard, I brewed a pot of this tea this afternoon. This is a favorite tea, and it was nice and smooth going down. So warming and comforting on a cold, cold day. I don’t think we got above zero today and there was enough of a breeze that the wind chill was -25. You can imagine I was glad to come in from that and sit down with a warm cup of tea. I suppose at that point almost any hot beverage would have been welcome, but Golden Orchid is one of my faves.

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75

I had this sample before bed last night. It was good. I didn’t even taste the hibiscus. Mostly it was a warm, lightly spiced, lightly sweet cup. Very enjoyable, but I won’t run and buy 50 grams of it. I have GOT to stop buying tea and drink what I have!

gmathis

(Says all of us :)

tea-sipper

haha definitely, gmathis. :D

Maddy Barone

The thing is… There are so many new teas that sound amazing, and of course, when I run run out of a favorite, I need to get more of it. Sigh.

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95

I haven’t had this one for a while. I’ve been mostly drinking tea in the late afternoon and evening lately, which means I usually go for a dessert-y or non caffeine teas. But today is pretty cold so I decided to brew a pot of this.

I’d forgotten how GOOD this tea is. So smooth. No bitterness or astringency, just rich, well balanced black tea. Days like this make me wonder why I always start my day with coffee. A good tea like this will wake me up and make me happy to be up. Or at least, happy to be drinking this tea :)

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90

I drank the last cup. My tea bags are gone sob I really enjoy this tea on chilly winter evenings when I don’t want caffeine. I really think this is one of the very best bagged herbal teas you can find in a supermarket. I might have to pick some more up.

tea-sipper

If it’s sob worthy, you should def buy more. :D

Kittenna

^^ that!

ashmanra

Hmmmm, I have seen this locally. May have to bring a box home…

gmathis

To me, it’s extremely similar to Harney & Son’s Sweet Cinnamon/Hot Cinnamon (whatever they call it :) and quite good; although I’m not sure I’ve tried the caffeine free variety.

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95
drank Santa's Secret by DAVIDsTEA
768 tasting notes

made another pot of this tonight. Enjoyed it quite a bit. Tine to watch another episode of The Witcher while I knit. It’s a good day when you can sip tea, watch an interesting TV program and knit.

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95
drank Santa's Secret by DAVIDsTEA
768 tasting notes

An old favorite. I had this one last night. This tea is never off. It always gives me a glow of warm delight to see the tiny candy canes and taste the always smooth, mildly creamy and sweet tea.

It’s not very cold today. In fact we had RAIN today. Good grief, that is pretty unheard of for North Dakota in winter. So now it is colder and everything has frozen to an ice skating rink. And more snow expected on Friday. Oy! I just unearthed my car.

But I will continue to enjoy this tasty blend from David’s TEa.

tea-sipper

I’m drinking this one right now too. Trying to sip it down.. it is older than old. :D

Shae

How does this one compare to Candy Cane Crush? I’ve seen a lot of people talking about that one but this one sounds good too.

Roswell Strange

Candy Cane Crush is a lot more sweet and intense; like an explosion of candy canes and white chocolate. Santa’s Secret is, in comparison, more delicate and smooth with a gentler peppermint and cream/vanilla profile.

Shae

Thanks for the great explanation!

Maddy Barone

Ms Strange nailed it. I like both very much, but I think I like Santa’s Secret just the teeniest bit more. It is milder than Candy Cane crush, and the creamy vanilla nicely rounds out the peppermint. I made a whole pot last night and drank it all.

Shae

Well I guess I’ll just have to add them both so I can have a side-by-side comparison. :)

They really both sound so good. Thanks to you both for taking the time to give me the details of each.

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70

14 inches of snow and no garage make Maddy crabby. I spend about 25 minutes trying to dig the car out. I got it half excavated. I don’t have to go anywhere until Friday so I (wheezing and and cursing) decided to do a little more tomorrow and then a little more Wednesday. The whole parking lot is a mess. The wind is still blowing so although it isn’t all that cold, it felt like it with the wind.

I came in and brewed this sachet for the advent calendar. I am not sure what I thought of it. It appears to be well liked but it just wasn’t that good for me. Nothing wrong with it. It wasn’t bitter or astringent or sour. And it was nice and warm when I was cold and crabby. Maybe I just was in the mood for something familiar and beloved and didn’t get the same kind of comfort from an old favorite. Oh well. Tomorrow I will drink something from the stash that I know I love.

gmathis

“Bless your heart” just doesn’t get it after a snow session like that. So sorry! May you have a little more sunshine today, inside and out!

Maddy Barone

Thanks! It is nice and sunny today. After work I will head out with my shovel and dig out another section.

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60

I over ate yesterday. I tend to do that, especially around the holidays, so I picked up a box of this on Thursday. I had first put the 3 gingers in my cart, but decided on this one instead. Too bad I didn’t check the tea notes first. The 3 ginger one has better ratings. However, I didn’t hate this one. It won’t be one I reach for just for the pleasure of its taste, but it’s drinkable. I kinda got the sweet burn of the ginger, and at the end of the sip was a sour note from (I presume) the lemon. The Pukka teas were almost twice the price of the Bigelow teas, but it did seem to help my tummy, so it was worth it.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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Bio

I love cats. I love alone time. I love sitting indoors on a cold winter night with a book or my knitting while drinking tea. I don’t have a sense of smell, so many of the more subtle flavors of tea escape me. Two of the things I CAN taste are bitter and sour, so any tea that has even a slightly bitter taste is nasty for me. And what others might perceive as pleasant tartness may be horribly sour for me.

I’m also a writer. I love writing, and a mug of hot tea helps me get through the hours sitting in front of the computer. Although I’m a comparatively new tea drinker, I’m jumping in feet first. Feel free to recommend any teas you think I might enjoy.

100-91 – Wowza! I want to keep this tea in the cupboard all the time.
75-90 – Very nice. It would be good to have this tea on hand from time to time.
60-74 – OK. Wouldn’t keep it in the cupboard, but I would drink it again.
45-59 – If a friend served this I would drink it to be polite, but it’s not really my cuppa.
Lower than 45 – Blech. It was too sour or bitter for my taste. Would not drink it again.

Location

Fargo, ND

Website

www.MaddyBarone.com

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