Review | Russtea's

Do I LOVE Tg Green Teas Iced Tea & Pyramid Teabags?

7th July 2015

Recently Tg Green Teas asked me if I’d like to try some of their products, obviously I jumped at the chance and was sent a selection of items. These included 3 flavours of Bottled iced tea and 3 packs of green tea teabags. Keep reading to get the low down on these teas from Tg Green Teas!

All 6 products are green tea, the bottles all have ginseng added alongside a choice of mandarin, jujube or standard green tea.

Iced Green Teas

The iced green teas are ready made and bottled so they’re always ready to go, the bottles are a comfortable shape with a bullet proof non leaking lid. They contain less than 30 calories each and have just enough sweetener, no less, no more. I love the taste of good quality natural green tea that these iced teas have and the sweetness is perfected with great precision, often bottled iced tea is LOADED with sugar but not these beauties!

Mandarin & Ginseng

I adore this iced tea (good thing I received 2!), the mandarin fragrance explodes from the bottle as you remove the lid and the flavour doesn’t disappoint. The mandarin is very clearly there sitting happily alongside the green tea but it doesn’t overpower it, I’ve had orangey iced tea from other companies that literally tastes like Fanta (eew!). The mandarin flavour is also sweet rather than sharp and all this with only 30 calories!

There also isn’t too much of a dry green flavour to the drink, I expect because the mandarin is so expertly blended with the green tea in precisely the right quantity.

Classic Green Tea & Ginseng

I shamefully expected this to be the least exciting but in all honesty it is by far my favourite Tg product, truly gorgeous. It’s so refreshing chilled and really invigorating to drink during the hot weather we’ve had recently. With just the right amount of sweetness, this is an extremely well rounded iced tea that I’ll be sure to be coming back to again and again. The only downside is I finished the bottle in a matter of minutes, and was a tad devastated when I realised!

If you only try one of Tg’s products this is the one. I’ve tried to recreate something even remotely similar myself using iced loose leaf green tea and agave nectar but it just can’t be done! Buy a couple of bottles of this classic green iced tea and pop them in your backpack next time you’re out for the day, bliss!

Jujube & Ginseng

Finally I tried the Jujube & Ginseng, the most noticeable difference to the mandarin flavour is that the flavour’s stronger. The Jujube takes more of a centre stage position in this iced tea, again the sweetness is perfect and there’s none of that sugar coated teeth that other iced teas leave you with (I’m looking at you Lipton!). It was so hot the day I drunk this so I got my favourite glass out, poured the pinky tinted liquid, added ice and kicked back with my laptop and got through a sweltering afternoon of work.

The Jujube really sits alongside the green tea flavour perfectly, neither flavour is over the top and both complement each other wonderfully. This iced tea was the only one that ended with a slightly dry taste, but this was a real positive quality on a boiling hot day! 🙂

Next up is the teabags! The teabags are pyramid teabags which is great to see, pyramid teabags improve flavour by giving the leaf more room to expand and move around. I found I could easily get two mugs out of a single teabag which makes these incredibly good value at £4.15 for 15 teabags. The leaf across all 3 flavours is of good quality and much larger than you would usually see in teabags, none of that dust filling that a lot of teabags have!

All 3 flavours taste great, the green tea tastes really pure and is delicate and not too vegetal, the flavours are also just the right strength. I found these teas were better with a sweetener, Tg suggest sugar or honey but I used agave nectar to sweeten mine which made it fantastic! The expiry dates of the packets I received are all 18 months away, and the packets reseal fantastically so your tea will stay fresh for a long time. The matte black packaging features vibrant colouring, which I find really alluring as the colours pop out on my tea shelf, against a backdrop of the usual brown tea packaging. Keep reading for my thoughts on each flavour 🙂

Ginger & Lemon Zest

Upon opening the packet I was pleased to find that the lemony fragrance wasn’t overpowering, I often find blends featuring lemon to be overly zingy. Alongside the refreshing lemon fragrance I could detect the ginger undertones peeking out.

I was easily able to get two infusions from each teabag and actually found the second infusion tasted better as the green tea is a little more subtle and allows the other flavours to take the spotlight. This tea was the one I found most in need of a sweetening, just to lightly soften the ginger flavouring. I really enjoyed just sniffing the mild zingyness of the lemon as I took a sip. This would be a great morning tea to get you feeling refreshed and energised!

Jujube & Osmanthus

The jujube & osmanthus teabags have a nice earthy but sweet smell, the kind of smell that makes me think of curling up on the sofa for a Netflix session! 😉 Once brewed I found the flavour was quite savoury but with a sweet fruity smell accompanying the green tea. These teabags also easily do 2 infusions, so what could be better than sharing a teabag and a chat with a friend?

Again the quality is top notch with large leaf, good quality pyramid teabags and none of the dust that you find in inferior teabags. The thing I found really convenient about these teabags is they do offer you loose leaf quality without the hassle. Admittedly, I do find it quite fun to prance around the kitchen preparing my loose leaf tea and getting my gadgets involved but if I’m in a rush these are the first teabags I reach for!

Classic Green Tea

Again I left the classic green tea for last, I found the flavoured teabags more compelling to try, but the unflavoured green tea is actually really relaxing and comforting. With all the crazy flavourings of tea I have, I sometimes forget just how nice straight unflavoured tea is. The classic green tea from Tg is LUSH, when you taste it unaltered you can really appreciate the quality of the leaf that goes in to their teabags. The classic green tea has a slightly dry vegetal flavour, with that healthy feel, but it’s also great lightly sweetened.

Final Thoughts

I had such fun trying these products and found it especially exciting to try some new iced tea! I’d like to say a massive thanks to Tg Green Teas for sending me such a generous selection of products to try. I strongly suggest you keep an eye out for these teas or even better, buy directly on Tg’s website.

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Fruit Tea Reviews Tea Reviews Teaphernalia

Review of Bora Bora & Double Walled Glass Cup from The Tea Makers

25th June 2015

Last week I was sent some tea by The Tea Makers. I received Bora Bora, White Peony and Tangerine & Coconut Green Tea and also an amazing double walled glass cup. I’ll be reviewing these over the next few weeks, starting with my first review today. I decided I’d start with a fruity review of Bora Bora.

Bora Bora is described by The Tea Makers as a “Sensational Flavoured Exotic Fruit Tea Blend”, read on to see if I agree! 😉

The Look
I’ll start with the packaging which is phenomenal, the overall quality and presentation is exquisite with striking red text set against a matte black background. It’s really nice to see a change from the usual brown and relatively plain packaging loose tea is traditionally sold in. The back of the package has a really cool zip opening the first time you open it, a nice touch that furthers the feeling of luxury.

Looking at the tea for the first time I can certainly see why the tea is described as exotic, there’s all kinds of fruit in this blend, from raspberries and blackcurrants to strawberry pieces and papaya cubes. The smell is beyond words, the first inhalation transports you to white sands and bright blue sea, if paradise has a smell, this is it! The fragrance just bursts out of the packet, with a fun and bouncy vibe.

How It Tastes

As the kettle boiled I felt sheer excitement and literally couldn’t wait for the tasting to begin. Pouring the water creates a whole new smell, the initial fragrance becomes softer and sweeter, sweeter is GOOD.

I take my first sip, probably before the tea is even cool enough, the taste is fresh and succulent, with a rich quality to it. I often find tropical type fruit teas a bit sickly, usually pineapple is the ‘go to’ fruit, but there’s no pineapple to be found in this super tropical blend! Bora Bora has a deeply satisfying fruity flavour, with slight floral undertones that create an aftertaste that dances on the roof of my mouth.

Final Thoughts on Bora Bora

Overall I’ve gotta say this is one of my favourite fruit teas of all time. Fruit tea was my first love but in all honesty I was getting bored, bored of every fruit tea tasting the same! Bora Bora has reignited my love for fruit tea, I now cannot wait to try more fruit tea from The Tea Makers 😃 Bora Bora excels because it avoids the tart sharpness often found with fruit tea and steers bravely away from adding pineapple.

The Double Walled Glass Cup

I was also lucky enough to receive a beautiful doubled walled glass cup with the tea, which is pictured above 🙂 The cup is beautiful with perfect curved sides on the outside wall and matching contours on the inner wall. It’s a really nice size, as it fits in my hand just right, you can just slide your fingers round it and curl up with it. A few of these would be a gorgeous choice for a dinner party, pair your favourite blend with these cups and you’ll have a perfect finish for your guests.

The double walled finish is not only easy on the eye but is very functional and keeps the outside cool for your hands and your tea warm for a lot longer than a mug. The smooth rim of the glass is blissful to sip from and the cup has a steady base when placed on my coffee table. The glass looks like it would be really fragile but after a week of using it and washing it, I haven’t felt that it would break easily which is a massive plus. Overall I really love this cup, from the look to the functionality and the ease of use, it’s all good.

I’ll be reviewing the other 2 teas sent with the Bora Bora in the next couple of weeks so please do check back soon or join my newsletter to read it first!

I’m always looking for new and exciting fruit teas and I’d love to hear any suggestions you guys have in the comments below 😊

The Tea Makers London have a large range of teaware and beautiful glassware, with great prices which are really worth taking a look at.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my review of Bora Bora from The Tea Makers London. You can check out their online store here.

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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.

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.

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.

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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Rooibos Tea Reviews

Flower Blossom No.15 For Leaves Tea Co. Review!

17th June 2015

It’s time for the 2nd of 4 reviews that I’ll be writing about the wonderful tea from For Leaves Tea Co.

This review will be of their No.15 Flower Blossom Tea. The first review in this series was the No.27 Blackberry Mallow (which I LOVE).

The Need To Know

The No.15 Flower Blossom tea is a rooibos base, with rosehip shells, dried redcurrants, blueberries and blackcurrants among others. Being caffeine free it’s great for a late night drink, my addiction to black, green and white tea leaves me a tad sad when all I’ve got to drink at night is fruit tea, so this is a welcome addition to my tea cupboard (it’s a BIG cupboard! ;).

The Smell

When the pack is first opened it breathes out a sweet nutty fragrance, with a slightly citrusy element but surprisingly it doesn’t contain any citrusy ingredients so I’m assuming it’s the smell of the slightly tart fruit. The aroma is fantastic, there’s nice sized, high quality dried fruit and the rooibos is of equal quality.

The Taste

I moved straight on to the infusing, I used my beautiful clear glass teacups and saucers for the photos and they really show up the beautiful rich colour of the tea. For Leaves suggest adding milk for a delicious chai, I don’t drink milk and soya always tastes a bit odd in tea but I can imagine a chai with this tea would be delicious!

The tea has a rich, smooth flavour that’s delicately sweet, I sometimes find rooibos a bit sickly but the blending with the fruit has been done with expert precision and the rooibos sweetness compliments it perfectly. Every mouthful begins with a sweet roobios hit but then the nutty flavours soak through and the taste ends with a wonderful fruity aftertaste. It’s so comforting to just sit back with this tea, slow down a little and feel the relaxation that a great tea brings, which is the ethos behind the For Leaves Tea Co!

Overall

Overall I think this tea is fantastic, I’m not usually the biggest fan of rooibos but For Leaves Tea Co. have done a fine job blending this. It’s definitely one of my number one night time drinks and eases my craving for something more than fruit tea before I go to sleep.

Thanks for reading, as always I’ve loved writing this review. If you’d like reviews, competitions and special offers for tea retailers you’ll definitely be wanting to join my newsletter 🙂

A huge thanks goes to Forleaves Tea Co. for sending me these teas! Be sure to check them out. I hope you’ll be back for the remaining 2 Forleaves Tea Co. reviews I’ve got coming up! xXx

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Reviews Teaphernalia

Sick of Your Teabag String Falling In Your Tea? Here’s The Solution!

2nd June 2015

Recently I stumbled upon a simple but fantastic solution to stop the string from your teabag falling in your tea (How annoying is it when that happens?!). The answer to this problem is a nifty little product called Tea Top!

Tea Top is basically a thin piece of plastic that comes in wonderful colours with equally as wonderful patterns. I got in touch with Denise at Tea Top and she sent me a few Tea Tops to try out. I received pink with flowers design, blue with a dotty design and green with a vine like design (I love this last one the most!). The colours are really vibrant and will definitely brighten up any tea session. The quality is superb, they feel really sturdy with nice soft edges, I’m sure these will withstand many of my tea binges!

Tea Top has a slit in one side that runs through the middle, you then slide the string through the slit to the hole in the middle and place the teabag in your mug with the Tea Top sitting across the top of the mug. You can even fold it and squeeze the teabag with it so it doesn’t drip on the dreaded journey to the bin. It’s simplicity is what makes it so great, it also works with practically all of my mugs and they come in ALL sizes. Tea Top wipes dry really easily so is easy to clean between uses, another plus when I opt for a teabag when I’m in a rush!

I’ve gotta say that they really do solve the problem! I don’t often use teabags, I’m more of a loose leaf kinda guy but I’m often sent samples in teabag form so the Tea Top will definitely be my companion for these times or when I’m feeling lazy/busy as hell!

Tea Top comes all the way from Germany! (one of my favourite countries, oh how I love Berlin<3). You can find them on:

As always I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and you really will love my newsletter!

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Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Tea Reviews

Gently Stirred Tea Tasting! Russtea’s Review

19th May 2015

A few days ago I was sent some samples from Gently Stirred.

I opened my package and I was blown away by the care that had gone in to packing this for me. It was beautifully wrapped in green tissue paper and had a string tied in a bow. It looked like a present you’d receive from a good friend and I really fell in love with the presentation and attention to detail of the package. There was also a printed catalogue and small information sheets for each tea, you just don’t get such a personal service anywhere else!

The Flavours

I received Cucumber & Orange Marmalade, which is a black loose tea with character! I was also given a tea bag of Uki Uki which is a black tea with a tropical fruit flavour, amazing or what?! The third tea I sampled was Saint Clement’s Green Tea, this was also in teabag form.

The Taste

Cucumber & Orange Marmalade

I decided to get stuck in straight away with the cucumber and marmalade, I was a little hesitant about the cucumber but also really excited to try something different. The smell of the tea is very strong, it overpowered the smell of the others. The pieces of cucumber and orange are HUGE, I’ve never seen such big bits of fruit in tea before!

I began steeping the tea and watched as the water turned a beautiful amber colour, the cucumber and orange erupted out of the mug. I steeped the tea for 2-3 minutes using one teaspoon of tea and it was just the right strength.

Saint Clement’s Green Tea

This is a gently fragrant tea made using Gently Stirred’s popular Pai Mu Tan as a base. Added to the Pai Mu Tan are oranges, lemons and bergamot oil. Green tea is renowned for it’s health benefits which is an added bonus with Saint Clement’s. It has a slightly floral taste, which usually I’m not a fan of but this was different, it was there just enough to sweeten the blend, without feeling like you’re actually eating flowers.

The tea turned a slightly pink colour and smells fantastic every time you take a sip. I used my teabag 3 times and all three mugs were different, the first was sweetest and then the other 2 were more savoury but just as delicious. The other thing I could detect was a herbal taste which was really lush!

Uki Uki

The third tea was a black tea with tropical fruit called Uki Uki, this was an absolute dream. Instantly it smells like a tropical paradise, or at least how I’d expect a tropical paradise to smell :p . It tastes so sweet and is so addictive, unbelievably fruity, even to the point where the fruit is stronger than the black tea, which is really rare. There’s also no bitterness, even if it’s steeped to quite a dark strength, I assume this must be due to the sheer amount of the succulent fruit flavour that’s packed in.

My boyfriend said that he felt that the tea had a slight spicyness to it which I didn’t really detect, it became less sweet when we made additional mugs with the same teabag but that’s to be expected, and all of them were immensely pleasant.

Conclusion

Overall I was thrilled with these teas, I love it when I find something a little different and these flavours really are unique. There’s just a handcrafted pleasantly warm feeling to all of three of the teas Gently Stirred sent me. I’d like to thank Gently Stirred for giving me the chance to try these three teas and I urge you to go and check them out!

If you’ve loved this review then you’ll have a lot of fun with my newsletter!

You can check out Gently Stirred’s website here.

What teas have you found that are a bit different? 🙂 xXx

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Newer Posts

Hi there, welcome to my blog about my biggest passion, tea!

My name’s Russell, my lifetime nickname has always been Rusty or Russtea as my friends now call me (my surname even begins with T!).

Not much beats the feeling of taking a moment at the end of a busy day and relaxing with your favourite mug, filled with sweet fruit tea, or waking up with black tea infused with vanilla shortbread.

Why not take a moment now, make your favourite tea and join me as I share my tea related experiences?