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Tea Advent Calendar – Day 22

Now that the Christmas festivities are over, time to catch up on the last few days of my Advent calendar! I was SO excited to find this one in Sunday’s packet, as it has been on my wish list for awhile. I love Earl Grey and I love coconut, so this blend sounded like a match made in heaven! And sure enough, it’s delicious. I was a little worried that the bergamot and coconut would end up giving me soap vibes, but it was just creamy, coconutty deliciousness with just enough bergamot to keep things interesting. Lovely with milk!

Tea Advent calendar – Day 21

Another straight black tea with a lovely dry leaf…lots of golden tips in this one! The flavor is…“manly” is the word that’s coming to mind. Intense, slightly smoky and even a bit spicy with notes of cocoa and malt. It’s good, but not as smooth as the black teas I tend to prefer. I may try my next steep with milk!

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 20

Ooo, more Joseph Wesley! And a Chinese black tea too, which tends to be one of my favorite types. This one ranks up there with some of the best I’ve tried. The dry leaf is full of beautiful, unbroken twisted dark brown leaves with a heavenly scent of malt. It brews up to a rich, reddish brown liquid with a robust flavor of baked bread and malt and just a hint of fruitiness in there somewhere. It’s smooth and sweet and easy to drink…my first cup was gone before I knew it, but the second steep was just as good!

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 19

How is it less than a week until Christmas??? So much left to do…

Anyway, this tea made me realize that I don’t think I’ve ever had a plain banana-flavored tea before. It’s always banana walnut or banana bread or banana pancakes or something. And after trying this one, I think I do prefer having another flavor in there to balance out the banana. This one felt a bit bland and I found myself wanting some nutty notes (like Fava’s Banana Walnut Bread) or maple (like AQTT’s Banana Pancakes). But it was smooth and easy to drink and gave me the caffeine boost I needed this morning, so not complaining!

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 18

I’ve recently discovered that I like smokey black tea and I’ve never tried anything from Joseph Wesley, so I was excited to see this one in today’s Advent calendar pouch. And I wasn’t disappointed! This is a lovely Lapsang Souchong. The base tea is rich and nuanced with notes of mineral, malt, and dark chocolate and the smokiness level is just right – present, but not overpowering. I did notice a slight dryness at the end of the sip that kept me going back for more but left me a bit unsatisfied when my cup was finished. Thankfully, this re-steeps beautifully, getting smoother over time but not losing its flavor. I may have to add this to my collection at some point in the future!

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 17

Such a pretty tea! Long downy golden buds that really do look like little furry tails. It had a delicious cocoa aroma while it was brewing, but I didn’t get much chocolate from the flavor, which was surprisingly light and delicate. It was very smooth (no astringency that I noticed) but not quite as robust as I personally prefer my black tea to be. Almost reminded me of an oolong, actually!

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 16

This is the first tea in my advent swap with Shae that wasn’t new to me. But I’m not complaining, because this is one of my all-time favorites and I don’t currently have it in my cupboard. It’s just as yummy as I remembered!

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 15

So, to be honest, I wasn’t sure what flavor this tea was supposed to be until I looked at the description. I definitely get some creaminess and nuttiness, but nothing that’s coming across as distinctively banana. (Which is surprising, because AQTT usually does banana really well!) It was a pleasant enough blend, but not terribly distinctive for me.

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 14

I was excited to see a Whispering Pines tea in the advent calendar today and I was not disappointed! This is exactly the type of black tea I love: smooth and slightly sweet with notes of malt and sweet potato. It also re-steeps beautifully!

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 13

I love a turtle sundae, so I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while. Personally, I wish the caramel came out a bit more, but I did enjoy the notes of chocolate and nuts and maybe just a hint of burnt sugar. I’m thankful Shae sent such a generous sample so I can play around with sweetening it and/or adding milk to see how that changes the flavor.