BrutaliTeas

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 19

A chocolate mint rooibos, ehh…

It’s fine I suppose. It does taste a bit like a York peppermint patty, it’s that intense cooling sort of mint profile. The chocolate flavoring isn’t horrible, for chocolate flavoring. The mint does get a bit too mentholated during some parts of the sip, which makes it taste almost medicinal.

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 18

Another jasmine green tea, this one with pineapple and coconut.

It’s pretty good actually. Coconut and floral sort of make sense together in a tropical spa kind of way. Personally, I would like more pineapple, but I often feel that way about piña colada blends. This is mostly a coconut and jasmine tea, but the creaminess of the coconut goes well with the soft and sweet floral so I’m not mad about it.

I don’t think I would go out and buy this, but I enjoyed it and it was an interesting concept to try.

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 17

So, why is there green tea in this…? It’s just weird, and doesn’t make any sense given it’s such a pitiful amount, and it’s totally overpowered by the rooibos and the flavoring. I don’t get it, but whatever.

Otherwise, it’s a pleasant nutty, desserty rooibos blend. It has a nice buttery nut flavor, I think I can taste both the hazelnut and the chestnut. And then there’s quite a bit of sweet caramel on top, along with some creaminess. So it ends up tasting a bit like chestnut cream or a mont blanc.

I find it a bit much, so I probably wouldn’t order it, but it’s tasty and definitely festive!

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 16

Wasn’t a huge fan of this one. To me, the mango is so over-the-top artificial tasting, it’s like a fruit gummy mixed with perfume. It has a generic sweet and tropical sort of flavor, but then there’s this almost chemical floral note, which I’m not enjoying.

Not sure what the name is referring to, I’m assuming it’s a band that I’m not familiar with?

I love the idea of s’mores tea but have yet to find a tea that really consistently nails it in practice. This one has a s’mores scent more than a s’mores flavor. Most of the flavor is a bitter black tea paired with also bitter dark chocolate – the bitterness is a dominant feature of this cup. I hoped the marshmallows in the tin would help with this, and I can taste them a bit at the end, but it’s not enough.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 15

I wanted to love this. The name makes me laugh, peach and rose are two of my favorite tea flavors, and it just seemed perfect. It was fine, but the peach notes were too strong and artificial over the floral, which was weak enough I couldn’t tell which flowers were actually in the cup. I found it better cool than hot, because the peach calms down significantly.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 14

This was an enjoyable chai. I didn’t actually realize it was supposed to have anything other than chai seasonings in it before reading Cameron’s tasting note; I didn’t get any kind of nut or chocolate from it. But the chai flavor was good. Another “enjoyable, but not a purchase” for me.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 13

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 15

It’s a chocolate tea, so I’m not a fan. Mostly it tastes like fairly tannic black tea and chocolate flavoring, I don’t really taste any of the marshmallow or graham cracker. I’m not surprised given there’s no marshmallow or graham flavoring, and there weren’t a lot of pieces of either in my sample.

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 14

So I fully expected to hate this one, given the name and the fact that it has rose flavoring and lavender in it.

But honestly, it’s not that bad, because it’s very mild. I maybe should have used less water, but at least this way it’s drinkable ha ha. I can taste a bit of everything – sweet peach, floral rose, earthy and citrusy lavender. Plus a bit of the haylike white tea underneath.

Not saying I like it per se, but it’s drinkable. A little bit like baby powder though… XD

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 13

So this is a decent chai.

I can taste the cardamom quite a bit, which I like. I will say I’m not really getting the chocolate or the hazelnut though? Mostly I taste the spices – cardamom, clove, ginger, and cinnamon, in that order – and a bland black tea base.

I wish I was tasting the cocoa or the hazelnut, those would make it bit a more interesting. But it’s still a pleasant enough cuppa this morning.

The description says caramel pear. The reviews say stale walnut. I don’t know if it’s something wrong with my cup or me, but it almost smells boozy to me, and it definitely tastes like something left to ferment. I can kind of tell there’s sweetness in here somewhere, but it’s mostly masked by this awful flavor up front. This is the first tea here I truly could not do at all, which isn’t bad for halfway through, but yikes.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 12

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 12

What in the actual heck is this? O.o

So this is supposed to be a pear and caramel tea, but I agree with amandastory516, it legit tastes like an old stale walnut that’s been sitting out for months. Maybe even a black walnut at that – they have a very distinct earthy flavor, of which I am not a fan. There’s a hint of caramel at the end? I think it’s the white tea that’s tasting super musty and weird, with a hint of rooibos woodiness bringing it up in the rear.

I’ll just call it “A Nightmare on Walnut Street” rofl. Very unenjoyable.

BrutaliTeas Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 11

So I wasn’t expecting to like this one as it’s a very fruit-heavy tisane and it has coconut. I don’t mind coconut but it’s not my favorite flavor in tea.

However, this actually came out really delicious. It has a great balance of sweetness and tartness and tastes like pineapple juice with creamy coconut in the background. The hibiscus and orange help bolster the pineapple so that it stands out over the coconut. I’m not usually a fan of piña colada type teas because the coconut is usually too strong for me, but this one is lovely.

Will definitely have to consider ordering some, though I’m not sure I would reach for it often…

Sipdown!

If you’ve tried any cream-flavoured tea from this company then imagine that with cranberries. It’s a muddled tart cream contraption which may or may not groove. It’s a simple concept but a cozy one. It also reminds me a little of Cranberry Pear by David’sTea. The crass, robust black tea base means this blend does well with milk.

I love tart and tangy teas featuring hibiscus. If not for the coconut, this one would be perfection – I can even distinguish the pineapple above the other flavors! But while the coconut was not strong enough to completely put me off the cup, it is strong enough to keep me from wanting any more. A shame, really, because the pineapple and tartness are fabulous.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 11

I’m a big fan of almond flavoring in teas, and this was a tasty one. The almond is definitely present in scent and flavor, but it isn’t overwhelming the base of tea. I couldn’t give you much else on the flavor profile. It was a hit for me and my partner, so we’re adding it to the list for the future.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 10

This was an interesting one; the black tea base is most prominent, and a strong one at that. The aftertaste though feels like I’ve just eaten strawberries, angel food cake, and cream. I’ve got to give it points for a tasty berry flavor (especially since we’ve established recently I’m quite picky about strawberry in tea). I don’t think it will be in rotation here any time soon though; I’m not a huge cake fan to start with, and I have other black teas I much prefer.

BrutaliTeas Advent, Day 9

Brutaliteas advent day 10! It was a nice, subtle marzipan-type blend.

Another blend I couldn’t try from the advent… darn pineapple