Nordqvist

Sipdown! (24 | 146)

Figured I should start working on sipping through some of these Moomin teabag samplers I ordered, because yay easy sipdowns! :)

This is a nice enough lemon black tea. The lemon falls somewhere in between sweet lemon drop and more pungent lemon essential oil. Maybe with a hint of lemon-honey throat lozenge in there as well. It’s a pleasantly sweet lemon flavor without being too medicinal.

The black tea is super mellow, even though it’s quite dark in color. It tastes Sri Lankan to me, with the acidic and metallic notes that I associate with that type of tea. Not overly tannic, though there’s not a ton going on in the flavor department either.

It’s fine for mindless sipping while coding, but not something I would order.

Also, I discovered new (to me) Moomin teas from Teministeriet while looking for product photos, and now I want those too. Such cute tins… XD

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 12

Another flavored black tea today. This one actually does have a bit of candy lemon flavor going on, it’s very subtle but it’s there at least. Still a bit cardboardy but with a nice soft lemony twist ha ha. The lemon tastes like lemon drops, and is sweet but refreshing at the same time.

Would be lovely if the lemon were a bit stronger!

(moving this note because I found I had created a duplicate tea entry, oops!)

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 14

It’s a jasmine green today from Moomin! I didn’t have high hopes when I saw “jasmine flavor” in the ingredients, but it’s not bad. I can somewhat tell that it’s not a natural jasmine note, but it doesn’t taste like perfume or anything, more like a bit candyish. Otherwise, it’s a perfectly serviceable jasmine green tea for the afternoon. :)

Sipdown! (9 | 164)

This one was fairly enjoyable. It’s a rooibos with banana and vanilla flavors, and it ends up tasting a bit like banana taffy to me. I only steeped it for 2 minutes because I found the base overpowering otherwise.

The banana is definitely a bit artificial and I would like more vanilla or creaminess, but still a nice rooibos blend for the evening. :)

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 13

This is meant to be a banana and vanilla rooibos, but sadly I’m not getting much in the way of flavoring. There’s a little hint of creaminess from the vanilla, but otherwise it mostly tastes like cardboard with a side of woody rooibos.

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 11

This one isn’t my favorite, as it has a fairly prominent lavender flavor to it. But I do actually like the combination of the raspberry with the lavender, it’s not one I’ve had before. Still, a bit too much lavender for me and it ends up being a bit soapy. But at least it had plenty of flavor! :)

Sipdown! (18 | 173)

I struggled a bit with this one, the rooibos was quite strong and then I felt like the strawberry flavor on top of it made it taste quite medicinal. I didn’t really get much in the way of vanilla or cream, mostly woody rooibos with a touch of candy strawberry.

I’m not really a fan of most fruity red rooibos blends, so not a favorite for me.

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 10

A rooibos blend today! Maybe I’ll have better luck with it than the black teas… :P

Well, I can taste the flavoring, so that’s an improvement! It’s still rather light, but it has a definite strawberries & cream sort of vibe. The strawberry is very candylike, but pleasant. The rooibos is woody but thankfully not medicinal. It reminds me of Lupicia’s Yummy, another strawberry vanilla rooibos.

A nice enough rooibos blend, yay! :P Also, I ordered a bunch of Moomin teas from Nordqvist that are individually wrapped, just to try them and compare with my advent experience.

Sipdown! (17 | 172)

This one is cookies & cream flavored, which is interesting. I do get what they were going for, it does have a bit of that dark cocoa cookie note to it, though without the sweetness. It actually reminds me of a cookies & cream Powerbar that I remember eating once LOL. I guess that makes sense since those are both cookies & cream flavored things without actually having actual cookie or milk in them.

Anyway, it’s not terrible, but certainly very artificial in taste. Not one I would order for myself, though I’m not much of a dessert tea lover in general these days.

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 9

Should’ve named it “Longing for a black tea that tastes like anything other than cardboard”… XD

But actually, I do get a touch of the cookies & cream at the end of the sip. I wish I could taste more of it though, as I love cookies & cream. It does add a nice smooth and creamy finish.

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 8

Lots of green teas today, I think I have five? And two of those are ginger lemon, including this one. :P

It’s pleasant enough, I’m getting mostly ginger with a hint of sweet lemon in the background. The base is earthy and a bit mineral, almost like a gunpowder green tea, but not quite that harsh. I think I taste some lemongrass, though it does meld in with the ginger a bit. It’s adding a nice, mellow herbaceous note though.

Can’t complain, it’s better than cardboard tea. XD

Sipdown! (23 | 178)

Almost done with these Moomin teabags! \o/

Sadly, I did not enjoy this one. It’s described as “red berries and French vanilla”, which sounds lovely, but the red berries part tastes too medicinal for me, like a cherry throat lozenge. And I don’t really taste any vanilla to speak of.

Womp womp…

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 7

Another “flavored” black tea from Moomin today… Shortened the steep a bit more to 2 minutes, in hopes that it would help the flavoring stand out a bit more.

This one is meant to be French vanilla and red berry flavored, with added rose petals. Sadly, I only taste the rose petals, and maybe the tiniest hint of red fruits in the finish. And as usual, the base tastes of cardboard and crushed dreams.

Sipdown (21 | 176)

Not a lot to say about this one, it’s a bit bland. I do taste a bit of a sweet baked apple flavor, but there needs to be more IMO. Especially since the black base here is also bland, just a generic “tea-ish” flavor with a hint of earthiness.

Meh!

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 6

Okay, every time I see the name of this tea, I immediately think “cool story, bro”. Is it just me? XD

Sadly this is another one that tastes like cardboard and a slightly woody black tea. It’s supposed to be baked apple flavored, and I think I get that a little bit in the smell, but not really in the taste. Maybe a teeny hint at the end of the sip if I close my eyes and stand on one foot?

This cute and happy Moomin advent is making me quite sad lately. :(

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 5

A white tea with grapefruit and… aloe vera? Not sure what to expect from that.

Perfume. It tastes like perfume. I do get a bit of citrus, I wouldn’t know it was specifically grapefruit, but it’s there. But then there’s a strong artificially perfumey floral note, not sure if that’s the aloe talking or just a side effect of the grapefruit flavoring. The white base doesn’t have much flavor other than some bitterness, I guess I should’ve steeped it for 2 minutes instead of 3.

Pretty much terrible, ha ha…

Sipdown! (27 | 182)

This one is just bland to me. I mostly taste rooibos, even after shortening the steep to one minute. Maybe it’s because rooibos and chocolate flavoring can both have a sort of boozy vibe to me? Regardless, I only get a hint of anything resembling chocolate, and definitely no cake.

¯\_ (ツ) _/¯

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 4

This one is supposed to be a chocolate cake rooibos, but it smells like rooibos and tastes like rooibos and cardboard.

I think this may have been a casualty of the advent design, in which the sachet is just inside a cardboard box with no wrapper… :(

Sipdown! (1 | 156)

I was confused why there’s a strawberry black tea in the same sampler as a strawberry-rhubarb black tea, but then I realized that this is specifically fruity black teas. So that makes a bit more sense now. But they do also have other fruit-flavored black teas, so still a slightly odd choice to me. But I digress!

This is a nice enough strawberry black tea. The strawberry is fairly candylike, but I don’t mind that. It does have a nice hint of tartness to it. I certainly like the strawberry-rhubarb version more, just because the rhubarb adds more acidity and interest IMO. But this is still a perfectly serviceable tea.

Only one more flavor to go in this particular sampler box, but then I have two more after that… XD

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 3

So I discovered I accidentally did Day 21 instead of Day 2 yesterday, oops. Luckily I don’t think anyone else is doing this advent, so it doesn’t really matter ha ha. I blame the text color contrast not being very good on certain areas of the design! :P

Trying this one with 6 ounces of water today (instead of 8) to see if that helps improve the flavor. Seems weird to put a strawberry black tea so soon after the strawberry rhubarb one? Not that it matters, I would just think they would want to separate such similar teas more.

Anyway! This one is tasting a bit cardboardy to me. These sachets are loose (unwrapped) inside adorable little cardboard boxes, so I wonder if that could be why. To be fair, that could also affect the flavor quite a bit, depending on how old my calendar is. Regardless, I’m still not getting a lot of flavoring here. Mostly I taste the cardboardy, slightly metallic, but smooth black tea, and then there’s a hint of strawberry candy in the background.

Maybe I’ll try steeping these a bit less, and see if that helps improve the balance. This one is decent enough to sip on, but certainly not a good tea.

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 2

It’s a chai today from Moomin! And another adorable name, of course. :3

This one is a bit too light, similar to yesterday. I think I’ll try using 6 ounces of water for these sachets instead of my usual 8 ounces, to see if that helps. It’s a very mild chai for sure, but it’s a bit gingerbread-esque. There is no ingredients list for this one as it’s not on their website, but I did see a piece of a cardamom pod in the sachet. Mostly I’m getting ginger and a bit of clove I think? It’s hard to say because overall it tastes a bit weak.

So definitely not splendid, but still a very drinkable gingerbread-ish chai sort of tea.

Sipdown! (31 | 153)

This one definitely had more flavor than when I tried it in the advent calendar. Sweet and very candylike strawberry swirled together with tart rhubarb and a hint of a floral note. The black base is very generic and lacks any real flavor, but it does make a decent foundation for the flavoring.

Enjoyed sipping this one. I don’t think I need it in my cupboard since I already have a strawberry rhubarb tea from Lupicia, but it was nice to revisit.

Nordqvist Moomin Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 1

Okay, this tea has the most charming name ever ha ha. I love the thought of the mama moomin sipping this strawberry, rhubarb, & cream black tea for energy while she goes about her day. And obviously she shares!

Anyway, it’s a tasty enough tea. To be honest, I bought this advent for the cuteness so I’m not expecting a whole lot from the teas. This is a pleasant strawberry-rhubarb tea, the strawberry is a bit candylike, but it’s actually nice with the slight tartness of the rhubarb. The base is a bit musty, and I notice it more and more as it cools. I don’t really get cream, but there is a hint of floral, perhaps from one of the flavorings. Overall I would’ve liked a bit more flavoring.

Enjoyed the cup, not something I would order as there are other rhubarb teas I like more, but it was a nice flavor profile to have today! :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/ClpbDbvOxHt/

The second free sample from my advent order!

I was excited when I read the ingredients for this one, it’s a blend of nettle, pine needle, cranberries, and spruce tips. And apparently they’re all sourced locally in Finland! Such a nice concept, and they have a couple of other blends in this series as well.

Anyway! This is very mellow but quite soothing and nice. The nettle (I assume) has a gentle haylike flavor that reminds me of linden. There’s a slightly creamy aftertaste. I can taste a hint of the cranberry’s fruity tartness as well, and of course the pine and spruce are adding some lovely cooling evergreen notes.

I would consider ordering this one, and trying the other blends in this collection, if I could find them with reasonable shipping.