Tea and Me

It’s an oldie — it’s Honey Bee Beautiful . This tea is extremely popular with Bluebird customers but it contains chamomile, which is not one of my favourite flavours, and as I have already reviewed it previously, I’m directing you to that review instead of trying it again. Instead, I spent the day drinking Christmas tea by Adagio, which I was using to try to put me in the mood for festivities — i.e. putting up the Christmas tree (I also tried overdosing on Christmas movies), in the face of the snow that was coming down outside (my dislike of snow is as legendary as my dislike of coconut and is always guaranteed to put me in a bad mood). I failed miserably on all counts and the Christmas tree will have to wait until another day, but I did enjoy the tea and may or may not have shed a tear or two over the films. Ingredients: Black Tea, Cinnamon Bark, Orange Peels, Natural Spice Flavour, Cardamom, Cloves, Ginger Root, Natural Ginger Flavour And ...

Hurrah for a strong opener — welcome to  Gingerbread Chai ! Ingredients: rooibos, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, mallow flowers, flavour They describe it thus: We have our Nordic neighbours to thank for the tradition of gingerbread. Every year the town of Bergen, Norway still build a lifesize gingerbread city to celebrate Christmas. What a nightmare for poor old Hansel and Gretel! Let's hope they are keeping a low profile and enjoying a steaming cup of our Gingerbread Chai instead! If you’ve read my other posts you will recall that it was the same friend (she really is amazing —  thanks Quincy) buying me a Gingerbread Chai Christmas bauble last year that got me back into serious tea drinking when I fell so in love with this amazing rooibos blend that 10 teabags just wasn’t enough. Once I had visited the site to buy more I was lost and have spent all year buying their astonishing collection of blends, most of which I have still to review. ...

This week's tea is Chocolate Digestives . It was another of the entries in Bluebird Tea Co. ’s recent poll to decide on 4 limited edition teas to transform into part of their permanent stock. The last time I looked at the poll this was one of the high performers so it’s clearly very popular, although I have to admit, not with me. Ingredients: Ceylon black tea, cocoa shells, cocoa nibs, chocolate sprinkles (sugar, cocoa mass, anhydrous  milk  fat, fat-reduced cocoa powder, whole  milk  powder, natural flavouring), fenugreek, liquorice, cardamom, caramel pieces (condensed skimmed  milk , sugar, glucose syrup, butter, humectant sorbitol E420 from  wheat , emulsified E471, natural flavouring)  They describe it thus: “The Chocolate Digestive… arguably on top of the biscuit pyramid, we thought it was about time it had its own tea blend. A velvety smooth, caramel + chocolate delight, best enjoyed whilst dunkin’ the real thing.” So, I b...

Today’s tea — G + Tea — is another from the limited edition cocktail trio and is the third of the teas on the Bluebird Tea Co. ’ s keep poll that I have access to. Ingredients: Chinese sencha green tea, juniper berries, spearmint, angelica root, coriander seeds, lemon peel, almond pieces, liquorice, cardamom, natural flavouring. They describe it thus: “Close your eyes, imagine the first sip of an ice-cold gin & tonic – this is it. Super light + energising, the different flavours hit your taste buds separately. From citrus to spearmint, coriander to cardamom. It’s a brew asking to be cold brewed, tea cocktail if you wish!”  So, I’ll be honest and say straight up that I wasn’t expecting to like this tea. I’ve never really been a fan of gin and I detest tonic and would never choose to drink a G&T of my own accord (unless there really was nothing else to drink — I did once go to a party where it was the only drink on offer, I didn’t stay long) so...

Like the previous review, today's tea is one of the limited-edition teas from Bluebird Tea Co. which is in their poll to decide which ones will become a permanent blend (as will be the next few reviews, no doubt). It is called Bramble Ramble and is one of a trio of teas inspired by cocktails. This one is, apparently, based on a gin cocktail called The Bramble , of which I've never heard, but then I'm not really a cocktail aficionado (not since the dark days of the 1980s, anyway, and gin was never really my tipple of choice). Ingredients: Chinese Chunmee green tea, juniper berries, elderberries, apple pieces, hibiscus, angelica root, coriander seeds, freeze-dried blackberry, liquorice, lime leaves, cardamom, lemon peel, blackberry leaves, blackberries, raspberry pieces, strawberry pieces, flavouring.  They describe it thus: " The Bramble cocktail is a delicious, blackberry based, sweet yet sour gin cocktail, garnished with a slice of l...

Unfortunately, for me at least, the weather has turned hot again  😥  and tea drinking hasn't really been at the top of my list of things to do (nope, I still haven't yet tried making iced tea either, but I might have a go this weekend).  W hen I have been drinking tea I've generally been sticking to Oolongs as they're nice and light - Milk and Milk Caramel are still the best.   However, I have managed to sup a few mugs of a rather unusual Oolong made by T2 , who are a nice modern tea company with lots of bright square packaging, called Oolong Chocolate Chai . Ingredients: Oolong tea, cocoa husk, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon seed, cardamon husk, clove, chocolate chips (sugar, cocoa, lecithin: E322  soy* ), black pepper, flavouring *contains soy products They describe it thus: “A chocolaty, cinnamony, gingery, oolong combination laced with pepper. An intriguing sweet, bright and spicy flavour.” I think I was still reeling from th...

Enrol in a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, think magical thoughts and drink this. Ingredients: black tea, cinnamon bark, natural pumpkin spice flavour, cloves, ginger root, natural vanilla flavour, natural caramel flavour, marigold flowers, cardamom The teas used to create this blend are: pumpkin spice , vanilla and caramel , accented with apple pieces. Pumpkin Potion is one of the blends in the Magic Potions sampler box by Adagio Teas . I absolutely adore the spiciness of pumpkin pie and was delighted when the wizarding world was revealed to drink pumpkin juice in the same way the Muggle world drinks orange juice.  It was the drink I was most excited to try at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and the one I loved the most (sorry frozen Butterbeer, although you were amazing). Sadly, it isn’t available outside the US as it’s not transportable, so I have to make do with tea instead. I have tried both this and Adagio’s Pumpkin Spice tea which is...

Why Brew for 21 days when you have instant polyjuice? Polyjuice Potion is a very complicated potion that allows the drinker to assume the form of someone else. WARNING cannot change into an Animal. Ingredients: black tea, cinnamon bark, ginger root, rooibos tea, cardamom, dried coconut, lemon grass, cloves, orange peels, cocoa nibs, natural coconut flavour, natural chocolate flavour, natural vanilla flavour, natural cinnamon flavour The teas used to create this blend are: thai chai , chocolate chai and rooibos vanilla chai . Polyjuice is one of the blends in the Magic Potions sampler box by Adagio Teas . It smells absolutely amazing, just as you’d expect from something that blends three different types of chai — and you can definitely smell the chocolate (always a favourite with me). It also tastes pretty good, even considering the coconut (which I absolutely detest). I suspect this is because it’s fairly subtle and I can’t taste it and the spiciness mask...