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Sipdown

January Sipdown Prompt – a tea you put off drinking

Here we have the final Fortnum & Mason advent sipdown! I put off drinking it because it is one of Ashman’s favorite tea types and one of his favorites from Fortnum & Mason. We had it with a very simple breakfast of home made whole wheat bread, toasted, and derk’s plum and cinnamon jam. (Yuuuuuuuuuuum!) Then we had a little more for a tea and cookie time outside on a blanket in the sun in celebration of a high temp over 50F and sunny weather instead of the freezing gray we have been having lately.

Ashman used to drink Ceylon tea with milk and sugar but he likes it plain now. This one is a pretty typical smooth and mild tea that resteeps nicely to blend the two steeps together for a nice big pot that has plenty of flavor. I find it milder than Harney & Sons Ceylon & India blend, which is also very nice and might be the better choice if you really want to add milk and sugar and still feel some heft from the tea.

January Sipdown Prompt – a sunny tea to chase the Janu-weary blues away

This puerh is delightful if you like flavored puerh. It is called fruity but it is absolutely sunny to me. It just smells so cheerful. It was a Christmas gift from Ashman. I taste the puerh in this better than I taste the base of Lupicia’s Sunny Fruits Puer. We did three steeps and even number three had plenty of flavor.

Many thanks to gmathis for coining the term “Janu-weary” to express how s9me of us feel about this month. For the first time in many years, I am handling January pretty well, having set myself a challenge to get outside each morning if possible, even if it is very cold. (I have a tendency to hibernate and not venture outdoors in extreme temps, hot or cold.)

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When I opened the pouch this final time, the aroma was pure escalloped apples. Have you ever had the ones from Stouffer’s? That is exactly what this smelled like.

Steeped, the apple is lighter and the buttery coffeecake smell is stronger. I am not noticing the briskness I got the first time after the meal so I may have overleafed that time.

This is a very nice tea and good for relaxed sipping as the melting snow drips from the roof and trees and sounds like rain as I read on the sofa. That kind of tea…

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January Sipdown Prompt – drink a lingering advent tea

This is the second to last remaining Fortnum advent tea. I am leaving Ceylon for Ashman because it is one of his favorites.

When I saw how my cupboard had swelled at the end of the year, I thought I would probably not consider getting the advent for a few years to come. Now I am changing my mind. I liked the variety and I felt free to give away any tins that were duplicates or that were teas we didn’t enjoy. (we don’t love their Christmas Black or Green, sadly.)

They added some new teas to the lineup this year and had fewer duplicates, so I got to try some new blends. So my thought now is that in November I will assess my cupboard size and what they are putting in the advent for 2025 and base it on that. A homemade advent could be a really good thing, too. I still have about 60 of their tiny tins saved from previous years that I could fill and label and have my daughter put the teas in the box so the order will be a surprise.

As for the taste of the tea – this is a good, serviceable breakfast tea. Strong enough to go with food, not so brisk as to require milk, but becomes pretty silky smooth with it. I have never tried it with sugar as I usually don’t add sweetener but I feel sure it could take it well if that’s how you like your tea. It isn’t a competition grade Keemun or Assam, but it is a good example of a well-loved type of tea and sometimes that is what we feel like drinking.

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I am glad they put this in the tins advent this year because I really enjoyed it when I had the sachet advent, but there was only the one serving.

This time, Ashman and I both enjoyed it and neither of us felt that it needed milk to smooth it out or sugar to make it more interesting or tone down briskness.

It is a very nice Assam and goes well with breakfast, although I finished it off today with lunch and as an accompaniment to my “dessert” of two Lindt truffles.

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Ashman and I have enjoyed this one with meals. I don’t think we ever had it on its own. Warm and cozy spices greet you when you open the package. I don’t like too much clove or too much ginger in spice blends, and this one is juuuuuuust right…for me. If you were looking for a strong chai, this isn’t it.

It smells like I should be drinking it on a rainy day with soft light jazz playing.

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Instead of icing it, I had it as an afternoon accompaniment to some Lindt truffles. I like this one much better than at first, as I now treat it almost like a Darjeeling. The briskness is turned down when I go with 190F. If I wanted to add milk and/or sugar, I would probably stick with boiling water and four minutes.

January Sipdown Prompt – January 19: World Snow Day – drink a white tea!

Rain yesterday, rain today, fairly warm at 60F but snow and bitterly cold (for us) weather coming in two days possibly. Definitely dark and dreary enough to make us want to wrap our hands a comforting cup of tea all day.

I have very few white teas on shelf right now. This was chosen to go with lunch which was a big ol’ salad. Far from a sipdown as I have been hoarding it horribly and always resteep. I love White Rhino and definitely would want to get more when this is gone. Ashman is an especially big fan of white tea, too, so it makes a easy choice when I am drinking tea with him. This one is sweet, smooth, and a little creamy.

January Sipdown Prompt – your oldest green

This is far from a sipdown, but every cup is progress. Two years ago I managed to drink all the teas that were past their “best by” date. Now I have few on shelf that have aged into that zone and we need to get drinking.

This is one of our favorite green teas to go with meals. We had it today with homemade miso soup, filled with fresh herbs amd greens from our garden. Ashman is off early for a dental appointment so we have a rare weekday lunch together.

How did this get old if it is a favorite? We can no longer drink caffeine in the evening. Supper that suit green tea must be accompanied by herbal tea or hojicha now. During the day we both tend to reach for black tea. I will try to start reaching for green instead, especially as spring comes and we look forward to the fresh light flavor. I will probably try to start cold steeping quite a bit of it, too, as we bought a large amount when we ordered it.

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There is now enough left for one small pot of tea and I decided to make this a sharedown.

I had this a few weeks ago during a tea time with two students who I had allowed to go through all the remaining Fortnum tins and choose what they would like it try. , I got the impression that one young lady (the only one who tried it) didn’t care for it. When I mentioned last week that I had made a different tea for them since they didn’t care for the this one, she said she knew her mother and sister wouldn’t like it because of the smoke so she steered them away from it, but she did like it personally. This last bit that is left after my pot of tea today will therefore go home with her next week, especially since Ashman does not tolerate much bergamot in a blend and definitely doesn’t care for smoke….yet.

I like this one. The smoke isn’t too heavy but if you do not like Lapsang types tea, I don’t think you will like this either. It is not the smokiest tea I have ever had, but it is definitely smoky. I like it a lot!

I think the order of preference for Fortnum Earl Grey teas I have tried would be – Countess Grey, Classic Earl Grey, Smoky Earl Grey, and Victoria Grey. Victoria would move up a notch if they took out the licorice root. And depending on the mood of the day, Classic and Smoky might trade places.