Whittard: Christmas Tea

Todays' review is a classy, elegant, well crafted and simply beautiful Christmas tea.

It's from Whittard's and is simply known as Christmas Tea.

I will admit that I fell in love with this tea, not on it's taste but on it's really beautiful and elegant tea caddy. Whittard's have created a simply beautiful tea caddy this year. It's gorgeous red and gold colour scheme looks expensive (though it's an affordable £10). On the appearance level, it's far outweighed anything I've yet seen in the Christmas tea collection. It's beautiful and sits permanently (or at least through the seasonal period) on my counter top.

Not only is the caddy lovely to look at, it's practical too. It's clip lid means the caddy seals tightly and your tea will stay lovely and fresh for however long, (or short!) it stay's around. The use by date on my tea is 2018, though I'm sure it will be long gone by then!

But, we all know that tea is like books, you cannot judge them by their packaging. For no matter how beautiful the caddy, if the tea is awful then really, it's all rather pointless.

I've been unfair on Whittard's Christmas tea in the past. I brought my first Christmas tea in 2010. I was a complete novice and had just started drinking my tea black and unsweetened. I brought some Whittard tea and made a pot, taking a sip I was almost ill. The combination of spices and other flavours was too much and I threw it away, promising never to drink it again.

Fast forward six Christmases and I now know where I stand with Christmas tea. I know how best to prepare it so I can fully enjoy and I've relaxed a little, adding a dash of milk and a bit of sugar to make the tea that extra bit tasty.

So, after all those years, I purchased this tea from Whittards. And, oh what a joy it is!

The list of ingredients, though simple, are interesting. This tea includes, orange peel, cloves, safflower petals and vanilla pieces.

On the surface this is a simple Christmas tea. There is no added ginger, or cinnamon or all spice or any other spices that could be added. However, the sheer, and utter beauty of this tea is in the blending. I recently reviewed  Marks and Spencers Christmas Spiced Tea. Though certainly not a terrible tea, my main complaint was that it wasn't blended well, and considering it came in teabags, it made for uneven taste in each cup.

This is smooth, flavoursome and most importantly it's even. I've had several cups already and as is commonly known, I make my own teabags up and every single cup tastes exactly the same. You simply don't get one cup full of a clove flavour and another cup mostly vanilla. It's even through and through. This is one reason why I tend to go to companies who are experts in creating - and blending - tea, they know exactly what they are doing and do it exceptionally well.

This tea is a joy for every one of your senses. When you unclip the clasp of the caddy the aroma of this tea is stunning. It's fresh and fruity. And it looks stunning, too. The tea is black in colour, and scattered through the blend are dashes of colour from the orange peel and cloves.

But that first sip was heavenly. It's a tea that is made for your day off work, when it's sunny and bright outside but with a biting crispness in the air. I literally did sink back into my chair and did that one thing lots of tea obsessives do. Take a sip and exclaim 'ooh that's a lovely cup of tea', even though not only the room, but the whole house is empty!

But, beautiful it is. The black tea is smooth and mellow. And I was really pleased, (being a lover of citrus in tea) that the orange peel brought to the tea a lovely fruity tang. This is especially lovely because even though most Christmas tea's add orange peel, that element is masked by the heavy use of spices. This, however, is so well blended that the orange was easily detected, making my heart jump for joy.

The cloves added a spicy kick to the tea and that is the fun element of this blend. You take a sip and within seconds your tongue is fizzing with the clove's spiciness and it does linger for a good few minutes too. It's a really nice touch, especially for those who like a bit of a kick in their food and drink.

The addition of a sweet, rich vanilla really rounds this tea off. It's a good mixture of spice and sweetness. The balance is good so one does not overpower the other. And due to that good balance the vanilla isn't sickly sweet, which is another sensation I've found in tea's from Christmases past. In fact, it's been so bad I've avoided any blend that includes vanilla. But, again, Whittard's have triumphed with this tea.

What else can I say about this blend? It's absolutely perfection in a cup. It hits the right notes (for me at least). It's tasty but not sickly sweet or too full of spices it's hard to drink. It's blended so perfectly well that you will be left yearning for another cup. I've had three today - I doubt with all sincerity that this tea will last till December let alone the big day!

This is a absolutely perfect companion for a nice mince pie. In fact my mum is a coeliac and had purchased some gluten free spiced pear pies and it really matched that well, too! Just yummy on all fronts.

For December 25th this is a ideal tea to pull out the teapot and serve to your guests as a afternoon drink. It's also warming, too, so ideal for those outside events such as fireworks and Christmas carols. But, I can also add, it's ideal for curling up on the sofa in front of the telly on a freezing cold day.

This tea perfectly sum's up the exciting Christmas season. I am so in love with this tea it's ridiculous.

And I can only credit Whittard for doing so well with this Christmas blend. It's a hard tea to get right and they have got it spot on. And it leaves the Marks and Spencers tea in the shade. It's simply everything that I would expect from a Christmas tea.

So, Whittard, I can only thank you. You have impressed me so much through the year with the tea's I've purchased. And I hope that this will only continue into 2017.

I would also like to add that this tea is also available in bagged form to - so if you don't own a pot, infuser or DIY teabags, you have no need to miss out on this wonderful blend!