A tea advent calendar curated from my own personal collection

In case you hadn't figured it out - NEWS FLASH - I love tea.

    Like several other tea aficionados in my extended friend group, I have managed to make my love of tea more than a simple appreciation of a beverage - I've developed my love of tea into a full blown hobby.  I collect different blends, I follow different tea companies and their blend collections the way some hobbyists follow card sets.  I have multiple drawers and shelves full of tea related paraphernalia, I have an electric water kettle that has multiple temperature settings specifically for different types of tea.... tea is a part of my daily life.  When I take a vacation someplace special, I try to find a tea cup to bring home for my collection.  For Mother's Day last year, I took my mother out to a fancy tea house to treat her to a Mother Daughter afternoon tea as a way to mark the celebration of the day.

I LOVE tea. 

    With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that when it comes to choosing my holiday advent calendar, a tea themed calendar has become my go to for the last two years.  I would have been doing tea advent for longer than two years if I'd known before then that they even existed.  Last year I did a calendar from the company David's Tea and this year I'm doing a far less successful calendar from Adagio Teas.  Each day on my Facebook page I post a review of that day's tea.  If you'd like to see my blog of the first 11 days of this year's calendar, you can find it here.  So far, this year hasn't been so good and because of that, a friend of mine proposed to me an interesting question/challenge:  If you were to create your own tea advent calendar, what teas would make an appearance?

    I took this as a challenge.  And boy howdy what a challenge it was!!

    Alright - so first off, in the curation of this advent list I have used ONLY teas that are in my personal collection right now - that is to say, I can go to my tea cupboard (yes I have an entire cupboard devoted to tea) and pull this off the shelf right now to make myself a cuppa. 

    

    Second - I have not limited myself to a single tea brand/company.  Because, that's simply how I roll.

    Third - If you are looking to recreate this advent calendar line up for yourself, I'm terribly sorry but some of my blends are from local store blenders or other small business blends that you will likely not be able to get your hands on in person.  When this is the case, I will do my best to let you know if there is a way to get your hands on the blend via an internet shop.

    Fourth - I know that an advent calendar only has 24 entries.  I KNOW.  I also don't give a fig.  I've curated this advent calendar with 25 teas because I think a tea calendar needs to have an offering for a tea to drink on Christmas morning itself.  I think Christmas morning tea should be mandatory for any tea advent calendar.  Christmas morning tea is IMPORTANT.

    Fifth - there ARE herbal teas (aka tinsanes) and powdered teas on this list.  If you don't think that powdered teas or decaffeinated teas or herbal teas belong in a tea advent calendar.... oh well.  I make no apologies for their inclusion.  I prefer Black, Oolong and Green teas, but a good tinsane has its place and there are a few powdered latte and milk tea variations that I consider essential additions to my tea collection so... there you have it.

    As a point of interest, in curating this list, I was at a loss in how to start until I decided to choose my Christmas Day tea, then my Christmas Eve tea and work backwards.  Only when I went backwards could I make this happen.  I will however, list the teas forwards.

Day 1 - Cranberry Autumn by Harney & Sons

    This is a lovely high quality black tea with cranberry and orange accents.  Harney & Sons may be one of my favorite tea companies.  Their tea is high quality and their blends really suit my palate, even if their price tag makes a tin of their tea a bit of a splurge.  Their packaging also defaults to lovely metal tins that keep their loose leaf and their sachets nice and fresh.

    I picked this blend to be able to start off strong.  I thought starting with a high quality blend would set the tone I wanted.  This blend in particular is one that has one foot in fall and one foot in winter and so I thought it was best to stand near the beginning of the month to be that first step towards winter spices while the palate is still craving more autumnal flavors.

Day 2 - Brown Sugar Milk Tea by GINO

    This is a powdered milk tea from a Taiwanese company.  You can find some of their stuff on Amazon or at H-Mart or other Asian specialty grocery stores, OR you can order off the official GINO website.  They have all sorts of flavors, but Brown Sugar is my favorite.  It is warm and silky and sweet and creamy without being too sweet or too milky.  I put it early in the month since it isn't spiced or specifically Christmas-y, but it's fabulous for the beginning of the month when the weather is first starting to get cold.

Day 3 - Indian Spiced Chai from Steepers

    Steepers is a wonderful local tea shop in Campbell, California.  This blend of theirs is well named.  It's full bodied and the cumin, corriander, fenugreek, cinnamon, and cardamom all really come through.  It's good when brewed in water, but it is MAGIC when brewed in milk (cow, soy, oat, etc).  In the creamy milk base, it almost tastes like the tea version of a curry.  I put this near the start of the month for the same reason that I started with the cranberry autumn blend - because the curry spices remind me of autumn and on the 3rd of the month I think it's still fine to be drinking autumn flavors.

Day 4 - Mrs. Fezziwig's English Breakfast from Cuthbert's Tea Shoppe

    This is a little tin that I picked up at Cuthbert's Tea Shoppe at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in the San Francisco area of California.  Never fear - the blend itself, as it says on the tin, comes from Spice Traders Teas though in their shop you just have to search for their English Breakfast blend without the fun Fezziwig reference.  I'm not a big English Breakfast fan, but I do actually like this blend.  It's strong enough for me to use as a wake up tea, and since on the 4th of the month folk are still having to get up to go to work, I thought this was well placed.

    For me, the added bonus of this blend is that I start to feel the holiday spirit when I dig into this Dickens Fair tin.  Sense memory is a strong thing.

Day 5 - Cinnamon Black Tea from Mountain View Tea Village and Gallery

    The cinnamon in this blend is STRONG and I love it.  This came from a little Asian tea shop in Mountain View, California where I used to play a Vampire LARP.  Don't be misled by the web address on the box.  If you want to order your own blend from Mountain View Tea Village be sure to use their new web address. The black tea is quality and bold and with the cinnamon, the whole cup is spicy.  I decided that 5 days into the month, I could start bringing in the holiday spices a little at a time.  

Day 6 - Chai Spice by STASH

    This is my basic every day Chai, but the spice level is so nice that I think it's a wonderful blend for the calendar.  STASH is pretty easy to find.  I pick mine up at any of my local grocery stores.  This is also the blend I take traveling with me since it is one of the few things that can cut the aftertaste I get from airplane travel or recycled air from convention centers and hotel lobbies.

Day 7 - Super Ginger by David's Tea

    I discovered this Green Rooibos tea blend in my tea advent calendar last year from David's Tea.  The nose on this is all ginger all the time, but the flavor is spicy peppercorn.  There are full pink and black peppercorns in the blend and that pepper overpowers the ginger except in that last end note when the ginger spice burns so good on the back of my throat.  Like the cinnamon black blend from two days past, I thought this would be a good way to introduce the pepper note into the mix.

Day 8 - Cardamon Cinnamon by The Republic of Tea

    This is a tinsane - no actual tea in this blend, just cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and some other less dominant spices.  Republic of Tea does some good stuff and a bunch of grocery store chains carry their basic blends.  They're pretty present in more specialty stores like Cost Plus World Market as well.  When I look for my advent calendar next year, they're a company on my short list.

    This blend is predominantly cinnamon, but the ginger and cardamom add some nice depth of flavor.  I think of it as the next step in the cinnamon palate evolution in the spice varietals.

Day 9 - Honey Ginger Latte by Gold Kili

    This is a powdered tinsane made by a company from Singapore that specializes in powdered instant drinks.  I get this off of Amazon, but I first found it in an Asian specialty grocery store.  Oddly, if you go to the Gold Kili company website, you can't order from them directly.

    The ginger flavor in this is so delightfully bold and the honey balances it out with a nice sweetness that is matched by the slight creaminess from the latte portion of the powder.  It's such a well balanced drink and delightful to sip warm at any time of the day.  Can you tell yet that I love my ginger flavor?

    This appears early in the month because as tasty as it is, I don't consider it very festive.

Day 10 - Sunny C from David's Tea

    The 10th of the month is usually when I really start feeling the holiday and so, this blend is the first that really says Christmas to me.  Another tinsane (yes, I know that's three in a row), it has waaaay more flavor than most herbals.  It is sharp ad citrusy and tastes very much like all my favorite parts of a mulled wassail.

Day 11 - Victorian London Fog by Harney & Sons

    A Facebook add for this very blend is what introduced me to Harney & Sons teas.  Absolutely NO REGRETS.  This blend has black tea, oolong tea, lavender, bergamot, and vanilla.  It is AMAZING.  Honestly, it's one of my favorite blends of all time and I ration it like it's gold because if I didn't I would go broke from buying refills too often.  It's like a smoky earl grey with the sweetness of vanilla and the slight floral of lavender.  With just the smallest touch of cream I feel like I'm transported to a fabulous tea room in the heart of London.  In December, a cup of this brings to mind Madrigal Singers, Tudor houses decked out in midwinter greenery, and the lusciousness of Scrooge's generosity at the end of the story.

    ..... as you can see, this blend also has a tendency to make me go a bit poetic.  It's just that good.

Day 12 - Spicy Chai Tea Latte Mix from Trader Joe's

    Laugh all you want, this stuff is my jam.  Easily obtainable from Trader Joe's grocery store year round, this wonderfully spiced powdered chai mix is especially good as the weather starts to get cold.  Accept no substitutes.  As far as I'm concerned, this is the best powdered chai currently out on the market.  Seriously, of all the many powdered chai mixes I've tried, this has become my gold standard that none of the other mixes even come close to comparing with.

Day 13 - Royal Grog Tea by Richard Royal Tea

    This blend is a bit of a dark horse.  Richard Tea describes this blend as "a strong black tea blended with spicy cinnamon, cayenne pepper and the inspiring aroma of whiskey", and that's pretty spot on.  They market it as a tea inspired by the tradition started by Vice Admiral Vernon in 1740 to give all the crew on his ship a daily ration of hot tea mixed with whiskey, spices, and lemon juice which became known as grog.  The cayenne gives an interesting complexity of flavor to the tea and cinnamon, and the whiskey aroma is certainly there - so much so that I always add just a drop of actual whiskey.  The first few times I drank it, it nagged at the back of my head that it was reminding me of something.  The most recent serving, it finally came to me that this blend with whiskey just tastes like it belongs at the end of a prime rib holiday dinner.

    I put this on the 13th with intent because I think the boldness of this blend would stand up well to the heavy pine scent and candle smoke from the Santa Lucia holiday of the day.

Day 14 - Holiday Chai from STASH

    This blend is basically the basic STASH chai spice blend but with added gingerbread and rum flavor infusions - and it's DELIGHTFUL.  I love to drink this while I'm wrapping presents and listening to Christmas carols... which tends to happen around the 14th or so.

Day 15 - Spiced Ginger Plum by Tea Forte

    Tea Forte puts out some pretty good blends, but they can be hard to find.  I've only ever located their stuff in odd gift stores from self proclaimed roadside destinations (I got this from Harris Ranch).  Thankfully, you can order off their website.

    This blend is another tinsane/herbal.  It's plum and fig with cinnamon, though I think there might be some hibiscus flower in there somewhere because the color gets ruby red.  This is fruity and sweet and begs to be enjoyed with either a fig newton or a piece of bread and butter.  After my first sip I just want to snuggle under a cozy blanket and watch the fire crack.  I put it here as a nice break from all the spice I'd been throwing out and intend to throw out again after.

Day 16 - Mr. Fezziwig's Orange Spice from Cuthbert's Tea Shoppe

    Another offering from Cuthbert's Tea Shoppe, but I like this one more than the English Breakfast blend.  As before, you don't have to go to San Fransisco (where I got the previous Cuthbert blend), or even Costa Mesa's Winter Fest (where I got this Cuthbert blend) - you can just order off the Spice Traders Teas website.

    What is it about orange peel and cloves in black tea that tastes so very winter holidays to me?  I think the combination of orange and clove makes me think of spiced wassail.  At any rate, this is a lovely quality blend and an essential part of my holiday season.

Day 17 - Cape Town Chai from 41 Olive

    I bought this blend from an olive oil specialty store in my local mall.  While 41 Olive is a chain store, their website makes no mention at all of any of their stores carrying tea.  The 41 Olive in my local mall however has a huge section in the back of the store that is nothing but shelves and shelves of massive tins of loose leaf tea blends.  I wish I knew who their blend supplier is.... but I don't have a clue.  I'm so sorry.     

    Never the less, this blend is magically delicious.  It's a rooibos tea based on South African flavors and it has pepper spicing that I really enjoy.

Day 18 - Black Currant by Harney & Sons

    Yup, another Harney & Sons blend.  I did warn you on day one that they are one of my favorite tea companies!  

    Figs, dates, plums, and oranges are all fruits that most folk associate with the winter holiday season.  Well, for me, black currant is also on that list.  The reason for this is that I have never enjoyed raisins in any sort of baking.  So raisin bread, fruit cake, plum pudding, cookies - any of those sorts of holiday treats are, in my house, made with currants instead of raisins.  The result is that currant is a flavor that I crave during the holidays.  This black tea blend delivers the black currant flavor in style.  The black tea is quality, and the currant flavor is fruity and bright and earthy and the combination makes for a wonderful cuppa.  I put it on the 18th because that's usually around when the big baking push starts in my house.

Day 19 - Spiced Ruby Cider Herbal Tea from The Spice & Tea Exchange

    As you can see from the picture, I picked this blend up in Greenville, South Carolina.  Thankfully, The Spice & Tea Exchange is a chain with locations all over and also with a good website for online ordering.

    This blend is basically mulling spices with the addition of apple and hibiscus.  So, no actual tea leaf here - just a very tasty tinsane.  It stands well on its own, but added to wine, apple juice or pear juice it's magic.  On it's own, it's a warm cup of spices that is sort of like a spiced cider without the sweetness that can get cloying by the end of the first cup.  I don't ever take this one with cream, but instead add a squeeze of orange juice from a single wedge.

    FYI - last tinsane of the line-up

Day 20 - Peppermint Tea from Trader Joe's

  

    Nothing fancy here.  This is Trader Joe's standard peppermint tea that they carry year round.  It's a black tea with peppermint and it's my favorite of all the peppermint teas on the market that I've tried.  Five days out from Christmas, it's time for a cup of peppermint.

Day 21 - Winter Solstice from Peet's Tea

    This is an old tin.  The Winter Solstice blend is now sold under the Mighty Leaf brand name from Peet's Coffee stores and their online store.  The new tins aren't nearly as pretty though so every time I buy a new batch I throw out the new tin and keep this old one.  It's a seasonal blend (gee, big shock), so it's only on offer during the winter months but they keep bringing it back every year (thank the goddess!).

    The caffeine level on this blend is moderate for a black tea, and it is traditionally the tea that helps me observe the solstice every year - hence its appearance on the 21st of the month!  Cinnamon, cloves, allspice, vanilla bean, and citrus.  This blend is just soooo damn tasty.

Day 22 - Reading Nook Blend from Plum Deluxe

    Plum Deluxe is another tea company that I discovered from online advertising and I've found much enjoyment in many of their blends.

    After staying up all night on the 21st, I rarely accomplish much on the 22nd of the month.  I go to sleep at dawn and usually sleep past noon then have trouble getting myself started.  This lovely black blend with rose, lavender, and chamomile has enough caffeine to wake me up, but does so in a gentle and comforting manner.  The florals in this don't fight each other and give the black tea a soft complexity.  It really does lend itself to curling up with a good book - which is about all I'm good for the day after solstice.

Day 23 - Downton Legacy Tea from The Republic of Tea

    Republic of Tea has done an entire line of Downton Abbey inspired teas.  This, I think, is one of the better blends from that line.  It is billed as a plum pudding black tea.  It doesn't taste anything like MY plum pudding, but it does have that rich fruit tinged earthy depth that is reminiscent of the holiday dessert.  This blend is also delicate and sophisticated in a way that DOES make me think of the lush and gorgeous sets from Downton Abbey and the rich warmth I used to imagine as my perfect high class English Christmas.

Day 24 - Bohea Tea from The Spice & Tea Exchange

    This is one of my father's favorites from my collection.  It's created to be a blend as close to what the colonists drank in the formative years of the US.  It's a smoky black tea with a touch of orange and cinnamon - emphasis on the smoky.  Seriously, I can't take a single sip of this without thinking of a fire in a hearth.  The orange and the cinnamon lend themselves well to the season, and for Christmas Eve this can be a great wake up in the morning, or it pairs well with a splash of whiskey for any frustrating late night toy assembly you might have in the wee hours to prepare for Christmas morning.

Day 25 - Winter Spice from Steepers

    

    This is my favorite of all my holiday teas.  It has most of the holiday spices I crave (cinnamon, cloves, orange) but the lime and blackberry leaves adds something of a twist.  As the label says it also adds astringency, which means this is a tea blend to which I always add cream.  Rather, I always add EGGNOG.  The egg and nutmeg from the nog makes this into the most tasty Christmas morning concoction.  It pairs well with breakfast food, but also stands alone just fine which means I can fix myself a big pot and enjoy it through both Christmas breakfast and presents after.

    So there you have it - that's the line up I would have if I were to create a tea advent calendar out of my own collection...... and now it's past 2am and I'm craving a good cup of holiday tea.