Last year, I really got into brewing oolong teas, black teas, and Chinese green teas gongfu style. It’s a method where you use a little more tea leaves but steep for a very short time (usually only 15-25 seconds), and then each steeping after that is a few seconds longer. When doing such a short steep, the tea is not bitter at all. I like how each steeping of tea tastes just a little different, because the tea leaves will release certain compounds first and other compounds later. Also, you can usually steep it anywhere from 5 to 9 times, depending on the tea. You can use a tiny gaiwan teacup to brew tea just for yourself, or you can use a teapot. There are some teapots made specifically for gongfu brewing, although they tend to be very small, ranging from 200 mL to 300 mL (although there are some that are larger and smaller, of course). There are a few teas at MastersTeas.com that I really love, but which are very expensive since they’re very high quality. However, some of them ...

One of my favorite online tea stores, Adagio teas , has launched an online spices store called Selefina spices . They sent me some spice samples to try, but the ones I had the most experience with are chocolate powder and cinnamon, so I decided to make chocolate hazelnut rooibos tea with the Selefina spices. Normally, I use a cacao powder I got from Amazon, but the Selefina cocoa powder was a little lighter in color (sorry I forgot to take a picture). I made my tea the way I normally do with my Amazon cacao powder and some ground cinnamon we got from the local grocery store. Here’s my recipe: 1 Tablespoon Selefina Cacao Powder, high fat (20-22%) 1/4 teaspoon Selefina ground Cassia Cinnamon 1 teaspoon Adagio Honeybush Chocolate tea 1 teaspoon Adagio Honeybush Hazelnut tea milk sugar or sweetener to taste I put the honeybush teas in a fine mesh strainer but I put the cacao powder and cinnamon directly in the pot. I add 2 cups boiling water to the cacao/cinnamon and whisk i...

My last tea in my Tea Advent Calendar is Yuletide Toddy. That sounds like something to drink after dinner on Christmas Eve, but I’m drinking it for lunch instead. The tea contains rose hips, hibiscus, apple pieces, orange, ginger, cinnamon, cherries, cranberry flavor, cinnamon flavor, orange flavor, and ginger flavor. Wow that’s a lot of ingredients! It also looks like a non-caffeinated tea, which is great! When I opened the packet, it smelled deliciously tart, kind of like a mix of orange and cranberry juice. I steeped it for 10 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. It turned a really pretty dark pink/purple color. It tasted quite good unsweetened, like cranberry and cinnamon and apple, but I added sugar anyway. Sweetened, it was fantastic! It was like cranberry-apple juice but richer, with cinnamon and a hint of orange peel. I loved it! Drinking the tea in my Tea Advent Calendar has been fun! There were a few duds, but on a whole this is a great sampler of some of th...

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Christmas. That’s a nice flavor name! The tea contains black tea, cinnamon, orange, natural spice flavor, cardamom, cloves, ginger, natural ginger flavor, and natural cinnamon flavor. When I opened the packet, I could smell the ginger and spices, but it didn’t smell like mulling spices. It was a slightly deeper flavor. This might be good with almond milk added to it. I steeped it for 3 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. I didn’t like the taste of the tea unsweetened at all—it was a like a melange of bitter spices—so I added almond milk and sugar. It tasted much better then—I could taste the ginger and cinnamon. It wasn’t quite a chai flavor, nor was it like mulling spices or pumpkin spices, but it was kind of a mix of all of them. It’s hard to describe, but it was a really nice, warm cup of black tea.

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Rooibos Noel. Hey, didn’t I get this before? I did! I drank this on the 16th and didn’t care for it. I wavered over to drink it again today, and decided to give it another shot. After all, these are only 1 serving packets and I might have just gotten a disproportionate amount of rooibos last time. (I forgot to take a picture of the dry tea leaves.) The tea contains rooibos tea, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, apple pieces, orange, natural spicy cinnamon flavor, rose petals, natural almond flavor, and natural orange flavor. It had a nice smell when I opened the packet, cinnamon and mulling spices. I steeped it for 5 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. It actually tasted less grassy this time! The cinnamon flavor is very nice unsweetened, but I added sugar anyway. It was a really nice tea, mostly cinnamon flavor, but I could also taste a bit of the ginger, orange and almond that gave it a more rounded, mellow flavor than just the cinnamo...

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Gingerbread. A perfect flavor for today, being so close to Christmas. The tea contains black tea, natural gingerbread flavor, cinnamon, orange, and ginger. When I opened the packet, I could smell the ginger, although I don’t know that it smelled quite like gingerbread. I steeped it for 3 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. I didn’t quite like the smell of the tea unsweetened, so I didn’t even taste it, I just added almond milk and sugar. The tea tastes okay, it doesn’t really taste like gingerbread, but I don’t particularly care for the gingerbread flavoring used. I guess this just wasn’t personally to my taste.

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Decaf Hazelnut Cinnamon Creme. That sounds delicious! And it’s decaffeinated! The tea contains decaf ceylon tea, cinnamon, cocoa nibs, orange, natural hazelnut flavor, marigold flowers, natural cinnamon flavor, and natural creme flavor. When I opened the packet, I could smell the hazelnut and cinnamon. It smelled really good! I steeped it for 3 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. I didn’t much care for the flavor unsweetened—the hazelnut tasted flat (somehow) and I didn’t taste the cinnamon very much. So I added almond milk and sugar, and then the hazelnut and cinnamon flavors came out more. Surprisingly, the tea was a bit weak, or maybe I’m just used to the stronger flavor of hazelnut cinnamon flavored coffees. Regardless, it was a really delicious cup of tea!

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Earl Grey Bella Luna. This is a really special tea because Adagio only sells this on the day of a full moon, which is today! The tea contains black tea, coconut, blue cornflowers, natural coconut flavor, natural bergamot flavor, and natural creme flavor. When I opened the packet, I could immediately smell the bergamot, and secondary I thought I smelled the creme flavor with only a hint of coconut. I steeped it for 3 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. When I tasted it unsweetened, all I could taste was the bergamot and the astringent tea flavor, so I added almond milk and sugar. I have to admit I didn’t quite taste the coconut flavor. It just tasted like a nice Earl Grey tea with a smooth cream/vanilla flavor that made it very nice.

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Cranberry Nut Muffin. That sounds good! The tea contains green tea, apple pieces, cocoa nibs, orange, raspberry leaves, cranberries, safflower, natural cranberry flavor, pecan flavor, and natural vanilla flavor. When I opened the packet, I could smell the tartness of the cranberries. The green tea looks like Chinese green tea. I steeped it for 2 minutes in 8 ounces of 180ºF hot water. Unsweetened, it actually tasted really good! I could taste the cranberry but also the pecan flavor, and it was delicious. Then I added almond milk and sugar, and I liked it even better. The cranberry flavor was stronger, and the pecan was delicious. I really liked this tea.

Today’s tea from my Tea Advent Calendar is Rooibos Nutcracker. The tea contains rooibos tea, apple pieces, cocoa nibs, natural caramel flavor, marigold flowers, natural hazelnut flavor, blue cornflowers, and natural chestnut flavor. It sounds like it will be a really good tea. When I opened the packet, I could smell the caramel and hazelnut, and it smelled really good. I steeped it for 5 minutes in 8 ounces of 212ºF hot water. Unsweetened, it wasn’t terrible. The caramel flavor was nice, just a hint of sweetness, but I could also taste a grassiness that I didn’t care for. I added almond milk and sugar, and it tasted much better. I could more clearly taste the hazelnut and chestnut flavors, which made it very warm and hearty. However, I could also still taste the grassiness, which I didn’t much care for. Overall, it’s not a bad holiday tea flavor, but I personally didn’t love it.