Best Winter Tea

‘Tis the season to bundle up and get cozy with winter tea blends. A nicely spiced holiday tea gets you in the festive mood with notes of cinnamon, clove, and ginger. I’ve come across seasonal blends that have a range of winter spices, dried fruits, and sweet notes like vanilla, chocolate, or caramel. Everyone may have their personal favorite (I sure do!), but this year I wanted to try a selection of Christmas and Winter themed teas to see if any come close to (or dare I say supplant) my ideal winter tea.

All I want this time of year is a hot cup tea full of warming spices to transport me to a winter wonderland. One sip and I’m in a wood cabin snuggled under a blanket by a crackling fire, watching the snow fall outside. This year I’ve found 7 teas to sample and rate, looking for the top tea to give me those cozy winter vibes. Let’s start our journey exploring a range of winter teas!

Winter Solstice: 5/5 | Peet’s – $

My all time favorite winter tea, this is comfort in a cup. I love the delicious aroma and blend of warming spices, with cozy vanilla, and hint of citrus. Winter Solstice has everything I want for a winter tea. This blend used to be really good, but over the years I think the ratio of ingredients has been tinkered with. I still love it even though I miss the Peet’s original blend (pre Mighty Leaf). I grew up drinking Peet’s tea so I have a particular fondness for this tea; some may find find it strong and bitter. I think it’s the bergamot that appeals to me. Is this the best winter tea, or am I just biased? That’s why I tried the following to compare!

Ingredients: Black Tea, Cinnamon, Orange Peel, Allspice, Natural Flavors, Bergamot Oil, Clove, Vanilla Bits

White Winter Chai: 5/5 | Art of Tea $$$$ 

This tea has nice, comforting, uplifting flavors of peppercorn and cinnamon with cozy cardamom and festive notes of anise and fennel. I really enjoy the combo of cardamom and white tea. Cardamom coats the tongue with the accompanying chai ingredients smoothly blending in. While drinking, your nose is filled with a fresh, subtle aroma of warming spices. 

This tea is on the pricier side (especially if you splurge on the artisan tin like I did), but the quality is good and you can always wait for a sale. I took advantage of their black Friday deal. I will definitely be repurchasing in the 4oz pouch to restock my pretty tin! I’d rather have Winter Solstice for the price, but I am looking forward to enjoying this tea in future winters.

Ingredients: Organic White Tea, Organic Black Peppercorns, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Fennel, Organic Cloves, Organic Cardamom, Star Anise, Natural Flavors

Christmas Black Tea: 4.75/5 | Fortnum & Mason $

This tea reminds me of eating a chocolate orange on Christmas morning. It is a citrus forward holiday blend both in flavor and aroma. Clove is the dominant spice and when I accidentally over brewed it was a strong aftertaste that sat on my pallet for a while. (I realized there are proper whole cloves in the blend, so check how many you are getting in each teaspoon when measuring out your tea!). Since I don’t live in England I thought I would have to pay a lot for shipping, but found out Williams Sonoma carries a selection. You get a lot of tea for your buck and I can see this tin will lasting me until next year when I will gladly restock. At first I gave this a 4.5/5 since I’m not usually a fan or orange forward teas, but it has grown on me. Definitely a good contender for a winter favorite.

Ingredients: Black Tea, Cocoa Nibs, Cloves, Safflowers, Flavors of Orange, Ginger, Clementine, Chocolate

Holiday Black Tea N°25: 4.5/5 | Palais des Thes $

A delicate and elegant Christmas tea. The seasonal notes of citrus and spices don’t punch your pallet like other Christmas teas. I feel like this would be a forgiving tea for over steeping. This is a subtle Christmas tea with the orange flavor coming out more as the tea cools. The blend has nice pieces and distribution of orange peel, almond pieces, and rose petals. If you’re looking for a nice winter tea without strong clove flavor this is a good choice. I went for the pricier decorative tin, but got a deal with their Black Friday sale.

Ingredients: Black Tea (Sri Lanka, India) (87%), Orange Peel (3%), Rose Petals (3%), Flavors, Almond (2%), Clove (2%), Vanilla (1%), Cardamom

Egg Nog Oolong: 4/5 | Plum Deluxe $$

What I enjoy about this tea is that it’s not over flavored. It nails the eggnog aroma and is fun to drink if you enjoy vanilla teas. Creamy dreamy on it’s own, no milk required! The oolong itself is okay, not the highest quality (smaller broken leaves and a bit twiggy), but for a flavored tea it’s just fine. I’m used to dark oolongs like this having a more nutty or roasty toasty flavor. This one is either very mild in taste or its flavor just blends very well with the vanilla without overpowering it. The cardamom and cinnamon are subtle and contribute to the illusion of eggnog essence. I haven’t tried an eggnog themed tea before and I think this one is a great standard to compare others against. 

Ingredients: Oolong Tea, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Vanilla Essence

Enchanted Christmas: 3.5/5 | Trader Nicks Tea Co. $$

Scrumptious like a Christmas dessert, this tea greats you with a creamy coconut aroma. The flavor is coconut forward, with notes of brandy and fig akin to eating a boozy Christmas treat. If you enjoy coconut black tea this is a fun one. Also, if you are a fan of a particular animated fairy tale of a girl who loves books and a beastly fellow trapped in a castle with talking furniture (like a pipe organ with a gorgeous voice), you might enjoy this tea that was inspired by that enchanted Christmas.

Ingredients: Black Tea, Vanilla Pieces, Coconut Flakes, Almond Flakes, Flavor, Sour Cherry, Acerola Cherries, Dried Fig Pieces

Countdown to Christmas – Cardamon Cinnamon: 3.5/5 | Republic of tea – $$

This tisane has a nice nose, with comforting and balanced notes of cardamon, cinnamon, anise, and ginger. The taste is subtle and well blended, with no single ingredient overpowering the others. The flavor is on the weaker side, but not unpleasant. I like the convenience of being able to leave the teabag in the water while you drink, and it will not over-steep. There is a mild herbal after taste, maybe from the chicory or carob. I included this as an easy, caffeine free, teabag option to get your cozy winter vibes fix. This tea is my guilty pleasure like its namesake… Next year I will try to find a looseleaf tisane with delicious winter spices!

Ingredients: Cinnamon, Ginger, Cardamom, Chicory, Black Pepper, Cloves, Carob, Cinnamon Flavor, Star Anise

That concludes the list. Hopefully one or more of these teas sound like something you’d want to try. Please comment with your go-to winter seasonal, holdiay, Christmas teas!