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Strawberry flavored teas are pretty much always a hit with Ashman, and I like them myself. Our first was Marco Polo by Mariage Freres and it was excellent but finicky. Most of the strawberry teas we have tried are strawberry AND…something else like cream, yogurt (boy, that was a good one), coconut, or chocolate.

This one is strawberry. Dry leaves smell like strawberry in a big way. Steeped cup – yep, strawberry. We liked it a lot. I felt like the aroma and taste matched those strawberry hard candies that are wrapped in red strawberry print plastic and have a soft center, so I would call this more strawberry candy flavor than real garden strawberry. Or maybe strawberry pie filling? But it doesn’t taste sweet and there is no added sweetener.

A good tea from the advent box from which I am utterly ignoring the numbers on the doors, or even the month I am supposed to drink this. With 600 grams of tea in this puppy, it is going to take more than a month to finish it.

I have ordered this several times and finally get to add it back to my cupboard after a long respite! I ordered it from the Teavivre US site and this is my first time trying out their new packaging.

I have reviewed this before. Still the strongest breakfast tea I drink, I take it sans additions and drink on those morning when I want something raspy like straight cocoa, although this doesn’t taste super chocolate-y to me. It just has the briskness.

Today I gave it to Ashman for the first time because I have long suspected that it would be too strong for his tastes without milk and sugar, which he is trying to avoid. I was right, so I was glad I had a small back up pot of tea for him. He’s a Bai Lin Gong Fu man all the way.

I have nothing new to say about how the tea tastes, but I will talk about this new packaging. If you have ordered from the US site, you know that you could only get zip bags and no tins. The new bags are handsome – navy blue (so dark I thought it was black at first) with red and white. The front has the red circle with white tea leaf silhouette near the top and white swirlies at the bottom. The back has a large red label with all the information your heart could desire right at your fingertips – steeping instructions for western and gong fu, origin, etc. I love this because I really dislike having to look up parameters when I am ready to make tea.

Most impressive is the secure zip closure. I was hoping the new packaging would keep my tea fresh and not be “spilly.” I am pleased with it! I have enough room to maneuver a spoon in and it has a great seal.

Nice little addition: since Ashman didn’t drink his share (which he would have liked with milk and sugar) I had tons left over, so I sweetened and iced a bit for supper tonight. It was strong and delish, and I picked up a light floral note that I did not detect in it hot.

Don’t know why but woke up depressed yesterday. Hypothetical argument generator was set on high and imagination worst case scenario screenwriter was working overtime. By evening I was exhausted. Still didn’t sleep until 3 am.

I reached for the Queen this morning and made cheese toast with mustard instead of my usual (recently) waffles. This made me think of K S and rat lunch (old Steepster term for tea and toasted cheese taken from the book I Was A Rat) which made me emotional again.

The Queen is reliable. A mix of Chinese black teas, she highlights the best elements of each one. She is strong but not too strong to take sans milk and sugar. There is the classic “tea” aroma, coppery but not sour, a little briskness but not too much for me, and a good full body.

I knew what it was immediately. I also opened it immediately.

We were looking at advent calendars a while back and saw the big wooden F&M one. I mentioned that it was a really nice one, wooden and refillable, but way too expensive to justify although certainly worth what they charge for it.

Ashman said he had never heard of the company and I told him I had a tin of Rose Pouchong purchased in London by our daughter but he isn’t a fan of rose tea so I never serve it to him. I also mentioned that in the book series we are reading at night, Flavia DeLuce will send a hamper from F&M to Antigone Hewitt, so it is an old and esteemed British company.

Apparently, he ordered as soon as my back was turned!

I plan to cheat like mad and drink whichever ones I want when I want. I am feeling grateful.

Here is a bit of an update on the “why is this Keemun called a Pouchong on the label?” topic.

No one knows.

And that is from the horse’s mouth.

All respect to Fortnum and Mason because I have had excellent customer service regarding this question. I emailed them asking why a Keemun that is labeled a Keemun in the ingredient list would be called pouchong by name. Explained that pouchong means “the wrapped kind” and queried if Keemun could be wrapped in such a manner.

I was first contacted by customer service and the gentleman said he was as perplexed as I, and would investigate. I truly did not expect to hear from anyone ever again. A couple of weeks later I had another email saying that he had not found the answer yet and was contacting someone further up in the supply chain. Another wait and another email comes saying they are all perplexed and have no answer except that perhaps it really is a Keemun that is wrapped at some point but no one he found to question knows. Apologies were offered for the lack of more information. I assure him my enjoyment of the tea was not lessened.

Did someone see the word Pouchong one day and decide it sounded fancy and possibly MEANT fancy and stuck it on a Keemun tea in a board meeting? Who knows?

Bottom line – really nice Keemun with rich, round, almost oily rose flavor. Resteeps well. Definitely all Keemun and no Pouchong in sight.

Okay, this one deserves some love.

I had it first with breakfast and was really surprised by how much flavor it had. The base was good and strong with a hint of bitterness, and with breakfast I thought it tasted quite nutty with caramel and fruit, in that order. I made another cup to drink later and it was all fruit and caramel, with lots of drippy good caramel flavor. I didn’t get nuttiness that time. As it cooled, the chameleon changed some more. The hint of bitterness up front (a nice, arresting kind not a turn off kind) grew a bit, but was always followed up with a punch of apricot and caramel.

It really does taste different when paired with different things, and I concur that it resteeps well. Definitely worth trying and worth buying if you like apricot, plum, and caramel.

Thank you, derk, for sending some tea love my way!

Just me and the dogs for breakfast today as Ashman has gone back to work, so I get to pick whatever I like for tea!

Macarons – yummy. Didn’t know until a few years ago that they were different from macaroons. Now I know and wish we could get really good ones here. Violet – I used to shrink from it in candy as tasting like bubble bath but now eat an entire pack of Chowards (or C. Howards) in one sitting so I don’t often buy them. Blackcurrant – I am a relatively new fan. Never had it until a Harney tea about ten years ago and it took going to Ireland and drinking blackcurrant water to really get the flavor solidly identified to my tastebuds and distinguishable. I am not a supertaster by a long shot! Now I enjoy Czar Nikolas Nostalgia on the reg, and it definitely is a nostalgic taste for me.

So all three on a sencha base? The base could easily have ruined it if it had been the biting sour green used for a lot of green flavored teas. Even the French blenders use one often that just turns me off. But this one was delicate was just right for the flavors. None of the flavors overwhelmed and it definitely was not heavily floral. I was surprised at how light the violet was, actually, because it can really leap out front.

It was absolutely delectable. Sigh. I love Dammann Freres.

I received a surprise box in the mail from derk yesterday that turned my day around! Thank you, derk! It came at just the right time.

Last night I was sleepy but couldn’t sleep so I stayed up to read. Then the dogs went nuts barking after midnight and I went out with them to investigate. When I came back in from enjoying the stars and the nearly full moon in the gorgeous inky sky, I wanted some tea to help me finish my chapter but it needed to be caffeine free.

I didn’t realize this was green rooibos at first but I am ecstatic that it is. I find green quite enjoyable, and the flavor was lightly sweet, smooth, and soothing. Pears are the gentlest fruit to me, lacking any bite or tart tang most of the time. Green rooibos was just the right base for the pear flavor, and while the pear was delicate it was still satisfying. I would say this had a medium body that bordered on creamy and was overall a great cup to wrap your hands around in the wee hours and say “mmmmmmm.”

A surprise sample of this arrived from gmathis and I was especially excited to try it now that we are having an actual cool evening!

The aroma is very rich, nice and boozy with chocolate. The chocolate does not have the weird aroma that Ashman hates but I am making a just-for-me cup tonight and will have a other tomorrow morning. The base of this lends itself very well to breakfast as it has that slight briskness that makes it a little stimulating.

I find it similar to O’Connor’s Cream, which is slightly less brisk to me and a little creamier, whereas this one has a little more flavor from the base tea I think.

Thank you for the very welcome sample, gmathis!

Experiment 1: Heated apple juice and then added one bag of Winter Spice per mug. Steeped for five minutes then left bag in during sipping. Beginning of cup was mostly strong warm apple juice flavor with light spice, but as I neared the bottom of the cup I began to taste the chamomile and cardamom quite a bit more.

Funny thing – I forgot to tell Ashman what we were drinking and just handed him the cup. He sipped and said, “Wow, this is really apple-y!”

“Oh, um….yes, this is apple juice with a tea bag in….”

“Ah, well…it’s really good!”

Thought – caramel drizzle? Whipped cream on top? Whipped cream with caramel drizzle on top? More experiments to follow, including glug of orange juice.

I ordered this tea because I got two reviews mixed up, both of which I had commented on and they had similar names.

First, this doesn’t hold a candle to Spiced Fall Evenings.

Now that we have that out of the way…this smells good. When I took the plastic outer wrap off of the box a nice, warm spice smell greeted me. The tea while steeping also smelled nice.

The first sip immediately made me think that I would probably clutch a cup of this sometime when I wasn’t feeling well and really like it. I can imagine it being comforting when you don’t have the energy to pay attention to really good tea.

I think it might be better with a little real apple juice or something added to pump up the flavor, and either honey (especially when sick) or a little sweetener might also take it a long way toward tasting like what the aroma made you hope for.

The chamomile dominates but the apple is nice enough, though very mild. And that’s the bottom line. It was so promising in aroma but fell a little short. It isn’t terrible, and is drinkable for what it is and if it helps me relax or sleep then hallelujah. But I will definitely be looking for an easy trick to make it taste a little stronger. Maybe two bags? Brown sugar?

I may even try heating some apple juice and use this as a sort of mulling spice in it.