The Gift of Tea

This week I received a lovely gift box of green tea all the way from America! I was told to make an exciting sounding tea lemonade with this but have only had the time to make a normal cup of tea this week. [I also visited the Whittards outlet shop but more on that next week!]

Brewing

"1) Boil water. 2) Place one sachet in cup. 3) Pour 8fl oz hot water over sachet. 4) Steep for 3 minutes."

This is a green tea so milk need not be added. While you are waiting for your tea to brew you can enjoy reading the packaging as I did ("For best karma, please reuse or recycle.")

Colour

Pale brown which has more in common with black tea than green tea.

Aroma

You can smell the mint strongly. It actually reminds me of mint sauce. This might sound odd for a tea but does help bring to mind the memory of delicious roast lamb.

Taste

I am happy to report it doesn't taste of mint sauce :) There is a strong mint flavour with a hint of lemon grass (a pleasant aftertaste). There is also an underlying taste of tea :) I couldn't taste the lemon essence but it probably helps bring out the other flavours.

Fantasia

I took a break from writing my Continuation Report (the reason this entry is so late!) to try this tea. I've been trying to find familiar films/series to watch which are conducive to the writing process and Fantasia has been one of the best yet [I've written 7 pages today :)].

Conclusion

An invigorating green tea which tastes strongly of mint.

Web-link

http://www.tazo.com/tazo.asp

See you all next week!

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The State of Tea Drinking in Germany - Part 2

While I have returned to the UK this week I brought back some leaf tea from Germany with me.

Pictured is a delightful tea shop in the Arkaden at Potsdamer Platz. The staff were friendly and happily let me peruse their selection of teas which all have samples in little glass jars for your nose's pleasure.


The tea I chose to purchase smelled amazing - Blueberry Muffin tea :)

Brewing

Despite not being able to read German I have been able to ascertain that this tea should be brewed for between 2 and 4 minutes. I, as usual, preferred to brew it for longer. I decided to try the tea with and without milk as I was unable to determine the suggested course of action because of the language barrier.

Colour

A nice light brown which looks good with or without milk.

Aroma

There is a very strong smell of blueberry muffin which is almost overpowering in the bag. However when brewed the aroma is still present (and still lovely) but weaker. A good compromise I think.

Taste

In a similar vein to the sticky toffee flavoured tea from Whittard's this tea has a normal taste while the aroma provides a pleasant experience :)

I found that adding milk was my preferred choice for drinking this tea.

Cakes!

While I actually enjoyed this tea with a prototype cake (more on that after a tea party I have planned) I did also visit some friends this week (a delightful couple should you ever meet them). Their cake offering was an apricot flan with a good balance of sweetness (not too sweet as is common) and nice shortcrust pastry - lovely :)

Conclusion

German tea is definitely in a more than acceptable state, at least within Berlin.

Web-link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_culture#Germany - Good elsewhere too it would seem!

See you all next week!

P.S. The Riots

I strongly support the movement to drink tea in protest of the rioting in England currently. Show your support to our police forces, firemen and volunteers!

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The State of Tea Drinking in Germany - Part 1

This week my I am in Berlin on holiday. When else will I get the opportunity to assess the state of tea consumption in this fine country?

At breakfast I chose to try Ronnefeldt's English Breakfast blend.

Brewing

No official timings so I defaulted to a few minutes brewing before adding some alpenmilch. The main point with this brand of tea though was the tea caddy system which is definitely a better solution than Twining's little tea bag strings.

Colour

A nice brown tea colour as expected.

Aroma

Smells like a standard tea - a good sign for tea abroad.

Taste

This is a fairly normal blend of Ceylon tea for a good breakfast cuppa. Definitely a successful tea. Apparently tea drinking is on the rise in Germany which can only be a good thing :)

Breakfast

In order to do this tea justice I did my best to assemble a Full English from the buffet. Very crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, tomato and some würst later and I had the closest approximation I could muster.

Conclusion

Deutschland has definitely succeeded at normal tea! 

Web-link

http://www.ronnefeldttea.ca/business/shop/category.php?id_category=7

See you all next week for more German shenanigans!

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