A.C. Perch's Thehandel

The base here has an edge of astringency, but I lowered the steeping time to 3 minutes and it works out quite well. The berry flavours are very ‘wild’ tasting with hints of strawberry and the European ‘red fruit’ flavour. I believe there’s meant to be red currant here and there is a jammy quality I’ll chalk up to that. Overall a tasty tea, and one I’d happily order again.

Comparison of A.C. Perch Queen’s Blend & Organic French Earl Grey (posted under both teas)
Both steeped for 3 minutes at 200 ° F

Queen’s Blend — There’s a mixed base here of Ceylon and green gunpowder. The gunpowder is noticeable and adds a level of complexity. I’ve only had gunpowder from A.C. Perch and someone mentioned last year that it’s often smoky — I’ve thankfully not experienced that. I would say the bergamot is the same in both these teas. Lex says this one, hands down, is her favourite (though she enjoys both).

French EG — This version has the Ceylon base. This tea comes off as “cleaner” or perhaps “crisper” with the single base tea. I actually really enjoy both of these teas and either (or both!) would be great additions to our cupboard.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 23: Organic French Earl Grey

This was divine. Very clean taste, light-bodied, and beautiful blending of the bergamot. I understeeped at 3 minutes, but it paid off. I would order this without hesitation!

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 22: China Oolong

This was lovely. I enjoy a green oolong and this one was creamy and just all round delightful. I would order this one for our cupboard.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 21: Cool Herbal

This smelled strongly of grapefruit dry. Once steeped it was too heavy on the liquorice root. It came across as stevia and had a mouth-coating effect. Otherwise, the lemongrass and peppermint nearly cancelled each other out. No grapefruit taste in the steeped tea.

Comparison of A.C. Perch Queen’s Blend & Organic French Earl Grey (posted under both teas)
Both steeped for 3 minutes at 200 ° F

Queen’s Blend — There’s a mixed base here of Ceylon and green gunpowder. The gunpowder is noticeable and adds a level of complexity. I’ve only had gunpowder from A.C. Perch and someone mentioned last year that it’s often smoky — I’ve thankfully not experienced that. I would say the bergamot is the same in both these teas. Lex says this one, hands down, is her favourite (though she enjoys both).

French EG — This version has the Ceylon base. This tea comes off as “cleaner” or perhaps “crisper” with the single base tea. I actually really enjoy both of these teas and either (or both!) would be great additions to our cupboard.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 20: Queen’s Blend

This definitely had that bergamot edge, but not nearly as intense as an EG. The mix of base teas here serves to mellow it. Also, A.C. Perch teas are always smooth. I would order this!

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 19: Green Organic Darjeeling

This one is smooth, as per usual with A.C. Perch. I wouldn’t say it’s anything special, but I enjoyed drinking the teapot. The tea itself is very light-bodied, yet has the distinctive Darjeeling characteristics that I find enjoyable — some hay notes especially.

AC Perch 2025 Advent Day 10: Temple Tea

This called for a 4-7 minute steep time. I steeped this for 4 minutes and it was a mistake. The bitterness was overwhelming and little of the fruit taste could be enjoyed. Truly a shame, because the dry leaf scent was fruity and we’ve enjoyed this in the past.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 17: White Temple

This tea was really tasty! The tropical fruit scent was very prevalent in the dry tea, and the flavours really came through once steeped. The taste included pineapple and orange with hints of mango. A really delightful tea and I assume one that would be very tasty chilled.

AC Perch 2025 Advent Day 17: Black Colombia

This is very smooth with plenty of depth and no astringency. There’s an almost fruity flavour coming through as well, almost like a natural/unwashed coffee.

Lex gave this an A!

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 16: Black Columbia Organic

This one was smooth. The steeping temperature was only 80 C and the time was quite long at 6 minutes (though all A.C. Perch teas have long steeping times). I was surprised that this one was so delightful.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 15: Caribbean Star

I didn’t get much flavour from this, but that was my fault as I was happily eating through a sleeve of gingerbread thins at the same time XD. I can say it was smooth with some fruitness. I have some left, so I’ll try to remember to make a more detailed note.

Lex loved it so much she said we must order it for the cupboard.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 14: Organic Green Kukicha

This was lovely. Equally toasty and green tea. This was a nicely balanced and smooth cup.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 12: Ceylon OP

True to A.C. Perch form, another incredibly smooth tea. This was a light-bodied Ceylon with absolutely no astringency or bitterness. We both really enjoyed this one — one of those cups where I drank a whole teapot without realising.

I’m glad we have more of this and would consider ordering it.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 8: White Nepal

This was delightful! There was a lovely sweetness at the end of every sip. There were also notes of hay. We both loved this one and would order it for our cupboard!

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 11: White Symphony

Rose was all that came through. The rose was definitely stronger in scent than flavour, but with so many teas behind I wasn’t in the mood to drink the whole cup of this one.

Also, I think the ingredients of this have changed since the original notes. The booklet that comes with the calendar states: “White tea (China), pear pieces, flavoring, pomegranate pieces, rose leaves, cardamom, vanilla pieces”.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 10: Java

A straight black, breakfast-like tea with no astringency. A smooth tea.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 7: Tropical Oolong

Another smooth tea from AC Perch! I found the flavouring to be very light with a generic tropical flavour. The oolong came through nicely with no hints of cardboard.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 6: Organic Green Tanzania

This one was quite nice. Very smooth and an enjoyable green.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 5: White Pineapple

This was juicy and delightful. Like pineapple juice without sugar. I imagine this would be tasty chilled. I would order this one!

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 4: Green Cherry Blossom

There was a decent number of rose blossoms in the dry leaf here I picked out. Thank goodness I did because there was still a not-so-subtle rose flavour that was in the steeped tea. There was a definite cherry flavour up front, with a rose taste nearing the end of the sip. The cherry became more prominent as the tea cooled, but the rose never let up.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 3: Formosa Oolong

The booklet that comes with our calendar didn’t say “fancy”, but their webshop only had Formosa Fancy Oolong, so I’m adding this note here. This one is okay. It’s not my favourite or really all that special. It’s fine but has a subtle hint of cardboard.

A.C. Perch 2022 Advent Day 2: Green Mint

The mint was blended really well into the green tea base. The gunpowder base was a great choice – last year AC Perch had a straight gunpowder tea that was my first try of gunpowder that I also really enjoyed. A lovely and calming cup overall.