Christmas Tea

I overleafed this, but it’s still weak enough that I was afraid to add milk. Even the black tea itself is super light in flavor. Without looking at the ingredients, it tastes a little like almonds (apparently that’s not right at all). I’ve tried this a few times now, and I just can’t squeeze more flavor out of it. The flavor is actually quite pleasant, it’s just too light for me. Maybe it’s something my palate has to get used to because I feel like as I drink more of this, I am enjoying it more.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  I’m wishing everyone a better 2021.  This tea was sent over by AJRimmer (thank you!) and I thought I should try it today.  Somehow this doesn’t seem as special to me as some of their Noel blends.  I’m really only tasting cherry here.  I would love to notice more pineapple flavor but I don’t.  Sadly this isn’t screaming “Christmas level special” to me. I would have loved if they dumped fruitcake all over this blend.  Ah well, I love to sample anything I can! 
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep

Advent 24, 1 of 2 :)

The cherry flavoring is different than any of the other blends featured in this year’s advent calendar. It’s maraschino, as opposed to plain ‘cherry’, and I can certainly smell it as more of a cough syrup note than a fruity, bright cherry. Not to worry, though, since that medicinal aroma smooths out in the tea. There is a soft, sweet undercurrent of caramel and the brightness of the pineapple, while I can’t necessarily taste it, lifts up that big, round cherry middle. The orange seems to be a solid link between the pineapple and cherry.

I get the feeling this is the same black tea base used in most of these blends. I can taste it’s woody briskness and love its smooth, thick body. I’ve never tasted tobacco in these black tea blends but here I think the maraschino cherry flavoring interacts with the black tea to produce a tobacco tone.

This is probably my favorite of the cherry flavored blacks that have been part of this advent season :)

AJRimmer Advent Day 24

This is quite the appropriately named tea for an advent! I have the hardest time picking out flavors in DF teas! I feel like I’m missing out on something because I see so many reviews of people loving their teas. I couldn’t make out any of the flavors in this cup, so I added some sugar which I think has helped. I’m getting a deep fruity finish, almost like candy cherry. There is fruit in the sip with some spices with a slight tang to it. At the end of the sip there is a tobacco like note before the fruit kicks in. I feel like I’m getting more flavor out of this blend than I have in a lot of other DF blends!

Sipdown (294)

Me and Dammann Freres black base aren’t getting along. Like this tea is fine but not my favourite at all since that base comes through stronger than anything and it’s not my favourite. Also I was a bit surprised by the fruitiness of this since “Christmas Teas” are usually orange and clove and this went a bit more tropical with some sweet/tart pineapple.

The first cup of this that I tried pre-Christmas was very pleasant. A bit of almond, and some generic red fruits. All of the subsequent cups have been perfectly fine, but definitely more boring than I remember the first cup being. Still a decent tea, just a bit blah for me.

Day 24 of our Advent Tea Swap. From amandastory516.

How appropriate to drink a Christmas tea on Christmas Day! I meant to have this one yesterday, but with all the food prep I never got around to having any tea at all. Today will be much more relaxed, so I plan to have lots of tea as the day goes on.

I’ve never tried a tea from Dammann Freres so I’m pretty excited about it. It seems fancy and just right for the day. It definitely tastes like a spiced tea to me, maybe with just a slight chocolate note as it cools. After doing a quick search of the ingredients, I’m bummed to find that I don’t taste the caramel or cherry. I have plenty of tea left to try another cup so I’ll save my rating until then.

For those who participated in our Advent tea swap, I just want to say thanks for including me! This has absolutely been so much fun and really gave me so much to look forward to each day. Thanks, Amanda, for being such a great swap partner!!

Thank you Cameron B. :D

A quick note on this. ^^ This was my all-day sipper choice today. Had it grandpa style. No notes, I just enjoyed it throughout the day. I “think” this is my first Dammann Frères. I got a similar flavor profile than some of the others but I got more cherry and pineapple than orange. The orange aroma was there, but not the taste so much. It did show up more, the orange rind in this latest steep. It is good. I am enjoying it. I’m on the 4th steep and the flavor is still really good.

Advent Calendar Day 24

I cheated as I ordered this one as a 100gr bag when I placed my order for my advent calendars so I could have it all season long. It was actually my husband’s pick since he loves fruit cakes while I had picked Noel a Prague. But I’m so glad he suggested it because I really like it. At first I wasn’t sold on it. It was definitely dessert-ish and Christmasy but I wasn’t sure if I would want it a lot. As it turns out, the more I had it, the more I reached for it throughout the month of December. It’s a delicious tea!

To me it is very reminiscent of the flavors you find in a Stolen or a Norwegian Christmas bread: candied fruits with a bit of caramel sweetness and cake-ish background. It’s not a tea I would crave in the summer, but it felt so right around the holidays when you yearn for those sweet flavors. I can’t pick out the pineapple as easily as I do the candied cherries and oranges, but it’s very smooth and delicious (and not fussy at all in terms of brewing). Definitely one we are likely to reorder next year in the fall!

Day 24 of the Dammann Freres Advent Calendar

I actually got a good whiff of this as it was brewing. Nice. Tangy sweet pineapple was all I smelled. So refreshing, just like pineapple . I didn’t detect it in the flavor, probably because my nose decided to go on strike again. The tea brewed up nicely. I didn’t taste anything, but neither did I taste bitterness or astringency. I drank the cup and did a small re-steep.

So, the tea advent calendar is done for another year. I brewed every bag. A couple were way sour for me and I drank only a few sips. Others I drank half a cup. Some I drank the full cup. I’d been looking forward to trying Noel a Prague, but it wasn’t included in this.

So, although I didn’t find any tea that I adored, I did get to try teas I’d normally pass by without a second glance. It widened my horizons but also confirmed what I do and do not enjoy in tea.