Damn Fine Holiday Blend

additional notes:  This is the designated cookie tea!  And there are many cookies around here!  So it needed to be steeped today!  So much sugar!  I’m wishing everyone a happy, healthy, better New Year.  This virus is bonkers and it’s breaking my heart every day (world-worrier since birth here).   The dates of the holidays were pretty much perfectly timed for ultimate virus spread.  Please everyone be careful.

Pretty balanced. Moderate strength tea-tea with some light fruit and a bit of bitterness. That may be coming from not remembering the Darjeeling in here and not being careful with the temp and time. Now I want sugar cookies to try with it.

GCTTB
This is a really well balanced blend. It’s not anyone of the three. Light, fruity, touch of astringency but thick mouth feel and tons of flavor. Really like this one.

I’m enjoying a pot of this with my breakfast, & it really is a nicely balanced blend: honey sweet, malty, a little tart plum in the aftertaste. It’s not particularly bold, but also not brash. It reminds me of a perfectly crusted loaf of honey wheat bread, and it almost feels like it has cream in it. There’s a beautiful thickness building on my tongue, and this might be my new favorite tea blend. It’s been in my cupboard since xmas time, unreviewed & barely opened, but I have a feeling that is getting ready to change :)

GCTTB

I’m drinking this one to start my day off. Considering that it’s from A&D I was expecting this to be a lot stronger and maltier than it actually is. What I picked up on in the first cup was a bright fruitiness. I’m on the second cup now, and some bread and honey notes are showing up. I’m not getting the cocoa notes, though. Still, it’s a tasty start to the day.

This is my first tea from A&D — I remember having had a sample of the Carävan blend years ago but never getting around to trying it. I’m excited to try this one as it’s advertised as being great with cookies! Although I don’t have a cookie here in front of me, I do have some cooling at the moment.

The scent of this tea smells really tasty… I detect hints of lemon and milk. It reminds me a bit of a solid breakfast blend with additions added by the drinker. Sipping… mmm I love how smooth this tea is.. It has floral and citrus layers and notes of milk. Delicious!

I’m happy to have grabbed a tin before it was discontinued.

I really love this tea blend! When I ordered this, I knew I would probably enjoy it; I was absolutely right, and have been drinking it a lot!
This has everything I love in a tea. Not fussy, good anytime of day, resteeps wonderfully for another cup, and most important – so delicious!
Beautiful dry leaf that brews a fulfilling, smooth and and perfectly balanced cup of tea, with notes of honeyed malt, cocoa, pastries and a hint of fruitiness.
This is my perfect anytime tea, and I actually wish I bought more than just one tin!

need to pack, finish work and get things settled for the next couple days… sooo just stopping in to say THIS arrived and THIS is what i’m having for dinner. so there. Over the past few days i’ve had some old favourites, some new teas and mostly been successful in not killing anyone. Mostly. Hope everyone is doing awesome and having a grand ol’s time in the hood. :)

Brought some of this tea with me to the office today and it was AWESOME! I got notes of cocoa, bread, malt, and that fresh taste from the Darjeeling! I think Stephanie is right that, even though I have 4.4 ounces, it probably won’t last long! I’ve also decided I love it at 2 minutes steep. I tried their recommended 4 minutes and I think the malt takes over and you lose some of the complexity. 2 minutes is perfect. :)

Pic of the leaf: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97273956@N03/15728744884/

I’m not sure why, probably because its from Andrews and Dunham, but I kind of expected this to be more Grrrrr, before I tasted it. Then looking at the leaf I realized I should have known better. This has lots of golden tips from the Yunnan leaf. It has a malty, honey, chocolate scent that is so good. So the brew taste is kind of the same, along with smooth and complex. The Ceylon does offer a healthy briskness mid sip and lingering long into the aftertaste to counter the smooth nature of the Yunnan. The the Darjeeling kicks in late in the sip offering up a woodsy fruitiness that is a neat topper. Somewhere along the lines there is a touch of smoke. It isn’t obvious but there if you wait for it.

I am not sure why this is called a holiday blend and I don’t even care. It is really good. Thanks Stephanie for sharing this one.