Fortnum & Mason
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December Sipdown Prompt – a tea bought on vacation
I don’t have any tea bought on a vacation of mine because we haven’t taken a vacation in years, but Superanna always brings tea home for me from her vacations! This was bought on her most recent trip to London.
This tea came in the fancy tapered cylinder shaped tin with a twist on top. It is a green oolong and resteeps well. Smooth and good with food.
Fortnum Advent Day 2
A tea that wasn’t in the big advent! Yaaaay!
Ashman was unexpectedly home this morning so I made the tea from both advents at breakfast and we tried both together. I steeped this sachet twice and poured it in a pitcher. Later, I steeped it a third time to drink by myself because the leaves have unfurled to fill the sachet fit to bustin’.
Sadly, I was so distracted this morning I can only say it tasted like a green oolong, not super and not bad. Ashman liked it well enough. On this third steep that I am sipping now so as to give a slightly better note, I can say it is a green oolong, slightly milky and lightly brisk, with a slight mineral/stone taste on the tongue. It is supposed to have orchid notes but they must be muted by the repeated steeping. Shame on me for not paying attention this morning.
March Sipdown Prompt – tea from your biggest tin
At 250 grams, this is definitely my biggest tin, although I have a couple of pound bags I foolishly bought of some other teas. This is also one of my newer teas, so I expect it may be around for a while. This is definitely not a sipdown, but work towards one. Also, I wouldn’t buy this again now that I know that Kusmi’s Bouquet of Flowers has orange blossom galore but is a tastier mix of flavors.
I tried an orange blossom tea last year and was disappointed that I didn’t taste much orange blossom. This one delivers in the orange blossom department BIG TIME. The black tea base is a little disappointing to me, though, because it is so one-dimensional. Maybe they really thought everyone would add milk and sugar to this so they didn’t make a big effort there? And orange blossom by itself isn’t wowing me like I thought it would, so Kusmi for the win there again. I don’t hate this, it’s just that I have found better options.
I might play with parameters but also might try mixing various other black teas with it. The orange blossom is so strong that it should still come through with no problem even if unscented black is added. It might be good with a jasmine black….ooooo. Or stretch my Kismi blend with it?
I made a pitcher sweetened to chill for lunch tomorrow and a preliminary sip with ice was satisfactory.
I do not recognize nearly as many flavors as some of you on here. I grew on on very simple fare and was not an adventurous eater.
Some time ago I bought a moisturizer with neroli in it, and I thought it smelled strange but it grew on me. Then White Antlers sent me a neroli spray. I was hooked on the scent at that point.
Eventually I saw a recipe for orange blossom lemonade, made it, and fell in love. I buy my orange blossom water from The Spice House. I love the bitter floral taste.
Then I tried a tea from Lupicia that was supposed to have neroli and I couldn’t taste any at all. I love Lupicia, and other people reviewing the tea (Mimosa) said it was bitter floral and many of them disliked that, but I just couldn’t taste it. I decided that maybe orange blossom just didn’t come through the same in tea.
Browsing the Fortnum & Mason site I saw this blend – a base of Chinese and Indian black tea with orange blossom. It was pretty inexpensive for a big tin, so I added it to an order I was making for Christmas.
Oh my goodness. They got the orange blossom! The base is smooth enough that Ashman likes it without milk and sugar. It appeals to my love of Chinese black tea. And the orange blossom is so strong! The flavor of it lingers and lingers. I am one happy camper.
I served it to Superanna (who doesn’t love black tea) last night and she liked it a lot, and to her Irish husband who loves black tea and bitter/floral flavor and he also enjoyed it very much.
It is a winner.
I have received a tea bag of this in swap and I was quite looking forward to it. First of all, fresh Fortnum and Mason tea, and second, peach is summer-y flavour which suited well today fall-coming-weather. We had only around 22°C, picking apples, watching WWCH in ice hockey, just a pleasant September Sunday.
It delivers candy-like peaches. It reminds me jelly rings available here in Lidl store I used to buy often. It was exactly same flavour, combined with brisk and strong black tea, even in the tea bag. As I have been reading notes before brewing it, I knew what I have been expecting. A more real peach falvour would be nice. However, if you are more into candy-like ones, this is for you. I am on the fence. On one hand I would prefer real peaches more today. But the candy, sweet ones are welcomed too and they fulfilled my craving for candy today :)
Preparation
So many teas from Cameron arrived today!
2022 sipdown no. 32
I would agree with Cameron’s review that the peach is more candy-like. I’m not a huge fan of the base tea used here, it’s slightly bitter as it cools (though I did miss the timer by 30 seconds, so perhaps user error). However, this is nothing if not a black peach tea. Thanks for sharing Cameron :)
Preparation
Cold Brew!
This one was nice but I think it’s probably the most forgettable of the three in the line up. It’s a distinct apple and berry taste, though I doubt I’d name blackberry as the specific berry in question without the name to prompt me to think of it. My main thing here is that I just felt like it was a lot of apple and a pretty average and unexciting apple at that. So was it refreshing, flavourful and tasty? Yeah, but in a kind of average sorta way.
Cold Brew!
Doubled up on the sachets for a quick and easy last night cold brew. Definitely on the sweet side with a mix of juicy, ripe cherry and apricot. I didn’t really taste much apricot the first time I made this blend, but doubling up on the teabags actually helped a lot. Though the cherry was much stronger, I actually did taste the apricot and it was very well executed!
Cold Brew!
Just tossed a teabag into a mug with some room temperature water and a few minutes later I had this tea to drink – perfect for the low energy level that comes with being sick, but also knowing that I need to keep my water intake up. Definitely tasted a lot like strawberry or cherry jello. Just a lot of red fruit flavour. Not really in a bad way, though.
Cold Brew!
This was another tea that I had prepped in advance of that first D&D session this past weekend. I doubled up on the tea sachets for this cold brew so that flavour was much more intense than what I experienced with my first tasting, but the overall tasting notes themselves were the same other than their strength. Still not really apricot, but definitely cherry and strawberry.
Cold Brew!
Of the three flavours in this line up, I thought this was the best. That’s likely fairly directly tied to the fact it was clearly the most flavourful and also the sweetest. With that said, it’s certainly the least accurate in terms of name. I had remarked right off the bat that there were a surprisingly large amount of strawberries on the package art for a tea that was advertising apricots and cherries and that turned out to be a really astute observation.
The tea actually tastes nothing like apricot, but it tastes very strongly of sweet strawberry and cherry candies. Like, Starburst candies but less tang and less intense. It’s really good but with how distinct/prominent the strawberry is I find it very peculiar that they chose to name the blend after apricot instead…
Cold Brew!
A coworker kindly brought back all three of F&M’s cold brew flavours, from their recent vacation to the UK, so that we could try them. It was very thoughtful, especially since ordering from Fortnum from overseas is a bit of a bitch. Very expensive for a gamble on teas you’re not sure if you’ll like…
I thought this was alright! All three cold brew flavours were a bit thin in terms of taste and body, but the clarity of flavours was the best in this one. I distinctly got bright sweet lemon and a more pithy orange. Like, orange with rind. The hint of bitterness from that orange peel taste was unexpected but I kind of liked it. I think on a hot summer day it would be really lovely and the nuance and not overly sweet profile could keep this from becoming really cloying after several cups or a pitcher of it. That’s a nice quality to have!
Second and last tea I have received from postcrossing forum tea tag. Thank you Amy.
Again, it’s only tea bag, which is a shame in my opinion, because loose-leaf could be even a bit better.
Yes, it is very tasty, however the base is hidding beneath the strong, genuine, lighlty tart cranberry taste, but not sour because no hibiscus in.
I was very glad that it wasn’t like a cough syrup for me and honestly this note surprised me in notes by others.
A good cup of tea, indeed.
Preparation
A tea bag I have received through Postcrossing forum tea tag. I invited the sender here, so we will see if a new member will join us or not.
Anyway, if there is something that surprises me, is that there are only notes by ashmanra and Cameron, although the number of the tea in the web address is actually quite low (considering my Richard tea starting with 99).
On the tea review: Black tea with lemon is one of the basic flavours here. I am pointing that out as I found out there are quite big difference in tastes all around the world. It was/is common to brew “builder’s brew” and adding a lemon slices in. Or just the lemon juice. I have never been friend of these blends as they used to be very sour.
This blend is fine and I am pretty much sure it would be even better in loose leaf. The lemon taste is candy-like and not too sour, it doesn’t have medicinal flavour as well. The base seems a bit one dimmensional to me, tends to be sweet.
I am trying to not focus on Lemon Kandy by teakruthi as the best black tea with lemon flavour, because that one was loose-leaf, this is tea bag only. But sadly, here I am lacking something and not really sure what is it.
Flavors: Candy, Lemon, Sweet
Preparation
This was in the Fortnum advent, and was one of the better teas in it for me. I enjoyed it loose leaf, don’t know how the bag compares.
It would be interesting to compare it side by side. Also, that quite surprised me, it has got China tea base instead of common Ceylon for bags.
That is probably why I liked it so much!
Ashmanra sent a nice little sample of this my way with a caution that it leans to the strongish side, as mentioned in her advent review: Coffee lovers and lovers of British style breakfast blends will probably like it. It is so malty and has the sharp coppery taste plus astringency that keep me from really enjoying it.
Yin, yang. It is so malty and has the sharp coppery taste plus astringency that makes me enjoy it straight up on a morning when my eyes need a little help opening. It’ll be nice with milk, too!
You know how you get to talking when you make a cuppa and pay absolutely no attention to what you’re drinking, but it’s gone in about three good glugs? Yeah. What I can tell you about my first run with Royal Blend is that if it had any sharp edges to it, milk toned them down nicely to make a strong, smooth, wake-up cup. I’ll be more mindful next cup!
I’ve been known to do this with fancy teas that deserved much better. At least you know it wasn’t bad. :)
I tried it iced and sweet yesterday by the carafe and thought it was really nice that way.
I was a little more alert today—I’d call this one keemun heavy, but pleasantly so…like dark cherry and mahogany wood. Fine on its own, but I think a lot of you would say it’s far better with milk.
Ashmanra shared enough of this for me to have it three ways: super high-octane overleafed unleaded, a baby mild second steep, and one properly tended cuppa.
Either way, I was a little surprised to see such small leaves from a classy F & M selection. Not quite PG Tips CTC size, but close. Which resulted in plain old British breakfast tea without much subtlety—just like me and just like I like it. Very smooth, not much bite, very drinkable straight up without additives—although I added a dried orange slice to the baby mild steep and it was delicious.
Oooo, I have never thought of adding dried fruit…must try. I have some organic oranges standing by to become candied if I ever get around to it.
…super high-octane overleafed unleaded…
Hahahahaha, you’re killing me.
my local Greek bakery carries individually packaged pieces of candied fruit. I might try that as an on the side flavour enhancer. Where do you get dried orange slices, gmathis?
I’ll have to double check because my husband found these … but the tag looks like it came from our Tuesday morning store. https://www.bellaviva.com/dried-oranges
Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 24
I knew this would be today’s tea since we hadn’t run into it yet, so yesterday I made a pitcher of it, sweetened it, and set it in the fridge to cool and meld. We had Black Tea with Strawberry from the advent instead with breakfast, and saved this for lunch.I really like this as a sweet iced tea. I did have a sip yesterday when it had cooled but it had not had time to do what my mother always called melding, a process in which sweet tea becomes tastier as the flavors inherent blend together into a smooth and balanced profile.
Today it was so nice to go with lunch. These 25 gram tins furnish plenty of tea for multiple pots (hot) or carafes (cold). It tastes a lot like jamaica. Lovely.
Fortnum & Mason Advent Day 18 (sachets)
I am liking this much more this year than last year. I intended to sweeten and ice this and save it for supper but I was so thirsty I couldn’t resist going ahead and drinking some. It is really fruity and refreshing. I am glad there is a tin of it waiting somewhere in the tins Advent.
Of course there is hibiscus, but I like hibiscus as long as there is sugar. The cinnamon is warming and adds depth. The beverage has really pretty, festive color.
ADVENT SIPDOWN 14!
Iced, of course. Although they call this plum (maybe), apple (maybe tart apple?) and cinnamon, I pretty much sip this and get jamaica, so really this is almost pure hibiscus flavor to me. As an iced drink, it is a nice accompaniment for meals or pleasant to sip on its own, as long as I sweeten it.
FORTNUM & MASON ADVENT DAY 24
Ashman and I drank this last night. It steeps up a gorgeous Christmas red in the cup. Truly beautiful. Ashman does not like tart tea so I added sugar to his, but it was not enough. He drank one small cup and said no thanks to any more.
I decided it would be best to ice this and sweeten like any other sweet tea, and since it was so festive looking, I had it with lunch today. To my surprise, it was extremely familiar tasting as a sweet iced tea. Took me a sec but I realized it tasted almost exactly like jamaica, which should not be surprising at all. This is how I will use up the rest.
I would not purchase the refill for this next year unless they promise a different tea assortment. But the wooden box is gorgeous and it will be fun to decide what I will put in it next year!
Having read about the other advent calendar experiences, the only one I would consider purchasing is the one from 52 teas.
