4330 Tasting Notes
Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 2
This is primarily a chamomile and lavender blend. There’s a bit of lemon balm, but mostly just the other two. It’s nice enough, a good balance of the soft, pollen notes of the chamomile with the citrusy, floral lavender.
Nice quality, if a bit basic. A pleasant evening cup.
Flavors: Chamomile, Citrus, Earthy, Floral, Lavender, Pollen, Soft
Preparation
knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 2
Theme: Hot Cocoa
My pick: Fengqing Dragon Pearl from Teavivre
I’m not a huge fan of chocolate teas or rooibos, but this is actually quite nice. The chocolate flavoring isn’t overly boozy, and gives a nice gentle chocolate flavor to the tea. The rooibos base is woody but not medicinal. Overall, a smooth and sweet evening cuppa that would probably go well with milk. Not something I would order for myself, but nice to try. :)
Flavors: Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Rooibos, Smooth, Sweet, Woody
Preparation
Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 2
Better get going on these advent teas ha ha. I got distracted chatting with a friend on Instagram, and now it’s 4:30 and I still have 4 more teas to go! XD
I was excited to see this one in the advent, because it’s actually the only tea in their National Parks series that I haven’t tried. I ordered the sampler at one point, but then they added this tea and Glacier after the fact. So hooray!
This is definitely an interesting one, as I might expect from the strange description (what does agave even taste like other than sweet?). I wonder if I should’ve used less water, because it’s actually a bit bland. Otherwise, not sure how to describe it exactly. There’s definitely an herbaceous taste, and something like dry grass or hay. Something almost starchy that I assume is coming from the yucca root. I do taste hibiscus, it’s not necessarily tart but there’s a hint of that rich fruity taste in the background. And then the finish is a bit honey-like, perhaps that’s the agave flavoring coming in? With some minerality as well. As it cools, it reminds me of OBTC’s Prickly Pear a bit, with a sort of melony flavor to it.
Definitely an unusual one. I don’t see myself ordering a tin of it, as it’s a bit strange. Not unpleasant, just not something I would reach for. Happy to have tried it though!
Flavors: Dry Grass, Floral, Hay, Herbaceous, Hibiscus, Honey, Melon, Mineral, Potato, Roots, Spring Water, Sweet, Thin, Watery, Woody
Preparation
knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 2 (my pick)
Theme: Hot Cocoa
Her pick: Belgian Chocolate from The English Tea Room
Starting off with the tea I sent Marjorie today, since everything else is an herbal! Our theme for Day 2 is Hot Cocoa, so I chose this tea because it has such nice and rich natural cocoa notes. Our advents are mostly flavored teas, but we agreed ahead of time that we would like a couple of unflavored ones as well. This is an ideal breakfast tea for me, very flavorful and satisfying but super smooth and doesn’t upset an empty stomach. I never know how many pearls to use, so I tend to overleaf it lmao.
Also enjoying the Bonne Maman jam for today, which is Guava Spread. I love guava, so always happy to see it. This has a nice, distinctly guava flavor to it. I will say, I think it could stand to have a little more tartness to it, but it’s still not nearly as sweet as yesterday’s quince. Delicious on buttered toast!
Flavors: Chocolate, Cocoa, Earthy, Malty, Rich, Savory, Smooth, Thick
Preparation
DIY Herbal Infusion Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 1
Name: Citrus Fizz
Ingredients: green honeybush, lemon, grapefruit, basil, thyme
Movie: Die Hard
Totally forgot to write a note for this last night! Instead of buying a hot chocolate advent, this year I made a DIY advent with 25 homemade herbal infusions, to enjoy with my holiday movie each night.
This first one was a lovely, pleasantly tangy citrus tisane. Green honeybush is so tasty, and I hope we start to see it in blends in the future. I purchased it out of curiosity, when I was ordering regular honeybush from Davidson’s. It has such a nice, mellow, and somewhat fruity flavor to it that reminds me of apricot. Anyway, a great base for a fruity blend such as this one. There was more basil than thyme, because to me thyme can be quite overpowering if there’s more than a tiny pinch. Just enough savory, herby flavor to add some interest and remind me of some sort of craft mocktail!
Only critique I have is there was some bitterness from the grapefruit. Obviously grapefruit is naturally bitter, but I wonder if I removed the peel before I dried it, if that would help reduce that quality. Something to try next time! :)
Also, I sent a copy of this advent to my sister, who expressed interest when I told her about it. She loved this one and requested a tin, LOL!
Flavors: Apricot, Basil, Bitter, Citrus, Fresh, Fruity, Grapefruit, Grassy, Herbs, Lemon, Savory, Smooth, Tangy, Thyme
Preparation
knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 1 (my pick)
Theme: Sweater Weather
Her pick: Hello Autumn from Adagio Custom Blends
The obvious choice for an autumn blend ha ha. Sweaters bring to mind crisp air and fallen leaves, and this tea is the essence of that for me. Such a bright, crisp apple flavor rounded out by rich stonefruit and a grapey, winey note. A forever favorite for me, and one I had to share! :)
Flavors: Apple, Apricot, Crisp, Dried Fruit, Effervescent, Grapes, Plum, Red Wine, Rich, Smooth, Stonefruit, Sweet
Preparation
Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 1
Okay, so I think this is one of the teas that wasn’t actually in the advent originally. The teas came randomly ordered, so of course I felt compelled to go through and rearrange them, to make sure the different bases and the holiday teas were well distributed (lol what is wrong with me). And when I did that, I decided to swap out one of the teas (a plain rooibos, no thanks ha ha) for this free sample they sent along with my advent order. Because who wants a boring tea from their advent? :P Anyway, long explanation to say this tea isn’t technically part of the advent originally.
There was very little black tea in my sample, so it’s more of an herbal pumpkin spice. Very nice spice mix though, it’s strong enough to taste all the components but not too strong or spicy. The spices are well-balanced, I can taste equal parts cinnamon and ginger, then next is cardamom and clove, with nutmeg mostly coming out in the finish. Don’t really taste much black tea, though I didn’t expect to either. Just a really nice, fresh-tasting chai blend with all real spices and no flavorings. I’m not even mad at the lack of black tea. :)
Flavors: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Earthy, Ginger, Nutmeg, Smooth, Spices, Sweet
Preparation
knittingopera Swap Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 1
Theme: Sweater Weather
My pick: Momijigari from Lupicia
So this year, my friend Marjorie (@knittingopera on Insta and here as well) and I decided to swap DIY tea advents since we were both going to make DIY advents anyway. It was such a fun process, we came up with a theme (just a couple of seasonal words) for each day so that the teas we chose would be somewhat related. And then we each chose our teas and packaged them up, and here we are! Her advent is so cute, with adorable holiday printed kraft paper envelopes adorned with little poinsettia clips and gift bows and tiny ornaments. Adorbs!
Anyway, the theme for today is “Sweater Weather”, and we both chose autumnal teas!
This one is a fandom blend that’s a mix of caramel and cinnamon black teas with a pear white tea, accented with cinnamon and apples. I’m not actually getting a lot of pear, though I saw quite a lot of the white tea in the mix. There is a papery, haylike flavor from the white tea itself and a touch of pear crispness, but mostly I taste the cinnamon and caramel flavors here. It’s very light overall. I do have a stuffed-up nose at the moment, so not sure if that’s affecting my sense of taste or not ha ha. It’s a pleasant afternoon tea, and definitely giving those fall vibes.
Flavors: Butter, Caramel, Cinnamon, Crisp, Hay, Paper, Smooth, Sweet, Woody
Preparation
Advent Calendar 2024 – Day 1
Happy December, tea friends! As usual, so excited to get going on these advent calendars.
This is a bit of a boring pick IMO, but I’m also not generally a plain Earl lover so that might contribute to my lack of enthusiasm. Also, happy to get the boring ones out of the way early on, heh heh…
It’s a nice enough tea, the base is flavorful but it’s not bitter or terribly astringent. Definitely tasting the Chinese black tea, and perhaps some acidic Ceylon and a touch of haylike Darjeeling. The bergamot toes the line between citrus and floral, and doesn’t taste perfumey or fake. A pleasant Earl, but obviously just not suited to my personal tastes.
Alongside, I had the Quince Spread from Day 1 of the Bonne Maman advent on some leftover Thanksgiving rolls, and it was lovely. Definitely a bit sweet for my tastes, but loved the rich honeyed flavor it had.
Flavors: Acidic, Bergamot, Citrus, Citrus Zest, Earthy, Floral, Hay, Malty, Metallic, Savory, Smooth, Thick
Preparation
Sipdown! (13 | 156)
Mostly sipped this with milk and sugar, but finished it off plain. Not a favorite for me, as the herbaceous peppermint and tannic base seemed to bring out the worst in each other. The peppermint wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best either, so it did have a bit of a wet rag note to it as opposed to being super fresh. Also not enough vanilla for me.
Flavors: Brisk, Herbaceous, Peppermint, Sweet, Tannic
