Christmas Blend

I saw this on my floor when I got home from work and it reminded me that it’s Friday :D No more work for a few days YAY! I can finally breathe. Christmas is very busy (as everyone knows) and I have so much to do, I just chose my Christmas dinner recipe’s (this year I’m doing a red wine and chestnut pate en croute with roast parsnips and potatos, carrot pure and brussel sporuts) and that leads to much preparation. My husband loves Christmas and I keep thinking that this time last year he might have been taken away from me (he had testicular cancer last year that had spread to his lymphnodes and if it didn’t get caught when it did it could and probably would have been fatal) so I’m trying my best to make it extra special this year.

Anyway ramble on as I do, this tea arrived and after my Christmas planning and frantic shopping I decided to try this tea as soon as my daily schedule would let me. It looks like a nice mixture with large chunks dominating it of what look like cinnamon bark, cloves, and red fruit with a few other twiggy bits. It smells deliciously of spicy orange.

Once brewed the tea creates a mellow citrus fragrance. A few sips in and I can detect waxy orange, cooling clove, fruity berries and spicy cinnamon all in one mouthful. It’s not too heavy in flavour and the Assam gives this blend a lovely dark and rich fullness to balance the different flavours out.

A nice touch for the festive season this year, thank you Canton Tea.

This arrived on Friday, awaiting my return from a very long day at university. Funny that, really. Any day I have to drive up and down the M1 seems to be a long day, but this was longer than usual. Saturday I was rushed off my feet with my other job so I have only now been able to sample it. I must say that the Canton Tea Club is a splendid idea. Getting home every week to find a new tea on my doorstep is lovely and a thing to look forward to. I shall have to encourage my relatives to keep extending my membership. Perhaps each of them could pledge to do so as a Christmas present and I could set up a rota!

Anyway, I’m really enjoying this one today. The smell when I opened the packet was most excellent, a brilliantly Christmassy blend that reminded me of various mulled wine recipes I have tried over the years. The orange was dominant and I really liked that. It looks great too. When brewed the aroma was not as strong but the taste is smooth and festive. The mix of citrus, liquorice, cloves and cinnamon goes very well together with the Assam base. My tongue is still tingling with the citrus tang even ages later. Great stuff and definitely one to keep around for Christmas for those that do not want my rather potent mulled wine or have to drive home after dinner.

I was seriously fearful of this blend. Two words: Licorice root. I hate the stuff. Sickly-sweet is a flavor I need in my tea. Thankfully, enough of the citrus and spice did their darnedest to mask the damnedest of all roots.

One word of advice: Obey the two-minute steep time to the letter, though.