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VitaliTEA is a new tea company based in Mississauga, Ontario. While I was a bit late to try their lovely Christmas themed blends during the holiday season, I’ve been having a bit of Christmas in January with these three delightful teas. The first, which is the subject of this post, is aptly named ‘Christmas Blend‘ and features a black tea base, cinnamon, cloves, jasmine blossoms and petals, candy pieces, and natural flavours.

This is one of those blends that is so pretty to look at and fragrant too! The dry aroma is quite copious, with warm spicy notes and a soft sweetness too.

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I’ve tried this a few times now, each time with a teapot and slightly varying steep times and amounts of water and blend. This blend is quite flavourful, and a teaspoon of it is great in a 12oz serving, where normally I’d opt for a teaspoon and a half or even two. It’s also inherently sweet, so I’d recommend trying it as is before adding sweetener. I found I preferred a shorter steep time with this blend, opting for a two to three minute range for the first infusion. It also re-steeps nicely! Yay!

The liquor is a warm brown and mostly clear, medium bodied and fairly smooth. Very pleasant drinking. My first impression of the flavour is from the cinnamon, followed by candy sweetness with the clove and jasmine coming in next. I’m surprised how well the floral flavour of the jasmine mingles with the rest of the blend, but maybe I shouldn’t be – after all, jasmine is also a sweet floral. All around this makes for a rich, complex, warming and soothing cup perfect for the holidays but throughout the winter months as well.

I’m really enjoying this blend and I’d definitely recommend it if you like sweet blends and black teas. You can find Christmas Blend for a limited time at VitaliTEA‘s website here.

(Tea provided for review. All opinions expressed are my own.)