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Advent Calendar Day 23

I can’t believe it’s the second-to-last day of advent already! The month has flown by and trying a new tea every morning has made the days feel special. I was excited to see one from August Uncommon today, as nearly everything I’ve tried from this company has been outstanding! This wasn’t a flavor profile I would have chosen on my own, as chocolate and cinnamon can both be hit and miss for me in tea and I’m a bit of wimp when it comes to spice. But this one is so beautifully balanced, I’m actually enjoying it quite a bit! The rich dark chocolate comes to life with the brightness of the cinnamon and the hint of chili keeps things exciting without burning my throat on the way down. Never would have bought this, but glad I got to try it!

Samurai TTB #18

I think this might be my first time drinking a tea that is older than I am! I don’t know much about aged oolong, so I don’t really have a standard to judge this by. But to my untrained palate, it was delicious! It has that smooth, buttery mouthfeel that I associate with oolong, but a more rich, robust flavor that is similar to a black tea. Thank you to whoever added this one to the box…such a cool tea to get to try!

Samurai TTB #17

Finished off a sample of 52Teas Vanilla Orange Cola black tea today. The fact that I can’t find it on Steepster or the 52Teas website is making me think this might be an older blend? So I might not have had it at its best, but it was definitely a disappointment. I didn’t get any orange or vanilla flavor from it at all; just the cola flavoring. So it was basically like drinking a hot, flat Coca-Cola…bleh.

Samurai TTB #16

Apparently I tried this tea at some point in the past (probably via another TTB!) but I was intrigued by it last night, as I have very fond memories of Republic of Tea’s Blueberry Bundt Cake. Unfortunately, this one is nothing like that. No blueberry and no muffin here as far as I’m concerned…just loads of tart hibiscus and a bit of creamy yogurt. Disappointing.

Advent Calendar Day 22

I don’t think I’ve ever had a caramel genmaicha before and now I’m wondering why not because the combination works so well! This has a distinct caramel popcorn vibe, which I’m guessing from the name is exactly what they were going for! The caramel is sweet and smooth and the toasted rice adds a nice depth to it. I wouldn’t mind a bit more flavor from the base tea, but it’s still really nice.

Samurai TTB #15

Mmm, this is nice. Fresh and minty and the perfect afternoon pick-me-up! Rishi tea is always such lovely quality.

Samurai TTB #14

Although the teabag smelled cookie-ish, the tea itself tasted mostly of chicory root with a little bit of almond and just a touch of spice. Pretty disappointing, but at least the wrapper is cute and Christmassy!

Advent Calendar Day 21

The dry leaf of this tea is so beautiful! Long, twisty dark leaves interspersed with whole dried tea blossoms. Though I believe this is technically a puerh, the flavor reminded me more of an oolong. Very smooth, with floral and honey notes and just a touch of astringency that kept me coming back for more. This was a very special tea experience and brightened up my last Monday in the office before Christmas! Thanks again to Amanda for these fun daily surprises all month.

Advent Calendar Day 20

To me, this tastes like a straight-up sage infusion, which I’m honestly not mad about because I’m not the biggest fan of rose. Not something I’d reach for often, but a nice change of pace today! It’s been really fun to get out of my “box” of the tea companies I know and flavors I gravitate towards and try new things thanks to the Advent swap and TTB!

Samurai TTB #13

Wow, these pearls are HUGE! The bag said to use “1 tsp”, which wasn’t really helpful, so I ended up using two pearls which nearly filled my infuser as they expanded. The resulting brew was a lovely balance of sweet fruitiness from the lychee and rich maltiness from the base tea. A re-steep was lighter on the fruit flavor but still malty and delicious. I think I’ll be hanging on to this one!