Fortnum & Mason Advent Calendar 2021 – Day 8
Surprise, surprise, another straight black tea. And I love black tea, but I feel like Fortnum is shooting itself in the foot a bit here by not mixing up the teas more. It just becomes boring to have slightly different shades of the same thing every day, when I know there are other types of tea and flavored teas in this advent as well.
Anyway. This is a mix of high and low-grown Ceylon. Ceylon doesn’t tend to be my favorite, but I’ve had a few that I’ve really liked. This isn’t one of those, but it’s still fairly tasty. It does have rather a lot of acidity to it, so not something I would want to drink on an empty stomach probably.
Otherwise it’s fairly smooth, woody, a touch bready, very slightly grassy or vegetal. It does have a lot of that Lipton-esque “tea” flavor that I don’t have another word to describe. A touch of briskness but nothing major, and some musty hay. I feel like I’m tasting just a teeny hint of some sort of aromatic herbal flavor like pine or eucalyptus, but having a hard time pinning it down. Fairly standard Ceylon taste to my tongue, though I’m probably not explaining it well… :D
On to the jam! Today it’s an interesting one, and I think it’s new this year? It’s Wild Blueberry-Balm Leaves Spread. I’m assuming they mean lemon balm…? But unsure. It’s tasty though, with a very sweet and rich blueberry flavor. There is a subtle herbaceous note that’s slightly minty, so could definitely be lemon balm. It adds a nice bit of interest to an otherwise very sweet jam! :)
Flavors: Bread, Grass, Hay, Metallic, Musty, Pine, Smooth, Tea, Vegetal, Wood
Preparation
Comments
I have the jam advent, too, and I assumed since blueberry is so frequently paired with lemon that it must be lemon balm.
That jam sounds like my jam. Ha ha. I really enjoy a true, genuine blueberry jams.
I have the jam advent, too, and I assumed since blueberry is so frequently paired with lemon that it must be lemon balm.
This jam advent is sounding very seductive. Maybe next year. Tea and jam. What could be better?