My youngest daughter lives in Japan and only comes home once a year at Christmas, and several years ago she found a GREAT tea store in Osaka – Lupicia. Ever since that “find”, she always brings tea from Lupicia and this year one of the teas was White Christmas.

White Christmas by Lupicia

A great name, just like the 1954 movie with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, this tea is a winner! White Christmas is a black tea blend of Indian and Kenyan black teas with the sweet aroma and taste of white chocolate and apricot. Plus, there were the little white “snowflakes” in the tea that were actually little pieces of rock sugar, and they were really cute! And did I say apricot!  One of my very favorites and those notes were the first thing I tasted! The apricot was very natural tasting and well done, mixed with a little sweet and creamy taste. The apricot flavor intensified as I continued to sip.  It started out mild, and by about mid-cup, the flavor was much stronger.  The apricot was VERY well done – it was not bitter and did not have any weird-dried-apricotty-sulfury taste. The white chocolate was also especially nice and provided a very pleasant creamy taste and texture to the cup, with the faint notes of the sweet chocolate intensifying the closer to the bottom of the cup.  I also tasted distinct nutty tones, even though the ingredients did not mention any nut additions to the blend. But I didn’t care, because I loved the way the toasty, nutty flavor played with the apricot and white chocolate. There was a bit of astringency, but it didn’t overwhelm.

Just a side note…I’ve never cared for ‘spicy’ cinnamon- typically flavored holiday teas, so that tends to eliminate about three quarters of the holiday blends out there – so White Christmas, was just perfect for me!