Tea and Me

Blimey, it’s been forever since I last posted, hasn’t it? Sorry, I’m afraid I’m not a very good blogger. To be honest, since the last post the weather has been mainly atrocious and so I did the only sensible thing a winter-hater could do — I buried myself indoors with a decent supply of Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co.’s Winter Tea (you’ll remember I raved about it in my last review) in an attempt to hibernate until Spring came. But then Bluebird Tea Co. (who are changing their name shortly to Bird & Blend Tea Co. — click on the link to read why if you're interested) released their Spring Collection of teas, the sun came back (very briefly) and suddenly all felt right with the world again (until the Rice Pudding + Jam tea turned up — but that’s a story for another time). I had intended to blog last week to coincide with National Tea Day , but unfortunately, disaster struck in the form of a migraine, which as we know means no tea drinking for me unless it’s t...

Happy New Year! Gosh, it’s been a long time since I last posted, hasn’t it? Although, actually, it’s been a long time since I last had a cup of tea. You might recall that just before Christmas I went down with the lurgy and was unable to enjoy the last of my Bluebird advent calendar teas as I couldn’t taste a thing and I promised I would review as soon as I recovered. I also promised to try all those Matcha’s once I got my milk frother, which the pesky Post Office were trying their hardest not to deliver. Sadly, the virus was a bad one, as everyone knows, as it seems most people I know were struck with it at some point over the holidays and for several weeks now I’ve drunk nothing but plain tap water as it’s been the only thing I could face drinking (apart from the odd medicinal tot of Glayva). I did try a pot of my beloved Milk Oolong just after Christmas, but as it has a subtle flavour I couldn’t taste anything and so it seemed a bit pointless, and a waste of money, ...

WTF? — today’s tea is Chilli Kale Matcha . Ingredients: Japanese matcha green tea, kale, cayenne They describe it thus: A double whammy of green power in this blend of Japanese matcha green tea, curly leaf kale + a fiery kick of cayenne chilli to boot!  I honestly don’t even know where to start with this one. I don’t like chilli much anyway (I am a real wuss when it comes to spicy food) and the idea of kale tea truly turns my stomach and then there is the matcha, which I’ve discussed my problems with previously. This is another tea that is going to have to wait until another time (and maybe quite some time — although if I’m doing a matcha tasting I might as well get them all done together). Instead, tonight I am back on the Milk Oolong from Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. which is perfect for unwinding after another long and tiring day. This tea is not quite as perfect in taste as Camellia’s Tea House’s version which is more creamy and i...

It’s been ages since I’ve had a chance to blog as I’ve been unwell and then extremely busy with work and life and just haven’t had time for any reviewing – although I did really love Bluebird Tea Co.’s Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice tea and drank a colossal amount of it during October (seriously, I think I single-handedly depleted their stock despite it being a black tea). I moved onto Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co.’s Milk Oolong in November and that love affair isn’t ending anytime soon either as I’ve just massively stocked up on it during their Black Friday sale (and it looks like I took all their stock too, oops). It really is a very special tea and I would highly recommend it when it comes back into stock. I was extremely lucky as my wonderful best friend bought me the Bluebird Tea Co. advent calendar for a Christmas present. I get to spend most of December opening the doors on the stylish blue box and uncovering the various teabags and more. I am ...

So, I haven’t had much time for tea tasting recently as I spent last weekend at the Harry Potter convention called LeakyCon  which was held at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin — if you were there you would have seen me dressed either as the Fat Lady, Doris Crockford or in my Slytherin robes. It was an amazing weekend, full of magic and fun, but it was also pretty non-stop so there wasn’t much time for sleeping. As I already knew this was going to be the case I prepared in advance by making up my own tea bags — Morning Kick to wake me up and get me going in the morning, Apricot and Garden of England to get me through the afternoon, and Milk Oolong Caramel for the evening wind down. I didn’t just drink my own tea, though. Over the course of the weekend, I also had several excellent pots of generic tea in the hotel lounge (as well as quite a few pints of their rather marvellous Orchard Thieves cider). However, unfortunately, despite my best attempts, I didn’t manage to try...

This week, as I’m sure you are all aware, is Afternoon Tea Week . As you know, I love any excuse to have an afternoon tea and with a whole week dedicated to it, you would think I would be in my element. Unfortunately, we are currently a tad busy at work, desperately trying to get ourselves sorted for an impending IT system change, so there isn’t time to go swanning off to a café, restaurant or hotel for the afternoon. However, not wanting to miss out on the fun, today we decided to have tea and cake – a kind of mini afternoon tea. And very nice it was too, providing a little break from the on-going madness of the week. Sadly, there are no photos of the event, but colleagues brought in various delicious cakes (and some crisps) and I, of course, provided the tea. The most popular selection and ideal for any afternoon tea was Garden of England Afternoon Tea by Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co . This was closely followed by Gingerbread Chai by Bluebird Tea Co . There is ...

Tea hasn't really been on my mind much this week as I've been suffering from a bad headache which made drinking anything but water or something mild like Milk Oolong pretty much unbearable. However, I'm now fully recovered and back to my old tea-swigging ways and I really need to get on and do some reviews. I have a lot of tea to get through as I seem to have collected rather a lot over the last few months (I was quite shocked when I returned from holiday to see how many packets of tea I actually have waiting to test — I guess they have been steadily building up so I hadn't noticed but suddenly seeing them all together was quite an eye-opener).  Having so many different teas can make my tea tasting quite tricky as I have so many new flavours to try that I can't decide which one I should go for first. This often means that I get overwhelmed, particularly if I don't have a lot of time, and so I give up and revert to old favourites (Milk Oolong (of course)...

Hola a todos, I am on still on holiday in sunny Spain but couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell you that Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co.'s summer sale has started, in case any of you lovely people want to treat yourself to some of their wonderful range of teas (I'm sure their coffee is equally as good but I don't drink it so can't confirm). Everything on their site is currently 15% off with the code SUMMER , so it seems to me like a good time to stock up, and if I wasn't currently out of the country I would definitely be doing so.  I can't see anything about an end date but if I were you I'd get in quickly to be on the safe side. Fingers crossed that it's still on when I get home.

To be honest, I have been so extraordinarily busy with work this last week or so that I haven’t had much time to enjoy tasting new teas. When I’m head-down over the laptop for dozens of hours on end I need lots of tea to keep me going, but it needs to be the stuff I can chug quite happily without thinking about it, and without needing to think about writing a review afterwards. This means that I’ve basically been living on Milk Oolong (of course) from various suppliers (hence no link), Garden of England and this weekend’s favourite, Apricot . However, I did manage to sneak in one new tea as I’ve had it for quite a while now and really wanted to try it. It’s a fruit tea by Kent & Sussex Tea & CoffeeCo. called Gentle Pumpkin Fruit Tisane . Ingredients: Pumpkin Pieces, Apple Pieces, Orange Peel, Apple Cubes, Natural  Flavouring, Vanilla Pieces, Safflower, Freeze-dried Tangerine-Orange Fruit Pieces. They describe it thus: “Pumpkin Tea! Using the sweet ...

I'm back, and with the weather returning to more normal English summer levels (i.e. a bit chilly, grey and gloomy) I'm drinking tea again.  Today’s offering is the extremely interesting and very pretty-looking Arctic Fire Tea from the Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. Ingredients: china black tea, cornflowers, mango, papaya, peppermint They describe it thus: “Arctic Fire is a scented China Black Tea with blue cornflowers. Beautiful flavours of Tropicana Summer Fruits and Peppermint. A powerful aroma when you open the packet! Mint and fruity flavours of Mango and Papaya make this a very refreshing tea for mid-afternoons.” Despite being a medium caffeine black tea, Arctic Fire has an extremely light taste if you brew it for the recommended 3 minutes. It also has the distinction of being the most unusual tasting tea I have ever tried. This is due to the mixture of peppermint with the fruity flavours of the mango and papaya, which combine to...

Hi everyone, I know it’s been a little while since I last posted but with the unbearably hot weather we’ve been having in good old Blighty (which does not suit me at all), and with getting home from work too late to do anything much but slump in a chair and moan about the temperature in my (33 degrees) sitting room, I haven’t really been drinking much tea, and where I have it’s tended to be an Oolong (usually Milk Caramel as I’m jealously hoarding my minuscule remaining stock of the China Milky for a day when I really need it). Yes, I know ice tea is a big trend at the moment, but to be honest, it’s not one I’ve ever really got into as I remember the pre-made stuff like Liptons Ice Tea and Snapple, which I tried and hated in the 1980s, and it was enough to put me off trying it again. Having said that, with all my favourite tea sellers now pushing their ice tea selections, and with warm weather no doubt set to continue for the foreseeable future, it is probably time for me to r...

Yes, I know I said I was going to review some teas from another brand, and I will, soon, but today’s tea is Blue Spring Oolong by the Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. (yes, it's another Oolong). Ingredients- Chinese Oolong and Mallow Petals They describe it thus: “Blue Spring Oolong is a very fine and rare Ti Kuan Yin Special grade tea from the Chinese tea growing province of Fujian. Blue Mallow flowers were added to this tea to represent the freshwater spring that was created by Guan Yin, The Iron Goddess of Mercy to rescue villagers from drought. This semi fermented tea is still traditionally hand crafted in small batches.” This is a delicate tea but is extremely drinkable. It has a light flavour, slightly floral, with that quintessential Oolong coming through strongly.  Of all the Oolongs I’ve tried, I would say this is the smoothest yet and one that you could easily drink a lot of without feeling that you’ve overdone it. Kent ...

Before anyone mentions it, I am aware that this is my third review in a row from the Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. but I bought a lot of samples from them and have been in the mood to try them, so this is what is currently being drunk and reviewed. Reviews from other companies will be coming along soon, I promise, as I have plenty of other tea to drink — I just need be in the right mood to drink and review them. Anyway, today’s tea is the extremely drinkable Apricot Tea , which I mentioned in passing yesterday because I had just bought some more of it. As its name suggests it is a black tea flavoured with apricot. Ingredients: Black Leaf Tea, Natural Apricot flavour and Sunflower Petals. They describe it thus: “A China Black Tea scented with the delicate flavour of Apricots. A good looking even leaf with a strong aroma. An excellent refreshing afternoon tea giving you a fruity sweet sensation.” The Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. are what...

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 ...