Tea Forte Advent Calendar: Day 20 - White Ginger Pear


 It's been a few days, but I finally had a morning where I had time to enjoy a cup of tea.  Only 7 days behind on getting to this one - oh well!


White Ginger Pear.... actually sounds intriguing.


Pear usually hits my palate with a nice level of natural sweetness, and I live how ginger spices up a tea, but I'm worried about the white tea.  Of all the varietals, I'm least familiar with white tea.  Mum says it's her favorite, but I've yet to drink a white tea blend that grabs me enough to want to explore it more.  All the white tea blends I've tried in the past have all hit my palate with an odd sweetness that almost reminds me of the aftertastes I get from splenda or stevia - but on the mid note instead of the aftertaste.  So, we'll see if the ginger spice manages to cut through the sweetness from both the white tea and the pear.


Color wise, I don't know what I was expecting - as I've said, my experience with white tea is limited.  The lighter liquor was intriguing.

My first sip was ALL PEAR.  It was light a light and watery warm pear juice with no flavors of ginger or tea.  My second sip was both a bit more sweet and a bit more astringent as the actual tea joined the flavor.  The ginger is hidden in the end note for me - and it's the flavor of ginger without the spice or heat.

I paired it with my shortbread for the day - a chocolate chip shortbread.  The combination was reminiscent of a baked pastry wrapped pear with chocolate sauce.  I liked the tea better without the shortbread - though I will admit that the plain part of the cookie cut the sweetness of the tea a bit - so perhaps a plain shortbread would have paired better.


Final thoughts:  A nice blend, but not really my style.  Mum on the other hand wants me to earmark the blend to buy a whole box for her - she LOVED it.


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