Fortnum & Mason

Honestly, this tea doesn’t jump out at me as anything spectacular. It might be because I usually drink more of the flavoured teas, but this even seems to fall short of Twinnings breakfast tea. Maybe I’ll try a shorter steep next time.

Pretty mediocre Darjeeling. It might just have been the leaf grade, but I found really the only use for it was in ice tea. Pretty bitter and astringent (the astringency is actually why I believe it is a Darjeeling!). But I guess what else is there to expect from a BOP?

This is a full-flavored, straight forward bold English tea. The bright Ceylon tea leaves balance out the malty, darker Assam. Take the edge off with a splash of milk and it makes an ideal substitute for coffee at breakfast time.

See my full review of F&M Royal Blend here:
http://thirstyfortea.com/2013/07/18/fortnum-masons-royal-blend/

sipdown! so um…maybe i don’t like ceylon? lol I couldn’t drink this one and i had been super careful to steep it for less than my usual amount of time. It was just TOOOOO brisk, even for me. Ah well, you can’t win ’em all…but you CAN win the SIPOFF! cough well ONE of us can….

where you at terri? lol

sipdown! I am a fan of this one, though it’s not my favourite F&M tea to date. This is a good keemun, though I think i still really love the one from red blossom that i purchased a while back. I added some maple syrup as i always do to keemuns and let the flavours dance in my mouth. I really do love a good keemun.

(on a random side note…i so want the signature package of assam that twinnings does…it has an elephant on it. Stupid stupid unavailable teas/packages here in NA lol)

Another tea from yesterday, also sent to me via kaylee (who appears to have gotten it from adagio breeze). I really like this tea! I just wish that the coriander was a more present flavour in the actual brew. There’s a hint of the coriander, but mostly this is a lovely strawberry brew. I suspect that cold, it would be even better. My only complaint is the lack of a distinct coriander note running through it, so dropping the rating a few points because of that. Thanks again kaylee!

A great gift from my mother in law.
A delicious tea, best with honey & milk and if the mood takes you, add that slice of lemon too.
It opens up to a nice note especially at your throat… Mmmm heavenly.

Great for a cool winter’s afternoon or that autumn evenings watching the leaves falling.
Love it brewed cold in the summer and sometimes added lemonade for a great summer night drink.

Thanks to adagio breeze for bringing this tea to the States all the way from Britain!

The dry tea smell like strawberry and hibiscus. There’s a lot of stuff in the mix – I’m seeing coriander seeds, what looks like small bits of dried strawberry, dried citrus peel, what looks like dried peach (I tasted this after brewing and it tasted peachy), and a few other ingredients I can’t identify.

As Lindsey pointed out, there’s no online description or brewing instructions, so I had to wing it. I used ½ teaspoon for 4 oz, brewing it for 3 minutes in water that had cooled slightly after boiling. The liquid is a deep reddish-pink. The flavor is all hibiscus and strawberry. There may be a touch of tartness mid-sip, but that could be wishful thinking. There is a slight but not overwhelming aftertaste of strawberry candy.

Overall, this is just ok. I think it would be nice as an iced tea – probably sweet and juicy. Too bad I’m not a huge fan of iced tea!

This is an interesting looking tea, sent to me from NofarS.
It appears to be a silver needle white, or something similar, that is maybe wrapped around something like a nail to dry, so you have these lovely spiraled pale silver/green banana curls that are roughly an inch long. Once water is added, the expand & open to become pale green budsets. The liquore is a beautiful apricot liquid with the taste of…
wtf? It tastes like soap! I know what you’re thinking…you’re thinking I didn’t rinse my teaware, right? wrong! I never use dish soap on my teaware, just hot water. Also, just to make sure, I washed everything with hot water again, resteeped (2 times!), & it still tastes like soap. I’ve only encountered this with one other tea, another tea that I was kind of excited about trying (mainly due to the presentation). I think it was called Blue Unicorn, or something like that.
Oh well…gotta try all the teas, right? Sipdown (because I’m sending it to Sil, LOL)

Earl Grey is my favourite kind of tea and this is my all time favourite brew. It’s completely unbeatable – the smell of the bergamont is very fresh, and the flavour is smooth and full. There’s also no bitter aftertaste which seems to be the bane of many earl greys I try. I prefer not having this overly steeped – it’s lovely just on the line between light and medium strength. It also really gives you a kick in the butt in the morning, which is kind of the point! I need to order myself some more of this – it really is delightful.

Another sipdown brought to you by NofarS.
This is actually a pretty good cup of tea, especially considering that it’s suppose to be a blend of darjeeling & ceylon teas. It’s a little bright & floral, with a slightly metallic edge, bringing to mind the image of an old family teapot made of silver, polished on the outside, but tarnished on the inside with layers of patina from an endless number of steepings. As it cools, the astringency sets in…

Little Terri’s Sipdown Extravaganza!!! Week Two!
I’ve decided to focus today on savoring the rest of the teas that were sent to me from NofarS! We did an awesome swap a few months ago, & gratefully both of us received our boxes, & although I’ve sampled a few of the teas, I’d like to finish sampling them. I’m sharing them with Sil, so once I get through my half of each tea, I’ll pack up the box, along with her half of an order we split recently, & send it on it’s way, thus increasing her numbers while decreasing mine, hehehe…

This is very nice Keemun, just a gently earthy cup of tea to enjoy.

I bought this tea on my last trip to London in F&M’s shop in Piccadilly. They have rearranged all of their tea selections, redesigning the boxes (I preferred the old ones, in general. They were more subdued), and taking a lot of their old and good staples off the shelves. My favourite blend, Piccadilly Blend, is no longer, as are the Afternoon tea, Fountain blend and many others. They were replaced not by new and interesting blends, but by… nothing. They just cut down the number of tea blends that they offer.
Anyway, I got this tea from behind the counter, and they now allow you to buy only 100g or more in weight, which is infuriating, since they WEIGH the tea anyway, so why should they mind if I want only 50g? This only meant that I bought less kinds of tea.
On to the tea: the leaves are long and dark and twisted when dry, with a faint fruity scent to them. They vastly expand and turn a dark green in the pot. I brewed them Gongfu style in a relatively new Yixing teapot (which may have stolen some of the tea’s flavour) for three brewings: 20, 30, 40 seconds each.The soup is a very pale golden green, and the tea has tangy, only slightly floral notes. It had something of a lemon tart in it, and something elusive that I haven’t quite nailed down, but was quite pleasant. It’s a gentle tea, that looks unassuming, but unfolds charmingly once you take the time to get to know it.

Sipdown #2, from NofarS, thanks!

Admittedly, I am not a Ceylon fan. Something about Ceylons isn’t particularly pleasant for me, maybe astringency? It’s also the taste. It reminds me of the iced tea of my youth. I took a few sips, & put the rest in the fridge for later. What I really wanted was an Assam…

“Making a small clerical error which ends up costing so many marks on what should have been an easy, grade boosting assignment” consolation tea. I’m full of so much self loathing right now.

This tea is just like the letter grade I’m likely to end up getting in that class: A solid “B.” (Although, sometimes I think of this one in the 80’s; it’s dependable). I have so much of this tea in my life.

Thanks, Sil, for this sample! I had two cups of this tea last night while getting caught up with the latest season of Dexter (yeah, I know, I was supposed to finish off the last few pages of the fourth Wheel of Time).

Loved the cream component to this tea. It was slightly more dominant than the soft, dessert strawberry flavour. Sugar and vanilla are usually good things. The black tea base was smooth, with little astringency or bitterness, making it easy to drink quickly. I regret not saving one of the servings for another day.

I’m not a huge fan or Earl Greys, but Tony is, so I like to surprise him with various Earls as they come my way. This one came from my trade with NofarS. I served Tony a cup of it this morning, in place of his usual version, & he said, “You can just leave the rest of that here.”

Winning!

Somehow I learned that George Orwell liked Fortnum & Mason tea, so of course I had to give it a try. I stopped by Williams Sonoma after work yesterday to pick this up; they had the Royal Blend, Earl Grey, and the Breakfast Blend.

The malty notes that others have mentioned were certainly noticeable, but weren’t as prominent as I had expected. It’s got a smooth taste initially, with some very mild bitterness afterwards. This strikes me as a really good everyday tea – not something I’d crave, but certainly something to look forward to.

I accidentally way over-steeped this one because I was distracted, but it surprisingly didn’t turn out super bitter. Only a little more bitter than usual. Anyway, this tea almost tasted more like apple to me than strawberry, but it was still delicious with a clean taste. Definitely loving all the Fortnum & Mason fruit black teas!