Ginger Beer Tea – Bluebird Tea Co.

Today’s tea is the rather wonderful but sadly, at the moment anyway, limited-edition Ginger Beer tea by Bluebird Tea Co. It has moved up my reviewing schedule as it was mentioned in an email I received from them today, which reminded me that I had it and really needed to try it.

Ingredients: Rooibos, ginger, lime leaves, lemon peel, calendula petals, natural flavouring.

They describe it thus:

“This Caribbean classic is here to set your taste buds on fire! Packed with flavour, punch + fruity freshness but with a cooling creamy lime finish. Perfect hot or iced, with a splash of spiced rum and a lime wedge!”  

As I’m sure you’re all aware by now I am a huge fan of ginger flavoured teas and this one is no exception. The first thing to say about this tea is that it has a truly wonderful aroma. I made a pot of it and left it to brew while I did something else and when I came back to the room I could smell the ginger and lime before I even got anywhere near the teapot. When you taste it, it also has a fiery kick from the ginger – an extremely fiery kick — so if you’re not keen on hot ginger don’t leave it to brew for too long (the recommendation is 4 minutes but I would suggest maybe a minute or so less if you're looking to reduce the heat).

From the first mouthful, I absolutely loved this tea and I could see myself drinking a lot of it — it is so good that it’s a serious contender for overtaking Gingerbread Chai as my all-time favourite Bluebird tea (a shocking statement, I know) as it has a slightly lighter feeling to it and is perfect for warmer months (although at Christmas Gingerbread Chai is always going to be king).

Obviously, I added a spoonful of demerara as for me this always brings out the flavour more fully and this was particularly true in this case in respect of the lime which cuts through the heat with a burst of cool creaminess that makes for both a compelling flavour and an interesting sensation in the throat.

Although I drank it hot, I have no doubt that this tea would be equally good cold and I am interested in their suggestion of pairing it with spiced rum (hic!). However, hot it is the perfect evening drink due to its lack of caffeine.

I don’t really know what more to say about this tea except that I absolutely love it!

As I said at the beginning Ginger Beer tea is a limited-edition blend that Bluebird Tea Co. has released as part of their summer range, but they are currently doing a poll to decide which 1 of 9 limited-edition teas which were released this year should be added to their permanent range (just as Blue Raspberry was earlier in the year).

I have 5 of the 9 teas mentioned in the list and have so far tried 3 of them but the other 2 are going to need to be exceptional if they’re going to beat this one for my vote (to be honest, I don’t think it’s going to happen).

Ginger Beer Tea for the win!