Plum Deluxe

TeaTiff TTB #21

Despite the long ingredient list for this blend, I mostly got ginger and turmeric with just a hint of anise. It felt very warming and healthy and I’d probably enjoy it quite a bit if I was sick! But I wish there was a bit more complexity to the flavor profile.

Adventageddon Day 25 – Bonus Tea

Merry Christmas to all my tea friends celebrating today!! I’m enjoying a cup of Cool Mornings Green Chai this morning as my final cup of tea from this year’s Adventageddon – there’s always one or two advents each year with a special bonus tea for Christmas day. At first I thought it was a weird choice for the day, but as I sip on the roasty notes of green tea with the sweet, cooling spearmint and warming finish of hot, earthy ginger I’m finding myself increasingly sold on this being the perfect tea to unwind with during the peaceful stillness of this morning! It’s kind of like DT’s North African Mint, actually.

Today’s Advent Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1R_1v7OaYo/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahh7451ad74

25th and last tea of the Plum Deluxe advent calendar. Supposedly this is a twist on chamomile-vanilla, but made up as a latte I can’t make out either of those flavors. I’m getting primarily cocoa and, inexplicably, nutty notes, with a hint of maple. The maple is stronger in the aroma – it mostly shows up at the end of the sip while drinking. I actually love this exactly as-is. It’s a very indulgent dessert tea without being overly sweet. Great way to end the calendar.
Overall, I’m really glad that I got this calendar again this year. I didn’t adore every blend but there were a lot of really enjoyable ones. The amount of tea is just right: enough to enjoy and experiment with but not so much that it takes forever to drink through. I had fun with the teas being unlabeled, since it allowed me to test my senses before looking if I wanted to. The tin is very cute and a good size to repurpose for storage. I still don’t adore the plastic baggies they use, but the baggies do seem to have been a bit less staticky this year – mostly I only noticed it with rooibos blends.
Four advents/samplers is apparently the right number for me. I was able to more or less keep up – enjoyably and without stress – even when illness periodically knocked me off course by a couple of days. I’m really pleased with the ones I picked out this year and the way I structured it, except that I should have gotten the caffeine-free Hanukkah sampler. Five is probably the absolute max I could do without it being too much, and if I do that I should make sure only one a day is caffeinated.
Surprisingly, no glittery teas in ANY of my advents this year! I guess it’s out of fashion? Too bad, I still enjoy some sparkle from time to time.

Merry Christmas Eve to all who celebrate! It’s been a joy doing adventaggedon with folks!

This is day 24 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. When I brewed this up, I couldn’t figure out whether it was hazelnut or chestnut. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s both! It’s nutty, smooth, and very very slightly sweet. The caramel is extremely light; it’s more apparent in the aftertaste than the sip. Really pleasant winter tea!

Day 23 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent. Quick note because some family stuff in the past 24 hours has forced a complete change in Christmas plans and I suddenly have a lot to do today. Everything is fine, but my partner’s family abruptly had to go somewhere on Christmas so we are not doing Christmas with them for the first time ever. We’ve… never done Christmas at home. If anyone has any advice for making a cozy Christmas for two, I’m open to suggestions – I am so out of my depth! We have a little Charlie Brown tree I’m going to set up and maybe do Christmas movies and still figuring out food…
Anyway this is a nice orange spice tea but I’m not sure it’s chai-level spiced. It’s a nice sweet orange. Other flavors are cinnamon, basil, I want to say clove but there isn’t any in here. Even the ginger is hard to make out except for the occasional back of the throat burn with some sips. I like it fine, it just doesn’t quite live up to the name.

Sipdown (2532)!

I was hoping that without advent fatigue I might enjoy this blend more, but I still found it kind of dull tasting with one of the strongest notes being the pu’erh itself which was rather earthy in a dusty muddy sort of way. I wanted more cinnamon or clove intensity or a brighter citrus note and I just didn’t get those. Not bad tasting, but a more forgettable spiced orange profile in the vast sea of options out there…

Adventageddon Day 23 – Tea 3/4

This was pretty good, though definitely differant than I expected it to taste. In my head I thought this would be a lot like the very sweet cinnamon and clove forward spiced orange profile of teas like DT’s The Spice Is Right or Bigelow’s super iconic Constant Comment. Instead this was really pu’erh forward, and I like the pu’erh base that Plum Deluxe blends with a lot so I appreciated that element quite a bit. Definitely spiced, but not intense – more cozy and warming. The orange was also less intense than anticipated, but the subtly and nuance with the other elements was nice! That’s something many, many teas with this type of profile lack so it was nice seeing a different approach. Very nice.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Nib5IOsB3/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNT4W-SIL2A

Day 22 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. In theory, this is an interesting flavor combo. In practice, I’m not getting much out of it. Before I looked at the name, I couldn’t even place it as “peach” – just “slightly sweet and vaguely fruity” on a surprisingly not-woody rooibos base. Now that I’ve looked at the name, ok, I can see how this is peach. But I’m still not really getting “white chocolate.” This is completely inoffensive and totally drinkable, but it doesn’t quite line up with its name and it doesn’t really pop for me.

Sipdown (2518)!

Finished this off this morning while working from home. I did, unfortunately, over steep my mug so it was prettttyyy harsh and bitter and that really killed a lot of the more delicate citrus and florals of the blend. Sort of a bummer way to finish off what was actually a pretty stand out blend from this past Adventaggedon.

Adventageddon Day 22 – Tea 3/4

I was skeptical about this one but I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. Nice medium bodied black tea with a round, mouth-coating thickness to the liquor. Very fresh and floral, with lovely notes of jasmine and even lovelier notes of orange blossom. I can’t wait to revisit again sometime when I’m not nearly so rushed.

I was working from home today, but it was the last day before our holiday break so it was definitely a CRAZY sort of day. Lots of deadlines and things to wrap up before we come back in 2024…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA2WFuAZW08

Sample sipdown! I just made a note for this recently because it was in the advent calendar. Normally I wouldn’t bother with another note so soon but I’m really just celebrating that the dashboard is back! Yay!
I received a sample of this with my order. It probably would have languished in my tea drawers because I’m not a blueberry fan. But the beauty of samplers and advent calendars is that they push me out of my comfort zone, which is how I learned that actually I really like this tea! It feels like drinking a blueberry ginger muffin.

Day 21 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. I like this more than I expected to! The dry leaf smells like blackcurrant, but once it steeps up it’s clearly blueberry. The blueberry hits at the front of the sip, followed by a nice medium-burn ginger, and a cinnamon gum note at the end of the sip. All three linger on the palate and meld together really well. A surprise winner given that I don’t like blueberries and don’t particularly enjoy cinnamon-gum flavor in my tea. But in this case it all works!

Day 20 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent calendar. The idea of this one is very enticing, but in practice it actually just tastes like a milder version of Plum’s chestnut flavoring to me. I’m not really picking up on “pear” so much as a vague general sweetness. It’s pleasant enough but nothing to write home about. Unlike the holiday gift of Plum’s vanilla sugar cookie and evening in the garden that just arrived! Two of my favorite blends from this company – excited to have them in my collection!

Adventageddon Day 20 – Tea 2/4

Cold Brew!

Y’know, a festively named dragonfruit tea was not on my Adventageddon bingo card this year but I love the idea of it! Plus, the cheerful and lightly sweet tropical flavour really does pop against some of the more traditional or decadent flavours that are so prevalent in these countdowns. And the blush pink colour it brewed up was so dreamy looking.

It’s honestly a pretty mild flavour, but that tracks for something with a dragonfruit inspiration. I feel like a lot of “commercial” dragonfruit flavoured teas are more fruit punch like in taste, but real dragonfruit is very light and floral. That comes across here, even though there’s still some gentle but generic tropical vibes happening. A little kiwi, a little red fruit, and just a bit of the lemongrass. It’s a very “base forward” blend too – I taste the white and green teas as much as any of the other flavours I’ve listed.

I think it’s a super cool inclusion in an advent since it’s so wildly different from anything else that’s appeared, but I don’t know if I’d personally want more of it. I definitely have dragonfruit teas I prefer to this one, even though it’s definitely got many nice qualities.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1F0HEXu3XQ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my_QnwGgREQ

Adventageddon Day 19 – Tea 2/4

Cold Brew!

This was really fucking weird. Not only do mango and almond seem like two flavours that shouldn’t really go together, but I also didn’t feel like the tea really tasted like either? Granted I think I may be getting a cold since I was fairly congested today, but as I drank this in the morning all I could think of was the really low quality Tim Horton’s style iced cappuccinos that I used to drink in highschool – but thin/watered down tasting.

I don’t get this one. It’s not that it was bad but it’s just so… off the goal?

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1DQq6tu9xP/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-1eRNMP66A

Well this does sort of taste like a popsicle, but it’s much too sour and fake tasting, almost like a cleaner. It’s just sharp and acidic. I taste equal parts peach and lemon, but it’s too tart to be pleasant. I liked this much more cold steeped. It was still tangy/sour, but again, when popsicle is in the name, it does feel right.

Day 18 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent. This is a decaf black blend. Honestly, I’m getting pretty wary of black teas in my advents at this point – seems like there have been a lot of them and my body has not been responding particularly well. But there’s also rooibos in here and I made sure to do a fairly short steep, so hopefully that helps. Plum’s chestnut flavoring is as accurate as I remember from last year. The aroma of the hot brew is just perfect chestnut with a hint of cream. I’m not getting much creaminess in the flavor though. Really just a strong chestnut flavor on a slightly tannic, slightly malty base. Some oat milk might bring out the creaminess but I made this for bed and don’t like to put additives in bed tea in case I spill. I am not personally a big fan of chestnuts so this is not quite up my alley, but I think it would be for someone who likes them.

Day 17 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent. This is a great evening tea. Sweet dried apricot, floral and soothing lavender, on an oaky honeybush base. Finished off a giant mug quickly and the leaf even resteeped nicely!

Day 16 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent. In sharp contrast to Day 15, Welsh Dreams, this blend feels very aggressive. The lemon peel, orange peel, and hibiscus give it a lot of tartness. I don’t like how that combines with the earthiness of the turmeric. It ends up just tasting like it has a coarse, harsh edge. I think I prefer turmeric in a sweet blend or a ginger blend. The citrus combo really isn’t working for me.

Day 15 of the Plum Deluxe herbal advent. This is similar to the Evening in the Garden blend, except this has mint where that one is floral. Everything in this is soft and gentle. Soft vanilla, gently tart lemon, a mint that lingers lightly on the palate. It’s not a weak blend, just a cozy one where the flavors all play together nicely.

Adventageddon Day 18 – Tea 3/4

Smooth vanilla and light, cooling peppermint. Certainly a perfectly fine blend and definitely the right kind of candy cane-like seasonal flavour as we get closer and closer to Christmas. It reminded me so much of DAVIDsTEA’s Santa’s Secret though. Complete with fondant note that I just can’t get into. However, I see this simple and straightforward blend being a winner for so many people.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1AsG9VO40p/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YG0SXbzmwQ

Adventageddon Day 17 – Tea 4/4

Another tea from today that wasn’t really my jam. Maybe I was just in a fickle mood, since I really only enjoyed the 52Teas blend today. Though, ginger and I have a love hate relationship even in the best of times. Ditto with chai.

Honestly, this isn’t really a chai though. I mean, I guess under the loosest definition, but the only spices I could really taste were a pleasantly earthy and hot ginger and just a bit of allspice. There are other spices in the blend, but they’re pretty well swallowed up by these two. It’s got a bit of the molasses-y note that I crave from gingerbread, but overall I found myself wanting more. More body from the black tea, more molasses, and really just more overall richness. Probably would be good as a latte, though. And I can see the argument of other people maybe not wanting it to be as sweet and decadent as I do…

Anyway, it hits all the hallmarks it needs to!

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0-G7urOC8D/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLWbey1RLZA

One I enjoy drinking. It says pomegranate but I also taste raspberries.

Adventageddon Day 16 – Tea 3/4

This one was, unfortunately, also not a favourite today. However I’m fully blaming myself for this one because I majorly overs teeped this cuppa – something that was apparent from my first wildly bitter and astringent first sips. I was worried the whole thing would have undrinkable, but something surprising happened as the tea started to cool down. Though still over brewed, the colder the tea got the more the sweet and creamy almond notes came through and by the time it was ice cold this was overall a… well, I wouldn’t call it good but I guess a fine cup of tea.

Thankfully Plum Deluxe gives two packets each day, so sometime in the future I’ll get a do over.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C07hr09uQmr/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y9E3DiDwsg