Tea and Me

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 ...

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...

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...

It’s a lovely summer's afternoon with blue skies, the odd fluffy white cloud and a gentle breeze rustling through the trees and I am drinking Strawberries and Cream Tea by T2 , the company with the funky orange boxes, (okay, so really it’s 30 odd degrees out there and absolutely bloody baking so I’m hiding indoors, but I can see the blue sky and clouds out of the window). Ingredients: Apple, hibiscus, rosehip, strawberry granules (glucose syrup, strawberries, fructose, modified starch: E1414, thickener: E401), sweet blackberry leaves, yoghurt crispies (skimmed milk* yoghurt, sugar, maltodextrin, modified starch E1412, acidifier: E330), flavouring *contains milk. They describe it thus: “Strawberry fields are forever with this beautiful red brew and sweet aroma.” You may remember a while back when I went to afternoon tea at the Horseguards Hotel that I tried someone else’s Strawberries and Cream Tea and I quite liked it. Therefore, when I saw...

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 ...