Christmas or Noël
While our iconic "Christmas Tea" pays homage to the fruit jellies enjoyed in France at Christmas, "Il était une fois Noël" (Once Upon a Time at Christmas) takes the opposite approach: behind this delightfully French name lies the spirit of the most emblematic of English Christmas desserts: the famous Christmas pudding. A cross-Channel nod, a delicious dialogue between traditions, for a black tea with deep aromas, enveloping spices, and a gently nostalgic elegance. So delicious, indeed.
A dessert steeped in tradition…
Christmas pudding, a treasure of English tables, is more than just a dessert: it's a ritual, a memory, a celebration in itself. Originating in the 17th century, it was traditionally prepared on Stir-up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent, and left to rest for several weeks to allow its flavors to develop. In each family, the batter was stirred clockwise while whispering a wish, sometimes slipping in a lucky coin. Its rich and generous recipe combines candied fruit, citrus peel, grated apples, molasses, spices, alcohol, and suet, the animal fat that once gave it its melt-in-your-mouth texture. Slowly steamed and flambéed on Christmas Day, it brought warmth, sharing, and indulgence to the heart of winter.
And because a tea can also revive memories and awaken legends, Once Upon a Time at Christmas offers an echo in a cup, a spicy and fruity infusion, like a drinking tale, between the sweetness of childhood and the thrills of candied orange.
While in London, they have been lovingly tending the pudding dough since the end of November, in Parisian kitchens, on the afternoon of December 24th, they are busy preparing the Yule log, the aromas of sponge cake, melting chocolate and candied chestnut wafting into the living room.
In Paris, in a Haussmannian apartment with gently creaking parquet floors, the enfilade kitchen, with its antique terracotta tiles and patinated furniture, fills with another festive scent: that of a sponge cake rising in the oven, melted chocolate shavings for a homemade yule log, rum and icing sugar floating like a childhood haze. The atmosphere is sweeter, more powdery, but just as enveloping.
In London, behind the frost-dusted bay windows, the kitchen, with its antique tiles and hanging pots, exudes heady aromas: slivered almonds, brown cinnamon, grated ginger, warm vanilla… The pudding simmers in its casserole dish, wrapped in a striped tea towel. On the table, oranges studded with cloves sit alongside jars of Christmas jam.
In both cities, it promises a tender and indulgent moment. But it is indeed in London that we find the subtle aromas that make up our Once Upon a Time at Christmas black tea.
