3226 Tasting Notes

FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 16

My second green tea in a row after fourteen days of black tea.

This was beyond surprising. I guess I have never had straight elderflower before, although certainly it has been listed in teas that had a long list of ingredients.

I have so, so much to do, so of course I sat staring out the window this morning catatonically and didn’t have breakfast. When I finally got started I realized I would have to stop for lunch.
I ran outside and picked greens and chives and made a pot of miso soup and a lettuce sandwich. I made this tea to go with it, and….I think I like this tea and potentially would love it but it really was a terrible pairing.

I expected green tea with a light floral taste. The dry leaf smelled heavenly, like walking into a garden absolutely crammed with carnations and roses and…well, I guess elderflower but I have never smelled it by itself.

After a bite of miso soup I took a sip, and I felt like my mouth was full of bathwater. In comparison to the salty, brothy miso this was like sipping perfume. Weirdly, I kind of liked the tea, but it just didn’t go with the soup.

It was reminding me very strongly of something and I realized it was my first ever jasmine black tea that was not a great quality one. The jasmine was soapy and overpowering.

I think this will grow on me with the right pairing, and I think Ashman will hate it because he doesn’t like highly floral teas except for good jasmine and he says he is still traumatized by Evening In Missoula, which I liked. So it is up to me to finish this tin. I am okay with that. It just won’t be with miso soup.

Cameron B.

Oh no, ha ha! I really liked this one, but I agree the elderflower is quite strong.

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drank Bratapfel Tee by Sonnentor
3226 tasting notes

SONNENTOR ADVENT DAY 15

Reading the description of baking an apple on the wrapper makes you really want a baked apple…

With all of the herbal blends in this advent (I think only three of the teas are not) I am leaving the bag in the cup as I sip. This one is decidedly apple, with a bit of gentle cinnamon. Almost every herbal apple tea I have had was more like a chamomile tea with added apple. This one is really an apple tea with no chamomile fighting for attention.

The body is thin as I find most dried fruit and herbals to be, and it makes a pleasant bedtime cup. Because of the flavor this is trying to evoke, a baked apple with cinnamon and brown sugar, I think most people would enjoy it even more with sugar or honey, but I just generally don’t add sweetener and am almost always disappointed when I do.

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drank Christmas Wreath by Lupicia
3226 tasting notes

Y’all remember tea party? Well, I haven’t mentioned it but after a 53 week hiatus, tea party resumed. There are just two of us now, myself and my guest, but once we were all vaccinated we started back up! And today was tea party day.

I ordered this because it was a Christmas tea with Christmas in the name that was NOT simply black tea with orange, cinnamon, and clove.

It smelled really good when I opened it, and when the hot water hit the leaves. I was pretty sure I would enjoy it. I like the cranberry flavor! The cardamom is really nice. As for the “other spices”, they were clove. All of them. Ha ha! I like the smell of clove and I like the taste of a leeeetle bit of clove, but much clove becomes too much clove for me. When nice and hot the clove is good in this, but as it cooled I would have liked less clove. No worries, I will reheat it or drink it faster in the future.

I thought it was great, and my guest loved it, as she has the other Lupicia Christmas blends I ordered. She is turning 82 next week at our annual Christmas tea party, which we had to miss last year. I did put a big gift bag on the porch for her to pick up last year, though, pre-vaccines!

Cameron B.

I really need to open my Lupicia holiday teas! Been too busy with advents lol.

Evol Ving Ness

Hurray for tea parties! I have missed yours.

Also, this tea sounds like a job for my magic Keemun.

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drank Green Jasmine by Fortnum & Mason
3226 tasting notes

FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 15

My first non-black tea in this advent! And I love jasmine tea, but don’t usually drink it at breakfast. Hmmm. Decided to go for it anyway and just had a toasted and buttered English muffin so the tea could shine.

And… it is a decent jasmine green! I like it. The jasmine is pretty middle of the road here, not too weak, not too strong, just right. I can taste the green base and it is pretty smooth and sweet tasting with just enough grassiness to give you the feel of green tea base. It isn’t strong with seaweed flavors or anything, just a nice, neutral green base to carry the jasmine flavor. Might get lots more green base if it is drunk on its own and not with food.

Thumbs up, will enjoy drinking the rest of this tin.

Dustin

Sounds like I should have gotten one of your advents! My Mariage Freres tea has only had about 2 days of black tea so far. All this green isn’t really my thing.

ashmanra

I have a feeling there is about to be a run of green tea!

Cameron B.

Yeah they seem to put all of the similar teas in a row… A horrible idea, really, ha ha. :P

Evol Ving Ness

A good idea would be to have an all black advent calendar or green etc. THAT would be a good idea.

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drank Darjeeling by Sonnentor
3226 tasting notes

SONNENTOR ADVENT DAY 14

My first darjeeling ever was baaaaaad because I didn’t make it properly. I discovered that I liked cooler water, short steeps, and enjoy second and Autumnal flushes. My favorite black teas are still Chinese, but I can enjoy darjeeling now.

This one is really unusual. It is herbaceous like the herbal teas. Is it just like this or has it absorbed flavors while stored? It is also a bit floral. I am drinking it while eating a Lindt Stracchiatelli and it goes really well. When I ran out of chocolate I could detect the briskness I expect from darjeeling, but there really is floral taste and a hint of mint.

Overall, it was a nice cup of tea!

Martin Bednář

I blame that it has absorbed the herbal notes. But not sure, of course :)

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FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 14

I had read Cameron’s note on this one before I tried it, so I knew a little bit what to expect. I thought it was great and was reminded of the flavor of Harney’s Cranberry Autumn. There are a couple of things I might like better about this one, though. Harney’s contains hibiscus to simulate or enhance the cranberry tartness, and also is not a Chinese base. That gives Fortnum two advantages in my book.

The Chinese black tea base makes this work for me. The tart fruitiness is somewhat light, not in your face. I really enjoyed it. I did have a fleeting moment where the cranberry reminded me of red rooibos, but not too bad. (Red rooibos is sooooo Robitussin cough syrup for me and I just don’t like it.) part of the time I really felt like I was tasting tart cherry instead of cranberry.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and look forward to drinking it again. These advent tins are 25 grams so there is enough tea for at least a couple of large pots of tea.

Thumbs up!

Cameron B.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who tasted a hint of medicine, ha ha…

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drank Neujahrstee by Sonnentor
3226 tasting notes

SONNENTOR ADVENT TEA DAY 13

Well, this advent has taught me one or two new German words and also a new flavor.

When I started steeping this, I smelled nettle right away! I am not nearly as good as some of you at identifying aromas and tastes, so I was pretty happy with myself.

Once the cup has finished steeping, the nettle aroma has died away. I taste the linden first and the spearmint with it but not strong. This is a little more floral tasting than the other herbal blends so far.

Overall, it is a nice relaxing cup for bedtime!

Courtney

Have you been learning German?

ashmanra

I took several years of German in high school and won a fluency award, and the. one semester in college. Many many years passed before I used German again! I taught elementary German to my daughter and for her final lessons we read Im Westen Nichts Neues together, translating as we went.

Now I am teaching three young ladies who are homeschooled and who have also been my music students. I emphasize, I am teaching basics only so don’t be impressed! Ha ha!

We had a lesson today and focused on Christmas words and German holiday traditions. Their mother gave me a copy of A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady in German for Christmas!

Courtney

That’s really neat! I find languages so fascinating and I’ve been learning Danish for a few years now (I have Danish ancestry, so my interest developed from that).

I alway like to hear about other people’s journeys with languages too!

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FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 13

This smelled lovely right from opening the tin! It has a very natural peach aroma. Steeped, I would say the flavoring level is equal to the strawberry tea rather than the delicacy of the apple tea.

I liked it. Ashman liked it. It was quite good and very peachy. I bet it would make marvelous iced tea.

I am accustomed to Lupicia’s peach flavored teas which usually have other things going on as well, like Merci Mille Fois or Momoko. So this seems a bit plain beside those, but if you are looking for a single note tea, this is good.

Much milder I think than Harney and Son’s Midsummer’s Peach which is decaf, but still plenty, plenty, peachy.

Thumbs up!

Courtney

I adore a realistic peach tea! Glad to see this one was tasty!

Dustin

I love Momoko, especially iced!

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Sonnentor Advent Day 12

I am not a fan of really hot ginger and thought this tea would be a struggle since it has so much ginger in it, but I am actually liking it, far more than I expected, in fact!

I was really feeling peckish but it is past bedtime and I should not snack this late, but realized I had not yet had my Sonnentor. Tonight ginger sounded good to me, which is not usual. And this is probably one of my favorites of this assortment so far, probably because I can really taste a few distinct things instead of getting mostly generic herbal flavor.

Ginger is the star of course, coming in at 33% of the blend according to the box. Lemongrass is listed second and is also what I taste right behind the ginger, and I like lemongrass. (Ashman thinks it tastes like Lemon Pledge dusting spray. Not that he has eaten Lemon Pledge, just thinks it smells the same.)I like the way the lemongrass swells at mid to late sip. I also like licorice root and I know I am in the minority here on that, but it is nice here and not too strong. I had to look for it. The cinnamon is softer than I expected. I would not have guessed it as an ingredient if I hadn’t read the box.

Nice one!

Martin Bednář

Sadly, it seems to be discontinued.

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FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 12

I didn’t serve this with breakfast because Ashman doesn’t like lemon slices with his tea. I thought this might taste a bit like that. We had Carol by Lupicia instead.

But then I got hungry this afternoon and decided to have tea and toast. Cameron said this tasted like lemon candy so I figured Ashman would probably like it after all!

He did like it, I am happy to say. He commented that it tasted like lemon candy instead of lemon pledge, which made me remember that he dislikes lemongrass sometimes as well as lemon wedges. He did not ask for milk or sugar and had several cups of it.

I concur that it is a nice smooth tea base with lemon candy flavor, like those little hard candies that come in a tin. I wondered if sugar would make it even more candy-like, but we both liked it so well plain that we didn’t try it.

Special note: we carried our tea outside on a new tray. It came from a Canadian company but they have a US website so we were able to get it. It is darned handy and I recommend it. I think they are available in Europe as well but the only source I know for the US that has a reasonable price is Lee Valley Tools.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/kitchen/serveware/trays/74884-freeform-folding-trays

It is flat like a placemat but transforms to a tray when you lift it. I bought two sizes. It is really sturdy and I am using it like mad ever since it arrived. Just a handy thing I thought some other tea lovers might enjoy!

Mastress Alita

Nice tray! I had such trouble getting teaware up and down my stairs that I got a padded camera equipment case that is cushioned inside and has velcro pieces that you can use to adjust the “size” of compartments, so I could make them just the right snugness around teapots and cups.

Evol Ving Ness

Those do look handy. Thanks for the tip, ashmanra!

ashmanra

Mastress Alita – that’s a great idea! I have been thinking about making my own travel tea kit, and I have a couple of old SLR bags here I could possibly adapt to my needs. Thank you!

Evol – my pleasure! I am excited about simple things, ha ha!

Martin Bednář

Nice tray! Maybe one day I will look for them over there.

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Profile

Bio

I am a music teacher, tutor, and former homeschool mom (25 years!) who started drinking loose leaf tea about fourteen years ago! My daughters and I have tea every day, and we are frequently joined by my students or friends for “tea time.” Now my hubby joins us, too. His tastes have evolved from Tetley with milk and sugar to mostly unadorned greens and oolongs.

We have learned so much history, geography, and culture in this journey.

My avatar is a mole in a teacup! Long story…

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North Carolina

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