Tea Revv Advent – Day 6-11

I’m typing this recent blogmas advent update with a cat sitting on half the keyboard, please bare with me. Let’s hope I don’t need to type ‘plomk’ too often, as he gets a bit grouchy when I try to squeeze in between his paws.

You can check out my previous, cat free, advent reviews here.

Day 6 – English Breakfast

Is what it says on the sachet really. This is your regular style of tea drunk in England. Great with a fry up or biscuit to dunk, generally served with a dash of milk.

There’s not much to tell you about English Breakfast, if you drink tea it’s likely you’ve had one.

The leaves looked as expected and smelt fresh and ‘tea like’. I do love that smell! It was quite difficult to make it appear strong, however it still tasted rich and flavoursome. It is tricky to know quite how many leaves to put in my strainer for your average sized mug, as it does say serves two but that could be two smaller tea cups.

Of all the English Breakfast I’ve had this was up there with the tastiest. It had plenty of depth to the flavour.

Day 7 – Berry Cupcakes

Today’s tea is a naturally decaffeinated rooibos. I quite like a plain rooibos anyway, and obviously I love cupcakes (what fool doesn’t?!), so I was intrigued at how this would taste.

You could see tiny bits of dried berries in the sachet, but mostly it was tea leaves.

This had quite a wide brewing gap of between 3-7 minutes. I went for around 5, in the middle, mostly because I’m inpatient, but also because some teas can go bitter if brewed for too long.

Although I was a bit dubious I did add a splash of milk to the first cup as it suggested that you could and I thought it might add to the cupcake flavour. I’m glad I did as it tasted very creamy with only a tiny amount of milk. It was in fact a bit like the flavour of icing, quite sweet, possibly a little too sweet for me. The blueberry flavour came through most.

I haven’t yet had my second cup of this, it was tasty but I think it’s a tea that I have to be in the right mood to drink.

Day 8 – Chilly Willy Chai

This is a black tea with added spices. I quite like a chai latte, I find it warming and wintry.

As the tea was brewing it had a sort of spicy rich chocolate smell about it. It does say ‘white chocolate pieces’ in the ingredients, although I couldn’t really make them out in the mixture, they must have been there because you could really smell chocolate.

This tea could be made with or without milk, I chose to have the first cup black and the second cup milky. I have to say I think I preferred it with milk.

Both versions have a smooth velvety quality. Chocolatey tones did come through, along with a light spice, or more of a heat, that I think was the ginger and pepper. I couldn’t taste cloves, which is a good thing as I can find them overpowering and I’m not usually a fan.

Have you ever had chilli chocolate? It’s quite tasty actually. Well this had similarities to that in both taste and smell.

Day 9 – Notorious Eggnog

My only experience of eggnog prior to opening this tea sachet is a Starbucks latte, which I’m sure isn’t a very realistic experience. However I do love a Starbucks Eggnog, all be it a little rich. I am quite looking forward to giving this tea a go!

This loose leaf is made up of fine pieces, that mostly look like tea. The brew time 3-4 minutes was suggested, and I stuck to this as it did look quite pale in colour.

This was a black tea/lattea which I’m still assuming means make with or add milk. As I’d had Eggnog as a latte before I decided to add milk to my first cup as I thought it would suit the creamy flavour. I did consider making it with hot milk but I have to be in the right mood for a lot of milk, as I find it quite filling.

Although pale in colour the tea had a really rich flavour. It did taste of tea, with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. Even though nutmeg isn’t in the ingredients, so this could just be me!

Overall a very warm and cosy tea, comforting and festive. Would be nice by the fire with a biscuit to dunk. Hmm I still have half a sachet left, I don’t have an open fire, but I do have plenty of biscuits!

Day 10 -Coffee Pu-erh

Coffee-tea. Tea that tastes of coffee? I’m not sure what I think to this. I’d not heard of it before. You’re generally either a tea or coffee person, this is breaking the boundaries a bit, mixing it up a little. Rather confusing if you ask me.

This sachet was filled with interesting bits, I could make out what I thought was a coffee bean, and a cocoa bean.

As Mum is a massive fan of anything coffee she and I shared this tea. We don’t have a teapot, not one that’s any use with loose leaf tea anyway. So we both had a mug with strainer. My tea quickly darkened in colour whereas hers stayed pretty weak. We realised that I had different bits in my strainer than hers. So this is one probably best used in a pot, or you should carefully check that you’ve got a bit of everything.

Both of us decided not to add milk. The taste was that of a weak chocolatey coffee. There was no tea flavour to me.

It was ok to drink, I wouldn’t quite say delicious, and it did get more bitter as it cooled.

Day 11 – Apple Pie Spice

A herbal tea this time, so totally caffeine free, which I have to say I’m quite glad about today as I have been drinking a lot more caffeine recently due to this advent, it’s worth it though! I wasn’t sure how much I’d notice the slight rise in caffeine intake but I think I have, luckily you can’t see me twitching!

Lots of bits and bobs are in this sachet, I could see pieces of dried apple and petals, of which the ingredients say are hibiscus and cornflower.

Wow it really does smell like Christmas. That spiciness of mulled wine. Gives an instant festive feeling.

This is suggested to be a no milk tea, which I would have assumed anyway.

It was so tasty, spicy, fruity and mulled. Reminded me of a mulled cider I once had at Bury St Edmunds Christmas Fayre.

The first cup was much stronger than the second, and I must say I preferred it strong as that’s when the spices really came through.

Again this was quite clovey for me but I actually enjoyed it. Maybe cloves are growing on me! Very soothing when piping hot.

At the time of drinking my first cup I was watching Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas, I also had a dark chocolate coated ginger biscuit with it and was in Christmas heaven.

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I have to say I think my fave is still Day 2 and the Ices Cream Earl Grey. I’d definitely invest in some Apple Pie Spice and Notorious Eggnog as well though!

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I was a bit naughty, you know I hinted towards Father Christmas bringing me a new tea steeper? Well I couldn’t wait. I know I’m impatient. But with all these lovely teas to try everyday I really wanted them to be at their best, and I was getting lots of bits left sneak through. It was a bargain at under £2, so I don’t feel too bad. My tea is much clearer, so it’s worth it!

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Do you have a favourite tea you’d recommend?

What advent calendar do you have this year?

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