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Bluebird Tea Co. Christmas Hamper Review, The Best Gift Ever!

11th December 2015

A while back I went to the post office to collect a parcel and was given a box with Bluebird Tea Co. stamped all over it. I wasn’t expecting anything from them so I was instantly intrigued and massively excited! I opened the box and inside I found an incredible Christmas hamper full of tea! I was absolutely blown away, I’m sure anyone who receives one of these hampers will be equally blown away but it was definitely an OMFG moment! :p

The hamper included a selection of Bluebird’s finest Christmas gifts, which included 2 boxes of tea, a canvas Bluebird Tea Co. tote bag, an extending silver tea infuser, a tea bauble (so lovely!), a mulled wine cocktail kit and a Bluebird Tea Co. mug. The sweetest part is they even personalised the mug with my name, my first mug with my name on it! I’ll go through the tea in a bit more detail below but I’ll say up front, these teas are phenomenal!!

Snowball

Snowball 50g Box of Loose Tea

The first tea I tried was Snowball, a chocolatey marshmallowy black tea treat with a hint of coconut. This tea feels like a dessert, it’s actually really helped having it on hand with the run up to Christmas as I tend to become a bit of a chocolate fiend but this satisfies my sweet tooth! I often find with basically all chocolate tea I’ve previously tried, that the tea isn’t actually chocolatey at all but this is totally different, there’s actual chocolate chips and you sure can taste them! I did actually pick the marshmallows out as I’m vegetarian and my boyfriend is vegan but I’ve been saving them so my mum gets extra when I make a cuppa so her tea is even naughtier!

 

Chai

Gingerbread Chai

Gingerbread Chai is a winner of a Great Taste Award and I can really see why. It’s a rooibos base and tastes phenomenal, my hamper contained tea bags and they go a long way! I have a HUGE Batman mug, I love to come in from the cold and fill it with Gingerbread Chai; Batman mug, Yoda slippers and my dressing gown and I’m all good!:P The Ginger warms the back of your throat and just the right amount of cinnamon is there for a little kick, this is a tea you just have to try. I’ve been trying to build up my collection of caffeine free tea as I do a lot of my tea drinking at night, often in to the early hours of the morning so this tea’s just perfect.

 

 

Tea Bauble

Christmas Cake Tea Bauble

This is something I found so exciting! It’s a plastic see-through bauble filled with teabags. I hung it straight up in my study and while I’m working I reward myself with some Christmas Cake tea every time I finish a chunk of work. Apart from the inventive packaging the tea is beyond words, it really does taste of christmas cake but sweeter with a beautiful marzipan flavour from the almond and a warming orangey fruitiness. It also has little snowflake shaped candy pieces, where else would you find tea this cute?! 😀

 

 

wine and kit Mulled Wine

Mulled Wine Kit

This would make the perfect gift for anyone who likes mulled wine, it’s so nicely presented and easy to make. I’ll be honest, I haven’t actually ever had mulled wine so this was a first for me, a bit of a complication is I don’t/can’t drink alcohol so I found a non-alcoholic red wine to use instead 😊

The bottle contains all the spices and fruit you’ll need for the perfect mulled wine so you just add your red wine, leave for 48 hours and then simmer on the stove, strain and serve to guarantee that Christmas feeling!

I added more wine at the simmering stage to make the spices less intense but the result was fantastic! A beautifully sweet taste followed by a mouth warming hit of festivity!

 

 

Tote Bag Infuser Combo mugs combo

The Extras

Also included in the hamper is a super cute Bluebird canvas tote bag, it couldn’t of come at a better time, with this 5p per bag business beginning! I keep it at the bottom of my manbag ready for my shopping. There’s also a really kool tea infuser, it’s telescopic and compresses to about 1.5cm thick, then it extends in to a full size tea infuser and with a classy chrome finish. Last but not least is a Bluebird Tea Co. mug with a festive bluebird, the lovely guys and gals at Bluebird also added my name to the mug which is so lovely <3

 

Overall this hamper is simply gorgeous, as are all the Bluebird Tea Co. Christmas gifts, they have a lot more to choose from at different price points so there’s something for everyone. I’ll be placing an order soon for some presents for my Boyfs parents and to stock up on more of the Christmas tea while I can, I have a feeling I’ll be drinking Christmas tea well in to the new year! 😉

I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this and I urge you to go and find the perfect Christmas present from Bluebird Tea Co.. One of the gifts I think would be particularly lovely are the tea blending kits, they contain 6 tins of tea ingredients and recipe cards for you to make your own blends, heaven! You can get the exact hamper in this review here, it’s a gift your loved one will never forget! 🙂

I’d like to say a HUUUUGE, MAHOOSIVE  thank you to Bluebird Tea Co. for sending me this incredibly generous gift, I’m so so thankful. I’ll be coming to Brighton in the new year so I’ll be sure to call in and see you guys! 🙂

Merry Christmas to all my readers, friends and fellow bloggers who read this! I’d love to hear about any other amazing tea Christmas gifts you’ve found in the comments below or come find me on Twitter!

Oh one final note, you know you wanna be on my mailing list! 😉

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Teaphernalia

The Adagio IngenuiTEA Is Ingenious!

23rd June 2015

I recently received the IngenuiTEA from Adagio to review, find out how I got on!

First things first, OMG! It’s changed the way I drink tea and more importantly the quantity of tea I can drink, I have so much tea so anything that allows me to drink it faster and more often is fantastic! Read on to find out more.

 

IngenuiTEA Empty

The Build Quality

The first thing I noticed as I was taking it out of the box is the quality, it’s so sturdy and smooth! There’s no sharp edges or rough or visible seams in the plastic and it’s nicely weighted. The handle is the perfect angle and the grooves fit my fingers like they were made for them!

It’s constructed from BPA free plastic which is also totally transparent, it has the look of glass but the strength of plastic. It’s transparency allows you to keep an eye on your tea as it steeps and fill your mug at exactly the right moment, ensuring the perfect strength tea every time. The IngenuiTEA has a built in fine mesh strainer at the base so you never get any tea leaves in your mug.

Valve & Strainer

Another special touch I like is the little feet on the base that ensure the IngenuiTEA doesn’t touch the surface you stand it on, meaning you don’t have to worry about the cleanliness of the surface you stand it on.

I love that when you fill the IngenuiTEA the lid stands proud and stays firmly in place, it would be infuriating if it kept falling down all the time but this never happens.

IngenuiTEA Full With Lid Open

 

IngenuiTEA Full

Ingenuitea Full Half

In Use

The IngenuiTEA is glorious to use, just add your leaves to the chamber, pour on the water and return to whatever you were doing, taking the IngenuiTEA with you. When your tea is your desired strength simply place the IngenuiTEA on the top of your mug and the valve on the base opens, allowing the tea to fill the mug (I still find this exciting and anyone that sees it in action is blown away!). The IngenuiTEA has a transparent base so you can watch your mug as it fills so it never overflows.

The only thing I might recommend is a coaster to sit under the IngenuiTEA if it’s on a precious surface as it does sometimes drip a tiny tiny bit underneath after filling a mug.

I chose the smaller of the two sizes and I do regret it slightly as I’m a real power drinker and the smaller size fills about 1 and a half mugs, so I’d prefer to be able to get more tea per preparation. I do find that I can fill one mug, then refill the IngenuiTEA again and add a few more leaves and make another batch though, which is a great workaround and very economical. The smaller size would definitely be best if you wanted to travel with it or were in an office setting though.

 

Cleaning

The best best part, the IngenuiTEA is DISHWASHER SAFE!! You just fill it up with water to rinse the leaves out and put it in the dishwasher and it’s ready to go when you next need it. The IngenuiTEA is equally as easy to rinse between uses, just fill the chamber with water and rinse the leaves out, then fill it again and press the base, the water flows through the valve to rinse it.

 

Overall

I’ve gotta say, Adagio’s IngenuiTEA is fantastic, I can drink so much more tea and it’s just good fun to use. I love teaphernalia and this is definitely one of the most exciting things I’ve got, I just want to show it to everyone!

It’s well made, looks epic (your friends will be so jealous!!) and makes great tea. My tea is always the perfect strength, I usually find with teaware that requires you to add the leaves to the water, that it over infuses and you end up with bitter tea but this doesn’t happen at all with the InegnuiTEA.

If you’re a home user I’d go for the Adagio IngenuiTEA XL, if you’re a work user or on the go more, I’d choose the regular size Adagio IngenuiTEA. The only important thing is that you buy one of them, it’s a game changer for sure! 😀

 

Signing Off

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my review of the Adagio IngenuiTEA. I hope it made your purchasing decision easier 🙂

A massive thank you goes to Adagio for sending me their IngenuiTEA for review, you can find more info about the IngenuiTEA on Adagio’s website. I also received some tea from Adagio, including the Mango Green pictured (LUSH). I’ll be reviewing these over the coming weeks so definitely check back or join my newsletter to receive them direct as they drop!

If you have used any exciting tea gadgets recently I’d love to hear about them in the comments below! xXx

 

 

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Teaphernalia

Life With The Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass

13th May 2015

A while ago I purchased a Libre loose leaf tea glass and have been living with it by my side for the last few weeks. Read on to find out what I think, is this the best tea glass with built in infuser?

The Feel

It feels great! What makes this different to other tea flasks I’ve tried is it features a durable poly carbonate exterior but a glass interior. The lid and infuser are also BPA free so the flask really is almost as good as an all glass flask. The massive benefit this tea flask has over a flask with an all glass construction is it’s durability, it just doesn’t feel as vulnerable in day to day life as an all glass flask. All round the quality is good, the lid and infuser both screw on firmly and haven’t leaked in the time I’ve had with it.

The Use

I’ve really enjoyed using the Libre loose leaf tea glass, it’s so easy to use, remains cool to touch and keeps my tea warm for ages! The built in infuser is good quality but a few smaller bits do make it through as it’s not very fine, not a deal breaker though.

It’s Biggest Advantage

One of the greatest advantages of it is you have a choice of how you want to brew your tea! You can use it like most other tea infusing glasses/flasks, by unscrewing the lid and the infuser, adding the tea, screwing the infuser back on and adding the water, easier but can result in tea that’s too strong. Alternatively you can take off the lid and add the tea on top of the infuser, screw the lid back on, then unscrew the lid and infuser, add water, screw the lid and infuser back on and turn the flask upside down until the tea is your desired strength (see the image below, writing makes it sound over complicated!). Finally you flip it the correct way up, unscrew the lid and infuser and you have the tea your desired strength. I decided myself that I would just use it like all my other flasks and add the tea directly in to the chamber, rather than the flipping upside down method.

Libre Instructions

Overall

The Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass is really good, it has a solid construction, doesn’t leak and works well. It also comes in two sizes, I went for the large size which holds 420ml as I want more tea per time spent preparing. I do really wish it could go in the dishwasher but sadly it can’t (I have finally found a tea flask that can, review coming soon!).  It also looks really stylish and is sure to be a great conversation starter round the office. Overall I’d say buy buy buy! 🙂

You can get both sizes of the Libre tea glass on Amazon, the smaller size is available here.

The larger size which I reviewed is available here.

Since I reviewed this glass a mug version has also become available which is much the same as above but with a handle, you’ll find that here.

 

As always I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, if you have join my mailing list for more tea joy! Have you found a better tea flask? 🙂

 

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Teaphernalia

MIU COLOR Glass Tea Infuser Bottle Review

8th April 2015

My never ending search for the perfect all in one tea infuser has continued, with my recent purchase of this tea infusing bottle from MIU COLOR.

The bottle arrived really nicely packaged and complete with the black neoprene sleeve and two cleaning sponges. The cleaning sponges are fantastic and really speed up the cleaning, the bottle is also designed to enable easy cleaning as the top and bottom can be removed, allowing the water to run freely through the glass chamber.

I love the quality and overall feel of the MIU bottle, the glass is thick and the brushed steel effect on the bottom and lid has a luxurious feel. The infuser is also great and really fine so you never end up with any bits floating around in your blend. The zip on the neoprene sleeve making the bottle super simple to insert and the non-slip rubber bottom of the bottle both add to the premium feel.

To use the bottle you simply unscrew the bottom of the bottle and lift out the infuser, fill the infuser and then screw the bottom back on with the infuser inside. The bottle can also be used without the infuser for any beverage you like. You then unscrew the lid and add the water and the flavour is infused in to the water. You can flip the bottle upside down with the lid on and undo the bottom and remove the infuser once the tea is your desired strength or you can leave it in and use less tea! The top and bottom have rubber seals so the bottle is totally airtight and I couldn’t imagine it ever leaking.

Although this bottle isn’t double walled like some of my other tea bottles, the neoprene sleeve still keeps the contents warm a long time, without losing the extra capacity that you do with double walled bottles.

The only downsides of the bottle are it that there are quite a lot of parts which can make dismantling and refilling it a bit of a fiddle. Also the solid construction of the bottle does mean that it’s quite heavy, this could make it troublesome if you often carry your bottle out and about.

I bought my MIU COLOR Glass Water Bottle from Amazon 🙂

Conclusion:

Overall I would say the MIU COLOR Tea Infusing Bottle is one of the best I own. It’s style and quality is fantastic and it’s really enjoyable to use. If you like to carry your bottle around you might like to look for a lighter bottle and consider a double walled bottle to keep your tea warm for longer. If you mainly need a bottle for home or office use then this is probably about as good as it gets!

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