Fortnum & Mason

One of my all time favourites. Can’t stand this smoking aroma!

Sipdown 2020! 29/365

Last cup of this! It was enjoyable – I hit the right infusion parameters for this last cup. Would definitely drink it again if offered.

More of this one – same opinion, that it’s good enough, especially considering the age. Should be a sipdown soon!

A old, but still decent, sample from Sil – thanks! Not as flavourful as it once was, but still brewed up a nice cup of black tea with enough strawberry fruitiness to be enjoyable.

A tea bag that I had in my drawer instead of huge bags, but comes from the latter.

It is overcast, with little rain, a bank holiday (patron of Bohemia, St. Wenceslas, was killed 1085 years ago by his brother), sad day… heading to work this afternoon.

Tomorrow a new semester starts. I was promising myself I will clean up my desk so I could work as needed, as we will stay at home and have distance learning. Nope.

Tea review down from this line
The tea is same as last time (tea bag version). Typical black tea with some bitterness, quite tannic and not much of malty. They say it is light and refreshing and well, I don’t much think so.
Tea review up from this line

I feel overall somehow quite down, like the little kid who realised that his vacation is over, my mother said me that I am kind of sponger of family, I am doing nothing to pay family bills and I am trading on that I am the youngest. I must say it hit me terrilbly and although I am sure she didn’t meant it necessary in a bad way, it is something you really don’t want to hear!

Had one tea bag in my cupboard (to drink it earlier than from huge bags section)

It was just same, boring, black tea. Shorter steeping time (2 minutes only) was a clever idea, but as I said, the tea was just boring. Just basic black tea flavours, especially the tannic and somehow bold flavour.

Just had a cuppa, a tea bag though only. Huge bags section.

I completely agree with Roswell Strange, it is classical black tea, kind of malty and strong. There weren’t much other notes than tannic black tea notes. Simple, full-bodied tea; but not worth the price they are selling it for. It is just a black tea, nothing wow.

So, I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening over at a friend/coworker’s house playing board game with her and her boyfriend – we also drank a ton of tea. Surprisingly she’s not a massive tea drinker (though she does drink some tea), but her boyfriend is VERY into tea – namely British tea, though he’s trying to branch out.

So he got to try a bunch of tea from my collection, and in return he made sure I had a bottomless mug of tea from their collection throughout the entire night. This was the first thing he made for me, steeped extra strong with milk and sugar. I told him he could basically make me whatever he wanted, however he wanted to steep it and I would happily drink it. I think he had a lot of fun with that.

I thought this was pretty good – in all honesty it’s not a type of tea that I would probably purchase for myself, especially because I find Fortnum & Mason quite expensive for the quality of the tea, so if I’m going to buy something from F&M I want it to be one of their more unique offerings. This is his favourite tea company, though, and respectfully it’s a solid cup of black tea. Full bodied, malty, and not too sweet – as a classic cuppa I can see the appeal.

A tea bag only.

Busy days recently. And I haven’t slept well too. So, after sleepless night (I slept few hours only in total) – I was craving for caffeine boost. I found in my tea bag stash this one. And it’s certainly from “huge bags section”.

Maybe it’s even sipdown, I am not really sure if I have another bag there. I don’t care to be honest.

Tea itself was steeped quite short, but I was afraid of getting too bitter drink. Brew is very dark, brown colour. Looks steeped even after two minutes. And they sugest three.

I took the bag out, went downstairs to enjoy it with my dad. He felt earlier this week and he have partly broken bone in the leg. So, I have to bring him food, drinks and so on. We had nice discussion together, although (and naturally) we don’t agree in all points.

Back to the tea. It is maybe too smoky for me. I don’t mind little smokiness, but this was too smoky and bergamot / citrus fruits were hard to find in taste. They were there, but smokiness was way stronger. Almost meaty.

Not a bad cuppa, but more citrus fruits would be great in this blend. Diary/tasting note over.

Another tea found in huge bags. And so far one of the worst from Fortnum and Mason? 2 and little steeping time.

It brews so quickly, so after that short time I have opaque, dark brown tea.

And it tastes generic, black tea., even with metallic aftertaste. What?

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGvrI_5qFXA
Song translation: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/nevidom%C3%A1-d%C3%ADvka-blind-girl.html
Warning: Sad song.

Hah! I found one more tea bag in huge bags!

I did little shorter steep this time; and it was same, maybe little better.
Very fresh citrus notes, which were refreshing and genuine, mellow bergamot.

The taste of base is very great too, well present, bit smoky and citursy as well. Not overpowring the taste of citrus fruits.

Hmm. Treat!

So great to drink this tea. I won’t repeat myself, previous note is just right.

I was thinking about placing order, but luckilly for my wallet their shipping is quite steep for me and prices aren’t one of the lowest as well. But their packages are looking great.

My “big bags section” brings now some real treat! Oh my, aroma is so amazing – lots of bergamot, little smokiness – that’s exactly how I like my Earl Grey. I can imagine that fresh tea is better, moreover if loose leaf, but well!

This tea is real treat. Bold black tea, mellow bergamot taste. Is there something more to wish for? Hmm, let me think… nope? Just fantastic. Maybe I am somehow bit affected, as this tea is exactly what I was looking for. Just a nice tasting Earl Grey with bold base. I rememeber few good in bergamot, second ones were good in boldness, but this one is both. Over.

Not a fan of tart teas therefore opting out of rating

I have to give credit to Fortnum & Mason for making wonderful fruit infused teas. They never really taste artificial. This tea definitely smells like cranberry , but the taste is a slight tartness that balances out the black tea. While i like the balance, I am not a fan of tart teas so someone who is looking for something tart may find it too subtle for their tastes.

Big bags tea and I thought I have finished all Fortnum & Mason teas already, but apparently not.

I was working on my thesis and in one moment I just found a dead end and I just couldn’t find any solution. I asked the company, they didn’t know. I asked my thesis leader teacher — she did not reply (I wrote it in the morning). I wrote another teacher (in the afternoon), probably it was too late for him as well. I was drinking this tea with my brother and father (both drinking coffee), explained them my problem (it is one of several parameters) and brother came up with solution. I will have to explain why I have used a bit another parameter than used in the formula from book, but at least there is some solution and hopefully working one.

Anyway to this tea… it is fairly generic black tea, although they claim they use Ceylon and Assam tea. I couldn’t notice it and maybe it is due to age as it is indeed old one and moreover bagged. It was quite heavy on tannic notes, a hint of bitterness and pretty much forgettable tea. I would love to find out if looseleaf is better, or fresher tea afterall, but it seems they do not export to the EU teas right now.

Not all teas are winners. This is sad example of that.

Well, this is a black tea and having all qualities of black tea. Unfortunately only that. It is nice and tannic black tea – but no malty notes, just tannic.

Luckily, no astringency while brewing 2 and half minute. A tea bag :)

Expected more, but it is decent.

Found another tea bag of this blend in my huge bags section; and it is same as last time.

Nice blend, if you are looking for basic black tea. Robust, malty black tea, bit tannic, but without any moments that make it memorable and unique experience.

Good for mornings though :)

Ha. Another tea from bags so tea bag form. Fortum and Mason – what an expensive stuff! Happy to see it in my collection with even chance to try it. Now, a box of 25 tea bags costs 5.25 GBP. That is 6 CZK per tea bag.

So, it naturally should be great. But unfortunately – it is not worth IMHO. It was nice blend, bold, perfect black tea, no weird aromas or tastes, but it was just a tea. If you want bold and malty tea – this is for you. But I am afraid you can get much more (or same) for less exclusive brands. Yes, of course, the artwork on the box (and bag) is amazing and it really looks as expensive stuff.

But as I said. This tea is good, but I expected some WOW! moment which, sadly did not came.

Finally, I own this tea! Having missed the tiny timeframe in which you could order this blend last year, I JUMPED on the occasion when I saw that they were selling it again this year. Shipping costs didn’t matter – I had to have it.
And what a joy. Oh I can’t tell you enough how much I love this one.

They advertise it as a Quince, Chestnut and Honey-flavoured Lapsang. Well, it definitely is exactly that – but it is so, so much more. When I opened the tin it felt like I was smelling an entire Christmas market: small wooden huts where they sell bredala and candles, bonfires for people to hold their gloved hands at and warm them a bit, the little locomotive where a man with steampunk goggles and a long coat sells freshly roasted chestnuts. All of this was in this tin that I was holding.

I brewed it as indicated on the tin, 5 minutes and 100°C. I recommend following these instructions as I think that that’s when the tea is best, now that I’ve had it a few times.

I am so in love with this tea that I don’t think I can be as objective as I should be here. I first got a fruitiness mixed with the sweetness of the honey, which brought to mind candied fruit as they’re sold on holidays. It’s a deep fruitiness that mixes well with the chestnut, too. A beautiful flavouring for an autumn-themed blend.

And then there’s the Lapsang and its smokiness – what a genius idea to use it with those flavours? The smokiness makes the autumn flavours so much richer while adding something of its own. It’s lovely! It feels like drinking a cold red-leaved forest lit by candles in small lanternes. It tastes like a tiny snowy village at night and a cracking log in the fireplace. It’s such a comforting tea.

I love this one. I’m obsessed. I’m literally giggling as I’m typing this review. I cannot recommend this enough – if you can, try this!

Picked this one at the airport on my layover.

It is exceptional. It had pieces of roses in the tea.
The tea was smooth and a little smokey and there was a prominent floral note from the roses. It was one of my favorites.
Great tea.

First Lapsang I tried just from the description at the airport. I was blown away. It was like if you could turn Christmas lifetime movie into a drink. It was warm, toasty and reminded me of a camp fire on a cold day- an odd description for tea but it created a nice ambiance.

It was very very smokey, artificial, it was what I liked. I love the smokey taste so much and it was very prominent in this tea. The tea was very forgiving in the brew time. I found that out by accident. It is also not as great when cold, so drink it when its hot or warm. Cold it taste like liquid smoke.

Definitely glad I picked this up at the airport and I am trying to find a lapsang similar to this one. Having a hard time doing that though.