As with the past few years, I have another advent calendar!!! While last year’s Fortnum & Mason calendar was disappointing, I remain hopeful that I’ll enjoy this year’s calendar. I’ve been trying to listen to the Palais des Thés podcasts on tea and it seems like they are really serious about it!

There were two advent calendars on sale this year – a regular one with flavoured teas, and a “tea researcher” advent calendar consisting of teas from around the world! The description for this kind of reminded me of the Rare Tea Company’s tea subscription and since I can’t get enough of unique teas, I figured I had to get this one.

The box itself is pretty bulky but it looks very pretty and serious (though the Christmas vibes are not as strong). I had a bit of problems opening the tin at first but that’s also because I didn’t read the product page properly.

Most importantly… I’m enjoying it!! It took me a while to write this post but here’s what I’ve drunk so far.

Country Count: 9

• Mainland China
• Taiwan
• Japan
• Thailand
• Georgia
• India
• Nepal
• Korea
• Indonesia

Week 1 (Dec 1-7)

Day 1 (Fengqing Hong Cha): The dry leaves look quite small but smell malty. I love the sweet malty notes here and I’m intrigued by a perfume-like, maybe floral note that comes with the tea. This note is more scent than anything but it makes the tea very interesting. I managed to get about 4 cups out of the leaves.

Day 2 (Genmaicha Midori): tastes like a good Genmaicha. It’s not bad but nothing exceptional so I didn’t have many notes.

Day 3 (milky oolong from Thailand): The dry leaves smells sweet, like a good oolong. In terms of taste, this was amazing – much sweeter than I expected and very smooth with no astringency or bitterness. It exceeded expectations.

Day 4 (Yunnan Da Ye): Despite the name “Da Ye” (Big leaves), the dry leaves actually look quite fine, and they smell sweet and malty. It’s sweet and somewhat malty, quite a fine black tea. Requires a bit more time to infuse.

Day 5 (Tstetskhli Chai): It says that this is a green tea from Georgia on the tin but it looks and smells like a highly roasted oolong. There is a very smoky scent and taste to it and it’s hard to believe this is a green tea – perhaps I should be thinking in terms of houjicha than the more traditional green teas?

Day 6 (Butterfly of Taiwan): Interestingly, the oolong is twisted and not rolled. There’s a bit of a smoky scent to the tea and it’s more brown than green. Tastes quite sweet but the roasted note is also not strong. Not what I considered a typical Taiwanese oolong, but that’s mostly because I associate Taiwan with more of the high mountain oolongs. I think I’ve tried something similar in Kenny’s workshops. As the roasted note becomes softer, it’s more of a honey sweet scent. 

Day 7 (Assam Maijian): This is supposed to be a spicy black Assam tea but it doesn’t taste spiced to me – tastes pretty light and sweet. There is an additional note I can’t place but I wouldn’t call that spicy.

Week 2 (Dec 8 – 14)

Day 8 (Kabuse Cha Midori): This has a sweet grassy taste and I’m not getting any umami, which is suprising… or is it? I need to brush up on what shading does to the taste of tea.

Day 9 (Norling Classic Ruby): This is a Nepalese tea and it looked quite delicious – the dry leaves have golden bits (I assume buds?) mixed it. The tea smells rich and malty, and a bit fruity as well! It tastes like it smells too – I like this a lot and I’m not surprised because there are some really good farms in Nepal.

Day 10 (Jejudo Imperial): The leaves look dark but it smells like a green tea. It’s a bit mild in terms of taste (surprising since the leaves smelled quite rich). I was expecting a slightly stronger green tea so this caught my by surprise.

Day 11 (Tieguanyin Imperial): The leaves are rolled and quite dark, so I think this is a traditional Tieguanyin where they roast the leaves a bit. The toasted note is clear but it’s not sweet, which is a bit of a surprise. That said, the roasted note is a good balance – fragrant but not overpowering, enjoying this. 

Day 12 (Bancha Houjicha): Fairly big leaves, as expected of Bancha which are made from the coarser tea leaves. There’s a sweet, almost caramel-like scent while brewing the tea. The tea tastes clean and sweet, though not as sweet as I expected.

Day 13 (Te Nong Puer 2021): It’s interesting to see an aged ripe puer. The taste of this is clear and mild, I can see this going well with food but it doesn’t really stand out otherwise (or maybe I’m just not a puer person… probably this is the real reason).

Day 14 (Jade Oolong): This is an oolong from Indonesia, which is unexpected since I haven’t really heard of oolongs from there. The leaves are rolled into balls and smell quite sweet and floral. It’s a pretty nice tea – light and sweet with a good aftertaste.

I’ll continue to update this post (probably weekly) so stay tuned if you want to see what other teas are in this advent.