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.

Tea in a Tube

Here is a product that I wanted to write about for quite some time, but I was a little sceptical about the quality. Now when I finally have the chance to hold the product in my hands and see it for myself, I became more then pleasantly surprised and impressed.

Thelicatessen is a brand which offeres their tea in brushed silver aluminum tubes. These are filled to the top with fragrant oolong tea from Taiwan. The teas in stock are only available in limited quantities, for a limited time – usually there is one tea available at a time, and the offer changes after a while. The tea is in fact gourmet, it’s very subtle and delicate and the leaves are tightly rolled into clumps that are even smaller then most oolongs.

If you like oolong tea or if you want to experiance something new, this is definatly the thing to try. The tubes are fabubous, they have a modern, clean design and they are perfect for refilling and travel, if you want to take a bit of your own tea with you. They are very light and won’t take up much of the oh so valuable kgs in your suitcase. These tea tubes make an elegant gift, especially for a guy. They have that whole masculine cigar feel going on. My three tubes arrived in an also elegant black cardboard box – I love the simplicity and the overall look and taste of this product.

A Private Tea Library

We had the chance to review two of the Emeyu teas Organic Jasmine and Organic Pai Mu Tan and they have an overall good quality as wall as great appearance and design. One of the coolest tea gifts I’ve seen so far is the Tea Library, a selection of Emeyu teas that you pick yourself from about 30 different varieties. When you order 4 boxed teas they will be delivered in this “library shelf”. Additionally you can name your library to personalize it. Not only does this gift look fabulous and tasteful, but you also get quality tea inside. The boxes made of hard cardboard and they are very nice. I have one of them at home and although I never kept tea in it, because it’s not all that practical, I think the library would give you more of a reason to keep your teas in it. And of course it makes a great impression.

Valentine’s Day? – Buy a tea

So… Valentine’s Day coming up and if love itself does not feel like is enough of a gift you should probably start considering buying…. a tea! I have found some interesting tea ideas for the V day, which could make excellent gifts. I haven’t tried most of them, so I can’t make any specific recommendations on this one.

The first one is White Chocolate Kisses Valentine Tea by Bigelow – a bagged black tea with white chocolate flavor, carob and cinnamon. Sounds very sweet and interesting. Looks a bit ‘cheap’.

Harney & Sons has their own Valentine’s Blend which is also is a chocolate tea (strangely popular with V day) and rosebuds. Looks like a nice and classic gift.
 

Another tea, which I have actually tried, but was not so fond of is Dammann Pomme d’Amour (Apple of Love). This black tea has additions of cooked apple, maraschino and sunflower petals. The aroma and flavor lacks harmony and definition, drinking this tea was a strange experience for me, but I don’t doubt that is could have its enthusiasts. It’s available in different caddies and also silk teabags, but the one below I think is most appropriate for the occasion.

My last suggestion is Valentines Flavored Tea from Adagio. This cup of true love combines Ceylon black tea and chocolate-dipped strawberry flavor.