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Daughter Advent Day 21

December 21 Sipdown Prompt – Winter Solstice: drink a warm and cozy cuppa

I don’t usually have caffeine this late but I don’t think anything will keep me up tonight.

It has been a slightly topsy-turvy day. We did a bit of Christmas shopping but were unsuccessful for the most part, picking up only one or two small things. We were going to have a very light supper because tonight is a homemade ice cream night, but we had less ice cream left than we realized so we had some of Sam the King of Dogs’s birthday pound cake with a small amount of ice cream instead. Like an idiot, I then ate potato chips, which I can have safely about once every six months because they give me awful reflux any more often than that. Then after doing our advent reading and lighting the candles (a nightly affair) my neighbor called and said I was needed.

Turns out her family had a chili competition and they wanted an extra voter. I don’t eat much spicy food but I was glad to oblige for a good neighbor (especially since we had a very light supper) and tried four very different chilis. I was sent home with three of the four types for my troubles and a whole lot of cornbread so now I don’t have to cook tomorrow! Yay!

Returning home, I was ready to choose the cozy tea for today’s prompt and this one leapt out. Neighbors used to love my mother’s banana pudding and I have her 1940 cookbook with the recipe she used. I rarely ate it when I was a kid but I did make it for her once shortly before she died. Yeh, I think banana pudding tea is going to be one of the coziest things a Southern gal could choose.

And wow! I shook the bag as instructed and opened it and there were big pieces of banana! The steeped tea smells like real banana, and there is a nice body to it that gives off the creaminess of pudding. I don’t usually like additions in my tea but milk and/or sugar might make this a real stand in for the dessert as creamy as it is already. The banana is not fake or candy-like. Ashman said he found it to be a mild flavor but real bananas are.

We both enjoyed it very much, and it sure fit the bill for a warm and cozy tea. Banana pudding was a summer treat in my house growing up, usually for a cook out or family gathering, but this tea is definitely in the cold weather comfort category.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 21

I have really been looking forward to this one! When I checked out the list of teas in this year’s advent refill I saw that there were four or five teas I had not tried and this was one of them. Fig seems so Christmassy to me. Is it because of the threatening song about figgy pudding and wishing a Merry Christmas?

The fig aroma is so nice and the flavor is good, as well. To be fair, we did double steep this and combine the two steeps so it would have been a little bit stronger if we had only done a single steep. Ashman does not care for fig but he said mainly it is fig jam that is too sweet and cloying to him. He felt this just came off as a mild fruit tea in the non-citrus department so he enjoyed it well enough.

I liked it pretty well, but keep in mind it is a one note tea. I think in the future I will try blending it with a vanilla black because I think that might take it over the top.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 20

I was glad to see this one today, because a few of the F&M black tea blends are not to my liking and I have to add milk to a couple of them to e joy them at all. This is one that I know I like well enough plain, even if it isn’t knock-your-socks-off great.

As their black tea blends go, it is not too astringent nor a punch in the face, but a good strength for morning or afternoon. Tastes fine with food and not bad on its own. I wouldn’t buy a whole tin but I don’t have a problem with finishing this 25 grams.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 19

I think several listings here on Steepster are actually the same tea. The front of the tin says “Finest” in tiny letters under FTGFOP. There are only one or two other listings on F&M right now, one being a Badamtam. So I think three of the Darjeeling teas from Fortnum & Mason listed on Steepster are all actually the same tea.

And the bottom line – this is one of their teas we enjoy most, especially Ashman. Each year when we would drink it together he always liked it more than I did. I learned to go with a lower temp and shorter steep for Darjeeling and I must say today this one rocked. It was amazing with breakfast.

I texted him and asked if he drank advent tea at breakfast and he said yes and that it was the best one of the whole week.

Darjeeling is often compared to wine, and I would call this tea oak-y. It was not sour or astringent and wasn’t really brisk, but that woody flavor really cleared the palate when sipping with food. (Frozen waffle, maple syrup, and eggs with cottage cheese and Penzey’s Sunny Paris seasoning mixed in, scrambled.) i am a little sad that I didn’t make a bigger pot, but I think I should be nice and save most of this for Ashman.

December Sipdown Challenge Prompt – a holiday or celebration tea (advents count!)

I had a small tea party today. It was for two of my students, and I have taught all six children in their family over the years. These are the youngest and they are now teens, and the two eldest siblings have children of their own now!

They had specifically showed interest in Victoria Grey and Smoky Earl Grey when I had them peruse all the open doors of the Fortnum & Mason advent. With 25 grams of tea per day, there is plenty for extra pots of tea.

This was their favorite. The older girl said she did not taste the lavender, and I consider her to be a supertaster. Sometimes it does come out light on the lavender depending on what you get in your scoops. She tried the Smoky Earl Grey but didn’t care for it. Her sister didn’t try that one!

All of the Fortnum Earl Grey blends have tasted good to me, although I wish this one didn’t have licorice root, even though it is such a tiny amount that I don’t taste it. I just would rather it wasn’t there for the sake of wondering how much it takes to affect your blood pressure.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 18

This is strong and brisk, a bit coppery. Added milk but no sugar and it was fine but this isn’t a tea I would purchase normally.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 17

Hooray! A Fortnum tea I have never tried before!

I asked Alexa (my Echo device) what was in this before I made it this morning thinking she would say she didn’t know. Instead she lied to me and told me it was a peach tea. I have had their Black Tea with Peach and really didn’t think they would put peach in a blend called Albion. Look on the website and I was right. This is a black tea blend with Assam and I believe it said there was some African tea (Kenya?)as well.

It is a hearty tea that I would classify as Irish Breakfast style. I was really surprised to hear that Ashman drank it for breakfast without any additions. This is one where the Assam is strong enough to tempt me to add milk, but I didn’t and had it at both breakfast and lunch and it was pretty good. It isn’t what I would consider a luxury tea but rather a decent daily drinker type.

Edit to add: just tried the final cup with milk (no sugar) and this really elevated it. Yum!

Very happy to have tried it, because I love trying new Fortnum teas!

Sipdown

December Sipdown Challenge Prompt – A tea you don’t drink in summer

I don’t drink this in summer because it is always already gone, as I only get it in the advent! Otherwise, I think I drink everything in summer!

First Advent sipdown from the Fortnum calendar! Make a carafe of iced tea for Ashman to take to work.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 14

Edit to add: Sipdown! Dec 28, 2024

Ten days until Christmas Eve? Wow!

I offered to make two teas this morning because Ashman doesn’t really like bergamot in general so I thought this would be a no go for him. He said he would drink it, and not only did he drink it, but he liked it well enough for us to have it again at lunch. The Fortnum advent includes 25 grams of tea per days so there is plenty to play with, experiment with, or just plain drink lots of pots of it.

The black Chinese tea used as the base makes this tea. I prefer Earls that way instead of on Ceylon. The bergamot is certainly there but at a pretty perfect level for me. I must say Fortnum does bergamot right, because I have enjoyed their Smoky Earl Grey, Victoria Grey, and Countess Gray as well. And it is great for making two steeps and combining them.

Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 13

Breakfast with Ashman who is off today! Once again, this is a black tea he will drink without milk and sugar. The first year we bought the Fortnum advent, he was still adding milk and sugar to pretty much all black teas that he drank. He felt that this one didn’t need it now and he said he liked it. He has always been partial to Ceylon tea.

I enjoy low and mid-elevation Ceylon teas, but high elevation by itself is too astringent for me with its bright, minty notes. This is a blend of low and high.

With food, it just tastes like a passable black tea, no outstanding characteristics but nice enough. When the food is gone and you are sipping the remaining tea, it does get a little brisk, but nothing I couldn’t handle plain. I wouldn’t reach for it on purpose if I wasn’t making tea to go with food, though.

The remainder shall be iced, Southern style.