Tea and Me

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, ...

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 the final of Bluebird’s ghosts and another Christmas Future  —  Mrs Claus' Raspberry Prosecco . Ingredients: First Flush Darjeeling black tea, apple pieces, rosehip, hibiscus, Siberian ginseng, freeze-dried raspberry, orange peel, natural flavouring. They describe it thus: First Flush Darjeeling, the champagne of black teas, and real raspberry chunks; this light + classy fruity flute is perfect for toasting special occasions (or just after a long day out on the sleigh!). It is a not-so-secret that all would grind to a halt at Christmas time without the help of the fabulous Mrs Claus so she sure deserves this tea treat! I was expecting to really like this as I have tried and enjoyed several raspberry-flavoured teas ( Adagio’s Veritaserum from the Magic Potions sampler is one of my favourites, as is the Blue Raspberry from Bluebird) and raspberries are one of my favourite fruits so I’m willing to try just about anything they appear in. Unfor...

It’s another ghost of Christmas Future  —  Spiced Clementine . Ingredients: Hibiscus, cloves, apple pieces, ginger, star anise, orange flowers, rosehip, orange peel, natural flavour. They describe it thus: Remember when you were young and you got to decorate clementines with cloves? Remember how amazing and Christmassy it smelt? We're bringing you back with this delicious tangy but sweet Christmas blend! The perfect stocking filler or the best accompaniment for your Christmas pud! This is actually a far more subtle blend than I was expecting although it is a very nice tea. It smells lovely and orangey and spicy and tastes just like Christmas with the cinnamon offsetting the orange flavour perfectly. I left it to brew for about 7 minutes to bring out the flavour a bit more. Next time I’ll probably leave it for 10. Whilst this is a tea I could have drunk it without sugar as ever, for me, the addition of a teaspoon of demerara enhanced the ...

The third ghost is apparently of Christmas Future  —  Mince Pie. Ingredients: Sri Lankan black tea, cinnamon, almond pieces, orange peel, pomegranate flowers, natural flavouring. They describe it thus: Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without homemade mince pies- surely the staple of the festive season? (and everyone knows puff pastry is the best!). Guilt-free, gently spiced + deliciously sweet, great with or without milk! So curl up in a warm duvet and sip on this inspired blend, before Santa gets his hands on it!  I have to admit that I don’t like mince pies but as this tea bag contains no ingredients I dislike I will be trying it as it sounds far nicer than its namesake. However, as it’s black tea, I can’t drink it in the evening otherwise I won’t get any sleep. I was intending to try it today at work, but unfortunately, I was extremely busy so didn’t get the chance. Therefore, I shall have to return with a review for this tomorrow. ...

It’s the second ghost of Christmas Past  —   White Christmas . Ingredients: Chinese white tea, Apple pieces, cranberry,  Hibiscus, Rosehip, orange peel, Cocoa shells, Morello cherries, Rose petals, Flavour. They describe it thus: Apparently everyone is dreaming of a white Christmas… One full of white tea, white chocolate and Morello cherries by any chance? No?! Well, you sure will be once you've tried this brand new limited edition Christmas blend. Packed full of juicy cherries + white chocolate chunks, this tea is sure to be top of your Xmas gift list!  Just as the Mulled Wine was brought back for the day yesterday, so Bluebird have resurrected White Christmas for one day only and made it the advent calendar tea bag of the day. The first thing to say about this tea is that it smells absolutely fantastic, with the most mouth-watering cherry smell that transfers in colour to the mug. This isn’t a particularly strong flavoured tea tho...

It’s apparently a ghost of Christmas Past  - it’s the Mulled Wine tea bag. Ingredients: Hibiscus, rosehip, apple pieces, lemon pieces, orange peel, orange flowers, cloves, cinnamon. They describe it thus: A steaming mug of mulled wine on a frosty winter's eve is just about our favourite part of the chilly Christmas season. Brew up a Bluebird Mulled Wine and delicious scents of clove, cinnamon and orange will waft you right into a winter wonderland! You can also add to red wine on the stove for the real deal. So, today’s tea is classified as a 'ghost of Christmas past', but as luck would have it, this week Bluebird are reviving five of their ghosts, each for one day only.  Today’s 'ghost' is the same Mulled Wine as the advent calendar tea bag and you have until midnight to get it if you want it (and better still there’s still free delivery until then as well). This is a really tasty fruit tea, full-bodied and full of flavour with all those...

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 ...

I feel like summer has suddenly returned — it's Strawberry Lemonade tea. Ingredients: Hibiscus, rosehip, apple, lemon, orange, strawberry, elderberry, sunflower petals They describe it thus: Amazing iced or hot, any time of year, all ages, girl, boy, dog . . . This versatile little number is a big hit all-round. With real strawberry bits and zesty lemon peel, it's easy to see why. Get a pitcher on the go will you, love? So, you might remember that I bought some of this tea back in the summer but lost it so I never got to try it. I still haven’t managed to find it so I’ve no idea where it went — I’m guessing the fairies stole it — so I was rather pleased to see this tea bag as one of the advent calendar gifts. The tea bag itself had a strong smell of strawberry so I was expecting that to be  the dominant flavour, but I can be a bit funny about strawberry-flavoured products so I wasn’t sure it would be to my taste. Once again, I left it way l...

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 ...