The Ultimate Work Tea

I've decided to post about new teas as and when now and might try a different style.

A chance sighting in Sainsbury's has allowed me to track down a tea I had previously sought but found impossible to find in the North.

Brewing

"Brew one teabag per person & pour on boiling water. Leave for three to four minutes, or until you think it's ready. Then drink it as it is, this one is made for drinking without milk."

Easy to brew and best of all needs no milk! (See previous work tea comments)

Colour


Light brown - one could fancifully say it has a golden hue too :). 

Aroma

As with Earl Grey you can smell the bergamot and there is also a hint of lemon.

Taste

Do you like Earl Grey with lemon? Then this is similar. Obviously you can't control the strength of the lemon as you can when you add your own. However as a work tea it allows me to enjoy Earl Grey without the need for the fridge (I do like Earl Grey with milk and without - there is nothing wrong with this).

"Whistle While You Work"

This tea is definitely the cornerstone of my work teas now where I sometimes whistle. This allows me to make the above tenuous song title usable. Although I have recently learnt how to whistle more than one note which I previously found impossible so maybe I can finally whistle properly while working :)

Conclusion

An excellent workplace tea which once again fills my requirement of no milk due to lack of fridge. Though I must concede if you have a ready suppply of lemons your normal Earl Grey will do just fine.

Web-link

http://www.twinings.co.uk/speciality-black-tea-bags/sunshine-grey

See you all next time!

Share

Harrods English Brekfast

Sorry for the delay everyone I have been busy with work and generally not drinking enough new tea :S

Brewing

As with most of the loose leaf teas I have reviewed a 3-5 minute brewing time as a matter of personal taste is required.

Colour


Tea coloured. This is quintessential tea!

Aroma

It smells like tea. I feel I may have to start reviewing more exotic teas to stop making this section a little boring :S

Taste

I think I prefer this to the Twinings English Breakfast. It seems to have a fuller flavour and is very good for kick starting your day :)

Londinium

Funnily enough I bought this tea in Harrods and have since enjoyed it on many occasions. Despite what you may have heard about Harrods this won't set you back any more than other leaf teas on the market. If you are a tea (or coffee) lover I can really recommend the Tea & Coffee section of Harrods. The staff there are very knowledgeable and helpful. There is also a ridiculous range of more expensive blends to try if you like :)

Conclusion

A very good cup of tea. Also not as expensive as you would expect!

Web-link

Harrods English Breakfast Tea

See you all next week!

Share

Instant Christmas!

Another visit to Whittard's returns another intriguing tea that I just had to try! :)

I also wasn't aware that such a thing as instant tea existed :o

Brewing

"Spoon three heaped teaspoons (20g) to 200ml water, or according to taste. Serve over ice for a long summer punch, or add hot water, curl up and enjoy as a soothing winter warmer."

Ridonculously easy to brew. It is instant tea! I went for the hot version since it is October (the previous few weeks crazy weather notwithstanding).

Colour


Dark reddish brown.

Aroma

Smells like hot Ribena with a hint of spice. It is a very warming smell - perfect for winter.

Taste

So what does mulled wine taste like without the alcohol? I now have a very good idea - similar to hot Ribena with added spices. There is also a tea after-taste. All-in-all it does taste like mulled wine but it doesn't warm you up in quite the same way as the alcoholic version. 

Baking

I tried this tea while baking some cupcakes and making gingerbread :) Pictures will follow on my other blog (which I really need to post more on...).

Conclusion

Warming, lovely. I could drink it all winter long!

Web-link

http://www.whittard.co.uk/instant_tea/instant_tea_flavours/rb_mulled_wine_inst_tea.htm

See you all next week!

Share

National Trust Blend

This weekend I had the chance to visit Lyme Park just south of Manchester (famous for being where they filmed Mr. Darcy's lake scene [below])

As far as I know you can only try this tea at National Trust sites. You might be able to purchase it in one of their shops but you cannot order it from their website :(

Brewing

Comes in a metal teapot for one. Brew it as you like but I let it steep for a few minutes.

Colour


As tea coloured as you could expect tea to be. This is their standard tea offering after-all.

Aroma

While Freshers' Flu has taken hold and I couldn't really smell my tea I would expect it smells like your standard tea (assuming your standard tea isn't Earl Grey).

Taste

This is a pleasant blend which complemented by Bakewell Tart superbly. While being a general tea blend it was distinct from the Yorkshire Tea we had been drinking on camp (a comparison of day-to-day teas is to come :) ). It is a standard tea though - without a direct comparison to another it just tastes like a nice cup of tea.

Pictured: A lovely cuppa and a delightful tart

Adventure is out there!

This tea was enjoyed post-adventure playgrounding (I think I just invented a word) and was well deserved by all :) I think there may have been discussion of Oil for some reason (blame to Matt and Dale).

[Prizes for recognising the quote in this section title]

Conclusion

An enjoyable, very normal cup of tea. The perfect representation of British tea to have at the National Trust.

Web-link

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lymepark/

See you all next week!

Share

Early Thoughts of Christmas

After my visit to the Whittard's outlet store I have a plethora of tea to review :) Here's the second one - Spice Imperial.

If anyone has suggestions for companies other than Twinings and Whittard's for me to try please add them to the comments. I don't want to only review these two companies. Also I will keep you posted on


Brewing

"Brew one teabag in a mug and remove when the tea is the strength you require.


Warming in the winter and also makes wonderful iced tea. Best brewed light and drunk without milk, but can also be brewed stronger and drunk with milk"

Simple enough to brew. I have tried it with and without milk but haven't yet had the chance to make iced tea from it :S

Colour


Dark brown as any standard black tea.

Aroma

Smells like Christmas! A very similar smell to Chai but with hints of orange and no ginger.

Taste

Once again this is nice brewed either way and I tend to make it without milk when I have it at work. You can definitely taste the cinnamon first and foremost with hints of orange and vanilla. If you aren't a fan of ginger you could use this as replacement Chai though I think I still prefer Chai myself.

Compiling Fail

While I did try this tea at the Tea Party previously mentioned I am currently using it to calm me down as a particularly pesky configure script is not playing ball at the moment as it can't find GCC :(

Conclusion

Tastes like Christmas! But in a subtly different way to Chai. Delightful! 

Web-link

http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/flavoured_black_tea/spiced_imperial/spice_imperial_50_teabags.htm

See you all next week!

P.S. Tea Party Cakes

Here pictures of the Tea Party cakes as promised :)

Tea-themed cupcakes :D

The variety of cakes on offer

The Volcano Cake!

Share

The Late Tea

I apologise for the lack of posts this last week-and-a-half but I have had a major deadline to work towards.

After my visit to the Whittard's outlet store I have a plethora of tea to review :) Here's the first one - Vanilla flavoured tea.

Brewing

"Brew one teabag in a mug and remove when the tea is the strength you require.


Best brewed light and drunk without milk, but can also be brewed stronger and drunk with milk"

Simple enough to brew. It is definitely worth trying both methods to see which you prefer, I know that I did.

Colour


Dark brown as any standard black tea.

Aroma

The vanilla smell is fairly strong and overpowers the smell of tea.

Taste

This really depends on how you make the tea. At work I brew it lightly without milk and while it smells of vanilla this mostly brings out the tea flavour. On the other hand brewing it strongly with milk brings out more of the vanilla flavouring which is complemented by the milk (use more milk than normal). Either way this is a very nice tea.

Tea Party

I first tried this at a tea party I held which featured some amazing cakes (pictures will follow) and a competitive game of Trivial Pursuit.

Conclusion

Either tea-like with a hint of vanilla or milky-vanilla with a tea aftertaste. Lovely.

Web-link

http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/flavoured_black_tea/vanilla/vanilla_50_teabags.htm

See you all next week!

Share

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!

Share