Christmas Stollen

This sip down is kind of a cheat. I cold steeped the rest of the leaf in a jug but it’s been sitting there for days because I quite frankly don’t want to drink it. I know I’m being wasteful, but I’m just going to dump it down the sink, give my jug a good scrub, and put something else to cold steep.

Never worked as a hot brew for me because the hibiscus gets waaaay too tart, yet the almond and spice notes work.

But as a cold brew, while the hibiscus works, the spices and almonds are weird. It just wasn’t meant to be.

Look how quickly I move from Halloween to Christmas!

I’m picking up hibiscus, apple, citrus, vanilla, and something that could be marzipan or a combination of almonds and vanilla. It could even be the sultanas (grapes)! Zesty notes creep into the finish and then mellow out into a vanilla soup. It’s quite tart, and a couple sips is enough to make my mouth pucker.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this one as much as I do. It’s a crazy fruit blend, reminiscent of David’s Kanpe tea (that had cinnamon, fruits, and hibiscus). I enjoyed mixing the Kanpe with frozen pink lemonade but I don’t know if that would work here due to the stronger notes of vanilla sweets. Maybe it would work better.

thanks Cavo! I figured i needed some no caffeine teas tonight to give me a break from all the other teas i had today. Sadly i’m still pretty much ready to curl up and go to bed. I can’t say that i’ve ever had christmas stollen either but this is a fairly tasty tea. The hibiscus doesn’t overpower and there’s still a sense of all the flavours coming together. Much like cavo, i wouldn’t drink this all the time, but every now and then i can see this being a nice treat.

I was hoping for more almonds, less fruity booze, but I’ll go with the fruity booze. If you drink brandy, it might go well with this tea. :)

It’s kinda cherries, some apple, spices, IDK. It’s quite comforting at a barely sippable hotness. I hope it stays drinkable as it cools down.

(I did add sugar to it. It smelled like it could go rather sour. About 1/4 tsp for 16 oz, which isn’t much.)

OMGsrsly drank this earlier so I thought I’d better open my pack up and have some too.

This is a greedy tea! It says “2 heaping tea measuring spoons for 1 cup of water”. Well, 50g will not last very long then! I am leaving at least a cup for Sil and Kittena to try so that we are prepared if we ever want to order any directly from the company.

And maybe we should? As a fruit tea, this is very good. I don’t really mind the hibiscus – as the tea cools a bit it fades into the background. I’m tasting apples and spices and a bit of tartness. And orange; there’s a bit of orange too. I’ve never had Christmas Stollen, but it does sorta remind me of glogg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulled_wine#Nordic_gl.C3.B6gg). Like OMGsrsly says, this tea is a bit like fruity booze.

I don’t think I would drink this one too often – it’s not an everyday (every evening?) tea for me – but I could see it being a popular one around Christmas.

Apparently my bf has invited 4 people to have Christmas with us in Toronto since we’re away from our families, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this number grew. I could use this tea on hand as a refreshment for guests!

Pretty sure thanks goes to Cavocorax for this one? But correct me if I’m wrong. And thanks for the hibby warning on the label! I cautiously steeped it for only 2-3 minutes, and that seemed to keep the hibiscus to a minimum… but I wasn’t a big fan of the flavour in general. There’s something about some of these “Christmassy” herbals that I don’t find appealing. Some spice or something; I’m really not sure. Interestingly, though, I finished my cup of this one off the next day, and it was much more pleasant cool, kind of juice-like. So perhaps that’s how I’ll drink up the remaining cup and a half or so!

Second infusion was a bit heavier on the hibiscus… drank it cool and it was about the same. Drinkable, not a favourite. So overall, nothing wrong with this one (as long as you’re mindful of the hibiscus), just not to my preferences!