Christmas Black Tea

This is one of my favourite teas. I grew up drinking Chinese tea black and strong so I’m not always big on the floral/flower mixes (looking at you David’s Tea). I do love me a good chai, and this tea even with its lack of distinct spices, reminds me of it. It tastes wonderful with milk, but I’ll brew it strong hot and cold without anything. The saffron is light and so is the hint of orange. Wonderful tea. I’ve been trying to make mine last a long time because I no longer have access to it.

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

Fortnum & Mason Advent Calendar 2021 – Day 19

Ooh, finally a festive tea! I’m pretty sure this is one of the duplicated teas, so I assume maybe I’ll see it again on Christmas Eve. But with how inconsistent this advent has been, who knows? XD

This is mostly a fairly standard orange & spice type of holiday tea, though it also has cacao nibs so that’s a bit unusual. The citrus is the first thing that hits my tongue, and it has a lovely zestiness to it from the addition of clementine. I do taste the more classic, sweeter orange as well. Next I taste the very earthy Chinese black tea, and the spices start to trickle in. There’s certainly clove, and I’m picking up on the ginger as well. The combination gives a light tongue-tingling sensation. I don’t feel that I taste cacao here, even though cacao nibs are the second ingredient and there’s apparently also chocolate flavoring. I think it’s just being overpowered by the brighter citrus and spice ingredients.

Anyway, it’s quite enjoyable. I wouldn’t mind just a bit less clove, as it tends to build up a bit as I continue to sip. But I do enjoy the very acidic and bright clementine notes here, and how the citrus competes well with the spices.

I’m having double jam again today, as I didn’t end up getting to yesterday’s flavor. On Saturdays, I play board games with a group of friends at a game café in the late morning through the mid-afternoon, so a bit less time for tea-drinking and jam-scarfing yesterday.

Anyway! First off is yesterday’s (Day 18) flavor, which is Cherry-Christmas Spice Spread. What a perfect choice to pair with a Christmas tea, he he. I adore this one, it was one of my favorites last year and remains so today. Although I never understand why they don’t put it behind door 24, as I think it’s the only holiday-themed flavor? Anyway, rich sweet-tart cherries with just a kiss of warming spices makes for a scrumptious jam, and it pairs so well with butter on toast.

And then today’s flavor is Peach-Jasmine Flower Spread, which is new this year I think. The peach is sweet and juicy. I found the jasmine to be a bit too much when I tasted the jam plain, but I think it’s just the right amount when paired with toast. It adds a lovely soft floral top note. I will say, I find this jam a bit too sweet overall though.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 23 (tins)

I can scarcely believe we have finished a tin, but we have. Not because this is a favorite. But because Ashman has Covid. His Wednesday night test was negative but early this morning he got two positive tests.

Since his throat was hurting I told him we would drink hot tea all day, and the ginger and clove in this one seemed to be good for throats, so I have made pot after pot for him. A doctor said years ago that hot beverages do make the throat a little less hospitable to pathogens, so we are both chugging it.

I am staying holed up in the guest room with books and dashing out to cook or do laundry while he stays in the den with the tv. In spite of being wasted and weary, he checked all the antifreeze and contacted neighbors to let them know what to do to winterize.

Where is the chocolate in this tea? I wish I could detect it but I simply do not. There is clove, there is ginger flavoring which seems stronger to me this year, and there is orange, but I wish there could be a bit more orange. And of course, the chocolate.

You get two tins of this in the advent, so maybe tomorrow we will knock out the other.

This is a very nice blend. They definitely found the perfect mix of black tea base with spices . Even the wet leaf smell is festive. It reminds me of something in a Christmas past that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe hot spiced wine? I bet this would be lovely in hot spice wine! The gentle mouth feel of earthy tea leaves along with the citrusy notes, maybe tangerine?, and perfect blend of spices would make a lovely addition to spiced anything really.

Opening the tin revealed the blend which was decorated with a large star anise piece on the top. It’s so beautiful! The blend itself is a little festive as it has red safflower petals decorating a dark brown blend. It bares a soft yet spicy scent, like cinnamon and clove.

Brewing Parameters: 1.5 tsp in a large mug with boiling water for 3-4 minutes.

Once steeped a dark brown liquid with a red hue sits in my glass that bares the same generic spice scent as it’s raw form.

The first few sips reveal a dark base, wooden and thick with some bitterness with a delicate spicy after taste. Specifically clove, cinnamon and cocoa nib which is probably where the bitterness comes from. I imagine it would be reduced with a bit of sweetener.

The spice is not actually as strong as I expected, it’s more subtle against the black tea base. In a way it’s nice, sometimes ‘in your face’ flavoured teas are too much. There is also some dryness in the after taste though the spice lingers a while.

I would say while this was more of a subtle spice it was Christmas-esque and suited for all day drinking. I imagine a pot of this on Christmas morning would go down a treat! It’s subtlety may even win over some plain tea drinkers.

http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/12/14/christmas-spiced-tea-by-fortnum-mason/

Sipdown (116 though I just went to Sil’s and as per usual, despite my best efforts, I am pretty sure I left with more than I came so this number is about to go up so thank you, Sil)

Once I got home, my mom asked someone to sit in the kitchen to babysit our dishwasher, which is making some strange sounds, so I said I would. Mostly I agreed to do it because I had to get my 2 milk servings in for the day which meant I would be down here making lattes anyways.

I decided to make one hot latte and one iced. This tea has been sitting in my samples box for a while now so I decided to give it a go and I thought the spices would make for a nice hot latte. Unfortunately my milk frothier got excited and ended up making most of the 8 oz of milk into foam so now I am sipping on 1/2 a cup of super concentrated milk tea while trying to not get my face coated in milk foam. Trying being the operative word here as I am not doing so well.

As for the tea… I used the entire sample I had from Cavocorax (I think!) and pulled out any anise pods I saw just to try and cut down on that particular flavor. Unfortunately I wasn’t super successful since I’m still getting a fair bit of anise in the brew. I’m also getting cloves though which is helping to balance it out/make it more tolerable. With that said, something in the way this came together is coming off a little bit like dirt. Not sure what’s causing it but obviously I am not a fan. I’m wondering though if that is because of how concentrated this is due to the milk issue. So, with that in mind, I won’t rate the tea but I probably won’t seek it out again either. Still, thank you Cavo for the chance to try something new!

Oh no, I’ve been neglecting my tea stash as of late. Must make more of an effort. I just had a massive mug of this without any additives and quite enjoyed the pow in this one. From memory, I’d say this is mainly orange and cloves. There are cocoa nibs in here? I’m going to have to try it again soon and pay extra attention.

This sample was from MissB (thanks!)

Smells like cloves, I’m feeling festive already. I think I prefer Esprit de Noël as my stock holiday time tea (I say, as I drink this long after the holiday season has ended) but it’s a nice, gently spiced black tea.

It’s grey outside and I’m wearing a knitted hat from a friend, and I have jeans on and a sweater….and somehow it’s supposed to get back up to 90 soon, but I’m really liking the cooler weather. Cooler weather is tea weather for me, so bring it on! :)
Dipping into my magical bag of tea swap wonders from Plunkybug, I decided to have this one, wanting something spicier and flavoured (Plunkybug, your teas have ignited a yearning for flavoured teas, and it’s so fun, because I thought I had totally fallen out of that! yay!)….
This is really, really lovely. A lot of the Christmas teas that I’ve tried have all been pretty similar, but I’ve loved them all, and this is no different…
Everything plays so well together in my mug without being too overpoweringly orange peel, or cinnamon stick…. just a really great cup. :D
Finished up my dishes and have a little bit of time to spare, so I’m thinking I’ll bring this mug over to the couch with me and play a bit of Final Fantasy 6 on my vita (is there anything better than Final Fantasy on a handheld??).