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Advent Day 19
I think I lost a day in there somewhere. Things have been hectic and confusing lately, but here we are on Dec 19th! I’m not ready for it to be this late in the month and this cup of tea isn’t helping. It’s green tea with lemon verbena, basil, peppermint, ginger and lemongrass. It’s like this cup can’t decide if it’s tea or a light broth. The flavors clash. It’s brothy in scent, confusing in the sip and muddled mint tea in the finish. I keep wincing with each sip. This is a NO for me.

Tea Drops seemed like such a gimmicky way to sell tea, but I am very tea curious so I wanted to try. First ingredient in this is sugar, second is matcha. It dissolved easily in my cup of warm water. It just tastes like match. Sweetened matcha. It’s not particularly good. It’s boring and not that convenient for a mediocre cup.

Advent Day 18
I was super busy yesterday and didn’t even have time to drink my cup! Took a few sips, liked it and left if out for today. It’s cold now, but it’s still interesting. It has very bright notes to it with an underlying taste that I can only describe as light tobacco, but not. It’s probably the yaupon and I noticed we don’t have a category for yaupon in the Steepster choices for categorizing new teas. The lemon and eucalyptus are the strongest flavors. It also has clove and ginger, but they are playing perfect supporting roles to the others that it’s hard to pick them out in the sip, but they shine through a little more in the finish. I kinda like this one. Maybe not enough to buy more at this point, but if I came across another chance to drink it I’d take it.

Advent Day 16
How did we get to 16 already?! This is an almond peppermint green. It’s weird and I’m not sure what to make of it. I love love love almond in my tea, but I’m used to it being paired with flavors of cinnamon, cookies and other really warming and sweet things. But peppermint?! I dunno. My first few sips were almond first and peppermint later in the sip, but a few more sips in and they switch up on me. Later in my cup they sort of merge, but in a slightly clunky way. My mouth is left chilled by the peppermint while a little of the green tea flavor kicks in. It has settled into a mostly peppermint tea with a hint of almond fighting for recognition. I don’t find them meshing well and complimenting each other. It’s an interesting flavor combo, very bold and unusual, but it doesn’t work for me.

Advent Day 15

The package says this tea has black currant and chablis flavors. I had to look up what chablis was (wine made in the colder Burgundy area of France). It does have a fruity floral scent to it. It’s light and mellow both in scent and flavor. It lacks deeper lower tastes and is more in the mid to high range. The currant is the most prominent flavor with the grape following. The more I sip the more I get an almost dusty flavor behind it, which I’m guessing is the tea. My mouth feels dry after every sip, which I’m not a fan of. It’s an okay tea. Probably not something that I’d have again, but not because it’s bad, but because it’s just not to my tastes.

Advent Day 14
No. Nope. No ma’am. Just no. Hibiscus you sneaky little bastard! When I read it was a cinnamon vanilla rooibos I was willing to give it a try despite rooibos, but it wasn’t until that metallic hibby tang hit my tongue and defected in my mouth that I realized this has hibiscus. So not cool. The flavors behind the yuck were okay as far as I can tell, but I am prevented from enjoying them. I don’t understand how hibiscus fits into a cinnamon vanilla flavor profile, I mean… * I * believe it doesn’t, I’m just not sure how other people think it’s okay. Anyway, enough about my flavor nemesis. Taking a deep breath and moving on.

Advent Day 13
I skipped day 12 because the first ingredient was hibiscus and I wasn’t willing to put myself through that kind of torture.
This tea is a blend of green and black tea, which I’m not sure how I feel about in this tea. The teas in the advent didn’t come with steeping instructions so I’m guessing on parameters. The dry tea had a strong scent to it. Once steeped I can clearly smell and taste the grassy notes of the green tea. The caramel apple flavor was more prominent when my cup was hot, but now that it’s has cooled they are toned down and my cup is more tangy and green. I think this is a perfectly fine tea, but it has the misfortune of being paired in my mind against another caramel apple tea that is perfection IMO and had bolder flavors which I favor.

Advent Day 11
I was worried when I smelled the dry tea. It smelled like currants with some sort of mint and it was jarring. I was relieved to see there was no mint in the ingredients and proceeded with caution. It’s a black based currant tea with an undertone of orange. It’s nice enough, well balanced, has the currant front and center, but I wish it had more going on. I said in one of my other CW reviews that I wish the blend was more dynamic and I feel the same about this one as well. Perfectly good tea, just not that exciting. I don’t know what you would pair with currant to make it more magical, but I’d like it to have something.

Advent Day 10
Carrot cake rooibos. I’m trying to think of what fandom has a Radar in it and all I can think of is Big Bird’s teddy bear on Sesame Street. That or some guy on MASH. This smells and tastes VERY carrot cake like. It’s pretty dead on. So much so that I’m not even bothered by the fact that I’m drinking a rooibos. It has a bready baked carrot flavor with the right amount of spices. I’m kind of impressed.

Advent Day 9
This is a maple pear tea sweetened with maple crystals. I’m glad they didn’t over sweeten it. It has a nice candy pear taste that comes off in a very floral ethereal way, especially towards the end of the sip and finish (which is a little dry in feeling). The pear overpowers any taste of maple other than the sweetness it adds. I could see this being really good iced. I could also see this being more interesting if it was spiced with a little cinnamon, maybe a touch of almond or something that would make it more dynamic and holiday like. I’m not sure how these flavors relate to Dudley (I’m assuming from Harry Potter) and don’t recall any scene with pears. I wouldn’t buy this, but I’d enjoy another cup if I came across it.