Christmas can be a stressful time, between shopping, partying and cobbling together ropey costumes for the kids’ nativity play. One sure-fire way to carve out some me-time in the midst of it all is by treating yourself to one of the best tea advent calendars. Simply pop the kettle on and enjoy a moment of peace.
Offering something a little different to bog-standard chocolate-filled options, and healthier beverages than calendars stuffed with gin, wine or beer, tea advent calendars provide the perfect Christmas treat. As they usually contain just one or two teabags per day, you’re also guaranteed to use everything inside, unlike seriously-pricey beauty advent calendars, which may include products that will end up discarded in the back of your bathroom cabinet.
Tea advent calendars won’t prove a hassle to store during December, either. They usually come in manageable sized boxes decorated with festive designs that won’t look out of place propped up on your kitchen worktop or tucked under the Christmas tree.
You don’t need to be an upmarket tea aficionado to enjoy a decent brew and, although some tea advent calendars include only the finest blends from selected tea gardens (complete with tasting notes), others contain everyday variations to perk up your morning cuppa, without breaking the bank.
Some even contain novelty Christmas-themed flavours, such as mulled wine or gingerbread, while bonus extras such as guided mediations add to the experience. All offer a great way to sample some new teas before buying a full box, come the new year. Keep scrolling, and you might just discover a new favourite blend.
How we tested
We didn’t wait until 1 December to open these advent calendars. We filled the kettle, grabbed our favourite mug and taste tested all the teas inside the calendars on test. We also considered how festive the packaging was, if we’d be happy to keep the calendar on display in our home throughout December, and the range and quality of the teas on offer. For each one, we followed any brewing instructions given and rated the aromas and flavours, while considering if we were likely to treat ourselves to the same tea again. Keep reading to find out which options impressed.
The best tea advent calendars for 2024 are:
Twinings 24 days of festive warmth advent calendar
This has almost everything you could need in a tea advent calendar. It’s in a neat box with subtle festive decorations and proper doors to open each day. Plus, it contains two teabags for each day, so you can look forward to an afternoon cuppa, if you don’t feel like sharing. All this and it doesn’t cost a fortune, either.
Traditionalists may balk at the lack of breakfast blends and black tea, but the calendar features what Twinings call superblends and soulful blends instead. These have names such as metabolism, sweet dreams, immune support and quiet mind, and we loved the idea of choosing these teas to match our mood.
The teas are delicious, too. Some of our favourite ones included ‘sleep’ (spiced apple, vanilla and camomile), ‘glow’ (strawberry, cucumber and aloe vera green tea with biotin) and ‘pause’ (raspberry, hibiscus and blackberry). The ideal way to unwind and take it easy this festive season.
Buy now £25.00, Amazon.co.uk
English Tea Shop advent tea calendar
Housed in a small navy-blue box emblazoned with festive pictures and tied with a red ribbon, this is a lovely-looking calendar. It opens like a box and each door is decorated with an old-fashioned teapot. Better still, it can be closed and retied after opening, to keeping it looking good even when half the doors have been ripped open.
Inside, there’s a good festive selection of teas, although all but one are repeated twice. They’re also all listed inside, which ruins the surprise a little. Happily, the tea is Fairtrade, non-GMO certified, and organic, while a percentage of each purchase goes to Global’s Make Some Noise campaign, which supports small local charities throughout the UK.
A black-tea connoisseur may balk at the selection of flavoured teas, but they’ve certainly got a festive feel, with seasonal flavours including gingerbread, super star anise, punchy peppermint and festive spice. All come in loose leaf pyramid bags and are ideal for hunkering down with in front of a Christmas film.
Buy now £11.37, Amazon.co.uk
Bird & Blend Tea Co tea advent calendar 2024
Bird & Blend was the first company to ever create a tea advent calendar, back in 2016, so, it’s no surprise the brand’s offering is still one of the best you can buy.
It comes in a brightly decorated book-style box, featuring a cube for each day, which is handy if you want to take the day’s teabags to work. Each cube has two bags inside and all are best-selling or fan favourite blends, alongside the odd preview of Bird & Blend’s new teas for 2025. Better still, the calendar is 100 per cent plastic-free, and one tree is planted for every tea advent calendar the company makes.
Inside, you’ll find everything from strawberry lemonade to dark choc chilli chai flavours. Helpfully, each mini-box also details the ingredients, caffeine content and if you should serve with milk. There’s even gingerbread chai, mince pie and mulled cider flavours, to give your brew the requisite Christmas makeover, too.
Buy now £38.00, Birdandblendtea.com
Mariage Frères Noël royal the Christmas calendar
This tea advent calendar oozes elegance. It’s made by Mariage Frères, which has been supplying tea to high-end hotels and delicatessens in Paris since 1854. The brand has more recently opened a flagship store in London’s Covent Garden, which claims to have the longest wall of tea in the world.
Some of the brand’s best-loved blends are included in this calendar (including one for Christmas Day itself) and all are exceptional quality. Each one comes in a handcrafted cotton muslin bag, making it feel like a real cut above your usual boring brew.
There’s no list of what’s included on the box, so every day is a surprise. Inside, there’s a mix of largely black, green and white teas. Each one is labelled, albeit entirely in French – dust off your GCSE language skills or visit the Mariage Frères website, if you want to know exactly what’s in each bag. Some options include ‘rainbow rhapsody’ (pink white tea with notes of citrus), ‘locombia Colombia’ (green tea with pineapple morsel) and ‘birthday in love’ (Darjeeling with rose petals and jasmine), for some seriously fancy festive cuppas.
Buy now £49.00, Mariagefreres.com
Newby winter in London advent calendar
Ditch the supermarket teabags for a posher cuppa in December, with this elegant-looking calendar from the world’s most awarded luxury tea brand. Newby uses the finest tea leaves possible in its blends, with only those picked in the prime season (between March and July) making the cut.
The calendar features an illustration of ice skaters in London on the outside, and opens up to reveal 24 individual drawers, meaning the calendar can be reused in future. Every drawer contains a whopping four individually wrapped teabags, making it great for sharing or lasting into the new year. The teabags range from classic black teas, including Ceylon, Assam and Darjeeling, to various flavours of oolong tea, green tea and fruit teas, such as summer berries, jasmine blossom and Moroccan mint. Our boring old morning tea just won’t feel the same come the new year.
Buy now £89.99, Selfridges.com
Pukka Tea advent calendar 2024
If you live for opening a door each morning in December, this advent calendar is not for you. Rather than a traditional calendar, the teabags come attached to a seasonally decorated cardboard wall hanging. Each individually wrapped teabag is numbered, helping you count down to Christmas, but they aren’t concealed, so you’ll be able to see exactly which tea you’ll be drinking each day.
It’s a great collection of teas, though. All are organic and include some classic herbal tea flavours. Instead of madcap Christmas flavours, you’ll find lemon, ginger and manuka honey, elderberry and echinacea, and (our favourite) morning berry. Just the thing to soothe frazzled festive nerves.
Buy now £11.45, Amazon.co.uk
Whittard tea advent calendar
If you’re buying a tea advent calendar for someone who can’t function until they’ve had their morning cuppa, this is the one to go for. Festive flavours and curious Willy Wonka-style brews are given a wide berth, as this elegant and fully recyclable calendar focuses on top-notch black teas instead. Each individually wrapped teabag is a classic Whittard blend or exclusive single-origin selection and almost all could be slurped at breakfast, without leaving you feeling like you’ve missed your daily caffeine hit. There are two teabags behind every door, so you can share with someone else (or save one for the post-lunch slump). Inside, you’ll find Irish breakfast, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Kenya and Chelsea breakfast. There’s an odd flavoured bag thrown in – including masala chai and English rose – but nothing too extreme to frighten the traditionalists. We especially liked the aromatic Christmas tea, with notes of citrus and spice, to get us feeling extra-festive.
Buy now £25.00, Whittard.co.uk
Yawn Brew tea advent calendar breakfast pyramid bags
Regular tea drinkers might be devoted to one brand, but this calendar is a great way to sample some non-scary flavours alongside the gold-standard classics.
The calendar comes from Yawn, which is based in Derbyshire and has been selling loose leaf and craft coffee since 2017. They now sell five different tea advent calendars, including a tea explorer calendar, a Christmas tea for two calendar plus ones including only single origin or caffeine-free blends. This one is devoted to breakfast brews and has plenty of versions to add pizzazz to your morning tea and toast, including Yorkshire breakfast, Scottish breakfast and even London breakfast (a malty tea with hints of bergamot, if you’re wondering).
There are also some seasonal surprises to lure you away from your standard tea with milk, such as cocoa candy-cane, eggnog, Santa’s milk and cookies and, our favourite, chocolate cake, which mixes black tea with cocoa beans and cocoa husks.
Keep your eyes peeled for a golden ticket inside, too, as you could win some prizes – Yawn will reveal winning ticket numbers every day from 12 December.
Our only gripe is the flavour of the tea is not mentioned on the teabag packaging itself, so you’ll need to refer to the list on the back of the calendar to discover which one is behind every door.
Buy now £24.00, Yawnbrew.com
The verdict: Tea advent calendars
All of these calendars will go down well with any tea lover, but Twinings advent calendar is our favourite overall, thanks to its unusual flavours, great price and the fact there are two teabags behind every door. If you’re a dedicated black-tea drinker and want to swerve unusual flavours, however, try the Whittard tea advent calendar, which will upgrade your usual morning cuppa all through December.
Want more recommendations? Check out the best gin advent calendars and the best beauty advent calendars
