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Fruit Tea Green Tea Iced Tea Matcha Recipes

Sparkling Matcha Melon & Mango Lemonade Cocktail

24th May 2018

Hey guys!

Whittard of Chelsea asked me if I’d like to make a recipe for my readers using some of their products, I jumped at the chance and decided I’d like to put together a deliciously refreshing iced tea recipe for the summer!

To make this recipe I’ll be using Whittard of Chelsea’s Mellow Melon alongside their Matcha Mango & Moringa tea. I decided to use Mellow Melon as the base with Matcha Mango & Moringa ice cubes, blended with lemonade for some extra sparkle!

Ingredients

5 teaspoons of Mellow Melon

5 teaspoons of Matcha Mango & Moringa

1 litre of lemonade (diet lemonade or sugar free lemonade is best)

Method

I’m using my cold brew bottle which I highly recommend if you make iced tea on a regular basis but you can also use a normal bottle and strain it at the end.

  1. Add 5 teaspoons of Whittard of Chelsea Mellow Melon to the bottom of your bottle, fill with lemonade and put the lid on. Place the bottle in the fridge and leave overnight to cold brew.
  1. Add 5 teaspoons of Whittard of Chelsea Matcha Mango & Moringa to a tea strainer and top with just enough boiling water to cover the tea and leave to steep for 5 to 10 minutes, this will make a superstrong concentrated tea for the ice cubes.
  1. Leave the Matcha Mango & Moringa concentrated tea to cool and pour into your ice cube mould. Place your ice cube mould into the freezer and leave overnight.
  1. The next day simply add the ice cubes to the cold brewed Mellow Melon and either pour directly from the bottle if using a cold brew bottle or strain if using a normal bottle. Find some sun and enjoy!

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe and had fun making it, it really is the perfect iced tea for the summer months ahead and is super easy to make!

The products used in this recipe are Matcha Mango & Moringa, Mellow Melon and either a cold brew bottle or any tea strainer/infuser but I recommend Whittard of Chelsea’s Mug Infuser or a simple sieve to strain the tea and an infuser to steep the tea.

A huge thanks to Whittard of Chelsea for sending me the tea to make this recipe and thanks to all of my readers!

Bye for Now! xXx

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Fruit Tea Recipes

Christmas Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine Tea Cocktail Recipe

28th November 2017
Christmas Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine Tea Cocktail Recipe

This year I decided I would like to make a tea based mulled wine recipe that has all the flavour of traditional mulled wine but with no alcohol, using tea instead of the wine.

This recipe uses Whittard of Chelsea Mulled Wine tea as the base, it was the best I tried and really replaces the wine flavour without losing the traditional mulled wine vibe!

Ingredients

Christmas Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine Tea Cocktail Recipe Ingredients
850ml of water
2 teaspoons of Whittard of Chelsea Mulled Wine tea
2 slices of dried orange
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 teaspoon dried pimento
12 cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom pods
1 teaspoon of dried ginger
3 teaspoons of chopped dried cranberries
3 tablespoons of sugar

 

Method

Christmas Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine Tea Cocktail Recipe Method
Measure 850ml of boiled water and use a looseleaf tea infuser to steep the Whittard of Chelsea mulled wine tea in the water for 3 to 4 minutes or longer if you’d prefer a stronger flavour but remember a lot of the flavour comes from the dried ingredients.

Pour the prepared tea into a saucepan and add the dried ingredients and the sugar and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes with the saucepan covered to ensure you don’t boil any of the liquid off.

Check the strength, leaving to simmer for longer if required.

Once the tea is the desired strength use a sieve to strain the liquid, making sure that the mulled wine is free of the dried ingredients. Pour the mulled wine in to festive teaware and enjoy warm!

Merry Christmas! 

Bye for now! xXx

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Fruit Tea Iced Tea Matcha Recipes

Christmas Matcha Mojito Non-Alcoholic Tea Cocktail

25th November 2017
Christmas Matcha Mojito Non-Alcoholic Tea Cocktail

This is my recipe for an amazing non-alcoholic matcha mojito tea cocktail that is perfect if you want an exciting cocktail with a little kick for this festive season, without alcohol.

The key ingredient is the Bloom Mojito matcha which gives an amazing flavour to the cocktail alongside the matcha vibes. You could probably use unflavoured matcha but the mojito matcha really does bring a special something to this cocktail and is one of the best flavoured matchas I’ve tried (see my matcha comparison post).

Ingredients

Half a chopped lime
6 mint leaves
3 teaspoons of sugar
Crushed ice
1 gram of Bloom Mojito matcha sieved and whisked in water
Soda water

Method

Cut the lime into segments and crush with mint leaves and sugar. Add crushed ice on top to stop the mint from floating to the top when you drink. Sieve and whisk the mojito matcha in a little water and add over the ice, top with soda water.

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Black Tea Fruit Tea Herbal Tea Tea Reviews

Whittard of Chelsea Tea Club Tea Subscription Box Review

25th November 2017
Whittard of Chelsea Tea Club Tea Subscription Box Review

I’ve really been loving tea subscription boxes recently, I love the convenience of awesome tea being delivered without me having to make any effort!

When I started my blog I never imagined that I’d get the opportunity to review Whittard of Chelsea tea, so I was crazily excited when they contacted me to see if I’d like to review their new Tea Club subscription boxes!

First Impressions

The first thing I noticed is how phenomenally their subscription boxes are presented! It’s really nice to see how much effort has gone into the look and feel of the subscription boxes. You receive a Whittard branded ‘tea chest’ with really cute brightly coloured envelopes, one with loose leaf tea bags if you prefer teabags and another with your tasting cards which include pictures of the tea, with information and how to brew it.

The tea sachets themselves are packaged in resealable bags with a printed tea card on the front and wrapped in patterned tissue paper.

Another really nice touch is a Whittard of Chelsea branded stainless steel tea measuring scoop, which is included with your first box so you always know you’re getting the perfect strength tea.

Overall this is one of the best presented tea deliveries I’ve ever received.

The Tea

Strawberry Mint

The first tea I tried was strawberry mint, a herbal infusion that is fantastic hot or cold. The smell of this tea is absolutely magical with a sweet succulent fresh strawberry aroma, and a refreshing mint vibe. The tea is made up mainly of Spearmint but with big chunks of freeze-dried strawberries.

When you add water the fragrance only become stronger and I was pleased to find that the flavour didn’t disappoint. The strawberries smell is so enticing but with a mint twist that isn’t overpowering and adds a really refreshing feel to the tea. Possibly my favourite strawberry tea ever!

Robert Fortune Blend

This is a black tea blend with a nice subtle fruitiness, alongside a traditional black tea flavour. I really enjoy the rich earthy tones of this tea and the fruitiness is great alongside this. I often find more traditional tasting tea a bit boring but this tea is far from boring! It’s a great tea when you want more of it traditional flavour but you want a little bit of excitement too!

Summer Pudding

Summer Pudding is another black tea based blend with a helping of fruitiness. The rich fruity smell bursts from the pack and really does have a pudding-like smell, I couldn’t wait to brew this tea and find out if the taste lived up to the fragrance. I was ecstatic to find out that this tea really tastes as good as it smells, I love to watch the whole berries flow around in the water as the tea steeps. The flavour is like a traditional black tea but with a vibrant Ribena twist, a really fantastic black tea!

Final Thoughts

I was really pleased to find that the Whittard Tea subscription box was amazing through and through! I loved the packaging, the presentation and the amazing teas.

If you’d like to try a Whittard of Chelsea tea subscription box you can find them on their website or you can also buy Summer Pudding, Robert Fortune Blend or Strawberry Mint individually.

A huge thank you to Whittard of Chelsea for sending me their first ’Tea Chest’, it’s been a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to see which teas come next!

If you’d like more from Russtea’s you can find me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook!

Bye for now! xXx

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Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Herbal Tea Tea Reviews

Bluebird Tea Co. Tea Tipples Cocktail Review

24th September 2017

Recently I received an exciting delivery from Bluebird Tea Co., it included some of their cocktail teas. These are teas that there perfect from making alcoholic cocktails with but are equally as exciting without the alcohol.

There’s three all together: Bramble Ramble, Rasberry Russian and G & Tea.

Review time!

Bramble Ramble

First up is Bramble Ramble, a blackberry flavoured tea that is perfect to make a berry gin cocktail. It’s always nice to see good quality fruit pieces in Bluebird’s blends. I like that this blend has a slight zing to it and isn’t overly sweet, there’s also a really nice green tea flavour too which isn’t overpowered by the fruit flavours.

Rasberry Russian

Rasberry Russian is a caffeine free rooibos blend, with a huge helping of fruit including raspberries & apple pieces. This blend also includes a couple of not so common ingredients for extra excitement, vanilla pieces and hibiscus. Raspberry Russian has a really nice raspberry fragrance, with good sized fruit pieces. I often find that rooibos overpowers the other ingredients in rooibos based blends but it’s nice to see that this blend features more fruit than rooibos, which is reflected in the flavour. An overall amazing blend from Bluebird!

G & Tea

This is a sencha green tea based blend with a helping of berries, licorice, spearmint and almond pieces. The first thing I noticed about this blend is a strong marigold-like fragrance, which at first I wasn’t that excited about but I was pleasantly surprised by the amazing and unique flavour! It has quite a herby flavour that’s actually really refreshing, alongside a nice subtle mint flavour followed up with a sweet liquorice aftertaste.

Final Thoughts

This was an exciting surprise delivery as always from Bluebird. If you want to make some Bluebird alcoholic tea cocktails this is a great place to start but they are equally as exciting without the alcohol! You can find all of Bluebird’s fantastic range of teas on their website.

Huge thanks to Bluebird Tea Co. for sending me these blends, I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing them and will definitely be drinking them for weeks to come!

Thanks for reading and as always you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Bye for now xXx

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Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Rooibos Tea Reviews White Tea

TeaTourist Subscription Box Round Up Review

20th September 2017

Hey guys!

Recently I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my health, as a result my blog has been a bit neglected and I’ve got a few tea tourists subscription boxes to cover, so I thought  I would do a roundup of my favourites from the last few boxes.

Keep reading to find an exclusive code to get 30% off your first tea tourist subscription box!

Review time!

Apple and Grapefruit – Tea Shirt

First up is Apple and grapefruit, fresh and exciting fruit blended with apple, strawberry, orange, hibiscus and more! With how many fruits there is in this tea I knew it was going to be bursting with flavour! I really love the crisp grapefruit smell mixed with the sweet apple tones. The tea has an unusually long steeping time of 10 to 12 minutes but it’s definitely worth the wait, as you watch the water turn a deep reddish pink colour. The refreshing sharpness of the grapefruit pairs beautifully with the sweet apple flavour. This is honestly one of the most exciting fruit teas I’ve had for a while!

Rooibos Rhubarb Fudge – Piacha

Next up is a beautiful Rooibos blend which I always enjoy! This smells so sweet, it’s literally like a sweet shop with a beautiful vanilla fragrance. Rooibos goes really well with the sweet fudge flavour and it goes a really long way, making it very economical. You’ll definitely get a lot of cups of tea in TeaTourist’s  generously filled sachets. I wasn’t sure if I would like this tea as rhubarb isn’t something I’ve eaten a lot of but I was pleasantly surprised!

White Bellini – The Tea Experience

I absolutely adore the delicate flavours of white tea, especially when they’re paired with sweet fruit. White Bellini is a good-quality white tea, with large leaves. The delicate white tea flavours are partnered with just the right amount of peach, there’s also raspberries and sweet succulent peach. This is definitely one of my favourite white teas, so I’ll definitely be checking out the tea experience website!

Mint Chocolate – Cheshire Tea

This is another rooibos blend that smells just like mint chocolate chip ice cream but without the calories! I always like it when I find tea with desert like flavours, you get the treat without the consequences (calories!). I often find that the mint flavour in mint teas is overpowering and can be quite off-putting but I was really pleased to find that the chocolate and rooibos flavours are sweet enough to avoid this happening with this tea. You can also definitely taste the rooibos flavour which is often lost when it’s blended with stronger flavours. An all-round excellent find!

Assam Tea With Vanilla – Pure Leaf

I adore all tea with vanilla flavouring, it’s one of my most favourite flavours to find in tea. The cake like fragrance of this tea is mind blowing, as soon as I smelt it I knew it was going to be good! Often with vanilla tea you lose the black tea flavour but this doesn’t happen at all with this blend due to the good quality black tea that’s used. I received this tea in pyramid teabags, which is a nice change as most of the tea in TeaTourist’s subscription boxes are loose leaf, so I sometimes appreciate the convenience of high quality teabags.

Rhubarb and Vanilla – Hoogly Tea

This is a green tea based blend with a welcome dose of hibiscus and rhubarb pieces. When the water is added to this tea initially turns a nice blue colour which is enjoyable to watch. It has a really nice sweet vanilla fragrance with a good fruity tang from the rhubarb. This is an excellent tea to use in glass teaware to show off the purple and blue liquid. Rhubarb and the vanilla is a tea I wasn’t expecting to like that much but I loved it!

Go Nuts – Tea Total

This is a rooibos based blend which I’ve been enjoying when I haven’t been able to sleep recently, I love its caffeine free goodness. This tea has a stunning pecan flavour with a sweet caramel flavour, due to the caramel pieces used in this blend. Once the water is added to the tea it’s scent fills the kitchen like a delicious desert! This is the best tea if you’re craving something naughty!

Summer Fruits – Teagime

Summer Fruits is an exciting flavoured black tea that is perfect for your less adventurous guests. The primary flavour is the black tea base but with a healthy helping of red currants, peach, blackberries and an unusual ingredient, blackcurrant powder! I like that this tea isn’t overly fruity and still primarily tastes like black tea but is a bit more exciting with the addition of a fruit twist. Another exciting and unique blend from TeaTourist.

Masala Chai – Spice Kitchen

Masala Chai uses a base of Kenyan black tea mixed with 11 carefully selected spices, creating a gently spiced, well blended chai. The first thing I noticed about this tea is it really smells amazing, it’s not too spicy which sometimes happens with chai tea. I’ve been using it to make a chai latte with rice milk as a base and a base and it really is phenomenal. What I really enjoyed about this tea is it doesn’t require much sugar to sweeten it, due to the expertly blended spices. Overall one of my favourite chai teas!

Final thoughts

This has been an exciting  few months from tea tourist with an amazing mix of new and exciting tea. I love the variation of the TeaTourist boxes, there really is something for everyone. They are a great company to work with and always do an excellent job sourcing new and exciting teas!

If you’d like to try to tourist box for yourself you can use the code RUSSTEAS30 at checkout to get 30% off your first box! I highly recommend you check them out and join them on a tea adventure!

If you’d like more from Russtea’s come and find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook! Thanks for reading! 😃

Bye for now xXx

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Fruit Tea Green Tea Herbal Tea Tea Reviews

TeaTourist Subscription Box Review

12th May 2017

One of my favourite parts of the month is always when I wake up to find my monthly TeaTourist subscription box on the doormat! I always rush to open it, excited to see what tea adventures I’ll be going on this month 😀

April’s box has a lot of caffeine free blends which suits me perfectly as a lot of my tea drinking occurs in the middle of the night (student life/insomnia!). Be sure to read on to find a voucher code for 30% off your first TeaTourist subscription box! 😀

Time for the review!

Hibiscus Flowers – Tugboat Brews

First up is a special hibiscus blend that I really adore. The tea is a deep purpley red colour with huge big hibiscus flowers, it looks really special in nice glass teaware with the flowers dancing in the deep red liquid.

The flavour is equally as fantastic! I love the deep floral flavour but it’s accompanied by addictive fruity notes. I always enjoy the zingy aftertaste of hibiscus tea but it can sometimes be too sharp, especially in cheaper tea but the zing is perfectly balanced with the sweeter flavour. All round this might be the best hibiscus blend I’ve ever tried! 😮

 


Pumpkins Go Bananas – Leaves of the World

This is one of those blends that I literally could not imagine tasting nice, especially as I hate bananas! Adding pumpkin to the mix could only be a bad thing, at least that’s what I thought before I tried it.

It’s always interesting to read the TeaTourist notes that accompany every tea in their subscription boxes, they have all the info about steeping time, temperature etc. This blend was described as being similar to banana milkshake, despite my bananaphobia I’ve always loved McDonald’s banana milkshakes.

Crazily the banana-pumpkin combo really works, the banana is a sweet banana flavour and doesn’t taste like fresh bananas, it really does taste of banana milkshake (with a fraction of the calories). The tea is really fragrant when it’s steeped and gives off a cake-like aroma, another awesome tea!

 


Shades of Grey – MDTEA

I think I might be the only tea lover that doesn’t love earl grey, I just can’t understand what the fuss is about! 😳 I like the malty tea flavour but the citrusy flavour really isn’t my favourite at all but obv I had to try it! 🙂

The floral notes of the rose petals are a really nice addition and definitely help to sweeten the flavour. I liked that the citrus flavours were a tad more refined in this blend and the black tea flavours were more evident. I’m not sure what a good or a bad Earl Grey is as I’m not a huge fan in general but this is one of the better ones I’ve tried and I’m sure you’ll love it if Earl Grey is your thing 🙂

 


Peppermint Tea – Maiservas

Although I don’t get particularly excited by mint tea it is always quite enjoyable and great for an upset stomach! This mint tea is made up of large nice quality leaves, with a fresh scent. It’s fantastic to wake you up in the morning, as soon as the water hits the leaves a minty aroma breathes a breath of fresh air in to the room.

This blend has a really nice sweetness to it, it’s not the overpowering menthol type of mint tea and has no bitterness. An all round good mint tea 🙂

 

Thieves’ Brew – Bev’s Tea Company

Thieves is the perfect tea for people who enjoy a more traditional cuppa! I adore flavoured tea, I love exciting blends with cool names but sometimes it’s nice to have a good quality natural tasting tea.

Thieves’ Brew has a deep dry malty flavour with a comforting fragrance that produces a nice golden liquid. I always invite my mum to try the more traditional blends as she’s in to natural tea with milk and she definitely enjoys this one!

 


Chocolate Ginger – Shibui Tea

I was really excited to try this tea as I love Shibui Tea and it’s not flavours I’ve seen combined before. I love finding new and exciting tea, it’s all part of being a TeaTourist! 😎

I knew this tea would be special as soon as I began steeping it. The chocolatey aroma with the warmth of the ginger smelt fantastic. Upon tasting it I was glad to find that chocolate was the dominant flavour and the ginger was a nice sweet cake-like ginger, I hate ginger teas that have more of a medicinal flavour which this doesn’t at all. This is without a doubt one of my favourites this month!

 

Conclusions

This month’s TeaTourist box has been another fantastic selection of tea with something for everyone. Banana Pumpkin was the biggest surprise for me and Chocolate Ginger and hibiscus were AMAZING.

If you’d like to try a TeaTourist subscription box for yourself you can get 30% off your first box using the code RUSSTEAS30 on their website. You really won’t regret it!

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and thanks to TeaTourist for making it possible! ❤️

Come find me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for more tea related fun! 😀

Join my newsletter below to keep up to date with all my posts, competitions and news.

Bye for now! xXx

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Black Tea Chai Fruit Tea Green Tea Herbal Tea Rooibos Tea Reviews

TeaTourist March Subscription Box Review

19th April 2017

I’ve been lucky enough to receive the March tea subscription box from the amazing people over at TeaTourist to try out and I obv had to share the experience with you guys! 😀

If you’d like to try exciting new tea each month then a tea subscription box is a good place to start and a TeaTourist tea subscription box is the BEST place to start! Each month you’ll receive a super exciting and varied selection of 6 teas with generous portions of each.

I especially love the TeaTourist service because I can find out about a new handful of tea companies each month without having to hunt them down myself, super convenient for tea bloggers!

Be sure to read on to find a voucher to get 30% off your first box!

Review Time!

Rose & Strawberry Red Bush – Spice Kitchen

First up is Rose Strawberry Red Bush, an exciting and unique rooibos based blend. The smell of this tea really blew me away, it literally smells like strawberry laces that I had as a kid, I knew straight away that this tea would be special.

It’s always nice to see flavours blended together that are a bit different, the rose and strawberry flavours in this tea are a fine example of this. The sweetness of the strawberry is immensely addictive and I really enjoyed the rose notes too. One of the best of this month’s box 😀

 

Mulled Apple – Nothing But Tea

I was immediately drawn to this tea by it’s candy apple fragrance and the warming spicy element. It’s always nice to see good quality, nicely sized apple pieces and the pretty yellow flowers are mighty inviting.

The apple flavours are most noticeable but the slight spicyness makes this tea perfect to cuddle up with on a cool Spring evening and dream of the warmer weather of the summer ahead. Another fantastic find!

 

Chocolate Orange – Nelson & Norfolk Tea Co.

I was ecstatic to see this blend in this months box, who doesn’t love a chocolate-orange combo!?

I’ve found in the past that chocolate teas can be a bit of a let down, the promise of chocolate heaven often doesn’t carry across well. Thanks to the overload of chocolate goodness added to this blend it doesn’t at all suffer from a lack of chocolate flavour.

The ingredients include cacao beans, cocoa nibs, cocoa shells AND chocolate chips, it couldn’t get any more chocolatey if it tried! The addition of the orange flavour alongside the chocolate is superb, an all round delight 🙂

 

Wilderness Honeybush – Leopard Friendly

I looked forward to trying this blend as it’s pretty unique, as can be expected from nearly all of TeaTourist’s picks. I hadn’t had honeybush tea before so I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was pretty awesome! It didn’t have the standout flavours of some of the other teas in this months box but I still thoroughly enjoyed it, it reminded me of rooibos but a little less nutty and more earthy.

A good choice if you’re looking for something you haven’t tried before and tend to not be a fan of crazily flavoured tea, preferring more wholesome and natural blends instead.

 

Tumeric Chai – Chai Kai Tea Co.

I’m a big chai fan, I adore chai lattes either from Starbucks or made at home with A LOT less sugar! 😉 I’ve been enjoying turmeric matcha the last few months which I love so I was excited to see what this tea had to offer.

I was a bit hesitant when first smelling this tea but the flavour was awesome! It has a really nice chai spiced flavour to it with a sweet turmeric and coconut combo that had me coming back for more time after time 😀

The turmeric twist ensures this is a tea that’s always at the front of your tea cupboard!

Turmeric is also being hailed as a cure-all at the moment (it’s like matcha a year ago :p) so the health benefits are an added bonus!

 

Honey Lemon – Teagime

Honey and lemon is a road well travelled in the tea world but that doesn’t mean it can’t be awesome! This tea smells almost medicinal before it’s steeped but it’s watered down (literally :p) when you brew it, causing a beautiful honey lemon fragrance to waft through the kitchen.

The flavour is smooth with a rich honey taste blended with just the right amount of lemon, without it being too citrusy. I feel like this tea would be perfect to cuddle up with and soothe a cold but that doesn’t mean you can’t cuddle up with it if you don’t have a cold! Overall a really good blend that I’ve definitely found myself drinking a lot of.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for taking the time to read my review of this months TeaTourist subscription box. A massive thanks to the guys and girls at TeaTourist for sending me this box to review.

If you’d like to read more posts from my blog you can join my mailing list below and be sure to follow me on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook. I’ve got some amazing competitions coming up that you won’t want to miss! 😉

To get 30% off your first TeaTourist subscription box and go on a tea adventure yourself use code Russteas30 on the TeaTourist website.

Bye for now! xXx

 

 

 

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Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Herbal Tea Oolong Rooibos Tea Reviews White Tea

TeaTourist February Subscription Box Review

27th March 2017

Lately much of my tea drinking has been tea from my TeaTourist subscription boxes, it’s so exciting to have a varied and well selected set of teas arrive each month.

A Tea subscription box is perfect for anyone that would like to be more adventurous with their choice of tea, especially if you don’t have time to find the different teas yourself. The box fits straight through your letterbox and includes 6 different teas, with a very generous serving of each.

Be sure to read to the bottom for a voucher code to get 30% off your first TeaTourist subscription box.

This is my third subscription box from TeaTourist and all three have been fantastic, if you want to read my other two reviews you’ll find them here and here.

Review Time!

Ben Shan Oolong – Tea in the City

I’m a huuuuge Tea in the City fan! I’ve reviewed their Yunnan Gold and Wuyi Black, followed by their Cranberry Leaf and Rosebay Willowherb. I’m also a big Oolong fan so I knew this tea would be pretty special as soon as I saw it, and I was right!

Ben Shan Oolong is a deep green with a pleasant vegetal aroma, with leaves that really open up when you steep them. This is a great tea if you like to infuse your tea multiple times and it’s really satisfying to observe the change in flavours as you reinfuse.

The first infusion creates a smooth buttery flavour with a pleasant sweet aftertaste. The second and third infusions are less sweet and more vegetal but equally enjoyable. Once this tea goes in my teapot I can reinfuse and drink it happily all afternoon, which is exactly what I like in an Oolong 😀


Cherry Sencha – Cheshire Tea

The smell of this tea blew me away! As soon as the packet opens a super sweet cherry aroma bursts in to the room, it reminds me of cherryade but much much healthier! Alongside the cherry fragrance there’s a slight rose hint too, creating a perfectly paired smell.

When I steeped the tea the cherry aroma became even more incredible, I found myself hovering over the mug inhaling! I love the classic sencha flavour of this tea, which is the perfect match for the beautiful cherry sweetness. The hint of rose is also noticeable in the flavour but I like that the cherry flavouring takes centre stage.


Brockley Breakfast -Good & Proper Tea Co.

Breakfast blends aren’t really the blends I reach for when I’m looking for new tea but my mum loves them so I do keep some in the house, she’s more of a traditional tea and milk kind of lady.

The leaf in this blend is very evidently high quality, which can be seen in the rich amber tea it produces once steeped. Brockley Breakfast has a deeply satisfying malty flavour with a subtle sweetness that I really enjoy. I left the traditional tea and milk test up to my mum (I don’t drink milk) and she was thoroughly impressed, I’m trying to convert her to a loose leaf lifestyle so this is a step in the right direction!


Blend No 45 – Edgcumbes Tea Blenders

Next up is the smokey blend no. 45 from Edgcumbes Tea Blenders. This tea is a combination of Lapsang Souchong, Assam, Keemum and Darjeeling. I’ll be honest, I usually hate smokey tea, it always feels like I’m licking a bonfire but I was excited to find out how it tasted when combined with unsmoked black tea.

Although it did still have the smokey smell I was pleasantly surprised by the flavour! The black tea blended with the lapsang Souchong worked perfectly to ‘water down’ the smokey flavour, creating a good quality black tea with a warming smokeyness. This tea really lends itself to curling up with a mug in the winter and enjoying a Netflix session, I’ll definitely be keeping some for the winter, although it’s always winter in the UK! :p


Black Tea & Dandelion – Oteas

I was a little unsure about this tea when I first opened my TeaTourist box but I trust their judgement!:)

It has a wholesome earthy fragrance with nice high quality leaf, the dandelion fragrance isn’t overpowering and I was pleased to find the same with the taste. It’s nice to have a traditional black tea but with a little excitement on the side. The traditional vibe of this tea makes it perfect to share with the less adventurous tea drinkers in your life, the kind that tend to run for the hills if you mention matcha or oolong! 😛


Gunpowder – The UK Loose Leaf Tea Company

I’m always excited by gunpowder tea, I love to watch the small deep green pellets open up as you steep them and I’m addicted to the vegetal flavour and zingy aftertaste.

This is a high quality gunpowder tea that does have more of a zing than a lot of gunpowder tea to the point that it’s ever so slightly metallic, more than others I’ve tried but that’s fine with me and thoroughly enjoyable! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for taking the time to read my review of the February TeaTourist subscription box and I hope it’s helped you decide if a tea subscription is right for you!

If you’d like to try a box you can use a voucher code TeaTourist were awesome enough to give me for you guys. Simply use RUSSTEAS30 to get 30% off your first box, you won’t be disappointed!

A huge thanks to TeaTourist for sending me this month’s box to review, it’s been amazing as always! <3

To keep up to date with the latest posts from Russtea’s you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook or join my mailing list below 🙂

Bye for now xXx







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Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Rooibos Tea Reviews

True Tea Club Tea Subscription Box Review

11th March 2017

I’ve been getting in to tea subscription boxes recently, I love the convenience of not having to look for new and exciting tea and just having it arrive once a month. It’s perfect as a tea blogger to have the tea found for me and to find out about a handful of new tea companies each month, it’s difficult to explore new tea companies if you just want to sample their tea without a big order so this really works for me.

True Tea Club emailed me to see if I’d like to review one of their tea subscription boxes. I jumped at the chance and waited eagerly for the box to arrive 😀

Each month True Tea Club send 4 carefully selected teas, the box fits straight through your letterbox so you don’t need to be in when it arrives. It’s particularly convenient that you can also buy more of any of your favourites from each box, directly from True Tea Club. Another nice touch is the option of three tiers of subscription, with either 40, 60 or 80 cups in each months box.

 

On to the Review!


Rainbow Chaser

First up is a beautifully colourful, aptly named fruity tea. The tea looks stunning loose, with bright and exciting colours and smells delightfully fruity but fresh with a hint of mint.

I’m usually not a fan of mint tea and really haven’t found many I’ve liked but this was different. The flavour was dominated by a sweet Apple and strawberry flavour, with a nice floral hint and just the right amount of mint to add freshness, without being overpowering.

Overall Rainbow Chaser is a unique and enjoyable tea and I look forward to every cup 🙂

 


Mighty Mango

I adore mango and always find it’s the perfect accompaniment to green tea so naturally I was excited to see this tea in my subscription box. As soon as I opened the packet a fresh and juicy mango fragrance erupted in to the room!

The mango is paired with a perfect amount of high quality green tea that creates a beautiful golden drink that I could sit and smell all day!

The flavour is a definite nice and crisp green tea with a pure taste, that’s blended superbly with sweet mango. I really LOVE this tea 😀

 


Vanilla Cupcake

Vanillas is always an exciting flavour that I find pairs well with almost all tea and what could be better than vanilla cupcake flavoured tea?:O

I’m a big rooibos fan so I was excited to taste this blend and it was as good as I hoped! The sweet nuttiness of the rooibos is the perfect partner to the cakey vanilla flavour. It’s the perfect caffeine free blend to curl up with at night and watch a film or in my case play Tomb Raider 😉

I always find rooibos is really economical so this blend goes a lot further than the others. All in all Vanilla Cupcake is an awesome tea that I’m sure every rooibos fan will love!

 


Earl Grey Rebel

Earl grey is a tea that’s a strong favourite among tea fans but I kinda feel it’s a bit played out but I was excited to see how this one compares to others I’ve tried. I find a lot of Earl Grey is overly flavoured and you lose the beautiful black tea flavour but Earl Grey Rebel is expertly blended and manages to successfully retain the malty black tea flavours I love.

It does have a definitely noticeable citrusy bergamot flavour but not to the point that it’s like drinking a scented candle, which many I’ve tried recently have been. The scent of this tea is also very appealing and matches the name of the tea well. This is certainly one of the better Earl Grey’s I’ve tried recently and I’m sure Earl Grey fans will adore it!

Final Thoughts

My time with this month’s True Tea Club subscription box has been thoroughly enjoyable. I love the convenience of the service and that I can easily order more of the blends that I love.

You get empty teabags with each box for those moments when loose leaf is too much hassle, making it great for anyone who’s new to the wonderful world of loose leaf tea. Each box comes with a brewing guide as well which has the brewing temperatures for each tea, they True Tea Club really did think of everything! 🙂

You can get 50% off your first subscription box with True Tea Club by entering LOVE at checkout, meaning you can try your first box for as little as £5.00! You can subscribe easily on the True Tea Club website.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my review, if you’ve enjoyed it please join my mailing list below or come and find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Thanks also to True Tea Club for sending me this months box to review, I’ve really enjoyed it 🙂

Bye for now! xXx

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