Provence d'Antan

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 24

Aw, such a boring tisane to end on…

It’s fine, but there’s a bit of a wet rag thing going on, even though there’s no peppermint here. Otherwise it’s herbaceous and mildly lemony, with the linden adding a little touch of creaminess. It would be quite nice if it weren’t for the wet rag note. :P

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 23

Oof, not a fan of this one. The grapefruit essential oil tastes like a combination of Emergen-C powder and some kind of citrus floor cleaner. It’s too sharp and essential oil-y (lol, I don’t know how else to explain it…).

A shame, as I love grapefruit!

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 22

So, this tastes more like turmeric than I was expecting, given it’s the last ingredient in the list. It’s reminding me of all those Vahdam turmeric tisanes from the advent a couple of years ago…

It’s not unpleasant, mostly I get turmeric and ginger with the chocolate and cinnamon in the background, and a touch of the licorice root at the end of the sip. I could do without the licorice sweetness, but otherwise it’s a nice enough cuppa, sort of like a very earthy chocolate chai.

I wouldn’t expect chocolate and turmeric to go together, but it kind of works with the cinnamon and ginger there to bridge the gap.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 21

I wasn’t really sure what to put for the English translation of this tea, because both words have multiple meanings. So I kind of just put what Google said in the end, ha ha, but it could also be something like “Holy Fragrance” or similar. (shrugs)

So this is a black tea with four different citrus essential oils in it. I mostly get the grapefruit, with the mandarin and orange bringing it up in the rear, and just a touch of bergamot. It’s a pleasant tea, but there’s a slightly musty note that I’m not loving, and I’m not sure how I feel about the essential oils. It ends up tasting a bit too rind-y and sharp for me I think?

Still enjoying the cuppa though. :)

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 20

Such a cute name, but sadly quite a boring tisane. Mostly it tastes like dried apple with an herbal backdrop. The hibiscus is thankfully restrained, but then there’s the stevia… It’s not super strong, but it’s still enough to put me off.

Not very enchanting, to be sure. :P

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 19

This is an interesting idea – it has cinnamon, peppermint, thyme, hawthorne, and pine. I like piney things so I was excited to try it.

Sadly, in practice the thyme is just too strong for the other ingredients. I mostly just taste the savory thyme and the mint extract, and then a bit of peppermint herbaceousness on the tail end of the sip. Not getting much in the way of pine unfortunately.

It’s not bad, still pleasant to sip on, but I admit to being a bit disappointed by the imbalanced flavors.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 18

I thought this was a lemon & ginger green tea, but it actually tastes more like lemon & lime, which I’m pleased about. The lime adds such a nice zinginess that I really like. The green tea, however, leaves much to be desired… It’s quite earthy and mineral, without much freshness to the flavor. It tastes more like an herbal tisane, maybe lemon verbena or a similar herbaceous leafy ingredient.

Still pleasant though!

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 17

So this is a sort of herbal chai, just the spices and nothing else.

It’s quite nice and I’m really enjoying it after having a lot of spiced teas with flavoring lately. It’s so refreshing to have a naturally spiced tea for a change. The spices here are well-balanced, with the cardamom and cinnamon being the strongest, and then the clove and ginger coming in later in the sip. The clove lingers in the finish, and it’s joined by a hint of black pepper warmth.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a chai with no tea or rooibos in it, but I’m really enjoying it this evening. :)

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 16

So vanilla white tea sounds pleasant enough, but I’m not a fan of this. The white tea is just so musty, like I steeped a chunk of compacted hay that had been sitting in the corner of the barn for ages. Not getting much from it other than musty, musty hay. There’s a touch of creamy vanilla, but it doesn’t pair very well with the tea.

Not great for sure.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 15

This is an interesting one. It’s mostly the mellow lemon balm and verbena, but then the other flavors pop their heads in once in a while. The marjoram appears a bit in the middle of the sip, making an interesting contrast with the sweet orange. And then I taste a hint of orange blossom at the very end of the sip, adding a soft floral creaminess.

At first I thought it was boring, but it’s growing on me as I sip my way through the mug. It’s super mellow and smooth, but with just enough added interest from the orange, marjoram, and orange blossom.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 14

A nice orangey black tea today!

It’s a simple tea, just black tea with orange oil and peel. But the orange is very nice, reminiscent of the scent in the air when you’re peeling an orange and the teeny tiny droplets of orange mist are being flung everywhere with each tear. Very bright and zesty, but not pithy or bitter. The black tea doesn’t taste like anything, but I’m enjoying the sweet orangey flavor. :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmKcC7nOgDZ/

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 13

This is… interesting.

It smells orangey, but there’s no orange here so I guess it must be the lemon. But the ginger is very strong in the taste, and it burns my tongue and throat a bit when I sip it. And I suppose part of that is probably the black pepper as well. There’s an undertone of lemony apple fruitiness, but it’s not enough to compete with the spicy flavors, leaving it a bit unbalanced in my opinion.

Drinkable, but not my favorite because of the burning. :P

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 12

Another black chai blend, didn’t I just have one of these a couple of days ago…?

Regardless, it’s pretty tasty. It does seem somewhat similar to the other one, gingerbread-esque. Cinnamon and ginger are the strongest spices, with a touch of anise from the licorice root. I don’t really taste the citrus, which is a shame. But overall, a very pleasant mellow chai.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 11

This is a fine but very generic sort of fruit tisane. It mostly tastes of apple to me, with a little bit of coconut from the flavoring. There’s not too much hibiscus, thankfully, and I can’t taste the stevia.

But mostly tastes like apples. Apparently there’s passion fruit flavoring, but I don’t get that at all unfortunately. Inoffensive at least!

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 10

So this is just a black chai.

But similar to the Nabo one I had at the beginning of December, I quite like the balance of flavors here. It somehow comes out tasting a bit like gingerbread, despite having no flavoring added. I guess they got the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and clove ratios right. It’s sweet and smooth, and the spices are present but not over-the-top. I can taste all of them, including a very subtle black pepper heat at the back of my throat. The black base is quite thin, but I’m okay with that since the spices aren’t super strong either.

A pleasant surprise! :)

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 9

Another spiced herbal tisane. Cute name though!

It’s not bad, the licorice is actually well-balanced so it adds just a subtle sweetness and anise flavor. There’s also earthy ginger, sweet cinnamon, and just a hint of black pepper heat. I don’t really get any of the citrus though, which would’ve been a nice addition to counter the sweeter flavors.

It’s fine, but nothing special.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 8

Ginger lemon green tea number two for the day! :P

Honestly, it’s quite similar. This one is also strong on the ginger, but I do get a bit more of the lemon than with the Nordqvist version. I don’t taste the green tea at all here, it mostly just tastes like ginger root with a little baby hint of lemon. I do like ginger, luckily for me lol.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 7

I find the name of this tea so charming!

This is a perfectly nice peachy white tea. It’s soft and mellow, lovely for the evening. The peach here reminds me of dried peaches, maybe with a hint of candy. The white tea has gently earthy hay and dry grass notes.

It’s nothing groundbreaking or special, but I’m really enjoying it this evening. The peach has just enough of a tart edge to make it not too sweet or candylike. Tasty!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl5GCWGOSBr/

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 6

Licorice as the first ingredient, ehhhh…

It starts out fine, a mix of herbal peppermint and more intense peppermint extract. But the end of the sip… Ugh, it’s so sweet and so cloyingly licorice root.

Blegh, nope nope nope!

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 5

A black tea from Provence d’Antan today! This is an Earl Grey with added lemon.

Wow, I’m actually surprised by how much the lemon stands out. If I didn’t know better, I would guess it was yuzu, that’s how zesty it is. The bergamot is much gentler by comparison, but I can taste its floral notes in the middle to end of the sip, when the lemon starts to calm down a bit. The base is very light and doesn’t contribute much, though oddly the color is quite dark. I would definitely like a bit more from the black tea here.

Also worth noting, there were small pieces of what looked like lemon peel in my teabags, but the ingredients on the back of the box don’t list anything but tea and flavoring. Hmm…

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 4

Annnnnd we’re back to ho-hum teas from Provence d’Antan.

This is a rooibos with orange, spices, and hibiscus, but it doesn’t really have enough of any of those. I taste hints of orange, cinnamon, and cloves. There’s a bit of woodiness from the rooibos, but somehow the licorice root manages to be the strongest flavor. Sigh…

Not a fan.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 3

Okay, now we’re talking! This is the first tea from Provence d’Antan that I’ve enjoyed.

It’s a black tea with hibiscus and blackcurrant, raspberry, and blackberry flavors. I don’t really taste the hibiscus, nor did it seem to affect the color. This ends up tasting rather woodsy somehow, like a fruits of the forest sort of idea. I’m not sure where that woodsy character is coming from, given the ingredients, but I’m not complaining. The syrupy-sweet blackcurrant is definitely the strongest berry to me, and then the raspberry and blackberry sort of meld together into a nice tart accent. Then the black tea is slightly musty which I actually like here, and otherwise smooth with a bit of an earthy-woody flavor. The combination is giving me wintry forest and dark berry vibes. I think it’s the blackcurrant that’s making it wintry for me?

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed this cup. This tea, once again, isn’t listed individually on their website, but seems somewhat similar to another tea. I’m not sure I would go out of my way to order it, since I do have other woodsy-berry sort of teas I enjoy.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 2

Kind of annoying that so far these Provence d’Antan blends are all teas that aren’t listed individually on their website. The only place I could find them is as part of holiday gift boxes. Oddly though, they do seem to be equivalent to other teas with different names, like this one sounds the same as their North Pole tisane. Not sure why the name is different, but oh well.

Anyway! This is an apple and fennel herbal tisane with some other ingredients. The star anise in it combined with the fennel is definitely the dominant flavor, followed by the orange peel and the other spices. I don’t really taste apple at all. Mostly it tastes like licorice with a touch of orange oil.

Not bad, but not something I would ever order. A bit more balance between the flavors would be nice.

Provence d’Antan Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 1

This is described as a grapefruit, cinnamon, and ginger white tea which sounds appealing.

However… I don’t actually get a lot of grapefruit. The white tea is the main flavor for me and it’s quite musty and earthy. There’s also quite a lot of cinnamon and ginger, and a bit of something in the anise family. I taste a little bit of vague citrus in the background, but I would guess it was orange, and it’s a very subtle accent flavor.

So not a winner for me. A shame because I kind of like the idea of taking a classic orange & spices sort of holiday tea and swapping out the orange for grapefruit… Too bad there was no grapefruit to be found here. :(