6444 Tasting Notes
DAVIDsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 20
I made this as an iced latte. There was a bit of a disaster where a fair bit of the frothed matcha didn’t quite make it into the cup. The result is that this is simultaneously watered down, bitter, and overly sweet as the mango flavor is very candy-like. Not my best work and not their best matcha.
Kenneth Ave Advent Calendar – Day 19
The teas in this calendar have been fairly mediocre and I don’t really love earl grey teas so when I pulled this out I was not excited. I decided to make it as a London Fog. However, in line with the other blends, this is just okay. And an okay Earl Grey is brisk and astringent and not my favorite.
Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 19
This one is a cranberry chai and it definitely captured that. The front of the sip is all fruity and tart with the spices kicking in at the end. You also get some honey from the rooibos base. It does enough to reflect the flavor its meant to and to scream holiday but I am okay with just this sample.
Geek + Tea Advent Teas – Day 7
I spoke to Roswell Strange who had this one already and asked her if she thought it would make a good latte. I have been drinking about a latte a day which is not the healthiest but perhaps better than the ice cream and milkshake and cookies and stuff my sister has been ordering…or maybe not with the eggnog…but its not that much eggnog. Whatever, I like them. So each day, usually one of my advent teas gets made as a latte, eggnog or otherwise. This was the eggnog latte of the day.
She was right because this makes a tasty latte. I could see the spices being overkill plain but combined with the milk and eggnog its perfect. A lot of flavor from clove and nutmeg. A lot of richness from the prep method. Definite pumpkin spice latte vibes…except without the coffee since I am not into that. Really, really lovely! Like pumpkin pie in liquid form…and without crust!
52 Teas 12 Teas of Christmas – Day 7
I just finished blasting through an old pouch of this last month so I was both happy and sad to see this one in the mix. Happy because it’s delicious. Simple but awesome with its amazing banana flavor that pairs perfectly with the TGY base. Sad because I just had many cups of this in a short period so I am slightly bored of it right now.
DIY Advent Calendar – Day 19
I wanted to bake with this but the only recipe I could find that incorporates it is the one on the Wize Monkey website for vegan cookies. That recipe uses a lot of ingredients that are maybe used in vegan baking often but they are not ingredients I had lying around. I then thought maybe I could find a matcha baking recipe and just sub this in but I was being lazy and wasn’t sure I would like this so I didn’t want to go through all the work for something I wasn’t confident I would like.
This was a bit of a mess to make. Mostly my fault. I decided to make it using the DAVIDsTEA matcha latte, right down to using my matcha whisk and bowl. Unlike matcha, however, this didn’t really dissolve. It mostly became a brown sludge. I decided to strain it. So I strained the extra coffee leaf and then topped it with frothed milk. I then thought it would be good with a dusting of cocoa powder…which I managed to get it all over the stove.
I found this alright but mostly because it was just frothed milk. There was a touch of the coffee leaf flavor, which isn’t one for me unfortunately. Thank you for sharing Roswell Strange but I don’t think I am the target audience for this – mostly because I have yet to find a coffee leaf tea I like.
DAVIDsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 19
I know Roswell Strange and some others over on Instagram were looking forward to this but as someone who doesn’t love floral teas, I was sort of indifferent to it being in the calendar.
I made it as an iced latte. I don’t love it. it’s candy-like but maybe a touch too much. Plus its floral so its like candied flowers, which is not particularly appealing to me. It also has a bit of a texture issue for me because this is the first time I feel like its leaving a bit of chalkiness on my tongue.
