White Christmas

Tea type
Herbal White Blend
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Almond, Peppermint, Vanilla, Citrus, Bitter, Eucalyptus, Grain, Hay, Menthol, Artificial, Cardamom, Musty, Twigs, Wax, Woody
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 30 sec 11 oz / 325 ml

From Our Community

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17 Want it Want it

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76 Own it Own it

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78 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I have been promised the second episode of Sherlock tonight, but my Sherlock buddy is off playing hocky! Gah. Get back here, stupid Sherlock-buddy, so I can watch detectives in great coats. In...” Read full tasting note
    75
  • “I’m finishing off the last of this sample tonight… sniff It’s okay to have a belated Christmas in MAY, right?!?! For some reason this seems minty to me tonight and I can’t quite understand why. I...” Read full tasting note
    88
  • “I still am amazed at how this smells like white chocolate and yet contains no chocolate. The cardamom in here is just so good. I love it and the vanilla. I know I said before I thought the vanilla...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “Erm yes. Bear with me, Steepsterites. It’s just because it’s now I’m drinking down Tea Corner and therefore I can’t wait another half year to use this one. It’s already a pretty old bag, predating...” Read full tasting note
    85

From Harney & Sons

Recline in front of a glowing fire while the snow drifts and the tree lights twinkle. A sip from this warm and nutty blend completes the perfect winter wonderland.

Ingredients: White tea, cardamom, chamomile, almond flavor, vanilla flavor, and cardamom flavor. Contains natural flavors.

About Harney & Sons View company

Since 1983 Harney & Sons has been the source for fine teas. We travel the globe to find the best teas and accept only the exceptional. We put our years of experience to work to bring you the best Single-Estate teas, and blends beyond compare.

78 Tasting Notes

63
174 tasting notes

I bought myself this for Christmas since my family didn’t get the hint when I got the catalog in the mail and I circled this one in the gift set and left it on the coffee table for all to see (I left it open on that page too). Anyways, I’m on my second cup and it’s a decent blend. The tea base is a stronger white tea than I prefer and the immediate smells and taste coming from this tea are almond and vanilla. I can get a hint of cardamom in the aftertaste, but I can’t say I taste the chamomile at all. This tea isn’t bad, although I think it would be better with less almond in it.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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83
310 tasting notes

After a lot of mixed and bad reviews on this I was very hesitant to try it. I ordered a sample anyway as anything with the word Christmas or Holiday was appealing when I was ordering tea last week. I have to say I like it. It’s complex and yummy. And complex. It keeps me thinking about what I am tasting while I drink it.

Initially I taste a nice white tea. Then it morphs into a light orangey creamsicle. Then I get the cardamom. Then I get the almond. And then in the finish, white tea. It’s got a nice nuttiness under the whole sip.

I definitely like it. Not sure I’d want a whole tin, but I like it enough to throw another sample into my cart the next time I order from them.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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67
132 tasting notes

I tried this tea last night, I have been wanting to try this for a while now and thanks to TeaEqualsBliss I was able to :-D The tea smells pretty sweet, almost like a snickerdoodle cookie! While steeping I noticed that the tea was fairly dark for a white tea, which I thought was a bit odd, but figured it may have been from the spices. Now, when I took my first sip this Immediately reminds me of a sweet, powdered chai mix that you would make at home like a pack of hot chocolate…except it was missing that oomph or perhaps depth, maybe even boldness? After all this is a white tea instead of a black tea so what could I expect? All in all I believe this was a pretty good tea, but not my cup of tea since it reminds me too much of a chai and for me I need a black tea to enjoy a chai…but, putting my biases aside and rating this solely on what this tea brings to the table I would say it is a decent tea and will rate it accordingly.

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17
189 tasting notes

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Sweet, like store cake frosting, dusty
After water is first poured: overpowering SWEET
At end of steep: sweet, almost like baby shampoo
Tea liquor:
first color: light brown
At end of steep:
Color: same
Staple? No.
Time of day preferred: undecided, first tasting
Taste: flat, dusty, bland
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, leaves a sour note

Upon suggestion, I tried a 1min steep
Taste: Soapy, but not sour
Lingers with earthy, dusty notes

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 5 min, 0 sec
Jes

try a much short steep time for this. I usually do under a minute. I found that any longer and the cardamon overpowers the vanilla and becomes wayyyyy too strong and almost sour as you said.

Kasumi no Chajin

ok, but is it as sweet as it smells? I do have one more bag of this (was a sample/gift) so I’ll give this a try- thanks!

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85
267 tasting notes

What an adorable tin! I’m just going by the picture of course, as I am lucky enough to try this in sample form thanks to Kristin’s kindness. Steepster’s been on a Harney’s kick for a while, eh? I like that, because there’s a shop with a big Harney’s selection near my house.

I totally brutalized this poor tea, because I wasn’t paying attention and failed to note that it’s a white tea. So it got boiling water. I did realize my error three minutes into steeping it, and took out the leaves, though. I really like this one, but I’m going to have to give it another shot with the proper water temp because the oversteeped leaves are overshadowing the delicious flavors.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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90
328 tasting notes

This tea smells like white chocolate! It’s also a pretty blend with big white chamomile blossoms. The taste is delicate but interesting with subtle nutty notes.

This tea has grown on me. I did not take to it the first time I tried it, but I now find it a pleasant, soothing cup—watched my water temperature and steep time carefully. Nice to sip while watching the snowstorm that hit us yesterday!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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85
26 tasting notes

A fantastic tea! I was not let down! The almond is a fantastic, smoothing flavor, holding together quite a list of other tastes. White tea, vanilla, cardamom and a bit of chamomile makes this a warm, soothing morning or evening tea!

Looking for a Christmas tea, H&S “Holiday Tea” let me down last year because it was too strong and spicy. This White Christmas is everything “Holiday Tea” was not! A delightful winter tea!

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66 tasting notes

I’d just got home and desperately needed a cuppa, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to sample next, so in the end I chose this tea based solely on the strong white chocolate scent of the dry sachet .. Plonked it into a mug, and without thinking filled it up with boiling water, actually pouring boiling into my room-temp mug brings it down to 90°C but the point is I scorched it, then suddenly clicked ‘Oh No, White!!’ .. I quickly emptied half the cup (more than I’d intended), and re-filled with tap water, only that took the temp way down to 65°C ..

- See if I’d had my regular morning brew I wouldn’t be so absent minded come 10:30am, but eh, I’m searching for variety in my mornings and thus had tried something earlier that didn’t ‘do it’ for me ..

Anyhoo, so this left me with a tea that smells somewhat Vanilla (though extremely weak compared to H&S’s Vanilla Comoro), but tastes only of Bitter Chamomile – blech .. And it’s getting worse as it cools down so I’m not even going to finish it :(

Considering I had just the one sachet to sample and obviously abused it with heat I don’t think it’s fair to give it a numerical rating .. In saying that though, I don’t think I’d personally purchase more even if it had brewed correct – I’m simply not a fan of Chamomile, and none of the other flavours seemed to be present ..

In short: I failed the tea – the tea did not fail me

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80
292 tasting notes

I will add rating when on computer. I’m going with 75. For some reason I expected mint but this is an older sampler and I’ve remembered incorrectly. It’s not bad, just a little bland and basic. I detect a slight dose of almond and the black tea part is good quality to muster a flavored blend. With a name like White Christmas, I can’t help but want something more, something different, something special.

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9
92 tasting notes

Disappointing. Smells lovely in the tin, but it brewed up to taste weakly of chamomile, with the other spices pulling a disappearing act. I steeped for 4 minutes at 180 F. It does have a dark coloration, but the flavor is sadly absent. I’m not a huge fan of white teas, but I usually find them tolerable. I don’t think I like chamomile by itself either, so I wish the vanilla or almond promised by the scent had come out a bit!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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