Day 9

Tea door number 9 was Organic Hot Lips, what a fun name, I was excited to try it. This organic green tea is made of cinnamon, safflower, pink peppercorn and chili pepper. I love spices and hot stuff, so I knew I would love this tea.

It tasted exactly like liquid cinnamon hearts…this is instantly one of my new favourites, the flavour is massive.

So here is the catch, when I was a little girl I loved cinnamon hearts, gum, hot lips candy, even loved the taste of cinnamon toothpaste - I couldn’t get enough. One Valentine’s Day I had a bag of cinnamon hearts. A couple of hours later my mouth was on fire, my lips swelled up like Angelina Jolie’s – now I am sure you are thinking, that would not be a bad thing but it hurt so much! Apparently because I had cinnamon so often I developed an allergy to it. Luckily I can still have natural cinnamon, just not artificial.

The strange thing is I met a girl at a Christmas party last week that is so allergic she goes into anaphylactic shock if she encounters any type of cinnamon. She also developed this allergy to cinnamon because of “overexposure” – she worked at pretzel maker and mixed the cinnamon daily when making the pretzels and then worked at a bakery and was constantly in contact with cinnamon and breathing it in. Over time it got very serious.

So the moral of the story is, if you really love something, do not have too much of it as over time you just might develop an allergy and never get to have it again.

Today I decided to try a little experiment…I savoured every drop of this delicious tea (even though it contains cinnamon hearts) and I am hoping for the best. It has been about 10 years since I last had artificial cinnamon…fingers crossed. Wouldn't it be a miracle if I could enjoy the cinnamon flavour and not have an allergic reaction afterwards :) I will update this blog later to let you know how it goes, so far so good but it has only been a few minutes since I finished the cup. 

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Update 8 hours later...

Well it's official...I'm still allergic to cinnamon....my mouth was on fire all day and my tongue felt burnt, the feeling when you burn your mouth on hot soup..not very fun. This tea was so delicious it was worth it to try it but I don't want to have the allergy effects for a full day every time I want a cup of it. For those of you that are lucky enough to not have an allergy to cinnamon, I would highly recommend you indulge on this tea often...I love it so much :(

Day 8

I’ll be honest, when I opened up today’s tea door my heart sank…just a little. The tea was called David’s Organic Breakfast, the name alone made me think it was a plain tea as I have heard of English Breakfast tea before, and all I could think of was the Earl Grey experience I had.

I decided to have David’s Breakfast for supper instead. When I opened the little tin it just looked like black tea, no extra treats. I wanted my first experience of this tea to be a good one, so I decided to push my preconceived notions out of my mind so I could give it a fair chance.

Looks like plain tea, smells like plain tea…but I was pleasantly surprised…it wasn't so plain after all, it actually had a similar green tea aftertaste, which I really liked.  

On the steepster.com website it says that this tea will change your life… it puts you in a great mood, inspires harmonious relationships and makes you outrageously productive. Those are all great qualities in a cup of tea :)

This tea is made of organic and biodynamic black teas from Yunnan, Keemum, Assam and Darjeeling.  I will try this tea again sometime :)

Day 7

Today was Organic Crème Brulée Rooibos tea. It was pretty good, I had a glass this morning but then I forgot how it tasted so I am drinking another cup right now. When I think of Crème Brulée, I think of dessert…but this was more of a healthy-version dessert, like when you have a craving for cupcakes and you have a bowl of fruit instead. Still good but not quite the same thing.

If I have this tea again I will make sure I put it in a sachet tea bag instead of using the perfect mug stainless steel filter as the tea is so fine that it is very hard to empty/wash out without half of it down the sink.

I read on steepster that some experts are saying that the special antioxidants and alpha hydroxy acids in green rooibos will fight aging and improve your health. Another reason I should give this tea another try sometime.  It is made of green and red rooibos, safflowers and calendula marigold. Very pretty and colourful :)

Not my favourite flavour but I do feel “healthier” after drinking 2 cups of it today.

Day 6

I sure was thrilled to open day 6 today, what a surprise, my favourite tea “Glitter and Gold”. It is funny my friend @MereGGirl recommended this tea to me when David’s Tea first came to PEI a couple of months ago and I instantly loved it. So much that I tend to get it quite often instead of trying other flavours. Why mess with a good thing, my taste buds are in love :)

I know what you are thinking…could this tea get any better? Well yes it can, not only does it taste amazing, it is gorgeous too. When this tea is steeping it sparkles flecks of gold all through the water. I like to drink this tea in a clear cup so I can enjoy the glitter :) It also smells unbelievable, sensory overload... absolutely the most magical tea I have ever had. You won't believe me until you try it for yourself :)

"Glitter and Gold" is a Chinese black tea with sugar crystals, gold sugar balls, vanilla, orange peel, and cloves. When the tea is steeping the gold sugar balls explode from the heat and that is how it gets it glitter appearance.

So if every day remaining in my tea calendar was “Glitter and Gold” I would not be disappointed, however I am sure my blog would become a bit monotonous if I blogged about this tea for the next 18 days ;) 

Day 5

Sadly, today was the day I discovered a David's tea that I didn't absolutely love :(  I never ever liked the taste of “plain” tea, but I completely understand they have to put in some plain tea in the calendar for variety and to make the traditional tea lovers happy as well… I know it can’t always be chocolate and candy canes.

So tonight I made a cup of the “Cream of Earl Grey” tea and to complement it, I had a glass of wine :) Unfortunately, I could not get through the whole cup of tea, I don't like to waste but all I could taste was flowers and I don’t like drinking flowers, unless of course there are other flavours to mask the flower taste.

I sure sound spoiled…but it is the same way for me with coffee; I don’t really enjoy a cup of plain coffee, my favourite coffee is Green Mountain Hazelnut. Until three years ago I had never even tried coffee or tea so I guess that is the reason why.

This black tea has cornflowers, vanilla and bergamot oil. I am glad I tried it tonight but I don’t think I will be trying it again for a while, at least until I lose my sweet tooth for flavoured teas :) For those plain tea lovers out there, you would probably love this creamy alternative to the original Earl Grey recipe.

Day 4

Today was Salted Caramel tea, I was planning on saving it for a “dessert” tonight but the name sounded so good I kept thinking about it all morning, so much that I decided to make a cup of it when I was home for lunch today. It had such a familiar flavour, almost a combination of “Glitter and Gold” but yet with a caramel twist.

I read on steepster.com that there’s no better treat than a salted caramel. They went on to say that you won’t find this in your history books, but they've heard that Romeo seduced Juliet with a salt-sprinkled toffee – very bright man!

This tea is so good that as I write this I am waiting for another cup to finish steeping. Thankfully with zero calories this is a “safe” holiday treat.  It’s guaranteed to seduce your taste buds.

This is a black tea with coconut, caramel bits, English toffee bits, sea salt, with natural and artificial flavouring. Unfortunately those allergic to soy, coconut, dairy and nuts won’t get to try this little cup of heaven…

My cupboards are going to be full at the end of this tea calendar as I keep finding new favourites...and it is only day 4! :)

Day 3

Today when I woke up the first thing that came to my mind was: I wonder what door number three will be…? I remember as a kid having a chocolate advent calendar at Christmas time, and even though there was only a tiny chocolate inside, I got really excited to open the little door each morning as it meant it was that much closer to Christmas…this tea calendar has brought back those childhood memories for me :)

Today’s tea was Coco Chai Rooibos, as soon as I saw it was caffeine free I decided to save it for an evening treat and had my morning “caffeinated” coffee instead.

I went for a nice long walk this evening with my little dog and although it was really mild out I was a bit chilled when I came in so this tea really did the trick to warm me up.

I never tried this flavour before but I love chai tea and it had the delicious “smell of Christmas” – it was lovely. I will definitely get more of this tea, there is something about chai tea in the winter time, reminds me of cozy sweaters and fireplaces.

I think I will try a hot coconut milk chai latte next time - what a delectable treat that would be. This tea is made of rooibos, coconut, cinnamon, ginger root, cardamom, cloves and pink peppercorns.

So far that is 3 for 3, as long as this calendar sticks to “flavoured” tea I think I will love them all, the only tea I am not that fond of is plain tea, unless of course it is green tea. Every time I drink green tea it reminds me of relaxing at the spa nordik, it is funny how taste and smell trigger great memories.

Very excited to get my first David’s tea newsletter in my inbox today, it even has a delicious recipe for the “buttered rum” tea (Day 1). Here is the newsletter for your viewing pleasure :)