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I have read the reviews of this tea by K S for years now. Last year I finally went looking for it and it was all sold out. That happens with the better Christmas teas in this area. White Christmas by Stash is another one that you had better load into your basket as soon as you see it or else you won’t be having any.

Imagine my surprise when I was in the grocery store tonight and saw one box. ONE BOX. No label or tag on the shelf for it. Just the one. I looked around to see if they were putting out Christmas tea outlandishly early. (The heat index here is still over 100F most days.) I saw a pumpkin tea but no more Christmas tea. There was a box with peppermint sticks on the front but it didn’t say it was a Christmas blend. Since I had wanted to try it I had my daughter check the expiration date to make sure it wasn’t last year’s tea that turned up in a back room, but it looked brand new and had a nice long time until it expires.

I was going to have one cup tonight to try it, but as I took the sachet out of the box and the aroma hit me, I knew hubby had to try it. He is aptly nicknamed “The Cookie Monster” in our house. This smelled like really good sugar cookies, specifically the Queen Cake recipe from Colonial Williamsburg that we make at Christmas. So I made a whole pot, and we ended up making a very passable resteep.

Reviews said that it tastes best slightly cooled, so I waited to call him in until I had poured it. I used three sachets in a Stump teapot, boiling water, and five minutes steep time before pouring but we did not remove the bags.

I thought it was great! This is a wonderful, wind-down in the evening cup. I tried it plain first and then based on reviews added a little sugar and milk. I liked it best plain. The milk covered up the light orange notes. Hubby add sugar and more milk than I did, and he loved it best that way. He said milk always smooths black tea for him and he felt it did for this, too. I didn’t taste anything that needed to be smoothed and milk just made it “heavy” to me so my next cups we all plain.

As hubby said, this would be delicious with something to dip in it…a Rich Tea Biscuit, biscotti, graham crackers. I am definitely going to be aggressive about finding more of this during the limited time it is available. I could really use something caffeine free that feels like comfort food for evenings, especially this winter.

Thank you, K S, for singing the praises of this tea for all these years.