Snore & Peace

Day 8 & 20 of the Clipper advent calendar. This is a pretty standard chamomile/lavender blend. It’s fine for a teabag version, but my standards are really skewed. Harney does it better, and Butiki (RIP) blew them both out of the boiling water. I’d drink this if it was the only cham/lav blend available, but I just have better ones.

Apparently I had this nine years ago, and found the lemon much more notable then than I do now. Hmm. Even so, I gave it the exact same rating that I was planning to give it now!

Ooh, this is very nice. Probably my favorite out of all the Clipper herbals I’ve tried. It was rather weak at 2 minutes (and even after 4 and a half), so I left the teabag in the cup the whole time. It seemed a bit dull at first, but it grew on me as the liquor became more pleasantly viscous and the flavors came out and melded together harmoniously. Not the most exciting tea, but then again it’s good not to have too much excitement before bed.

Colour: Golden brown.
Smell: Lavender and lemon.

Taste: This has a minty, floral flavour which is tasty yet fairly subtle and airy. After the first taste of mint you get a floral lavender and then zesty lemon flavours that come out to play. The smell reminds me of lavender and herbal pillows that you can buy to aid your sleep only in this case you have a lovely drink instead.

Lavender can taste a little bitter at times and it is certainly a refined flavour but boy does it make you sleepy. Half way down this mug and I am yawning inconsolably, so while this isn’t the best tasting tea available it works well for making you sleepy and relaxed.

Finished my box yesterday night and didn’t even realize I hadn’t logged this yet!

This is a pretty standard night tea, I found the taste pretty standard and almost boring.
It’s not offensive at all, but I’ve found other teas that both taste and knock me out better

Cupper Advent calendar #8
This is the only infusion I missed when I first had it (on day 8), but I remembered to write down some notes on day 20, when I drank it again.
On 18th December i left for my home country to spend Christmas with my family and no, I didn´t forget the teabags left from the Cupper advent calendar.
At first, the brew reminded me of the herbal infusions my mother loved to prepare (very often nettle based), which I must admit weren´t exactly what I used to like to drink, but then it opens up, with a bit of mint in finish. Both mint and even chamomile (at 30% even) are dosed to give a well balanced blend, which I can certainly approve of. Presence of lavender also very subtle.

I’d never heard of Clipper before but found it in the clearance rack of Marshalls/TJMaxx for $2 so I snagged it. Can’t pass up a Marshalls tea bargain, especially a bedtime tea.

I find that I need to steep it longer than the box recommendation to really find the flavors. The chamomile is there with slight hints of lavender and lemon after steeping for 5-6 minutes. I could do with a touch more lavender and might just pull some from my garden the next cup I brew. I definitely enjoy the pun based name. Not my favorite bedtime tea but not a bad one either.

I was sent this tea from my best friend Andy in the UK. It’s a light taste, I have it almost every night with a bit of milk, no sugar. It doesn’t knock me out of course but it’s relaxing enough.

So I have been putting off entirely updating my Steepster cupboard, because honestly, I know it’s insane and people will think I’m being buried under tea. I promise, the tea is organized. I will slowly add them all over the next few days. SO don’t be alarmed, even if I know there is ONE serving left, it’s a variety of tea that is going on the Steepster cupboard until it’s a sipdown. Updating the cupboard is so when I’m even remotely thinking of acquiring more tea, I will just take a look at the number and slap myself upside the head. I’m not trying to win the Steepster crazy cupboard award. Of course I appreciate all these teas, but too much is too much. And I need to enjoy the awesome teas that I already have. I guess it’s also a problem when I feel like tea companies will go out of business without purchases. And there are only so many tea drinkers and SO many tea shops. So I feel like I should buy from them and support them once in a while… especially the small companies.

This is a random teabag from an ancient teabox. I love the name. (Oh, I’m NOT putting individual teabags in the Steepster cupboard at least.) This one might be too old to judge, but it wasn’t bad. I’m sure it’s much better fresh. Hints of lemon, lavender and mint and very savory.

364/365

I assume the name of this one is a play on “War & Peace”, that notable sleep-inducer. I find that cutely amusing, but in practice this is a pretty ordinary blend – chamomile, lemon balm, and lavender. The flavour isn’t bad, but it’s not unique or particularly inspiring – I mostly get lavender, with just a hint of lemon, and then the sweetness of chamomile in the background. It’s like a lot of sleep teas I’ve tried, in that respect, but I’m always up for trying a new one! So far, the Twinings Superblends and Bird & Blend’s Dozy Girl have been most effective for me, but both seem to give me crazily vivid dreams, which is a side effect I could do without. So, the search continues…

I didn’t experience any dreams with this one, but I’m not sure that it really helped me get to sleep. It took me at least an hour to drop off. I felt I stayed asleep more readily, although that could be coincidence. I’ll have to give it a few more tries before I can say for certain. I wouldn’t say I particularly like the flavour, but that’s more to do with my own personal preferences than anything else. I’m not generally a fan of floral teas, but sleep blends tend to be that way inclined. It’s drinkable, but not particularly…interesting? I’ve tried more flavoursome options, let’s say. Still, I don’t tend to drink sleep teas for the flavour, on the whole. It’s time I stopped complaining.

I’ll persevere for a while, certainly long enough to finish the box. You never know, after all.

Not a huge fan of chammomile. Wish the lavender was more prominent. Will not get again.