Sugar Plum Spice / Frosted Fruit Spice

I still had 2 Xmas teas left from the “12 teas of Xmas” I bought last year, so I had these the last few days.
Frosted Fruit Spice : not sure about the “frosted” bit, but fruity in mouth and spicy in nose indeed. Fortunately (for me) not too many spices in action in taste, although I saw some cloves in the blend, and they surely can overwhelm a tea! Overall an enjoyable fruity tea with spicy notes, but nothing to convince me to take it more often ;-)

The flavor here isn’t great. The black tea is a little bitter and astringent in a pretty artificial way. The fruitiness is there too, but it doesn’t taste very good. My mouth is just filled with a metallic flavor. Not very pleasant.

#adventageddon Day Fifteen – 1/6

So, I think this is the same tea I had as this morning’s advent selection – it looks like the same ingredients, though the name is slightly different. However, I’ve noticed more than one inconsistency with Tea Revv’s blend names since starting this advent calendar. So I’m like 90% sure!

I… actually liked this one!?

It wasn’t really anything special and the quality was pretty average but the mix of tickly ginger notes and deeper stonefruit (plum?) notes combined really worked for me. There was some bitterness and astringency coming from the black tea base and the flavours were a little muddy, but it felt like a wintery, Christmas themed mug of tea and it wasn’t too spicy, tart, or sweet. It was just… a warming, tasty good time.

Huh.

Thanks so much for sending this one over in that glorious package, TreeGal! This one sounds intriguing. I thought this might be something I might like, though to be honest, I’m not picky and will enjoy almost every tea. :D The dry blend looks lovely with these amaranth flowers. Upon steeping, I’m tasting huge amounts of floral with hints of plum and pear. The base black tea has a larger leaf, completely black and twisty but the brew results fairly light. I thought it would taste more like plum as the cup cools, but it tasted fairly floral throughout. The second cup tastes almost exactly the same. This would be an even better blend if they toned down that floral a bit, since it’s called frosted floral/ sugar plum! So I think they are setting up everyone for disappointment when the name doesn’t match the tea. But I can enjoy this one if I’m not thinking of what it SHOULD be. Thanks again, TreeGal – probably a tea I’d never be able to try if you hadn’t sent it over.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 15 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 minute steep

Initially tasted thin with floral and spice flavors. Greatly improved with milk – gave it a much fuller flavor. Milk tempered the floral scent and taste. Really liked it – was sad when it was gone.
Recommends adding a dash of milk or mix with hot frothed milk for a lattea. Tasted 12.2018

Tea Revv Advent Calendar – Day 1

(originally written November 1st)

Hooray, it’s the first day of tea advent calendar time! I’m writing to you from the past (oooooOOOOOOooo scary ghost noises). Since I purchased no fewer than five tea advent calendars this year, I am drinking through two of them in November. But in order to avoid spoiling the advent calendar surprise fun for my beloved fellow Steepsters, I’m storing these November notes in the tea note vault until December.

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

I love the art on these Tea Revv calendar packets. Last year, I hung this calendar from the mantle using festive holiday-colored twine and mini clothespins. But now I’m a year older and a year lazier so I didn’t bother… XD

This packet is labeled “Frosted Fruit Spice #6”, but appears to be the same tea (and the same number) as “#6 Sugar Plum Spice” on their website. So I’ve added the second name to the existing tea listing here on Steepster. The art on the packet is a cute geometric penguin!

Wow, the dry leaf has a powerful (and mouthwatering) sweet fruity aroma – perhaps candy apple? I steeped the entire packet (around 2 tsp) in 12 ounces of water.

Hmm… This tastes unexpectedly perfumey, and not very fruity. I guess I can taste a bit of that candied apple from the dry leaf, but mostly it tastes of floral perfume. And as most of you likely know by now, floral flavors are not my favorites. Although I’m not sure anyone would enjoy this amount of perfumey floral…

Nope, it’s not for me. In fact, it’s gross.

P.S. – I think Tea Revv is just a reseller and this is actually “Sugar Plum Spice” from East Indies Coffee & Tea.

Wow, this tastes exactly like the tea version of a Gewurtztraminer wine I used to drink. I liked the wine, not so much the tea. It definitely tastes of pear and maybe a bit of honey (the stuff the bees make, not the candy). I don’t get anything spicy out of it, and it’s very astringent. I will give them points for unique, as I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything quite like this, but I just don’t like it.