Whittards – Silent Night

Time for Tea Please?

It’s festivitiTEA time!

Kicking off the Christmas season with a pit stop in Whittards of Chelsea and trying their silent night tea out.

For this loose leaf blend it contains Green Tea, Cinnamon Sugar, White Chocolate Stars , Cocoa Bean Pieces, Flavouring, Orange Peel, Rose Petals, Cloves. The perfect Christmas flavourings.

The aroma of the tea is lightly spiced with a very mild undertone of green tea. Unlike most green teas the brewed liquid is more yellowy down than a green. Which is likely to be down to the spice and cocoa.

The flavour of tea is interesting. It neither screams green tea or spice. It’s the perfect balance of both. It’s almost slightly earthy from its undertones of the cocoa. Yet it also a fruity floral side to the blend too. Meaning you don’t always know what sipping side your going to get. One thing for sure the green tea side of the tea has the smallest amount of taste to it making room for the festive flavours.

Happy Sipping 🙂

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Tee Gschwendner – Marani

Time for Tea Please?

There’s nothing I love better while traveling that trying new teas. Today’s #teareview is a tea that I had the chance to try while staying in Croatia. The villa that I stayed in was looked after by two lovely German ladies and they let me raid their tea stash! Where I cam across Tee Gschwendner – Marani.

Now I may not be able to read German but I do know how to read tea and I certainly wasn’t going to be put off by trying a tea at the time I wasn’t 100% sure quite what it was! However I’ll give anything a try once.

After looking the tea up it was possible to find out exactly what it was I was about to drink, which was a blend of green tea , marigold, rose and cornflower blossoms.

The brewing recommendation for this tea was for 2 minutes . Quite a short brewing time but I went with it anyway.

Whilst brewing like many loose leaf tea there’s always a few pesky bits that somehow always manage to sneak out. The aroma was delicately floral, with a few hints of green tea coming through while brewing.

The brewed liquid is a very faint yellow with a green tinge. As to be expected with a green based tea.

First sip was interesting green tea to me has a bit of a love hate relationship! I’m sure there’s tea out there that are the same for you.
Now I didn’t hate it but it definitely took a few sips for this tea to get going.

The mixture of the floral tonnes was just lovely , albeit faint it added a much needed depth to the green tea. For me personally I’d have preferred more floral less green tea to truly allow the floral notes to really sing. However this could have been all down to the brewing.

I like my tea strong ! Yes even the ones I’m not massive fans of and this blend wasn’t strong enough for my liking. Now this could have purely been down to the short recommended brew time and that a longer brew would have provided the kick I was looking for.

I certainly would try this tea again just brewing it for longer as it deserves a second chance!

Happy Sipping 🙂

Balaggan – Tropical Chai

Time for Tea Please?

What better way is there to spend a day off than by sipping tea. Thanks to the lovely people of Balaggan I’m able to be sipping on their Tropical Chai.

The first thing that always get me excited about trying a new Balaggan flavour is their packaging. It is always bright and colourful and the ombre style cubes are just exquisite. Especially the gold detailing , it just adds an extra specialness to it.

Upon on open the tea box , the smell is just tealicious, it’s super FruiTEA with an underlying spiced touch. I sure hope it tastes as good as it smells.

I love being able to see all the components , they look beauTEAful.

For this particular blend Balaggan uses: pear pieces, rosehip, cinnamon , apple pieces, lime peel, freeze dried pineapple, red peppercorns, cardamom, orange peel, sunflower petals, hibiscus & natural flavourings.

Let’s get brewing!

I have to say I’m rather surprised with the brewed liquid. I’d describe it as being pink in colour rather than it being more of a brown that for some reason I was expecting it to be.

The aroma while brewing was completely different from its dried state. All the components are perfectly blend and provide the essence of tropical ! A fruity madness that just works.

First sip is just tealicious!

The balance of tropical with the chai is just perfect. The blends of all the fruity components all work alongside each other perfectly. There isn’t necessarily one component that shouts louder than any of the others, together they just scream tropical. Now I was a bit unsure of a tropical chai but I have to say Balaggan has proved me wrong! The spice aspects of the tea are in perfect quantities to add a depth of flavour rather than over powering the overall brew. Allowing the spicy hint to work with the tropicalness adding an almost warming aspect to the tea experience.

It’s certainly one of those teas, will add sunshine on a cloudy day.

Happy Sipping 🙂

Tea Travels – Croatia & Bosnia

Time for Tea Please?

Another country , another tea Isle !

I love exploring new countries and you can always find me down the tea Isle.

I’ve just had a fantastic week exploring Croatia and Bosnia.

From fantastic views and landscapes to tasty treats. There were bakeries everywhere ! I wasn’t complaining !

Happy Sipping 🙂

T2 Birmingham

Time for Tea Please?

On a quick visit to Birmingham I made sure I had enough time to pop in to T2 other than there pop up shop in the London Selfridges this was my first ever visit to a fully fledged store.

What I loved about the store on first entering was the use of contrasting colours between the black fixtures and the co,our full packaging of their tea. Especially when combined with beauTEAful tea wear.

Tea Tasting – Choc Pear Pudding

Firstly I love the packaging design, it’s very different from their normal packaging but is still eye catching in an almost elegant way.
Time to get sipping! As expected with a black based tea the brewed liquid is brown in its colouring. The aroma to me is fairly light but you can certainly smell the cocoa.
On first sip it’s very intriguing, it’s light in flavour yet rich too. The contrast of the cocoa and black tea is full and rich, yet it is softened with the pear tones. The combination of flavours works perfect. Maybe a little subtle for taste but still tealicious.

Tea Tasting – Boho Rose
I love a floral tea! I don’t know why but I just do. So I was very interested to try this tea. Especially as it was blended with sparkling water. It’s not ever crossed my mind to blend tea with sparkling water to make a fizzy iced tea of sorts.

Not only did the name intrigue me but also the colour bright pink! Especially as the tea is inspired by Turkish delight.

Mmmmm first sip was delicious. Perfectly rich and floral with an underlying natural sweetness. Particularly as an iced brew, it makes such a refreshing sipping experience. The mix of the tea and sparkling water is just beauTEAful , if only I’d found this tea for summer brewing it would have been perfectly refreshing on a hot day.

My first T2 visit didn’t disappoint !

Happy Sipping 🙂

Steeped Tea – Earl Grey de la Creme

Time for Tea Please?

I love trying new teas ! Especially teas which you aren’t easily able to get hold of in the UK. I was lucky enough to be sent a sample of today’s Earl Grey de la creme from the U.S. from a Steeped Tea rep.

The blend combines Bergamot, Black Tea, Cornflower Petals, Natural Flavours, Vanilla

Upon opening to the pouch, the smell wasn’t overly empowering but it’s black tea notes mixed with flowers added a much delicate floral aroma.

Let’s get brewing!

The aroma while brewing is distinctly that of an earl grey tea as you’d come to expect with a very faint smell of floral tonnes.

I was fairly surprised by the actual brewed liquid. It’s an almost brown with an orange tinge. Where as I would have been expecting a much darker brew a lot closer to a black than what we actually have.

First sip isn’t at all what I was expecting !
Although judging by the colour maybe I should have been. It’s not overly strong considering I brewed for around 3 minutes, maybe longer would have been better.

However it’s still a lovely brew. It’s almost creamy in its flavour, the creme aspect I imagine ! Although the floral tones are no longer present, and you all know I’m all for floral.

It’s only towards the end of the sipping experience that the more milky notes to the blend comes through working with the vanilla tones to add a new depth to the brew and the creme side to the earl grey.

Even the the tea wasn’t what I was expecting , it was still a pleasant sipping experience.

Happy Sipping 🙂

Whittards – Shanghai Chai

Time for Tea Please?

Today I had the chance to pop into my local Whittards for a cheeky tea tasting! I love trying all of their teas especially as they give you the chance to try before you buy. On offer for tasting today was Shanghai Chai .

A green tea blended with spices with a depth nutty tones. You’d almost not even realise you were sipping on a green tea. Plus what a great name.
Happy Sipping 🙂