So, one of the absolute highlights of last year’s Christmas season was sampling the Dammann Frères Christmas Tea collection. The selection set the bar and I’m pleased to say that the 2018 collection didn’t disappoint.
This French tea titan has been around since 1692 and I love how they haven’t jumped on the detox bandwagon. Instead, they do what they have always been doing: creating teas for pleasurable purposes!
In addition to the Christmas collection, which I’ll get to shortly, Dammann Frères released three cozy winter teas that encompass the comforts of the holiday season while keeping you warm.
Carcadet Pomme D’Amour (Apple of Love Carcadet)
Carcadet is the term for a drink made from hibiscus flowers, and this delicate and aromatic infusion has an intense flavor of baked apple with notes of caramel and maraschino.
Poire Maron Glacè (Pear and glazed chestnuts)
This white tea has both fruity and sweet notes while simultaneously tasting both delicate and intense.
Granola d’Hiver Granola (Winter Granola)
The Granola d’Hiver black tea has fruity notes like grape and pecan combined buckwheat and sweet maple syrup.
Another exciting component of the Christmas collection is an Advent calendar with a tea different tea to enjoy each day leading up to Christmas. I should have picked one up the day I was there, but I never made it back to get one for the start of Advent so, needless to say, I’m kicking myself. Oh well, there’s always next year. #Christmas2019goals
Then, it was on to a workshop and tasting led by Ann-Claire Lecocq, who has the coolest job ever. She’s in charge of obtaining the ingredients to make the teas, a role that entails travel straight to the source in plenty of exotic locales. Similar to last year, we had an interactive tasting workshop during which we had to identify the flavors. I wish I could do this every day!
What I dig most about the Christmas teas is that many are named for cities. Tea Perfumer Aline Guglielmino-Taillefer researched what locals traditionally eat in these cities for the holidays to create suitable blends. Last year, all of the city Christmas teas had me swooning, the Vienna one, unsurprisingly, in particular!
Here’s the holiday line-up we sampled this year:
- Christmas Tea – A dreamy black tea with orange and pineapple notes.
- Christmas Tea Vert – A citrusy and spicy green tea with hints of vanilla and ginger.
- Noel à Paris – Black tea with cherry, almond, ginger, and spices — my favorite, no surprise there, so I bought some! (In fact, I’m sipping it as I write this!)
- Rooibos de Noel -A rooibos tea flavored with gingerbread, bitter orange and black cherry.
- Tisane de Noel – So amazingly chocolatey! Also with notes of cardamon, ginger, pink peppercorns, and lemon. In fact, I was kicking myself for not buying one so I went back! Sipping this caffeine-free hot brew on those chilly winter nights brought me more joy than I can articulate.
These teas come in brand new packing, shiny solid color cylindrical canisters, and the various gift sets are the perfect Christmas gifts for the tea lovers in your life. Check them out here!
