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Well, I have returned home and the Dammann Calendar was far too big to travel with without crushing it so I left it in London and have moved on to the Bird and Blend advent. Also because I have no control, I allowed myself to open the doors from 1-14. However, since I’m only having the one cup, I decided to go with the one meant for the 14th day, this one.

It’s been a while since I have had a grapefruit but I swear this smells and tastes pretty accurate. A bit bitter/tart but with a whole lot of citrus flavour. So while I am enjoying the tea, there is also something a little off and I think it’s a twang from the citrus oil at the end of the sip.

I could not tell you what is in this. I really have no idea. But I really liked it. Like two sips and it was gone and I was sad. Citrus. Awesome mix of spices. Holiday tea through and through which is awesome b/c my holidays officially started as of 11:30 am. Also paired nicely with the cinnamon sugar coated caramel apple I have been saving for celebrations.

Sipdown (210)

So I am REALLY hoping my exam brain was functioning a lot better than my post—exam brain because my post-exam brain is not doing so hot. For one thing, when talking about the emergency lindor I bring to every exam I told my friends that I bring it but never drink it. Then after telling a friend I was done, I told her I was halfway done and then proceeded to have a very confusing conversation with her because I did not realize I said that at all nor could I figure out what I meant to say. And finally, after taking a lengthy time to pick a latte tea, I settled on 52 Teas’ Carrot Cake Pancakes. “But VariaTEA, this is not Carrot Cake Pancakes” you might be saying. And to that I would say I know. Carrot Cake Pancakes didn’t quite work out since I accidentally poured the milk into the steeper instead of the frother so that made for a weird situation. I then did not have enough tea left to do another latte so I instead turned to this.

It’s a nice eggnog latte but not as good as I expect the Carrot Cake Pancakes one would have been. These lattes do best when paired with strong flavors. That’s why Candy Cane Crush is really good or why something with spice and maple, like Carrot Cake, pancakes would have been better.

This eggnog latte is much softer. It’s a gentle and demure eggnog latte if you will, with notes that do whisper “cake”. There is also some good raspberry flavor, and that would be the prominent note from the tea but it sort of sits alongside the eggnog component instead of blending with it. As such, it comes off as two things that would be fine on its own but are not as good when combined….now I am thinking about the time we went a club for my sister and brother-in-law’s bachelorette/bachelor party and we had bottle service and at the end of the night someone from the club came buy and asked if we wanted to take the rest of the alcohol with us. We said sure and then watched in horror as he then poured tequila, rum, and whiskey all into the same bottle. Yeah, we left that disaster behind. This isn’t quite that bad but eggnog lattes and vicky’s sponge cake are better apart.

Exams are done and tomorrow I go home so I am trying to get my apartment ready to be empty for the holidays. Unfortunately when I did laundry so I could leave my bed with clean sheets, something went wrong and instead of washing at a normal setting in cold water, I washed at a permanent press setting in warm water. It was just my bedding, a pair of jeans, a pajama set, some underwear and a pair of socks. All of which had been worn and washed many times before so my hopes is they didn’t shrink. We will see soon enough I guess.

Part of getting ready to go home also means packing up the teas I have for Sil and Roswell Strange. The former just in case and the latter because I will finally be meeting my dear tea twin in a week and rather than sending the teas in the mail, I might as well make a personal delivery. With that in mind, I figured I better try the last of the teas my sister brought me from Copenhagen as I parceled some out for the two lovely ladies.

I actually quite like this. There is a silkiness from the coconut and a nice peach flavor. At times the flavor is stronger, especially at the beginning of the sip, and then it fades, becoming more muted. I just wish that strong flavor was consistent through the whole sip.

Fruity and floral but nothing earth shattering. At times when the fruity was more intense, I enjoyed it. When the floral was more intense, I was less enthused. It was nice and I would not turn away a cup if someone offered but I also would not pick this over something else…well most things….there are some teas this is better than

This tea is driving me nuts because it is SO familiar but I can’t place why. Like I know I never had this tea from Dammann Freres before but I have had this tea before from another company and I just can’t figure out which tea it is making me think of. It’s nice though. Getting apple but also a lot of kiwi. Some fresh cucumber underneath. It is making me happy.

This morning I wrote my second exam out of 4. That means we are half way through my week from hell (4 exams in one week is not fun). This particular exam was a bit terrible since it was for Legal Ethics which are seemingly straightforward. Except the prof based the entire exam around one case we learned and half of the exam was about a youtube video no one in the class knew we had to watch. Thankfully we are all in the same boat so the curve will save us but that is a shitty way to be in an exam. Oh well, time to move on…

As for the tea, I quite like it. It is different than what I would usually reach for but it screams winter. I am getting a lot of black tea base that I don’t really love with fruitier flavors but it pairs nicely with the popcorn (that’s why I enjoy the Dammann popcorn tea). The combination of the two make for a breadiness and a nuttiness that does evoke granola a bit. The goji berries also gives it a touch of berry/sweet that adds another level on top of the popcorn and berries. It’s nice and definitely fitting for this chilly day.

As soon as I pulled this from the calendar I smelled licorice. Then i checked the ingredients and it had star anise and licorice root. Obviously not something to my tastes given my aversion of licorice so I added a splash of eggnog. It’s nice with the eggnog and ok but sweet and too much licorice for me.