Tea and Me

So the final window on the advent calendar has been opened and it’s another tea bag —  the extremely festive-sounding Christmas Cake . Ingredients: Ceylon black tea, vanilla pieces, almond pieces, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, spruce needles, snowflake sprinkles (sugar, rice flour, hardened peanut oil, potato starch, flavour, gum arabic (E414), potassium sorbate (E202), colours (E171)), flavour. They describe it thus: Holding its own for the title of best Christmas tea of all time, this blend tastes like cake, contains real life actual Christmas tree (spruce needles!) and, as if that wasn't enough, it has little candy snowflakes. Still not impressed? Well brew it up and watch it glitter like icicles!  In the same way that I don’t like mince pies and Christmas pudding, I don’t like Christmas cake — not the fruit ones, anyway — I used to like the chocolate topping, the frosting and the marzipan fruit on a Tunis cake but n...

It’s Bluebird’s take on a British classic – it's the Great British Cuppa . Ingredients: Indian Assam black tea, Ceylon black tea, Chinese Yunnan tea. They describe it thus: We've been around the world in 80 teas with this one! On a mission to get our nation of tea lovers, THE BEST cuppa. Good news... Mission accomplished! Fantastic with your fry up, perfect with a Paddington (marmalade on toast, obviously!) The Great British Cuppa is right here! It’s normal tea! Well, sort of. This is the closest you’ll get to a ‘normal’ tea bag on the Bluebird site, and it’s actually pretty good. I have to admit that as normal tea goes, I’m a big fan of builders tea (think M&S Extra Strong or Yorkshire Gold left to stew for a bit) and I have to have it with milk and 2 sugars (how very British of me). This tea isn’t that strong, but it’s also not bitter so can stand a longer brewing time to give it a bit more oomph. It is packed full of flavour though an...

Today’s tea bag is a twist on an old classic — it’s Earl Grey Creme Ingredients: Ceylon black tea, vanilla, cornflowers, bergamot oil. They describe it thus: Don't we wish prime ministers today were as good as the ones in the good old days? Take PM Earl Grey, he was the cream of the crop. Not only did he help abolish slavery and reform the House of Commons, he also invented the legendary Earl Grey tea! So we've created this creamy tribute just for you old chap! I’m sure you’ll be unsurprised to hear that I’ve never been particularly keen on Earl Grey tea as it’s far too flowery for my liking and I’m not a lover of bergamot either. But as this was today’s tea bag I knew I had to give it a try, even though I wouldn’t normally drink black tea this late in the day. This is actually quite a delicate-tasting tea so the usual flower/bergamot flavours aren’t particularly forceful as in most Earl Greys or perhaps the addition of the vanilla masks the fl...

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 ...

The weather is getting colder and today's tea reflects that - it's the Snowball tea bag. I ngredients: Ceylon black tea, coconut pieces, cacao bean, cocoa shells, desiccated coconut, mini marshmallows (glucose-fructose syrup, sugar, gelatine, maize starch, flavouring, colour (E162)), chocolate chips (sugar, cacao , emulsifier soya lecithin), red cornflowers, flavour. They describe it thus: The chocolatey, marshmallow, coconut goodness of a gooey Snowball is one of the best sweet treats of Christmas and this year it is award-winning too! Our most famous Christmas tea blend scooped a Great Taste Award this year for its chocolate chips in plenty, coconut flakes in tons and a sprinkle of mini marshmallows to finish it off- The perfect Christmas Snowball.  This tea is one of Bluebird's Limited Edition Christmas teas and they also do a vegan version of it for those of you who can't have the marshmallows in this version. As you'll b...

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...

I have found a new favourite relaxing afternoon tea blend and I am extremely pleased to be able to share it with you. The tea is Garden of England Afternoon Tea from the Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. Ingredients: Black Teas from India and Ceylon, Green Tea from China, Natural flavouring, Cornflowers and Safflowers. I was having a relaxing day today after all the stress and excitement of the election (yes, of course I stayed up all night to watch the drama unfold) and decided that I would give this pretty-looking tea a try as I wasn’t feeling in the mood for any of my usual teas and wanted something that wasn’t going to be too heavy on flavour or caffeine. They describe it thus: “Using a blend of teas from all over Asia, it creates a complex blend of sweet, floral and malty notes. The mixture of the delicate addition of blackcurrant softens the otherwise slightly astringent blend, to a sweet, well-rounded tea that would complement Afternoon Tea or Cream ...

Today’s tea is Chocolate Tea sold by Camellia’s Tea House . This tea was one of the black tea options on offer when I went for afternoon tea at the Corinthia Hotel a couple of months ago. Although I didn’t try it at the time, I did get the opportunity to smell the tea when we went through the sample box and I thought it had an absolutely divine aroma — just like rich, dark chocolate. Sadly, Camellia’s don’t regularly do sample sizes which make it a bit difficult to buy a tea just to try it, but as I’m sure you’re all aware by now I really love chocolate and was so convinced I was going to love it that I had no qualms about buying a full-size packet of the tea and didn’t even bother to stop and read the ingredients list first (which, as it turned out was a big mistake). Ingredients: Chinese and Ceylon black teas, chocolate chips, coconut. Unfortunately, I’ve discovered this tea really isn’t to my taste despite the wonderful chocolate aroma, which is every bit ...