3225 Tasting Notes

Fortnum and Mason Advent Day 6

I skipped breakfast today and puttered around before making an early lunch. We had a severe fog warning and even though it is to be quite warm later today, the whole world felt damp and cold.

I made one of my comfort food lunches from childhood, a bowl of chicken soup and a lettuce sandwich – crisp iceberg on bread with mayo and salt. Not overly nutritious, I know. But comfort nevertheless.

And the advent tea is one I tried before and loved! Today I took stock of why I like it when many blends contain these same ingredients and get a thumbs down from me.

The Ceylon is warm and coppery, more like low to mid-elevation grown Ceylon than the minty/lemony sour (to me) high grown stuff. I know Lover’s Leap and Uva Highlands are popular but they just don’t do it for me.

The Assam is malty and bready but doesn’t assault your tastebuds. I drink my tea plain so I like for it to be pretty well-behaved.

Sipping it, this has a rounder, smoother body and a thicker mouthfeel than the other black tea blends I have tried from the advent so far. I also got a wisp of sweet potato and maybe a touch of honey flavor.

As far as ease of drinking goes, but not in terms of flavor, this reminds me of Queen Catherine from Harney and Sons. It is a solid cup of black tea. It doesn’t have as much oomph as Catherine, and lacks the hint of natural smoke the Keemun carries. Catherine is much, much cheaper, though, but there is a place on shelf for this and I can tell Ashman would prefer this one of the two. He thinks Catherine is really strong and adds milk and sugar.

Since I had enough tea left after lunch for one more cup, I had to have a couple of slices of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange to finish it off, so I can say that Queen Anne pairs well with meals and sweets. :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Smoky Earl Grey by Fortnum & Mason
3225 tasting notes

Fortnum and Mason Advent Day 5

YAAAAAS! I really like this one and I am so glad they included it in the advent!

Smoke is not too strong – way less than Upton Black Dragon or Lapsang Crocodile from Dammann or same name tea from Thé O Dor. I give the smoke a level four or five on a scale of 0 to 10. The bergamot is pretty light, definitely there but not stealing the show.

Well done.

Ilse Wouters

This tea sounds really different. I´ve just bought some different earl grey, but I cannot imagine it in a smokey version. I was looking at F&M display at Heathrow Airport last week, but I don´t remember having seen this tea…something to look for next time ;-)

ashmanra

Ilse: I hope you like it as much as I do!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Schönen Feierabend by Sonnentor
3225 tasting notes

Sonnentor Advent Day 5

No note from Martin? Was this one not in the advent two years ago?

We had a busy day, driving Hugo the Lion Heart back home to Superanna’s house about an hour away and Ashman finishing some repairs there. Back home again and there ironing to do, next week’s lunches to plan and prepare, supper to make. Anyone else feel:tired just from riding in a car?

Now it is nearly bedtime and I am just getting around to my advent tea and it is a really good one for tonight. The name the way it is used in day to day speech basically means “beautiful quitting time” but feier means celebrate and abend means evening. So I can think of it as celebrating just having the evening to relax now.

This is pretty nice! The linden is softened and sweetened a bit by the floral ingredients and honestly I feel relaxed and chill.

These teas do not have the wow factor,so,far that I got from the Cuppageek herbals, but they are still a nice cup to sip on.

Martin Bednář

It was in, but I did a note in Random Steepings (here: http://steepster.com/Martin-CZE/posts/397286). Apparently I was sick back then and that’s why I did not made a separate entry.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Frosch im Hals by Sonnentor
3225 tasting notes

Sonnentor Advent Day 4

I don’t have a sore throat, so I don’t know if this would really soothe a sore throat any more so than any hot cuppa would, but I do know this is a pleasant little herbal cup.

I like the taste of linden well enough, and the additional herbs in this just made it even nicer. I am enjoying having herbals that don’t pound you in the face with strong mint or tart hibiscus/rosehips EVERY SINGLE CUP.

These Sonnentor herbals thus far are mild and pleasant.

Martin Bednář

Maybe it is different point of view of European and US tea blenders? I am very glad that you are enjoying those cups :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Royal Blend by Fortnum & Mason
3225 tasting notes

Fortnum and Mason Advent Day 4

I knew this was for sure a milk and sugar tea for Ashman, so I served it at lunch with a hearty sandwich. It is supposed to hit 75 again today, but it has been cloudy this morning so I thought he would enjoy a ham and cheese toastie with tomatoes. Fresh garden tomatoes, by the way. How weird is that?

We usually have all our tomato plants out by early November but this year they kept putting on fruit but it wasn’t ripening. I finally brought in the green tomatoes and ripened them in a bowl wrapped in newspaper. Today, Ashman discovered a whole new bevy of tomatoes as he was cleaning the turtle pen, so the counter is covered in green tomatoes again.

Moving on to the tea, this is low grown Ceylon (yes!) and Assam (okay). Not bad, but not really what I love most. Ashman liked it fine with milk and sugar. I had it plain with a lemon biscotti to dip in it since I wasn’t very hungry. I don’t hate it but I would never buy it on purpose. Lovers of British style blends will like it.

Cameron B.

I have Breakfast Blend today, so seems like our 1 & 4 were swapped and so were our 2 & 3! Interested to see how the rest of the days compare lol!

ashmanra

Indeed!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

I am very excited to post my first note that is part of….

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge!

I hope I am doing this right! I have always wondered how you guys knew what to drink and I finally asked the Mastress herself. She set me on the right path!

This is far from a sipdown. Once I tasted this tea years ago I decided that it would probably be one I would always keep on shelf. So even if I finished this tin I would just get more next time I place a Harney order.

Still, it has been neglected for a while and if I understand how to do this, today is National Pear Day and we are supposed to drink a pear tea.

Breakfast was a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera so this “paired” (ha ha lil pun there) very nicely.

The white base and spices are pretty much perfect for pear. I am always surprised at how much flavor and really lovely body the cup has. Guests tend to love it, even if they are not devoted tea drinkers.

I get more cinnamon than nutmeg for sure, and I guess it is the lear itself that makes this tea round and smooth and silky. The cinnamon isn’t sharp and hot like their Hot Cinnamon Spice, not at all. It is well balanced.

Evol Ving Ness

And where does one find this list of what to drink and when? (not that I will, because, you know, rebel child.)

ashmanra

In the discussion threads, and the title is something Mastress Alita’s sipdown thread. This while month is just to drink holiday themed teas with the exception of a few days that have more specific prompts like pear tea for National Pear Day.

Evol Ving Ness

The chances of me checking the thread AND then being able to locate the specific teas that fall into the specific categories are slim.

Mastress Alita

“2021 Sipdown Progress Thread” in the forums. It’s been going on all year, though interest has waned a lot after the first few months with only a few people still finding theming useful for making progress on sipdowns. Next year I’ll either drop theming altogether and just have it be a place for people to record/keep track of their progress over the year (which is its main purpose, anyway), or do sort of a short “scavenger hunt” list for each month with no designated days.

Cameron B.

Love this tea, probably my favorite pear tea! :D

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Sonnentor Advent Day 3

Quite a while back I tried making golden milk and I hated it. Then I tried a turmeric tea that a friend was drinking for health and I really couldn’t get into it. I thought this tea would be like that.

I pre-planned for disaster. Should I just make it in milk? Make a latte? Add eggnog? Would that be horrible? Horribler? Ha ha!

I decided to steep it in just a bit of water and sip and depending on how it went I would top up with either more hot water or add milk and sugar.

But when I tasted it, it was actually good! As Martin put it, it is an easy drinking spice tea and I had no trouble at all sipping it down. This was well done. No additions needed.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Afternoon Blend by Fortnum & Mason
3225 tasting notes

I didn’t hate or love this tea. But I have a lot of tea to get through and since they recommend this one iced because it keeps a nice, clear color I decided to go for it.

These tins are generous so I will actually get two pitchers out of what is left. I steeped three teaspoons and resteeped, pouring into a Bodum pitcher with a little less than a half cup sugar to keep it true to my one cup of sugar per gallon ratio for Ashman’s tea. Left in fridge all day but it will probably be best tomorrow.

It was 76F and sunny here today and I worked in the garden a bit, so it is a great day to try out a new iced tea!

Indeed, the color is as gorgeous as they say with none of the cloudiness you get with Assam. (Usually that can be cleared up with a teeny bit of baking soda.)

The surprise is that the resulting iced tea, even with the resteep, is stronger than the Luzianne I usually use for iced. I was worried it was going to be weak. It isn’t, and tastes decent already. but didn’t send me over the moon. It was just decent iced tea, no fireworks but definitely lots of flavor. And iced tea is always better second day so I may be more impressed tomorrow.

I have at least three teaspoons of leaf left as these advent tins are 25 grams, so there will be one more pitcher.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Fortnum and Mason advent day 3

I was facing this one with a bit of trepidation. I like Earl Grey best with Keemun, Lapsang, or white tea as the base. I was afraid this would be a “volume ten in your face” Earl.

I made a toasted cheese to go with it and let it be a holiday tribute to our good friend, KS, who loved Earl Grey every which way. Rat lunch, just like the old days.

To my surprise, this is smooth and easy sipping! Stoo gave it a 6.5 of 10 for how much bergamot is in it and I agree. Plenty to taste but nothing overpowering here. I see that JacquelineM called it a favorite, and I see why. Plus she points out that the companies says the base is mostly Chinese black tea! This explains why I like it. Bergamot seems to be paired with Ceylon most of the time and it is just way too sour for me!

Big thumbs up for day 3!

Cameron B.

Whaaaat this was Day 2 for me! O.o

Cameron B.

And I agree, I loved this one! Definitely a Chinese base. ❤

gmathis

I haven’t rat lunched for a while. On the menu it goes.

ashmanra

At least I won’t be giving you any spoilers, Cameron! Maybe an apprentice loaded my calendar!

ashmanra

Gmathis – I hope you enjoy your rat lunch!

This is a good day to get a Christmas card sent off to his wife!

mrmopar

Yeah I miss KS too.

tea-sipper

KS! Had a toasted cheese with dill pickles inside the other day: fancy rat lunch.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

drank Afternoon Blend by Fortnum & Mason
3225 tasting notes

Fortnum Advent Day 2

There are two entries for this tea. The other is under the name Afternoon Blend which is probably the correct name, and only has one review, so I chose to put this here.

My first tea was Breakfast, which was exactly as advertised but is definitely not my favorite type of tea. As expected, this was very similar but lighter.

I did sip it before eating so the flavor wouldn’t be muddied by the food, and it had that bright and coppery taste I associate with Ceylon tea. (I do enjoy low and mid-elevation Ceylons but high grown are too minty and astringent for me.) It is a little malty but I didn’t feel like the only way to get it down was with milk and sugar. (Breakfast Blend without food would deffo be with milk and possibly sugar, too.)

With food, this is quite nice. It serves the purpose of a breakfast tea and while it is muted with the food because the sharp edges are dulled, it has the gumption to still have flavor.

I agree with Ros on this one. If I am going to pay Fortnum prices, I want one of their unique blends. I can get plenty of breakfast and afternoon tea that I enjoy more than this one for less cost.

Since they recommend it iced, that is where the last of this is going.

Tldr: Better than Breakfast Blend, not as good as Queen Anne. Just my opinion.

Cameron B.

And this was my Day 3, ha ha ha. We’re all over the place! XD

Cameron B.

Also, I fixed the name for this entry and marked the other one as duplicate.

ashmanra

Thank you!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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…

Location

North Carolina

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer