It’s no surprise that Christmas time is one of my favorite times of the year! I know that it can be stressful for a lot of people for many different reasons and because of this, the “holly jolly” attitude can be off putting. Like for so many, this season is tough in it’s own way. I shared before that for whatever reason, in recent years and even when I was a child, so many of my loved ones who passed away did so in the November to December time frame. My way of coping and honoring their memories is to be jolly during this season. It helps me through and I think it’s what they would have wanted!

The actual day of Christmas has always been the most stressful due to trying to please everyone with how much time is spent with what part of the family. Some of my favorite parts about Christmas are all the fun things I get to do leading up to the day!

In no particular order, here are some of my favorites that are probably on your list too!

Picking out a Christmas tree and decorating it
Watching all my favorite Christmas movies
Wrapping Gifts
Christmas Baking
Going to see Christmas light displays
Opening my homemade tea advent calendar
Christmas Morning Sausage bread + baileys & Jameson!

Some of these traditions intersect with tea besides the tea advent calendar!

I’ve always known eggnog as a Christmas tradition but it was never something that we had in our house. I didn’t grow up drinking it and the few times I’ve had a sip, I always thought it was too sweet! This year though, I thought I would try tea infused eggnog!

After searching through lots of eggnog recipes, I decided to cut the stress and get some store bought eggnog. Every week, I get a produce box called The Imperfect Box. Last week they offered an almond milk eggnog so I grabbed it!

I decided to do an experiment and infuse tea into this eggnog but I wanted to use whatever tea that my tea advent calendar would give me.

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The recipe is simple:

Heat your eggnog. I wanted until it started to boil. While it was getting to a boil, I noticed a little separation, this might have been because it’s almond milk but I’m not sure. So I stirred it until it was together again
I then took the eggnog off the stove and poured it into a glass teapot. You could also keep the eggnog in the saucepan.
I dumped in the tea I was using, stirred it around and then let it infuse for 10 minutes.
I strained the tea and tasted it!
It was definitely still very sweet but I noticed that the tea made it more robust in taste and aroma and definitely cut the sweetness!

A few notes about this experiment.

I used the tea that was in my advent calendar for days 19 and 20. These both happened to be raw pu’er teas. I don’t think that these were necessarily the best teas to infuse into eggnog but I went with the flow! Here are some other options that I would have gone with first if I wasn’t doing an experiment.

My Morning Tea: I drink a ceylon tea every morning and I think this would be so delicious in the eggnog. I never drink this tea with milk but I do often sweeten it with honey so the sweetness of the eggnog might be a good replacement!
Masala Chai: I could totally see this being an excellent substitute for milk when making stovetop chai! Instead of starting off with water and adding in the tea then milk, I would just bring the eggnog to a boil then add in the tea. Definitely let the flavors infuse for several minutes and then strain! This is also a tea that I would usually sweeten a little so the eggnog provides the whole package here
Black Tea Blends: I have a feeling most black tea blends would taste good with eggnog as well. I don’t think everything would be suitable but Imagine a blend that has some spices in it or maybe even your favorite fruit!
Oolong: The eggnog has such a powerful flavor, I don’t think any oolong would work. Specifically, I think a roasted oolong would be best. I originally wanted to use some da hong pao I had but looked in my stash and saw that I was out :D I think a nice yancha would also be so good. The roasted flavor would definitely compliment and also lessen the sweetness!

Alternate method for infusion: The above recipe calls for enjoying the eggnog hot/warm. If you like to enjoy it cold you can either allow it to cool or try cold brewing! I cold brewed tea into milk before and you can use a similar method to cold brewing tea. When choosing your tea, I like to rinse it with warm water to open them up a little before placing it in my liquid. I would probably place the eggnog with the unbrewed tea leaves into it at night before bed and then take it out about 12 hours later to strain and enjoy!