Christmas Tea

This was the first tea served at tea party today, and yes, tea party was a day late this week! My middle daughter had another commitment so we postponed because she really didn’t want to miss.
We served a wonderful type of fruit cake – and I don’t usually like fruit cake – called Southern Supreme “More Nuts than Fruit” Cake. It is soooo good and is made right here in NC. We actually went to the main store two years ago. We also had Fresh Market sugar cookies, White Fudge Oreos, and a couple of other kinds of cookies.

My guest and I both LOVED this. She picked up on the cherry flavor immediately, though I didn’t. It tastes just as a Christmas tea should taste when I imagine what should be in one. Somehow the French tea companies manage to put SO MANY flavors in their teas without the end result being a muddy mess. The different notes can all be teased out, but the black tea base is never covered up. It doesn’t end up tasting like a fruit tisane. Nice!

This is one of the teas given to me by oldest daughter at Thanksgiving! :)

I really liked this. Hints of cherry – I thought even a little nutty even though that isn’t on the ingredient list. I didn’t get any orange – but that’s ok with me. I’m happy that there aren’t any “Christmas spice” in here. It doesn’t need anything other than what’s here. It’s nice and balance a really nice fruity black tea. I would be very happy to be able find more of this and have it in my cupboard on a regular basis.

Day 24!

I am a bit behind as I was not doing my daily Christmas teas or Christmas, ha ha. But I think I will get caught up and finish pretty quick.

This one smells super delicious. Reminds me of Queen Anne’s chocolate cherry thingies. I don’t even like those, but they always smell so good.

To me the flavours in this one are a little bit lacklustre. Don’t get me wrong, it is super delicious, but IMO not as good as some of the other previous teas. I guess I was expecting the best for last, maybe my high expectations are really the problem.

This one tastes like maraschino cherries, lots of orange peel. Definitely feels like Christmas fruits. You can taste the black tea base under the flavours. I feel like I am getting a bit of almond or nuttiness as well. This might be due to the black tea base, as I got this flavour with some of the other Dammann teas as well. I am getting just the slightest hint of caramel in the aftertaste. It disappears pretty quick.

Overall, definitely impressed from the Dammann advent calendar. Would order again next year, the reminder is already in my calendar so I order in time to get for Christmas. The shipping from France is amazing though, faster for me to get something from France than to mail something across Canada.

Day 24, but I had it this morning.

Merry Christmas everyone! I am sitting at the airport trying to reconstruct the memory of this tea that I bolted down before heading out the door.

The smell of this dry was familiar from all the other DF teas in the advent calendar. I think it was the caramel flavoring, but it doesn’t actually smell like caramel- it’s more an indistinct sweetness.

One steeped I get orange (another signature DF flavoring). I drank this without looking at the ingredients and interestingly tasted cranberry orange. I guess that was how I interpreted the maraschino cherry. Oh well- cranberry orange is more festive.

I wasn’t too careful with the steeping on this so it did come off a bit astringent. I can’t say I’m overly in love with it but as always it’s nice to try something new.

I have one or two teas from previous days that I need to drink and log but otherwise I’m done with the advent calendar….it was super fun and I got an awesome introduction to French teas, so a win all around!

Dammann advent calendar, day 24. I expected this one to be the last one of the set. I love that the sachet packaging is red with fancy lettering. Also I am so sad that it’s over! I want more!

Thas maraschino in it, which probably means I won’t love it to pieces, but I’m hoping all the other flavors (caramel, orange, pineapple[!]) balance it out. Steeped, it smells pretty much caramelly and fruity. I’m not sure I can pick out individual fruits, but cherry and orange certainly make sense. I liked this one. Not love, because the blend of fruits wasn’t perfect for me, but I certainly enjoyed it a lot. I am a sucker for their caramel! But this was a nice tea to finish it off and celebrate!

dammann advent calendar day 24!! Yay!
I’m so glad I got this calendar. I’m gonna go online and see if they have some for sale or something. It’s just great to have all these delicious teas individually wrapped and available.
Happy Mid-Winter celebration everybody!

Intesting tea…tastes like a christmas stollen. The Ceylon comes across a bit rough for my taste but overall a pleasant tea to drink. I got it as a gift. Only by looking at the fancy tin I know I’de probably would have found it a bit to expensive. I am not a big fan of those flavored teas that are coming from France. They got rather popular during the last couple of years…especially in Asia. Japanese love to buy it as a present for others…cool tin and flavorwise something totally different to which they are used to.

From yesterday, Christmas

Another winner from my swap with Cameron! I typically don’t love Christmas blends because too much spice tends to give me headaches. However, what I’ve found with Dammann Freres Christmas blends is that they’re mainly subtly fruity and a bit woody which I love. Even though this is a Christmas/ seasonal blend I think I might grab some for my all-year-round stash ( yes I liked it that much!)

Dammann Frères Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 10

So far, this is probably my favourite of the DF “Christmas tea” blends included this year. Cherry flavour in tea is a hard-sell for me but I like it here, when it’s caramelized with baked pineapple. Last year I wrote that this reminded me of fruit cake – but, more specifically, it resembles a pineapple upside-down cake (and the old Della Terra Tea of the same name). That impression still stands this year! I enjoyed the tail-end finish of orange blossoms too; it makes for a good last sip.

This blend also contains orange but feels toned down and “softer” compared to other DF blends.