A Gourmet Winter Collection

If you love the exquisite Tea Forté collections you certainly cannot miss this. It’s Tea Forté’s Winter Collection, with 5 different flavors packed in a presentable, christmasy box. There are there limited edition teas in this box – Crimson Nectar, Sweet Orange Spice and Winter Chai and two other that are already familiar from other offerings – White Ambrosia and English Breakfast. Altogether 20 infusers of high quality tea, to entertain your senses all winter long.

Tea Forté products are not cheap, especially if you look at how much you are getting in your deal – that’s for sure, but they do compensate with quality. And if you’re feeling generous, they make great gifts.

Winter Book Vol I and II

I wanted to feature this product mainly because I was excited about the idea of its look. There is good and bad news.

Good news – Whereas all Basilur Teas tend to look quite tacky, I think for Christmas a little tackiness won’t do any harm. This new Basilur Christmas Tea Winter Book collection comes in tins in the shape of books! And they are almost like fairy-tale books, with beautiful ornaments, golden accents, with a wintery landscape on the cover and they open like a real book. Inside, the tea is packaged in a bag that looks like pages of a book. There are two volumes available, both are Ceylon black teas. Volume I has additions of cornflower, papaya, jasmine and almond flavor. Volume II on the other hand is with papaya, safflower, marigold and sunflower.

For the bad news – these teas are really no good. They are of poor quality, but worst of all the aromas are quite repelling and not well composed. They are certainly drinkable, and the experience is like drinking regular black tea that has a somewhat strange smell, but they are by no means comparable to fine teas. If I had to choose between the two I would go for Volume II, because Volume I honestly smells like a tomato cake.

I have to admit though, that I absolutely love and adore the book packaging – it’s a great idea that could be taken even further.

A New Christmas with Dammann

Dammann Freres has given their Christmas Collection a new look. The tins have now the shape of classic Dammann tins, however this time there is quite some bling bling involved, as they are decorated with rhinestones. But don’t worry, the festive colors are still present and the blends remain the same.

The black tea in the red tin has fruit bits and orange peels and is blended with caramel, maraschino and pineapple aromas, creating a sweet and fruity experience. The green tea comes from China and contains apple bits, orange peels, vanilla and spices – its final aroma is like a combination of marcipan and mint, making it more refreshing. Exciting, right? These are hight quality teas that are sure to enhance the spirit of Christmas this year. You can also compare to last year’s look here.

Warming Christmas Tea

You can buy many different Christmas Tea blends, but sometimes it’s just much nicer and more fun to make it yourself – and it’s also very easy! Christmas teas usually contain a lot of warming and aromatic spices, because these are the things that remind us of christmas most. However, there are no set rules of how much and what exact ingredients you should use – you are free to use your imagination and improvise.

Below you can find some suggestions on how to get started with your tea and some ideas for creating your own blend

Basic Ingredients

• Black tea (ceylon and assam work great, you can use other tea types, however black is the classic version)
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Cardamon
• Sugar

Optional Ingredients

• Red wine or brandy
• Cranberry Juice
• Lemon Juice
• Lemon or orange zest
• Apple pieces

I don’t recommend adding all these ingredients listed above into your tea, you should try your way and see what works best, or what is most suiting for the current mood.

Usually you start with the basic ingredients – use a pan to bring water to a boil along with the ingredients, make sure the sugar dissolves completely. Change to medium heat and add remaining ingredients from the optional list. Cook for a while to bring out the aroma of the ingredients and then you’re ready to serve your home-made, hot Christmas Tea!

Teas bring the Christmas Spirit

Strong, warming aromas, sweet scents create a peculiar atmosphere in the air, Christmas Teas have indeed gained a solid position in the world of tea blends, with their distinguished character and a set of common ingredients. Today, Holiday blends are offered by many vendors and they make a great substitute for alcoholic beverages.

Christmas Teas can be easily recognized by a spicy aroma, often a mix of cinnamon, cardamom and cloves and a citrus touch of orange or lemon peels. However, nowadays vendors are more keen on moving away from these traditional ingredients, and choose a more contemporary style to create unusual flavors that will still remind us of the Christmas spirit. Dammann Freres has a Christmas series which offers some exciting and innovative flavors using such ingredients as cherry blossoms, pineapple, caramel and ginger.

Other interesting offerings are Taylors of Harrogate  Spiced CHristmas Tea which is a blend of black Chinese teas with lemon and grange peels, cinnamon and safflower petals or Apsara Winter Tea – a black tea with raisins, apple pieces, red currants, safflower petals and cloves. One thing is for sure, the options are countless and finding a favorite shouldn’t be hard.

Unlike with Indian Chai Tea, Christmas Teas should be generally enjoyed without milk, but a spoon of honey could be a great addition to enhance the flavor and add some sweetness.

Other suggestions

Stash Tea White Christmas – white tea with peppermint and ginger

Stash Tea Christmas Morning – blend of First Flish Darjeeling, Assam, Keemun and Yunnan, Formosa Oolong and southern Indian teas, with addition of jasmine

Stash Tea Christmas Eve – herbal tea with hibiscus, orange peel, rosehips, lemongrass, peppermint, star anise, ginger and cinnamon

Adagio Christmas Tea – black Ceylon tea with cinnamon, cloves and orange peel

Mariage Freres Noel Teas – a fancy selection of white, black, red and green teas

Kusmi Christmas Tea – Chinese black tea with orange, almond, vanilla and spices

Kusmi Green Christmas Tea – green tea with orange, almond, vanilla and spices

Dammann Christmas Editions

In time for Christmas Dammann Freres has released three Christmas Teas. These special teas are loose leaf teas and they come in beautiful, decorative caddies. Tea Blanc is a white tea from China with purple blueberry petals, shades of fruited almonds and cherries, with a dash of spices and ginger. Tea Rouge is ceylon/Chinese teas with notes of orange, pineapple, caramel, maraschino with orange rind and fruit pieces. Tea Vert is a green tea from China with orange rinds and pieces of apple, scanted with vanilla, orange and spices.

I have tried Christmas Tea Blanc and I was blown away by its form and aroma. The white tea leaves are mixed with a large amount of pink petals creating dreamy contrast. Combined with the saturated cherry/sakura aroma it creates perfect harmony. I think is is one of the most beautiful and attractive looking teas I have seen so far. The liquor is of pale yellow color just like other white teas and as fragrant as in dry form. I defiantly want to try the two other teas if I have the chance.

These teas unlike a lot of other Christmas teas or winter teas have unusual ingredients. Instead of the traditional cinnamon-clove-raisin combinations they are more exotic, yet they bring the Christmas spirit with them, which I think is fantastic. You can also buy them in a gift box of three.

 

 

Related links - http://www.boutique-dammann.com/

Trying Nestea Snowy Orange

Nestea has released a limited winter edition of their tea – Snowy Orange, which is avialiable in Poland and Hungary. This edition is flavored with orange, cloves and honey – an appropriate taste for Christmas time. The bottle already looks very tempting and cosy in these cold days. Tasting it for the first time I did not like it very much cold, it was a bit like diluted sugar syrup. I think when you heat it up it taste much better and it brings out the clove aroma and sweetness. A nice change in flavor, compared to other classic flavors not as good, but overall compared to bottled teas I would give it a 7-8/10.