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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.

SONNENTOR ADVENT DAY 7

Here I was so happy about night time herbals, didn’t check the translation (I knew Hol Dir but not Schwung) and made this only to discover that it means Get Some Momentum. Ha ha! I am pretty sleepy so hopefully it isn’t going to work like an energy tea tonight. Clearly I should have had it this morning!

It has chamomile in it, so maybe they were counting on the spearmint and hyssop to pep people up just by the minty freshness, but I find mint calming most of the time and the chamomile will probably just amplify my already drowsy state.

Tastewise – honestly lots of these taste much the same, this one being a little drier than some of the others, but chamomile kind of makes itself known in a blend in a big way and my tastebuds are not keen enough to get a huge difference. It is definitely minty, too.

Again, a pleasant final evening cuppa to sip on as I read my last chapter before bed.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 7

My first darjeeling made me think I hated darjeeling. I made it like any black tea. Much later I discovered that cooler water and shorter steeps made them drinkable for me. I know people who adore darjeeling, and I am probably in the minority not caring for it much. An exception is Sakura Premium from Lupicia, which has all the very best bits of darjeeling and is just arresting to drink, even though my heart still belongs to Chinese black tea.

I made this one at 185F for three minutes and it was just okay. Not offensive, it tasted like an inexpensive daily drinker that was nothing special. But Fortnum should be special, even if it is their lower grade.

I made another cup a little hotter with a slightly longer steep and got more of the classic darjeeling strength, briskness, and fruitiness. It is not as good as Lupicia’s but was better than some other darjeeling I have tried. I will drink it, but I won’t seek more. Went fine with breakfast!

Sonnentor Advent Day 6

This one was not in the database and is no longer listed on their site as far as I can see.

The ingredients sounded really great, but alas, all I taste is rose hips and hibiscus. I really wish I had detected the pear and vanilla. I am okay that the cloves were hiding.

I didn’t notice until several days in that all but one of the Sonnentor advent teas are herbal and caffeine free, which makes it really nice to have a regular morning advent tea and an evening advent tea that won’t keep me up!

I didn’t mind the hibiscus too much in this one. It was tart but the others have been varied and not just assaulting me nightly with tartness. With a little leftover popcorn and the last of a chocolate orange, it made a good bedtime snack.

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. :)

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.

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.

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.

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.