Fortnum & Mason

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 13 (sachets)

I have been really happy to see some herbal infusions that I can drink at night since my “tins” advent has had all caffeinated teas so far.

I love floral tea and I love rose in tea. This infusion would probably be NOT be Ashman’s cuppa because he doesn’t enjoy rose in tea, even though he likes jasmine in tea. I was a little worried about the hibiscus overriding all else, but it definitely doesn’t. First, the aroma is pure, unadultered rose. The color as it starts to steep is a soft pink, so lovely. It doesn’t deepen to a deep pink as I discovered since I left the sachet in the cup. I resteeped it, and still got a pretty pink cup of tea. The rose flavor dominates all, the hibiscus and rosehips pop in after it has steeped longer, and in the resteep I am still enjoying both rose aroma and flavor, though milder.

I enjoyed this, and it was a lot like having C Howards violet candies, only rose flavored. I know there is violet in this and I think it comes in as the candy vibe because seriously all I can think of is rose. And I like it.

I wonder what it would be like iced and sweetened, or better yet…as a tea syrup? Might have to add this to my next Fortnum order to find out. It would be a beautiful syrup for making summer tea sodas….

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 12 (Sachet)

My experience with this tea is the opposite of nearly every review here. I saw tippy and golden and thought “hallelujah, an Assam that won’t upset my stomach!” Golden tips rarely bother me because of their natural sweetness and milder flavor.

Steeping it, I was surprised at how light the color was, a golden amber, and put it down to this being golden tip. It was smooth and had a bit of a honey note and some breadiness. Words I wouldn’t put with what I drank this morning are: brisk, astringent, bold, strong. It was a very civilized cup, needed no additions at all, and was very pleasant.

When I tore open the sachet to put the leaves in the compost pail, it seemed like a rather small amount of leaf. They were medium sized, not fines or severely broken. It didn’t lack flavor so I guess they knew what they were doing when they filled the sachets.

There are a number of reviews calling this a bold and strong tea, and most Assam teas are just that to me. This one definitely wasn’t. And that is how I usually prefer it – smooth and naturally sweet without a lot of bite. Nice one. But since my experience is so very different, I wonder if they changed their source or something.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 11 (Sachet)

This is a duplicate listing. There is another listing with a few reviews that has an extra “R” in Moroccan. But I am also wondering if the blend has been changed.

I double steeped and combined as I often do, because a friend was over and I wanted her to get to try it, too. She is most fond of green and white teas and recently got hooked on Teecino after I sent her a sample, so she came today to give me some samples from her order!

She really loved this Moroccan Mint. I am much more fond of tea with more spearmint than peppermint. This one says it is 10% spearmint and 2% peppermint, so we can do the math and see that there must be 88% green tea. The description here on Steepster doesn’t mention spearmint, though.

The spearmint leads more in this blend than it has in any other Moroccan Mint I have tried, including one of my favorites, Moroccan Mint from Tin Roof Teas. If you like spearmint gum, here’s your tea. My friend was sufficiently smitten with this to ask me to order a tin of it for her next time I place a Fortnum & Mason order.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 9 (Sachet)

I knew it was in here. It was just a question of which day I would confront it. I don’t mind green rooibos, I even like lots of blends that have it. But red…

So I altered my thinking. I have never had plain, unadulterated rooibos before, but I knew what it tasted like because it has been quite strong in some of the flavored blends. I didn’t enjoy them.

I decided to make it an event and keep an open mind, and pretend I was having a mug of tea with Precious Ramotswe, protagonist of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels, which estimates that she drinks at least 99 cups of red bush tea a week.

I lit some Japanese Jasmine incense that Youngest gave me, and I sat down in solitude. I pretended I was in Botswana sitting beside Precious and about to partake of her wisdom and steady spirit. And…as long as I didn’t think of it as a cup of TEA, I enjoyed it. And believe or not, I made a second steep after I finished the first and hoped any health benefits were greatly amplified by the openness of my mind.

There is no escaping it. Rooibos is rooibos and this is rooibos, but I am glad I made it an event instead of tossing it. I might even develop a taste for it.

Fortnum & Mason Sachet Advent Day 8

Not nearly as good to me as the last herbal from the advent! This one has hibiscus, and between that and apple the lovely rose scent of the cup is overpowered in taste. Hibiscus is not my bag usually, but I don’t mind it sweetened, so I will try to save this cup by adding honey.

It is a little better this way, but I greatly prefer the Apricot, Honey, and Lavender sachet. The rose is coming out more now that I added honey, so that will be a saving grace for this cup.

Fortnum & Mason Sachet Advent Day 7

I saved this one to drink last night but ended up crashing at 9:30 pm before I could drink it. Then I woke up at 12:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. After finding a video about letterlocking (seriously, look it up!) and then looking for mire resources about the subject, I finally went to bed tea-less at 3:30 am.

So tonight I get two herbal sachets! This one was first, and I liked it a lot considering I am not a great lover of herbal teas. They call it apricot but to honest I mostly taste light rose hips and honey. The lavender was really mild to me. It didn’t scream with rose hip tartness because the honey was nicely done. I would gladly drink it again, but I don’t think I would go out of my way to acquire more. I had it sans additions.

Fortnum & Mason Sachet Advent Day 6

I knew there was a genmaicha in the advent and it was one of the teas that met with a groan when I read the list because I don’t generally like genmaicha. You aren’t going to like every single tea in a collection, though, so I was not badly put off. I did avoid advents that had a lot of red rooibos, though! But I am willing to try new things and to keep trying old things to see if I develop more appreciation for them.

The back of the box said that this sachet resteeps well for multiple infusions, so I started off making two and combining them. I am really surprised. I enjoyed every sip and plan to steep this again.

For a breakfast cuppa, the roasty aroma made it seem both comforting and strengthening. The sip gave the impression of heavily toasted bread rather than horribly burned popcorn. In many ways it came off as a soft, roasty green tea. I think if someone else made it and told me it was a plain green tea with toasted bread notes, I would have believed it.

This is a surprise winner and one I would consider purchasing a tin of one day when my cupboard is under control.

It was enjoyed plain, no milk and no sweetener.

Fortnum Sachet Advent Day 4

When I saw that today’s tea was herbal, I saved it to enjoy tonight while I unwind from a big family gathering. We went with the tin advent for morning which was Black Tea with Peach and is one of their better blends.

I don’t usually love strong ginger and while it comes second in the name, it comes first in the ingredient list. The scent of the tea is so familiar but I haven’t pegged exactly which tea it is reminding of. I needed it and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. There is so much lemon in different forms, and it really does taste nice with the ginger.

It makes me think of a tea I would have when sick, but one I would look forward to having when sick. The lemon is so bright and overall it was a comforting mug of tea to finish off the evening. I didn’t sweeten, but I bet honey would be awesome in it.

December Sipdown Prompt – a tea bought on vacation

I don’t have any tea bought on a vacation of mine because we haven’t taken a vacation in years, but Superanna always brings tea home for me from her vacations! This was bought on her most recent trip to London.

This tea came in the fancy tapered cylinder shaped tin with a twist on top. It is a green oolong and resteeps well. Smooth and good with food.

Fortnum Advent Day 2

A tea that wasn’t in the big advent! Yaaaay!

Ashman was unexpectedly home this morning so I made the tea from both advents at breakfast and we tried both together. I steeped this sachet twice and poured it in a pitcher. Later, I steeped it a third time to drink by myself because the leaves have unfurled to fill the sachet fit to bustin’.

Sadly, I was so distracted this morning I can only say it tasted like a green oolong, not super and not bad. Ashman liked it well enough. On this third steep that I am sipping now so as to give a slightly better note, I can say it is a green oolong, slightly milky and lightly brisk, with a slight mineral/stone taste on the tongue. It is supposed to have orchid notes but they must be muted by the repeated steeping. Shame on me for not paying attention this morning.

Sipdown

Good hot or iced. Truly only black tea and orange blossom and no other fancy flavors but good hot or cold as sweet iced tea. I will probably re-order eventually. Very economical, especially in the 250 gram tin.

March Sipdown Prompt – tea from your biggest tin

At 250 grams, this is definitely my biggest tin, although I have a couple of pound bags I foolishly bought of some other teas. This is also one of my newer teas, so I expect it may be around for a while. This is definitely not a sipdown, but work towards one. Also, I wouldn’t buy this again now that I know that Kusmi’s Bouquet of Flowers has orange blossom galore but is a tastier mix of flavors.

I tried an orange blossom tea last year and was disappointed that I didn’t taste much orange blossom. This one delivers in the orange blossom department BIG TIME. The black tea base is a little disappointing to me, though, because it is so one-dimensional. Maybe they really thought everyone would add milk and sugar to this so they didn’t make a big effort there? And orange blossom by itself isn’t wowing me like I thought it would, so Kusmi for the win there again. I don’t hate this, it’s just that I have found better options.

I might play with parameters but also might try mixing various other black teas with it. The orange blossom is so strong that it should still come through with no problem even if unscented black is added. It might be good with a jasmine black….ooooo. Or stretch my Kismi blend with it?

I made a pitcher sweetened to chill for lunch tomorrow and a preliminary sip with ice was satisfactory.

I do not recognize nearly as many flavors as some of you on here. I grew on on very simple fare and was not an adventurous eater.

Some time ago I bought a moisturizer with neroli in it, and I thought it smelled strange but it grew on me. Then White Antlers sent me a neroli spray. I was hooked on the scent at that point.

Eventually I saw a recipe for orange blossom lemonade, made it, and fell in love. I buy my orange blossom water from The Spice House. I love the bitter floral taste.

Then I tried a tea from Lupicia that was supposed to have neroli and I couldn’t taste any at all. I love Lupicia, and other people reviewing the tea (Mimosa) said it was bitter floral and many of them disliked that, but I just couldn’t taste it. I decided that maybe orange blossom just didn’t come through the same in tea.

Browsing the Fortnum & Mason site I saw this blend – a base of Chinese and Indian black tea with orange blossom. It was pretty inexpensive for a big tin, so I added it to an order I was making for Christmas.

Oh my goodness. They got the orange blossom! The base is smooth enough that Ashman likes it without milk and sugar. It appeals to my love of Chinese black tea. And the orange blossom is so strong! The flavor of it lingers and lingers. I am one happy camper.

I served it to Superanna (who doesn’t love black tea) last night and she liked it a lot, and to her Irish husband who loves black tea and bitter/floral flavor and he also enjoyed it very much.

It is a winner.

I have received a tea bag of this in swap and I was quite looking forward to it. First of all, fresh Fortnum and Mason tea, and second, peach is summer-y flavour which suited well today fall-coming-weather. We had only around 22°C, picking apples, watching WWCH in ice hockey, just a pleasant September Sunday.

It delivers candy-like peaches. It reminds me jelly rings available here in Lidl store I used to buy often. It was exactly same flavour, combined with brisk and strong black tea, even in the tea bag. As I have been reading notes before brewing it, I knew what I have been expecting. A more real peach falvour would be nice. However, if you are more into candy-like ones, this is for you. I am on the fence. On one hand I would prefer real peaches more today. But the candy, sweet ones are welcomed too and they fulfilled my craving for candy today :)

So many teas from Cameron arrived today!

2022 sipdown no. 32

I would agree with Cameron’s review that the peach is more candy-like. I’m not a huge fan of the base tea used here, it’s slightly bitter as it cools (though I did miss the timer by 30 seconds, so perhaps user error). However, this is nothing if not a black peach tea. Thanks for sharing Cameron :)

Cold Brew!

This one was nice but I think it’s probably the most forgettable of the three in the line up. It’s a distinct apple and berry taste, though I doubt I’d name blackberry as the specific berry in question without the name to prompt me to think of it. My main thing here is that I just felt like it was a lot of apple and a pretty average and unexciting apple at that. So was it refreshing, flavourful and tasty? Yeah, but in a kind of average sorta way.

Cold Brew!

Doubled up on the sachets for a quick and easy last night cold brew. Definitely on the sweet side with a mix of juicy, ripe cherry and apricot. I didn’t really taste much apricot the first time I made this blend, but doubling up on the teabags actually helped a lot. Though the cherry was much stronger, I actually did taste the apricot and it was very well executed!

Cold Brew!

Just tossed a teabag into a mug with some room temperature water and a few minutes later I had this tea to drink – perfect for the low energy level that comes with being sick, but also knowing that I need to keep my water intake up. Definitely tasted a lot like strawberry or cherry jello. Just a lot of red fruit flavour. Not really in a bad way, though.

Cold Brew!

This was another tea that I had prepped in advance of that first D&D session this past weekend. I doubled up on the tea sachets for this cold brew so that flavour was much more intense than what I experienced with my first tasting, but the overall tasting notes themselves were the same other than their strength. Still not really apricot, but definitely cherry and strawberry.

Cold Brew!

Of the three flavours in this line up, I thought this was the best. That’s likely fairly directly tied to the fact it was clearly the most flavourful and also the sweetest. With that said, it’s certainly the least accurate in terms of name. I had remarked right off the bat that there were a surprisingly large amount of strawberries on the package art for a tea that was advertising apricots and cherries and that turned out to be a really astute observation.

The tea actually tastes nothing like apricot, but it tastes very strongly of sweet strawberry and cherry candies. Like, Starburst candies but less tang and less intense. It’s really good but with how distinct/prominent the strawberry is I find it very peculiar that they chose to name the blend after apricot instead…

Cold Brew!

A coworker kindly brought back all three of F&M’s cold brew flavours, from their recent vacation to the UK, so that we could try them. It was very thoughtful, especially since ordering from Fortnum from overseas is a bit of a bitch. Very expensive for a gamble on teas you’re not sure if you’ll like…

I thought this was alright! All three cold brew flavours were a bit thin in terms of taste and body, but the clarity of flavours was the best in this one. I distinctly got bright sweet lemon and a more pithy orange. Like, orange with rind. The hint of bitterness from that orange peel taste was unexpected but I kind of liked it. I think on a hot summer day it would be really lovely and the nuance and not overly sweet profile could keep this from becoming really cloying after several cups or a pitcher of it. That’s a nice quality to have!

Second and last tea I have received from postcrossing forum tea tag. Thank you Amy.

Again, it’s only tea bag, which is a shame in my opinion, because loose-leaf could be even a bit better.

Yes, it is very tasty, however the base is hidding beneath the strong, genuine, lighlty tart cranberry taste, but not sour because no hibiscus in.
I was very glad that it wasn’t like a cough syrup for me and honestly this note surprised me in notes by others.
A good cup of tea, indeed.

A tea bag I have received through Postcrossing forum tea tag. I invited the sender here, so we will see if a new member will join us or not.

Anyway, if there is something that surprises me, is that there are only notes by ashmanra and Cameron, although the number of the tea in the web address is actually quite low (considering my Richard tea starting with 99).

On the tea review: Black tea with lemon is one of the basic flavours here. I am pointing that out as I found out there are quite big difference in tastes all around the world. It was/is common to brew “builder’s brew” and adding a lemon slices in. Or just the lemon juice. I have never been friend of these blends as they used to be very sour.

This blend is fine and I am pretty much sure it would be even better in loose leaf. The lemon taste is candy-like and not too sour, it doesn’t have medicinal flavour as well. The base seems a bit one dimmensional to me, tends to be sweet.

I am trying to not focus on Lemon Kandy by teakruthi as the best black tea with lemon flavour, because that one was loose-leaf, this is tea bag only. But sadly, here I am lacking something and not really sure what is it.

Ashmanra sent a nice little sample of this my way with a caution that it leans to the strongish side, as mentioned in her advent review: Coffee lovers and lovers of British style breakfast blends will probably like it. It is so malty and has the sharp coppery taste plus astringency that keep me from really enjoying it.

Yin, yang. It is so malty and has the sharp coppery taste plus astringency that makes me enjoy it straight up on a morning when my eyes need a little help opening. It’ll be nice with milk, too!