Fortnum & Mason

Sipdown

This was one of the teas I was most excited to try in the advent as it was one of the few that I hasn’t had before. It was very good, figgy enough for me and not too figgy for Ashman. I do prefer Fig and Lavender from Tea Grotto over this one I think, but this really is comparing apples,and oranges because this Fortnum tea is what it is supposed to be – a black tea with fig flavor. Tea Grotto has a lot more flavoring and would probably suit different pairings than the Fortnum tea which is more black tea forward.

I would definitely enjoy having this tea again and if we do the advent again sometime I hope this one stays in the line up.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 21

I have really been looking forward to this one! When I checked out the list of teas in this year’s advent refill I saw that there were four or five teas I had not tried and this was one of them. Fig seems so Christmassy to me. Is it because of the threatening song about figgy pudding and wishing a Merry Christmas?

The fig aroma is so nice and the flavor is good, as well. To be fair, we did double steep this and combine the two steeps so it would have been a little bit stronger if we had only done a single steep. Ashman does not care for fig but he said mainly it is fig jam that is too sweet and cloying to him. He felt this just came off as a mild fruit tea in the non-citrus department so he enjoyed it well enough.

I liked it pretty well, but keep in mind it is a one note tea. I think in the future I will try blending it with a vanilla black because I think that might take it over the top.

Sipdown

January Sipdown Prompt – a tea you plan to buy again

This is Ashman’s favorite tea in the whole Fortnum advent every year. When I saw how much he loved it, I drank other teas and saved it for him because there are only a few teas that elicit such a response from him.

For this reason, I plan to add a whole tin to my next Fortnum order and I am considering getting the wooden caddy of special Darjeeling as well.

The special one seems to change occasionally over the years and the current offering is Badamtam First Flush FTGFOP1. Does anyone have experience with these two teas or something similar enough to give an opinion as to whether he is likely to love the more expensive one? It is possible that the very characteristics that make it unique and desirable to some people will have the opposite effect. They speak of it being high grown and having notes of minerality, whereas they describe the one we have here as smooth and drinkable.

More expensive, finer, more nuanced, more layers – may not translate into “preferred by every individual.” For instance, I prefer middle to low elevation teas from Sri Lanka because the highly desirable (to some) high elevation teas like Uva Highlands and Lover’s Leap are a bit too sharp for me. That could be the case with this tea for Ashman. Decisions, decisions.

I guess if I buy it and he doesn’t like it, at least we have a cool wooden caddy.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 19

I think several listings here on Steepster are actually the same tea. The front of the tin says “Finest” in tiny letters under FTGFOP. There are only one or two other listings on F&M right now, one being a Badamtam. So I think three of the Darjeeling teas from Fortnum & Mason listed on Steepster are all actually the same tea.

And the bottom line – this is one of their teas we enjoy most, especially Ashman. Each year when we would drink it together he always liked it more than I did. I learned to go with a lower temp and shorter steep for Darjeeling and I must say today this one rocked. It was amazing with breakfast.

I texted him and asked if he drank advent tea at breakfast and he said yes and that it was the best one of the whole week.

Darjeeling is often compared to wine, and I would call this tea oak-y. It was not sour or astringent and wasn’t really brisk, but that woody flavor really cleared the palate when sipping with food. (Frozen waffle, maple syrup, and eggs with cottage cheese and Penzey’s Sunny Paris seasoning mixed in, scrambled.) i am a little sad that I didn’t make a bigger pot, but I think I should be nice and save most of this for Ashman.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 17

Hooray! A Fortnum tea I have never tried before!

I asked Alexa (my Echo device) what was in this before I made it this morning thinking she would say she didn’t know. Instead she lied to me and told me it was a peach tea. I have had their Black Tea with Peach and really didn’t think they would put peach in a blend called Albion. Look on the website and I was right. This is a black tea blend with Assam and I believe it said there was some African tea (Kenya?)as well.

It is a hearty tea that I would classify as Irish Breakfast style. I was really surprised to hear that Ashman drank it for breakfast without any additions. This is one where the Assam is strong enough to tempt me to add milk, but I didn’t and had it at both breakfast and lunch and it was pretty good. It isn’t what I would consider a luxury tea but rather a decent daily drinker type.

Edit to add: just tried the final cup with milk (no sugar) and this really elevated it. Yum!

Very happy to have tried it, because I love trying new Fortnum teas!

Sipdown!

Finishing this off with a huge pot on this gray and drizzly late December afternoon.

This is much better than the first time I had it. It is a blend of black teas and jasmine green and really needs to be treated like jasmine green to suit my taste. Made that way, it was delightful with my late lunch of leftover roast beef sandwich followed by wafer thin gingerbread hearts. It really is like having a nice afternoon Darjeeling!

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 11

This is a new to me tea! I think there are three or four in this advent that I have never had before and I am excited to run into one today.

I was a little put off when I saw that not only is it a black and green blend, but the green is a jasmine.

I made it like black tea with boiling water but kept the steep just shy of four minutes. At first I thought it was super sharp and harsh, but as I kept drinking, it just started reminding me of darjeeling. Since I like darjeeling prepared with a low temp and short steep, I decided to try again.

This time I turned the kettle down to 175F to pamper the jasmine green and kept the steep at three minutes. Now the color of the steeped tea is lighter and the jasmine is definitely coming out more. I think I prefer it this way.

Ashman had already prepared his and gone by the time I made mine, and later told me that he added milk and sugar because he wasn’t wild about it. He didn’t notice that it had green tea in it and had prepared it like a black tea.

It was a decent tea, but not one I would buy. I am very glad to have tried it, though!

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 6

Edit to add: Sipdown! December 29, 2024

The aroma of the dry blend has a nice lemon candy scent. Steeped up, this is a plenty strong green tea but if I didn’t know what I was drinking, I would have thought this was a plain green tea with natural lemon notes. I did double steep and combine both times I had this today, by the mug at second breakfast and by the large pot at lunch with Ashman.

Ashman had it breakfast and said he thought it was very lemony smelling this morning when he made a mug for breakfast, and he didn’t resteep and combine. I will have to try it that way.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 5

I was excited to see this tea on the list of teas included in the advent because I really like vanilla tea. Both Vanilla Black and Vanilla Comoro by Harney were early introductions to the world of tea for me. Since then I have run into vanilla blacks that had watery bases or too little vanilla.

This one is quite good. Both Ashman and I drank it sans additions but it would be good with milk and/or sugar if that’s how you like your tea. The base is strong enough for breakfast. The vanilla is not quite as strong as Harney’s but it is certainly strong enough and very pleasant. This will be easy to finish! It would even be a good tea to blend with another to flesh it out for enough to make a big pot. I love using vanilla tea as a mixer with other teas! I might save a little to go with the last of the peach or strawberry tea.

Sipdown!

I really like this one. It reminds me of my long lost Tangerine White Tea from Revolution. It is fresh and bright, great for a dreary, drizzly late December day.

Fortnum & Mason Advent – Day 1

The order of flavors will be different from other people who bought the wooden advent refill, as they are shipped in a box in no particular order. I checked to see if they were intended to be placed in the calendar some certain way, but none of the corner tins were their Christmas blends which is how they come in anything pre-packed. Also, they didn’t sell the wooden advent itself this year. It has been replaced by a nice cardboard box, which probably can survive and be filled with the refills next year.

I asked my daughter to take out a Christmas specific blend and put it last, and then put the tins in however she pleased. This way I am still surprised! Ha ha!

The mandarin flavor in this is so authentic! When I was growing up, we received oranges and tangerines and walnuts and such in our stockings. We rarely had citrus fruit in the house except at Christmas, so this tea smacks of Christmas for me!

We did our double steeping treatment on this. Three teaspoons of leaf in a Stump pot which holds about 18-20 ounces, steep and pour into larger pot, then steep again.

Even with this treatment, the color is deep golden yellow and the flavor is bright and fresh. It paired nicely with the quince jam in the Bonne Maman advent.

Would repurchase sometime if a citrus green tea were needed on shelf.

Sipdown

Not a bad tea, but nothing special. I think Momijigari is THE apple black tea for me, so I am thankful SuperAnna gave it to me years ago!

November Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a tea with caramel or maple flavor

We opened this tin today and one-fourth of the sachets are gone already due to experimentation.

The aroma is light apple with a little dark caramel. The taste is the same and Ashman and I both felt it was very mild. It was milder than I wanted it to be. Toward the end of the first big pot we made it started getting a bit brisk and Ashman said that perhaps it was meant to have milk and sugar added. I think I saw something on the site or on the tin that said it is best taken without milk, but I could be wrong. We drank the whole large pot and it was okay with our cinnamon crunch bagel for breakfast.

After breakfast I decided to see if perhaps it would be better made with less water so I made a small mug. I tore open the sachet and measured and almost exactly a teaspoon of leaf was in it. That’s enough for a cup but not a big mug so perhaps using less water now was going to make it stronger and better.

Well, it wasn’t bad but I can’t say it seemed much stronger. So time to try again.

This time I made a small mug of tea and added a teaspoon of maple syrup to sweeten it. It already has light caramel notes. The maple syrup just didn’t mesh and meld well with the tea, so I actually preferred it unsweetened. That is how we will finish this off and it won’t take long since there are only twenty sachets in the tin and the sachets only contain 2.5 grams of tea. I might play around with steeping parameters a bit, and while I don’t hate this blend, it just isn’t worth the price to me and there are better teas out there I would rather drink.

It was okay and the name had me excited for a real treat, but not a repurchase unless it just happens to be already included in a hamper I want next year.

Flavored black tea. If I had to guess the base might be some unsmoked souchong blend, it is so well blended all the distinctive characters of the black teas are gone. The smell is very peachy but the taste isn’t fruity at all.

The tea is rather expensive in the US, if you’re buying this from the UK then the price isn’t that bad.

sold for $14.40/ 125g in the UK

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/black-tea-with-peach-loose-leaf-caddy-125g

sold for $34.95/ 125g at Williams Sonoma

https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/fortnum-and-mason-black-tea-with-peach-loose-leaf-tin

Ashmanra sent this my way a while ago, and I saved it for an afternoon pick me up cuppa. It’s sweet and floral, but not cloying. There is a savory note here too, a well balanced oolong that doesn’t taste too green. What a nice cup, thanks!

Adventageddon Day 24 – Tea 3/4

Couldn’t think of a more fitting tea to end this advent with if I tried.

A lot of European (especially French) tea companies tend to do this thing where the blend the exact same tea but on different bases. So, for a split second, I thought this might just be a black tea version of the Christmas Green from a few days ago. They’re very, very different teas though. This one is a MAJOR clove bomb. Bits of cinnamon and orange too, but more clove than anything else. I fucking loved it. That flavour profiles 100% tastes like Christmas to me, and it made today feel very, very festive to me. Definitely a lot more of the flavour I thought yesterday’s Spiceed Orange blend from Plum Deluxe was gonna have.

Would I do this advent again? Probably not – I feel like it doesn’t change enough year over year to warrant repeating it. However, it was pretty close to exactly what I expected from it. Maybe even just a little bit higher. Lots of British style teas, but with a few surprising blends mixed in there that I wouldn’t have discovered from Fortnum otherwise. Some of which I’ll definitely be buying whenever my next F&M order ends up being in the far future.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1QHuq0OvkR/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ygiyWvdZ4I

Adventageddon Day 23 – Tea 2/4

Super excited to try this tea today – I’ve been curious about it for a long, long while now. It was very good too! I thought the pine-y notes of juniper and distinct taste of tonic were so representative of a good G&T, and I appreciate the light citrusy finish as well. Overall definitely a little sweeter than expected (licorice root) – especially in the lingering finish. However, as a person sensitive to licorice root I did think it was pretty well balanced.

If I didn’t have DT’s version (which I slightly prefer – it’s less sweet) I would probably be tempted to get more of this. It’s quite interesting tasting while still being really delish.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Nib5IOsB3/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jRjKaRnzGw

Adventageddon Day 22 – Tea 1/4

This was, shockingly, one of the best teas of the day. Best new to me tea, for sure. I haven’t looked up the ingredients yet, but it was just such a smooth and creamy cup with an almost anise-y sweetness to it! Maybe not a flavour for everyone, but I thought it was wonderful – especially with this ooey gooey baked brie topped with today’s sweet and tropical jam! You’ll have to excuse how sad it looks though; I thought it might look prettier outside of the brie baker, but it wasn’t quite as structurally sound as expected…

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1K_pUOuXLN/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxygR8Cb7a4

Adventageddon Day 21 – Tea 2/4

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again a million other times, but I’m just not huge on chai blends. Especially one like this that is as close to the most basic as they come. However, this was technically my only advent tea that was truly new to me, so I tried to go into my cup with a receptive mindset. Even though Chai isn’t usually a go-to for me, I appreciated that this was an especially clove and anise forward cup. I know those are highly polarizing flavours, but I actually do enjoy both so it helped redeem the cuppa for me!

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1IZE2AOCfJ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSUt3xoBVK0

Adventageddon Day 20 – Tea 1/4

Oof, I hate Gunpowder green tea, and this one was an especially coarse and unpleasantly mulchy tasting cup. It was my first tea of the day which was kind of unfortunate, but at least I was able to get it out of the way quickly and move onto something nicer.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1F0HEXu3XQ/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQf2LG5qtzY

Adventageddon Day 19 – Tea 1/4

Hopefully this is the last Earl Grey in the F&M calendar because, I believe, there have been three now!? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since this more British/High Tea kind of vibe is really their bread and butter.

In terms of taste, this is basically just a lavender Earl Grey. Heavier on the bergamot than the lavender, but both flavours come through and are decently well balanced. I enjoyed starting my day with it, but it’s probably a little too much blergamot to be anything I’d personally want to revisit.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1DQq6tu9xP/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTtBjAz2l4c

Adventageddon Day 18 – Tea 4/4

I liked this more than I expected to! In my head it was going to be a Sleigh Ride style intense hibiscus blend with an excessive amount of cinnamon. It definitely does still have that sort of vibe with the tartness and mulled cider sort of quality, but it’s not as aggressive and in your face. That a roundness to the fruit notes, and something about the apple (though cider-like) also kind of reads like the warm, sweet and gooey filling of a well baked apple pie. Plum is tricky in tea, but I think here it benefits from having these other flavours to pull focus.

Is it a smash hit? And can I find comparable elsewhere? No, and yes. However, it still really hit the spot on this surprisingly rainy December day. It was cozy, and I think I’d be much more likely to turn to this than something more punchy and intense like Sleigh Ride.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1AsG9VO40p/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7enVLMLE7M

Adventageddon Day 17 – Tea 3/4

Wow, this is not a tea for me. I don’t even really like chamomile on a good day, but the fact this is a chamomile blend also drowning in licorice root feels like a flavour crime targeting me personally. I did add a bit of honey before I realized there was licorice root in the tea, and I couldn’t even taste it at all over that sickly sweet flavour. Like musty basement flowers dunked in pure sweet.

It’s a shame because the bee pollen element is really cool but you can’t taste it at all, so I sort of felt like what’s the point? I’m sure that this would be a great blend for a lot of people; I can see the soothing chamomile and honey angle being relaxing or how the licorice root and honey might be nice for a raw feeling throat. It’s just super not for me.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0-G7urOC8D/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNHEm2yFmu8