Origines

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 11
Spicy Chai …and indeed it is true to its name ;-) Spicy nose, with especially peppery taste, full of character, …and quite OK for once (as a “chai”, that is, I´m normally not a huge fan, to say the least). I use a glass glass and infuser, and the micropores of my infuser got completely blocked by this tea, so I´ll refrain from using this glass and infuser for the rest of the pouch as the steeped tea isn´t great to watch either (very hazy).

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 10
Chamomile and me don´t go well together ;-) A few years ago I had my worst tea/infusion experience with a chamomile blend, and now, I´m always really careful when I get the typical smell of chamomile…and yes, here it is! I admit it´s subtle and there are sweet honey notes coming through as well. The brew however is all chamomile. It was OK, maybe the elderflower and apple in the blend manage to take away the reaction I normally have with chamomile, so ouph!!!

Origines Advent Calendar – Day 9
Rayin de soleil (sunray) is a sencha green tea based blend, where fruit flavourings and flowers (marigold, cornflower) add to the elegant tasting experience. Warm with a good bite, where especially the apricot stands out. Indeed a ray of sunlight during these short days…

Origines Advent Calendar- Day8
Positive Teatox is a blend of yerba mate and green tea – and then I would instinctively say “boring” ;-) – with added citrus and tropical fruit (flavourings). These peach and mango flavourings stand out in nose, while the brew tastes like an unsweetened icetea, a home made one!
complex

Origines Advent Calendar – Day7
Rouge Délice is a cherry/strawberry/cranberry aromatised black tea, which normally wouldn´t interest me too much, as I find these type of teas very often too artificially and strongly flavoured. Moreover, cherry aroma´s very often smell like “mon cheri” to me, a boozy kirch like aroma which I don´t like. Here strawberry comes through more in smell, and it stays fruity. Once steeped, there´s an extra herbal, slightly bitter touch (cassis leaves?); finish is long. Not too bad ;-)

Origines Advent Calendar – Day6
A first real Xmas tea on Day6…on a red rooibos base, with cinnamon and biscuit in nose and in mouth more like s strudel, but not too sweet (fortunately). It reminds me – in a way – of a rooibos based blend by Bird&Blend which tasted just like custard…an amazing tasting experience! Honestly, I´ld wish all Xmas blends would be like this, i.e. w/o overdoing it with clove and cinnamon!

Origines Advent Calendar-Day 5
As its name already indicates, this is a litchi tea, on a white and green tea blend base. The base teas are nice big leaf teas of good quality, and the litchi flavourings are natural, not overly sweet (which I honestly was afraid of) and well in harmony with the rose petals and rose extract also used here. Litchi in nose and mouth, but it stays elegant, naturAL and not over the top…

Origines Advent Calendar – Day4
Indeed, I´m having some delay writing my tasting notes of the advent calendar teas ;-)
Origines tells me this tea is a “sobacha”, or a tea with “soba”, or buckwheat…I think this is a first for me, and I just adored it! I´m already preparing a trip to Japan, but as I´m really fascinated by the country, I´m afraid to go too early, i.e. to go w/o enough preparation…so, now I really want to try more sobachas :-))
I smell cacao when opening the pouch; this turns to something malted (cf. in ale) once steeped. And it drinks like a very aromatic chocolatey drink…nice!

Origines Advent Calendar-Day3
Tropical fruits like mango blend well with rooibos, I think. This is an example of it, really enjoyable both in nose and mouth. It´s quite surprising that it “breathes” mango, while the pieces of fruit in this blend are really apricot so the entire mango vibe comes from the natural aromas added.

Advent Calendar Origines-Day2 : Douce Harmonie
green/white tea base of good quality. The natural strawberry flavourings stand out in the nose. The rose petals and extract are not overwhelming (some similar teas almost seem perfumes ;-) not my cuppa BTW). Long finish.
This fruity floral tea reminds me so much of a typical British afternoon tea, to acompany high tea, in a tearoom with Laura Ashley designs for decoration…all the while reading a Jane Austen novel ;-)

This year I ordered a wonderful tea advent calendar…of a French company I hadn´t heard of before, Origines. I saw their tea and coffee (which I also bought, to share with my husband) advent calendars and they convinced me with their intention of making an advent calendar to be enjoyed by a family or a group of friends as every pouch has enough tea (or coffee) for quite a few cups (15-20g for tea, 40g for coffee). Furthermore, the calendar comes with a leaflet giving a lot of information about the tea blend (or the origin of the coffee beans), practical information to brew and taste the tea/coffee…and the ingredients are all bio as well!
So far (I´ve tasted a few already, as I´ll be travelling soon to my parents´place and I don´t intend to take my teas with me) the blends have been really great, and I can only recommend Origines´advent calendars.

Advent Calendar Day 1 – Earl Grey des Amoureux
Not the usual earl grey as the main citrus notes come from yuzu, and in nose yuzu and rose blend together wonderfully. Pale yellow in colour and particularly floral in mouth, which makes this overall a very elegant tea, maybe too easy going on the taste buds to have it at breakfast…