Review: Fire Emblem Three Houses Fódlan Teas [In Progress]

To tea or not to tea, that is the question.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019) has a recurring minigame where the player may invite one of the game’s characters to a tea party. You can choose several subjects to discuss and playing well increases your affinity with that character, which translates back into the main game in the form of combat boosts if you fight alongside one another.

Edelgard drinking tea in Fire Emblem: Three Houses

In 2022, Fire Emblem franchise developer Intelligent Systems partnered with tea company Lupicia to produce two real-world tea box sets, the Fódlan Tea Break and the Fódlan Tea Collection. They are (or were) described, with purchase links, here.

This is a review of all of the teas. This is not a review of how cool the box is, or how fun it is that the Tea Break comes with a little teacup and saucer, or an unboxing blog, or anything like that. Collectors already know whether they want this item or not. This is a review for people who want to actually know if the tea itself is good.

A photograph of the Fódlan Tea Break and Fódlan Tea Collection boxes

The Fódlan Tea Break contains only one kind of tea (five teabags in a themed tin) alongside the aforementioned teacup set, while the Fódlan Tea Collection is a set of thirty teabags in twenty blends. The blend included with the Tea Break is not part of the Tea Collection so if you really want to try it all you will need both boxes.

Anyway. What’s good and what’s not? Let’s get to the teas. Of note is that the teabags are sorted by what house the characters are in at the Officer’s Academy, and as such each of the teabags have a little illustration to show which character prefers this tea. The teas also have themed names, so where applicable I have noted what the tea actually is.

Hresvelg Blend

A mixture of bergamot, rose red(?) and safflower/fragrance. Brewing time: 5 minutes.
Brew time: 2.5-3 minutes
Characters: Edelgard, Hubert

Official Website Description:
フレスベルグ家御用達の高級茶葉を、本商品のための特別なブレンドによって再現。風味豊かなニルギリとアッサムをブレンドし、軽やかな飲み口でありながらしっかりとしたコクのあるベースに仕上げました。
フレーバードティーの王道であるアールグレイ（ベルガモット）と、赤い果汁が美しいザクロ、華やかで麗しい蘭の香りを合わせ、長きにわたって覇道を征くアドラステア帝国を表現しています。
トッピングには炎に見立てた赤いサフラワーを飾り付けました。

A special blend of high-quality tea leaves used by the Hresvelg family has been recreated for this product. A blend of flavorful nilgiri and assam combine to create a body that is light, yet full-bodied and rich.
Earl Grey (bergamot), the royalty of flavored tea, combines with the beautiful red juice of pomegranate and the scent of gorgeous orchids to represent the Adrestian Empire, which has a long history of conquest and supremacy.
The topping is decorated with red safflowers that resemble flames.

Review:
The bergamot gives it a similarity to Earl Grey, but the flavor is materially different. The rose red seem to be rose hips, which add a slight tartness to the flavor. Overall it has a slightly sweeter taste than a straight black tea, with good subtle undertone flavors. I am not a fan of fruit but the pomegranate clearly is working here. It lingers for quite a while on the tongue, and even an hour after drinking I still had the slightly acerbic aftertaste in my mouth. This is one of Edelgard’s favorite teas and she clearly has very good taste. I would drink this regularly.
Grade: A-

Bergamot

Earl Grey
Characters: Edelgard, Sylvain
Brew time: 2.5-3 minutes

Earl Grey is my workhorse tea – if I’m not in the mood for a different type, I will default to choosing it. This Earl Grey is nothing special. I would say that it’s on the relatively higher end for a bagged tea, but it did nothing to knock my socks off. Conversely it wasn’t bad – it was exactly what I would expect from a somewhat upscale Earl Grey teabag. If you know Earl Grey then you know this. Nothing else to say about it.
Grade: B

Dagda Fruit Blend

Assam & Mocha
Characters: Hubert, Hapi
Brew time: 2-2.5 minutes

This tea is called “fruit blend” and I honestly am not a fruit person so the upcoming fruit infusion teas are going to suffer in my ratings for that. In this tea though, the fruit is not a fruit at all, it’s mocha. I don’t know why they chose this for a “fruit blend” but here we are. This is a pungent tea. It smells like a cup of coffee. It tastes like a watery cup of coffee. I don’t drink coffee and don’t like the flavor, but I do like coffee ice cream. Unfortunately this is basically a coffee and tea mix, which surely will appeal to somebody but feels like it must be the worst of both worlds. You should know from this description if this sounds awesome or terrible and drink accordingly. It’s not outright bad, but I can’t imagine why it exists except for novelty reasons. Hubert and Hapi… what are you doing with your lives?
Grade: C

A photograph of the almyran pine needles tea bags

Almyran Pine Needles

Lapsang Suchong
Characters: Ferdinand, Claude
Brew Time: 2-3 minutes

Lapsang Suchong is already a divisive tea, but it’s one that I love. The smokey flavor is going to be an immediate turn-off for many drinkers. This is an especially aromatic variety; even taking it out of the bag I was struck by the scent of this tea. Unfortunately, the strong smell does not translate into a strong flavor. I actually brewed it for a minute or two past the recommended brewing time because it tasted so weak, but to no avail. If I’m going to drink Lapsang Suchong, I want it to taste like a campfire – this was quite thin. Lapsang Suchong is a great tea. This is a mediocre Lapsang Suchong. Disappointing. Ferdinand would never settle for such an ignoble incarnation as this.
Grade: B-/C+

Angelica Tea

Lumière
Characters: Linhardt, Leonie
Brew Time: 3-5 minutes

Lupicia describes their Lumière tea ingredients as “vervine, rosemary, eyebright, chamomile, jasmine tea, lavender, blueberry leaf, Nikko maple.” I honestly cannot taste every single one of those flavors, but the chamomile is clearly evident and leading this tea. I think I can get some undernotes of the jasmine, and the rosemary is clearly there, but the rest of it I honestly cannot tell. That said, the tea is good! It’s an herby tea with a very slight tartness to it. I’m less partial to herbal teas than black teas, but this one is quite nice. It’s a tea that if I were hosting a party, I would want to have on offer as part of the dessert tea and coffee selection, and also one of the few thusfar where I’ve thought “I should keep this teabag for another mug later in the day.” The jasmine tea’s caffeine content does undercut this being a pure herbal for those who look to avoid that, but otherwise this is a winner.
Grade: A-

Ginger Tea

Characters: Caspar, Balthus
Brew Time: 2.5-3 minutes

It’s hard to go wrong with ginger. This tea has a very mild aroma, unlike some of the other teas which smack you in the nose as soon as the bag is opened. This didn’t bode well for the tea itself, however. Altoids advertise themselves as the “curiously strong” mints. This is the curiously weak tea. 2.5-3 minutes of brew time resulted in water that after drinking would cautiously perambulate to your tongue and, with a shrug, say… “ginger?” Happily, doubling the brew time resolved this issue, and produced a tea with a pleasant mild but distinct ginger flavor – not overwhelming and overall quite nice. This is not the first of these teas I’ve had to push past the recommended brew time in order to get them to manifest their potential, so for anybody who is considering buying the box, I strongly recommend disregarding the recommended instructions for a significantly improved experience. This ginger tea actually turned out really nice in the end, no thanks to our friends at Lupicia.
Grade: B+

Albinean Berry Blend

Rhubarb & Strawberry
Characters: Bernadetta, Dorethea
Brew Time: 2.5-3 minutes

I wrote above that I am not a fruit person, and this tea smells very strongly of strawberry so I went in with low expectations prepared to hate it. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that this tea does not taste like fruit. The bad news is that this tea does not taste like anything. No matter how long it steeped, it was barely more than hot water. I don’t get it. I don’t know if it was defective or just so weak as to be tasteless but either way this tea was not a success. At least it didn’t taste like fruit, I suppose.
Grade: D-

Four-Spice Blend

Spices
Characters: Petra, Felix
Brew Time: 2.5-3 minutes

This tea smells great as soon as you open the bag. It reminds me of the smell of a Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon blend, though it’s not identical and there is a straight up cinnamon tea coming down the line. It follows the trend of needing to brew for significantly longer than the recommended brew time, which I am going to just take as a given for every tea going forward: 2.5-3 minutes is not long enough to make these teas infuse properly. That said, this tea is still very weak – there doesn’t seem to be much in there to carry the flavor. I am struggling to even describe the tea. It definitely tastes like something, but the flavor is so devoid of quality that I’m having real trouble. It’s spices for sure, but none stand out. I admit that I actually put the teabag itself into my mouth and sucked on it to try and get a sense of what the heck this was and still came up empty. I then let it brew almost half an hour for a single mug(!) to get a better sense. The best I can do is “spices.” It’s not a bad tea, but it has nothing to recommend it. Aggressively average. Smells great though, would use for room freshener.
Grade: C

Chamomile

Character: Dimitri
Brew Time: 2.5-3 minutes

A tea staple, chamomile is hard to mess up, right? It’s just chamomile leaf. This is a chamomile tea. It is a really good chamomile tea. I feel like maybe it’s the best chamomile tea I’ve had? I’m pretty surprised and I suspect there might be something in there other than straight chamomile based on the smell. I can’t tell what it is, but I am suspicious. I would not describe myself as a chamomile fan; it’s fine and I’ll drink it, but it’s rarely a first pick, but this stuff is quite good. As a bonus, it was full and flavorful in the recommended brewing time instead of needing ages to impart its taste. A winner. Congratulations to Dimitri.
Grade: A

Cinnamon Blend

Character: Dedue
Brew Time: 1.5-2 min

This is some weak tea. Just really watery. After doubling the brew time I could taste some cinnamon but only barely. If you want good cinnamon tea in tea bag form, Harney and Sons is the way to go. That tea is strong, aromatic, bold and tasty. This tea is barely a tea. I don’t understand. It has a nice scent, but it has no other discernible characteristics.
Grade: D