Each year during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I always look forward to the tea advent calendars our beloved tea companies offer. I have enjoyed several from a variety of different tea companies, but one of my favorites each year is the advent calendar offered by Adagio Teas.
This tea calendar is filled with a lovely assortment of teas to enjoy for the avid tea drinker to the occasional tea drinker to the tea drinker who just started their tea journey. The variety of flavored teas is always lovely and this year was no exception. This year I even picked up a few advent calendars for my kiddos to enjoy and I can’t wait to see them sipping their teas while enjoying time off during the holidays. 
Starting on December 1st- there was a lovely single loose leaf serving waiting for me to enjoy. The listing of teas is on the site if you want to take a peek but I won’t spoil too many of them here.
The first tea for December 1st was Honeybush Pumpkin Chai– one of my favorite decaf blends from Adagio Teas! This blend is so versatile- by itself the tea presents as a lovely way to enjoy the spices of fall without the caffiene. The pumpkin flavoring is a bit hit or miss but brewed up as a latte, you have yourself a delightful autumnal treat with notes of cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla notes.
What I personally love to do with this tea is blend the tea with Adagio’s Vanilla Flavored Black tea or Adagio’s Cranberry Tea. Both create such unique layers of flavor and (IMO) umpfs the flavor profile and really highlights the lovely fall notes… especially when the Honeybush Pumpkin Chai is blended with the Cranberry Black Tea. The tart notes combine lovely with the chai spices and provides this unique underlaying tone of freshness. 
Passionfruit Tango was the second tea of the calendar and this tea was fabulous! I remember trying this tea once and not being a fan but this little serving of the blend changed my mind on the tea completely.
This blend is a unique blend of passionfruit flavoring, cinnamon, rose petals and more. Right there the blend seems a bit odd but truly the cinnamon and rose create a spiced floral scene for the passionfruit flavoring to connect with. I really enjoyed the fruity spiced floral notes- more than I thought I would. I was actually a bit sad when my sample was done giving after a few steepings. This will be one I’ve already earmarked for a future (fingers crossed) birthday purchase down the road.
All in all, a great start and even tho I am a few days late, I believe there is still time to order this awesome collection of teas. I love how each tea is packaged in single servings so you can try out a variety of teas that Adagio Teas offers without committing to a larger size.
If you are looking for a delightful gift for the tea enthusiast in your family or just a lovely way to celebrate the holidays, highly recommend the Adagio Teas Advent Calendar.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Variety
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Christmas Morning/Stash Tea -teaequalsbliss
I realize I might be a little late to the party here, but, us TEA LOVERS usually don’t mind sipping on seasonal teas just about any time of year. Enter…Christmas Morning from Stash Tea.
This is a blended base of Black Tea and Green Tea. And that’s it. No other ingredients. Nothing else added. Which was strange to me at first sip because it really tasted like there was something else there. Perhaps it’s just because it’s was technically a Jasmine Green Tea, I guess.
I agree with the company description and claims saying that this tea has multiple layers. To me, it proved to be a nice pick-me-up while offering that brisk, and bright taste I was looking for.
I really don’t see why we couldn’t or wouldn’t sip on this year-round. It’s decent for a bagged tea and I think it’s one of Stash’s more memorable offerings.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black/Green
Where to Buy: Stash Tea
Description
Remember the excitement on Christmas morning when you were a kid? The warm feeling, the energy that rushed through your body, and anticipation of what the day would bring? This blend captures all that special holiday cheer with flavors that grow in intensity with every sip. When you brew it, the full-bodied aroma of brisk black tea with a hint of floral jasmine are the first clues that a special day is on its way. But what is it that makes this a great choice for your holiday morning treat (or for any morning)? Let us share with you a well-known black tea benefit: caffeine. With this blend you will get a well-deserved and welcomed boost that will help you keep up with those who didn’t stay up late playing Santa Clause.
This is called a Christmas tea, but you don’t have to limit yourself to one day a year. As our reviewers say: this is not just a tea to drink during holidays. Stock up with a case of our seasonal tea bags and enjoy it all year round. It’s great as an iced latte, or hot with sweetener and a little creamer for a decadent warming treat.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Scottish Morn/Harney and Sons -ashmanra
Tea away from home can be a scary proposition. Tea in a public kitchen – scarier.
Needing a cup of tea at a gathering recently, I gulped and inquired as to where the ladies were getting their tea. I was led to a communal kitchen with a metal box containing assorted and sundry tea bags of unknown age and doubtful quality. But lo and behold, tucked in the box was a bag which proved to be Harney and Sons sachets! This, I can trust.
I had never tried Scottish Morn so given my dodgy tummy that sometimes rebels at Assam origin teas I was a little hesitant. Still, it was sure to be the best quality tea available here and I gave it a shot. I enjoy Harney’s Ceylon teas so that was another point in favor of trying this one as it is a blend of Assam and Ceylon.
In spite of my fears that it would be too strong – there was no milk or sugar available and I had no timer – it was quite nice. The water was boiling temperature and the time I guesstimated at 3 minutes. Any diehard strong breakfast tea lovers could go for five minutes and have a blast. You do you.
I saved the sachet in a tiny paper cup and resteeped it an hour later for a second mug, quite satisfactory. Note that Harney’s tea bags are intended for about six or so ounces of tea while the sachets are made with a mug in mind and can do twelve ounces very nicely. Keep this in mind when you are purchasing tea from them, because I USUALLY get 24 ounces of tea from each sachet, and that takes many teas from reasonable to BARGAIN!
The Assam was the dominant flavor, malty and bready, moderately brisk, and the Ceylon brightened and smoothed the cup. It was very drinkable plain and would easily take milk and sugar. It is considered a morning tea but I drank it at night with no food accompanying it and found it enjoyable.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney and Sons
Description
Scottish Morn is a strong tea, perhaps our very strongest. When you stand up your spoon in this tea, it might just stand straight. A portion of Scottish Morn & Scottish Afternoon sales goes to support the charitable endeavors of the American-Scottish Foundation®.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Truffle/Fraser Tea -ashmanra
We are a family of puerh lovers and food lovers, so when we gather together there is likely to be an ample amount of both. Fortunately, puerh is touted as having a mitigating effect on overconsumption, and I can personally attest that it has been my boon companion after too much pizza with garlic butter.
At our last gathering, we tried something new – Chocolate Truffle, a flavored organic blend of puerh and black tea.
There are some chocolate teas that have a strong, strange odor. I assume it is an artificial chocolate flavoring. I greatly prefer the natural, thumping good bass note that comes from cocoa nibs, and that’s what Fraser uses in this organic blend. Natural cocoa nibs seem to s-c-r-a-p-e across the tongue like unsweetened cocoa without the bite.
The puerh is earthy and sweet, not terribly strong, and the black tea is not a brisk one, which made this delightfully smooth to drink, and it resteeped very well. There is a natural sweetness coming from the flowers without the tea taking on a strong floral taste.
Overall, it is an elegant cup, somewhat mild and very satisfying as a dessert tea. Being on the higher end of the caffeine scale for tea, it may also serve as a little energy boost if you are using it as a dessert replacement.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black/Puerh
Where to Buy: Fraser Tea
Description
Sweet cream with earthy chocolate flavors and smooth finish
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sakurambo/Lupicia – ashmanra –
A good friend surprised me with a box containing a Lupicia green rooibos blend and two sample sachets. I couldn’t wait to try them all! This was first pick.
A quick peek at google to find out whether it was a black or green tea so I could set the kettle to the proper temp told me it was cherry scented and I did not look any further. But it was a conundrum. Go ahead and make a fruity tea even though I was having waffles and maple syrup for breakfast, or rummage through my stash to find a plain black? My experience with Lupicia was that their fruity teas are SUPER fruity and it might all be too sweet together, but I decided I really wanted to try these sooner rather than later!
Then rats rats rats! I tasted the waffle before sipping the tea! I like to try a new tea unadulterated to get the full flavor. Nevermind, a few sips would clear the palate to give me the true taste.
And that’s where it got confusing.
Nice black tea base…yes, a hint of cherry but not super fruity, rather…..smokey? What is that? What is happening? Not smokey….SAVORY. And then…..warmth from a little spice starts to glow. Is that pepper? I don’t like peppery chai and this wasn’t offending me so what was it? Was the syrup messing with the true taste of the tea too much?
Here is where I had to stop everything and look up the tea to find out what was going on. The savory was coming from rosemary! And the spice was pink peppercorns, which I couldn’t see in the sachet at all but when I tore it open it was there. If there is going to pepper in my tea, I highly prefer pink peppercorn to any other kind.
This tea was a great pairing with the sweet syrup and waffles. The rosemary gave deep herbal notes and enhanced the black base while the pink peppercorns gave warmth and spice and a nice, lingering aftertaste that cut the sweetness of the food without the raw heat of black peppercorns. The cherry wasn’t cough syrup cherry or candy cough drop cherry, but a nice, realistic Japanese cherry that was not too sour.
This gets a thumbs up from me! In future I would buy it loose leaf so I could see those adorable bright pink/red peppercorns looking like tiny cherries!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Description
SAKURAMBO is A fresh, intriguing blend of black tea scented with juicy Japanese cherries, one of our best-selling flavored teas of all time. The tea is topped with crisp rosemary and pink peppercorns imitating the ripe fruit. Visually appealing, this tea will make a great gift. Try its delicious sister product, SAKURAMBO VERT, which is a green tea blend.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
(photo credit: Lupicia)