Friday, December 9, 2011

A Christmas Tea Tasting

I decided I should do a little research and try some of the same English Tea Shop Christmas tea flavors offered in yesterday's giveaway (which runs through Monday; enter here if you haven't already!). What a delightful tasting I had ahead of me! My teas are the same flavors as the ones in the giveaway, but those teas are green and black while these are all rooibos. If you're the winner, I'd love to hear how your tasting experience compares to mine!

English Tea Shop's Candy Cane tea may become a new favorite! It's that rich, buttery tasting peppermint that I seem to find only in Christmastime teas. I'm always surprised that this level of sweetness can be found in a sugarless tea. In addition to the rooibos and peppermint, this tea contains orange peel, cinnamon, chicory, strawberry leaves and vanilla pods with mint, and vanilla and coconut flavors. To me, it's just like a liquid version of good old-fashioned, melt-in-your-mouth stick peppermint candy. A truly sublime blend.

The Gingerbread Man tea was a bit of a surprise. First, I sniffed. It reminded me of the spiced cider I enjoyed at a friend's church Christmas dinner last weekend, an event I'm glad I enjoyed since I may not be invited back. (All I did was whisper to a tablemate that the wise man in the gold outfit bore a striking resemblance to the late Muammar Gaddafi. Now is it *my* fault the woman guffawed so loudly, drawing attention from several tables around us? I think not!) But I digress ... the apple cider notes I smelled in the tea were spot-on, as the ingredients are thus: "Rooibos, roasted barley, cinnamon pieces, ginger pieces and apple pieces with ginger, cinnamon and key lime flavours." Lovely!

The final tea I tasted had what I would describe as a "gentle mint" taste, and it contains rooibos, ginger, cinnamon, peppermint leaves, rose petals and mint flavor. It's the perfect combination for a blend called Silent Night! If you'd like to learn more about the teas, do as I did and visit ceylon-tea.com and check out the store locator. (Ingle's is my closest store, but in other parts of the country you may have more choices!)

12 comments:

  1. Good Morning,
    Cold with light snow here ,bracing for more. The X-mas flavor teas sound divine!

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  2. What a lovely teacup. The teas sound yummy. Have a delightful week end doing whatever makes you happy.

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  3. I love the tea cup. Sounds like I might have been your tablemate!

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  4. Wow, they all really do sound lovely! I am in a ginger mode right now, but peppermint is always a favorite! :)

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  5. It would be delightful to win the giveaway as I have never tried that company before. Love the graphics on the bags you shared. Thanks for showing us.

    Have you ever told us who made your tea cup? It is lovely!

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  6. What a fun tea tasting. Not fond of rooibos plain, but flavored can be very rich and good.

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  7. oh wow, these tea's are so neat, I have never seen flavors like this...how fun. BTW thanks so much for nice comments recently - you are an inspiration to me and I LOVE LOVE my book Dainty Dining, WOW!

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  8. Although I'm not a rooibos fan, your yummy descriptions might inspire me to sample some of them! BTW, love the holiday tea cup in the first photo!

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  9. Great review, Angela - they sound delicious! I love the design on the package, it's so festive. Joanie

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  10. ETS X Mas tea collections are excellent!!!Yummy.
    Martha

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  11. Angela, you crack me up! I have a really loud laugh, which escapes easily when somethings really funny suddenly turns my key.

    The teas sound delightful. They might be a great gift for my sweet neighbor.
    Love, Carol B.

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  12. Love the packaging! Wonder if those are available here in Polokwane.

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