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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!

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!

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!

SONNENTOR ADVENT DAY 11

Well, I can say with great relief that this tea tastes better than the teabag smells.

I didn’t know what Brennnessel meant. But after I opened the pouch and smelled it I needed to know what I was getting into. There was a lovely story on the wrapper about vanilla but this was not vanilla scented. So Brennnessel means nettle.

It smells like Sucrets according to Ashman. It smelled like fishy puerh to me. With a hint of Sucrets. Ashman smelled no fishy musty odor. Until I steeped it. Then he agreed there was something going on.

The taste is not bad at all, though. As I sip I still get the fishy aroma but the flavor is just herbaceous. This isn’t an herb I would normally go for unless I really needed it for a specific medical use.

FORTNUM AND MASON ADVENT DAY 11

Ashman is off today and likes strawberry black so yay for getting to share a pot of advent tea for breakfast! The strawberry aroma was so strong and sweet when I opened the tin, and smelled so fresh in the steeped tea.

He liked it, drank a lot of it, and then asked what kind of tea it was. When I told him it was strawberry, he said, “Well, it is very MILD strawberry if it is strawberry.” So he had pretty much the same reaction I had to the apple tea, but I really didn’t feel like this one was too light.

Now I want him to try the apple tea and see if he thinks the apple is strong or weak…

Even if he didn’t think it was fruity, he did think it was good. He did not add milk or sugar and drank at least half of the giant pot.

It is smooth and goes well with breakfast, not too astringent or brisk.

I am loving the little notes the company put on every teabag wrapper! Martin has typed them all in his reviews, but reading each one as I prepare the tea really adds a nice little peaceful touch with a little extra Christmas magic.

This one has spearmint which I generally prefer over peppermint. I thought the thyme might make it overly savory but really even the mint was light. Spearmint and chamomile were the main flavors I tasted. I have felt stressed for some reason today and I don’t know why, so I welcomed this tea and its gentle soothing!

Thank you, Martin!

FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 10

Ashman is off today so we had an everything bagel and tea in front of the fire. I forewarned him that this would probably be a milk and sugar tea for him and put some on the tea tray. He added it without tasting first. To get an idea of his tastes, he prefers white, oolong, green, and puerh plain and likes Bailin Gong Fu without additions but most other black tea is too astringent for him.

I drank it plain as long as the bagel lasted and found it to be a good tea for breakfast, with good flavor that held up even under the assault of the seasonings on the bagel. It didn’t feel too drying and it wasn’t sour. After the bagel was gone, the astringency was definitely noted and it was really drying my tongue, so I added milk and sugar and enjoyed the last bit quite a lot that way.

Ashman said it was fine, but he felt the body of the tea was not as creamy as he likes it to be when he adds milk and sugar. He said it felt a little watery to him, not in the ratio of leaf to water, but in the actual taste and body of the tea. He said he prefers to add milk to teas that already have a creamy body. He did drink two decent sized mugs of it, so he didn’t hate it. He said he didn’t find it too astringent, but he was having milk in it so probably wouldn’t have picked that up.

SONNENTOR ADVENT DAY 9

I saw that today’s tea is the first TEA rather than herbal blend, so I decided to have it early as I was feeling sleepy this afternoon.

I steeped it at 185F for three minutes and it is a rich, deep, golden color. The taste is pretty much what I would expect – hay and a tiny hint of sweetness from the floral notes. It was a decent bagged white tea and certainly produced a stronger cup than expected. It perked me up to stay awake for the afternoon, but now I am sitting in front of the Buck Stove and feeling mighty dozy….

FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 9

I was so excited to see that my first fruit tea is apple! I loved Little Women from Harney and Sons which is an apple flavored green tea and imagined this to be the black tea version.

I was a little surprised that the dry leaf doesn’t smell like apple. I was more surprised that the steeped tea didn’t taste like apple.

The leaf pieces are bigger in this blend than yesterday’s Ceylon and the Chinese black tea base is really good. Is something wrong with me? I can not detect apple! If anything, I would call this a hint of pear if I really closed my eyes and thought hard about pears while drinking it.

Maybe it needs a stir? Maybe I am not good at tasting things. Maybe English apples have little flavor. Maybe they put the wrong tea in my tin.

It’s good tea, I just never would have pegged it for apple.

Sonnentor Advent Day 8

Yesterday I said that these herbals were much the same. Only one has had really noticeable tartness from hibiscus and rose hips.

This one seems to have a little more flavor than last night’s tisane, and although it touts itself a morning blend, it went nicely with bedtime snack and I know it will not keep me awake. Many of these blends have been chamomile forward, but not this one.

FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 8

When I first started drinking loose leaf tea, I drank a lot of Ceylon before discovering that I really prefer Chinese black tea. I have always liked low grown Ceylon but just don’t have it often now. My favorite was a pricey one from A Southern Season and the leaves were absolutely ginormous. My second favorite was Kenilworth Ceylon, whether from Southern Season or Harney.

The leaf bits in this one were quite small but I was hopeful because it says it is low grown with just a little high grown mixed in.

It steeped fast and is quite dark. Classic metallic and honey Ceylon aroma, taste was pretty good and didn’t require milk and sugar. It was better with food than without, but overall pretty good.

After breakfast, I did get the stomach burn that often follows tea from India, but not too bad and it stopped quickly. The remainder will probably become iced tea.