Teaphernalia | Russtea's

Top 10 Loose Leaf Tea Infuser Bottles & Flasks

17th August 2017

I love teaphernalia and always LOVE to try out new infusers. If I can steep tea in it and it’s portable I generally ultimately end up buying it! So I thought I’d do a round up of the top 10 tea flasks and bottles with built in tea infusers. I own most of these and have written reviews of a few so you can get an in depth hands on review as well, more reviews coming soon!

Also check out my second top 10 tea bottles post for more options: Here’s 10 more amazing tea bottles!

These are in no particular order and all of them are great 🙂

1. MIU COLOR Glass Tea Bottle With Built in Infuser and Nylon Sleeve

I’ve reviewed this tea bottle in depth with more photos here.

2. Adagio Teas IngenuiTEA Gravity Tea Infuser

You can find my review of Adagio’s gravity tea infuser here.

3. Thermo Double-Walled Glass Tea Infuser

4. Marino Tea On-The-Go Travel Glass Infuser Bottle with Stainless Steel Infuser, Carrying Strap and Silicone Grip

5. Just Life U Portable Glass Water Bottle with Silicone Handle and Sleeve

6. Adagio ActiviTEA Portable Tea Infuser – 300ml

6. Libre Thermal Tea Glass With Infuser 14 Ounce

I reviewed this a while back with more photos 🙂

7. CHAI BUDDY Thermo Double-Walled Glass Travel Tea Infuser Bottle

Also in a beautiful royal blue colour. or another version of the Chai Buddy is more of a mug style a with handle 🙂

8. Bamboo Thermal Travel Mug Flask With Infuser

9. X&W Double Wall Glass Water Bottle With Silicone Sleeve

10. Aladdin Tea Flask With Adjustable Infuser Basket for Perfect Flavour Every Time

I’ve saved the best until last, this is without a doubt the best tea infuser I own! The infuser basket can be lowered in to the water and retracted without even taking the lid off, using a small lever on the side of the flask. The result is perfect flavoured tea every time, no more tea becoming too strong if the leaves are left in the water. It also closes tightly, never leaks and isn’t made of glass so it’s the most portable of the bunch as well.

If you buy one flask or tea infuser, this is THE ONE! Full review coming soon! 😉

Here’s 10 more amazing tea bottles!

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, I hope it’s helped your buying decision. If you have any questions about these infuser I’m more than happy to help either via email or on twitter 🙂 <3 xXx

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Reviews Teaphernalia

Adagio ToasTEA Stainless Steel Travel Infuser Review

11th February 2017

I’ve got a bit of an obsession with tea bottles and flasks, out of all my teaware I love collecting tea bottles the most. The majority of my tea bottles are glass so I was thrilled to find the Adagio ToasTEA, which is a completely different product.

Adagio were awesome enough to send me a ToasTEA to try out and share my experience with you guys! You can also take a closer look at the Adagio ToasTEA on Amazon or Adagio’s website.

The Adagio ToasTEA is a stainless steel travel bottle with built in tea infuser that keeps your tea hot (or cool) for hours, literally hours! 😀

First Impressions

The first thing I noticed about the ToasTEA is the quality is incredible, as you would expect from Adagio. If you’ve tried the Adagio IngenuiTEA you’ll have an idea of the quality of Adagio teaware (check out my IngenuiTEA review).

It feels solid with a comfortable matte finish that won’t slip out of your hand like glass tea bottles can and would probably survive even if it did! It comes in blush, lemongrass or charcoal, I went for charcoal 🙂

The size is perfect, bigger than most of my tea bottles but you don’t lose as much volume as you would with a similar double walled glass tea bottle.

Using the Adagio ToasTEA

The infuser unscrews to allow you to easily add your tea leaves and the spring loaded flip top lid allows for one handed drinking, perfect for driving or drinking on the move. There’s even an easy click locking lid that enables the ToasTEA to be closed with one hand and stay closed. Inside the lid you’ll find an expertly designed lip to drink from, which slowly fills with tea from a small hole so you can feel confident of zero spillage.

The infuser inside the bottle is a good size, allowing your leaves to open up for perfect steeping. The holes in the infuser are really fine so you don’t get any bits sinking to the bottom, as can happen with bottles that have a less fine infuser.

One thing I particularly dislike about tea bottles is if they don’t offer an easy way to remove the tea leaves after steeping, leading to over steeped bitter tea. The ToasTEA completely avoids this issue, you simply fill the infuser, screw it back in to the lid, add the water, then flip the ToasTEA upside down and then flip it back when it’s steeped to your desired strength.

I’m particularly impressed with how long the ToasTEA keeps tea warm for, it easily outlasts my other tea bottles, another plus for drinking while you’re out and about. The only downside of this is I like to drink a lot of tea and I found that it takes a while for the tea to reach a drinkable temperature but this is easily remedied by adding a little cold water after the tea is prepared. The ToasTEA also remains completely cool on the outside at all times, making it easy to carry and hold.

Overall

The Adagio ToasTEA really is a wonderful product! It makes an exciting change from a tea bottle market that is dominated by glass bottles, making it stronger and nicer to hold.

It has a list of design choices that I haven’t seen on any other tea bottles. The flip top locking lid, lip to drink from and the ability to steep your tea without it being over steeped are all features I haven’t seen on other tea bottles.

Final Words

Thanks for taking the time to read my review of the Adagio ToasTEA, I hope it’s helped you with your buying decision. Also a massive thanks to Adagio for sending me the ToasTEA to review, I LOVE it!

If you’d like to try out the Adagio ToasTEA you can find it on Amazon or buy it directly from Adagio.

The Adagio ToasTEA is featured in my Top 10 Tea Bottles for 2017 post.

Check out my Instagram, Twitter or Facebook for more tea related fun and join my newsletter below.

Bye for now xXx

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Teaphernalia Top 10's

Top 10 Amazing Tea Bottles Update

26th December 2016

A while back I did a Top 10 Tea Bottles post that’s been really popular on my blog. Since writing it I’ve discovered loads more tea bottles, so I decided to make an updated version with the new ones I’ve discovered.

They’re in no particular order, just 10 of the best I’ve found. Hope you like it 😊 Be sure to check out number 8 and 10 for something totally unique!😉

1. GROSCHE Marino 550ml Water and Tea Travel Infuser – also available in grey or red

2. ToasTEA Stainless Steel Travel Infuser – Also available in red and gold. Full Review

3. EFOSHM Thermos Insulated Stainless Steel Thermos Tea Bottle – also in blue

4. MIU COLOR Glass Water Bottle with Anti-slip Silicone Sleeve – comes in loads of colours!

5. bamboo Infusing Vacuum bottle

6. GioHybrid Stainless Steel Thermos Flask Tea Bottle – also in lime green or cherry red

7. Vireo Double Walled Tea Bottle with Carry Case

8. LifeWheel Borosilicate Glass Tea Bottle – Lid has a storage space for dry tea so you can infuse on the go! Tons of colours

9. Life4u Borosilicate Glass Tea with Silicone Sleeve – wide choice of colours

10. Oxford Eve’s with Bamboo Lid & Multi Functional Infuser – A Must See!

I hope this has helped you decide which tea bottle is for you! I’d love to hear in the comments below what your favourite tea bottle is?

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now xXx

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Matcha Tea Reviews Teaphernalia

Review of NEW Adagio Teas Chocolate Matcha & Raspberry Matcha

13th June 2016

A little while ago I decided to start working on a post comparing flavoured matcha from different brands. Adagio Teas were awesome enough to send me a couple of theirs to try so I figured I’d write a review dedicated to the Adagio Teas flavoured matcha and add them to the comparison as well (which I’ll be publishing soon!).

Adagio sent me a 57g tin of their new raspberry flavoured matcha as well as a 57g tin of their new chocolate flavoured matcha.

The first thing I noticed was how incredible they smell, they really do smell beyond words. I also love the tins, they’re really decorative and a really beautiful touch if the pictures on the inside of the lids, raspberries on one and a chocolatey brown design on the other. A small issue I had with the tins is the matcha had managed to escape a bit and the outside of the tins were a bit covered, this could quite easily just be a one off though.

What’s really good about these flavoured matchas is they’re really good value for money, for just £14 in the UK and $29 in the USA you get a 57g tin of matcha, this is especially cheap and the matcha is still really high quality. Both flavours are a beautiful vivid green colour that’s always nice to see and they froth up really excellently too.

Still loving my perfect serving matcha spoon!

Raspberry Flavoured Matcha

I decided to try the raspberry flavoured matcha first as it was more similar to other flavours I’d tried, which were all fruity, so I felt I’d be able to compare them better. As soon as the matcha hit the water the smell erupted in to the kitchen, what surprised me is the smell is so fresh and doesn’t smell artificial in any way.

The flavour is equally as amazing as the scent, the raspberry flavour is very definitely there but without overpowering the matcha flavour. I love unflavoured matcha so I always want my flavoured matcha to still be primarily matcha flavoured and not sweetened in any way so this is perfect on both fronts. The fresh raspberry flavour compliments the drier flavours of the matcha perfectly and the smell as you inhale with each sip is heavenly!

Chocolate Flavoured Matcha

Chocolate is probably my favourite food in the world, I literally adore it! So chocolate was the flavour I was most excited about trying, all the other flavoured matchas I have are all fruit flavours so this one really stood out for me. Upon opening the tin or even as you pick it up before you open it, you can smell this sweet chocolate smell, it kinda smells just like Nesquik milkshake powder!

The chocolate flavour is quite subtle and not overpowering, which I feel is a positive thing. After trying it and thinking about it, I thought that a strong chocolate flavour wouldn’t actually be that great with the vegetal flavours of matcha so it’s subtlety is probably it’s strong point. It’s very obviously matcha but that slightly naughty chocolate flavour is noticeable alongside it, which is a pretty heavenly combo!

So if you’d be wanting this to be crazily chocolatey this probably isn’t for you but I kinda feel that crazily chocolatey isn’t really what you want from your matcha, give me matcha with a chocolatey undertone instead any day! 🙂 It’s really great to be able to enjoy something so healthy and get a chocolate hit at the same time!

Final words

The new flavoured matcha range from Adagio is really exciting and well worth checking out if you like matcha and want something a bit different. These matchas are flavoured to just the right amount, while still retaining the flavour matcha lovers adore.

You can check out the new flavoured matcha’s from Adagio Teas here, other flavours in the range are Cinnamon Apple, Mocha and Peach. I’ll probably end up buying the Cinnamon Apple and Peach as well as I love matcha from Adagio Teas and the chocolate and raspberry didn’t disappoint at all!

Adagio also included some of their tea for me to review as well which I’ll be doing in a separate post so keep a look out for that if you love tea as well! 🙂

Thanks to Adagio for sending me these new flavoured matchas to review, I’m so grateful!

A while back I reviewed Adagio’s IngenuiTEA gravity tea infuser which will seriously change the way you drink tea! You can find the review here.

Thanks for reading! Bye for now 🙂 xXx

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Black Tea Green Tea Oolong Tea Reviews Teaphernalia

Shibui Leaf Tea Haul Taste Tested & Reviewed!

23rd May 2016

A little while ago I was lucky enough to be sent a box of joy by Shibui Leaf Tea. Inside the box there was a selection of loose leaf teas, an awesome mug and some empty tea pyramids for making your own teabags (super cool!).

On to the review!

Caramel Oolong

This was one of the teas I requested because I love Oolong and caramel seemed like the perfect accompaniment. This tea smells beyond words, succulent & sweet, with a buttery quality. I could actually just leave bowls of this around my house, the smell is that good!

One thing I love about Oolong is you can get a lot of tea from not much leaf, as it really lends itself to being infused multiple times. During these infusions you can follow the tea on a delectable taste journey as each infusion tastes different to the last and from a practical point of view, this makes this tea very economic.

On to the taste! As you swirl this golden liquor in your mouth you can taste the beautiful delicate quality of the Oolong as well as a devilishly sweet caramel flavour, that’s just strong enough to be enjoyable but without overpowering the Oolong flavour. I think this would be great iced but also fantastic to cuddle up with on a cold night and lets face it, with the British summer coming up the latter is more likely! :p

Ti Kuan Yin

This is another excellent Oolong, with light floral notes. I received these in high quality pyramid teabags, there’s more than enough tea for multiple infusions in each teabag and the teabags allow the leaf to move around enough to infuse well.

This was a really flavoursome Oolong with quite a delicate savoury flavour, you can also taste a subtle underlying floral sweetness which gives it some extra character. It produces a brownish liquid with a really unique scent and it’s malty flavour is so refreshing to drink, definitely a good Oolong! 🙂

White Peony

White Peony (known in China as Pai Mu Tan) is always a tea I look forward to, the delicate sweetness of the white tea is fantastic and super refreshing. It’s produced from the handpicked bud and first two leaves of the tea plant, this creates a clean royal tea.

The leaves are a really good size which is always a nice thing to see and each pyramid teabag is filled with a lot of tea so you can easily make a couple of cups of tea with one teabag. It has a slightly floral quality to it which is subtly sweet but it lets the white tea flavours take centre stage.

Maple Walnut

Another tea I requested a sample of is Maple Walnut and I’m so glad I did! This tea smells sooo good with a sweet maple fragrance and a hint of walnut. The pieces of walnut and the leaf are really nice sized and you can tell this tea is special when you first prepare it, the smell just fills the room with sweet nuttiness.

Once steeped it makes a vibrant green liquid which I could just sit and smell all day! The taste is amazing, it’s really sweet and has a slightly toasted quality to it, reminds me of toasted marshmallows. The walnut flavour is definitely noticeable but not overpowering, I wondered if it would be too nutty but it’s not at all. The tea leaf, walnut and maple are all there with precisely the right amount of each.

English Breakfast

I was lucky enough to receive my English Breakfast in a beautiful polished chrome cannister, it’s really stunning and I’ll be sure to refill it once it’s empty and store it on my desk. These cannisters would make the perfect gift for any tea lover and it definitely adds a certain elegance to the experience, after all, presentation is everything!;)

I feel that English Breakfast is really drab unless it’s really good, without any extra flavours the quality of black tea can really be noticed. Luckily this is a really good English Breakfast, it has a deep malty brown colour to it and it’s epic with a couple of biscuits to dunk in it. It has a very slight sweetness to it which makes it more enjoyable than a lot of other English Breakfast tea I’ve tried. My mum loves English breakfast, even with all the exciting tea I make for her she still insists on English Breakfast with her breakfast and she definitely approves of this English Breakfast!

The Unexpected – Shibui Mug & Tea Filters

An unexpected inclusion from Shibui Leaf Tea is a mug that has a tea themed word search on it, with words such as Roobios and Assam. It’s bone china and dishwasher proof, a really nice touch is one of the words is Shibui and it’s been outlined as the only word found so far, which I really like! Again this would be the perfect gift to give with some of the gorgeous teas above.

I also received some tea filters, which basically act like teabags that you can fill yourself and pull closed with a drawstring at the top. They’re unbleached, chlorine free and biodegradable so great all round! I use something similar when I go away so I don’t have to carry an infuser for loose leaf tea with me but these are more convenient with the drawstring closure. They’re also an absolute bargain at £3.95 for 100!

So that’s my haul reviewed! A huge thanks to Shibui Tea for sending me their products to review and for their generosity, it’s very much appreciated.

You can check out their amazing store here.

Thanks so much for reading this review, I hope you enjoyed it. Bye for now! xXx

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Matcha Tea Reviews Teaphernalia

Matchæologist Misaki Matcha, Glass Chawan & Chasen Review

24th April 2016

Recently I was contacted by Anthony from Matchæologist, he asked me to review their Matcha. He also sent me one of the most in depth emails I’ve ever received about matcha, I’ll try and include some of his knowledge in this review for you guys 🙂

Anthony sent me their Misaki matcha which is their highest grade of matcha. As well as the matcha he was incredibly generous in sending me a handblown double walled glass chawan (matcha bowl) and a bamboo full hand chasen (matcha whisk).

The quality of the chawan in beyond words, it’s stunning seductive curves are a work of art, my matcha drinking just got an upgrade! 😉 I’ll definitely have it on show in my study between uses as it’s way too pretty to keep in a cupboard! The double walls mean that your matcha stays hot for longer and that the outer wall is comfortable to the touch. Being glass means it looks incredible in photos, with the deep bright green of Matchæologist Misaki matcha shining through!

The Chasen is also beautiful, it has a longer handle and smaller prongs than the one I have been using, which is awesome because I can gain more movement and control when I’m preparing matcha in smaller vessels. The chawan and chasen combine magically, making matcha preparation effortless.

What Makes Matchæologist Misaki Matcha Different?

Before I go on to review the Misaki matcha I’ll share some info about what makes it so special. Matchæologist only sells artisanal grade matcha, the kind that’s been used throughout history in tea ceremonies, by buddhist monks and even samurai warriors! Matcha of this quality is achieved exclusively by hand; the tea buds are picked, rolled, roasted and even stone ground completely by hand.

The key difference with this matcha when compared to other matcha is the vivid green colouring and blue hues, this matcha is GREEN in a way I’ve never seen before. This colouring is achieved by using only the top buds of shade-grown tea trees, when tea trees are shade grown they compensate by producing more chlorophyl. The most tender parts of the shoots are picked and any veins or stems are removed. This results in a beautifully roasted fragrant matcha with a pleasant ‘umami’ taste profile that is a little sweet but still has that exquisite savoury flavour that all matcha enthusiasts crave.

Matchæologist’s process outlined above also causes the tea trees to be higher in L-theanine, the amino acid that contributes to the mental clarity that matcha drinkers love, as well as a host of other health benefits.

My Thoughts

The packaging is beautiful, each item came in a cute canvas drawstring bag, a lovely touch. The Misaki matcha comes in a little metal tin and inside is a foil bag that is sealed so the freshness of the matcha is guaranteed. You simply open the packet and carefully tip it in to the tin which screws shut to provide airtight storage.

Straight away I’ve gotta say that this matcha is phenomenal, as soon as I opened the Misaki matcha I couldn’t believe the colour, it’s so unbelievably green and the smell is fantastic. It froths up beautifully, it almost reminds me of bubble bath with a thick layer of froth in every batch, once prepared it’s a bold deep green colour.

The first thing I noticed is there’s no bitterness, a lot of matcha has a bitter taste to it which I believe is what puts some people off. This has the savoury roasted flavour that matcha lovers crave but the noticeable difference is a succulent sweet aftertaste that I’ve never experienced before. It offers an addictively complex flavour with the perfect sweet/savoury balance, leaving you looking forward to each and every sip.

The mental clarity and alertness experienced after drinking Matchæologist’s Misaki matcha is also noticeably improved compared to regular lesser matcha. It’s awesome to get a good hit of it just before a study session or to get the creative juices flowing!

So that’s my review of the wonderful experience of Matchæologist Misaki matcha and the jaw-droppingly beautiful chawan and full hand chasen. It’s been fantastic and I strongly recommend you check Matchæologist out. I’d like to say a massive thank you to Anthony for being so generous and sending me such amazing products!

I hope you guys enjoyed this post, if you did you can subscribe to my newsletter below. I have a pretty fantastic competition in the works that you’ll definitely want to enter! 😉

Bye for now! xXx

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Reviews Teaphernalia Top 10's

Top 10 Tea Books Every Tea Lover Should Read!

12th February 2016

Recently I’ve been buying books about my favourite subject! I was amazed at how many there were so I thought I’d put a list together of the best ones. I own some of the books and plan to own them all but some of the top 10 are based on the books with the most favourable reviews.

In no particular order the top 10 tea books I could find are as follows:

1. The Tea Book (DK) – This is one I do own and my favourite I’ve been able to find, it has loads of material and history of tea as well as tables to better determine the flavours of the tea you’re drinking, really helpful for blogging!

2. Teapigs The Book of Tea – Another one I love! although Teapigs isn’t my favourite brand of tea this book is still fantastic. It features loads of interesting history, how tea is made, growing tea and a breakdown of the culture of tea in different countries all around the world.

3. Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties – An escorted tour of the worlds tea growing countries, written by the owners of the Camellia Sinensis Tea House in Montreal. It covers black, green, white, yellow, oolong, pu’er, perfumed, aromatic and smoked teas.

4. 20, 000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature’s Healing Herbs – This is one for the health conscious, it details how to benefit from the many magical healing effects of tea.

5. The Ritz London Book Of Afternoon Tea: The Art and Pleasures of Taking Tea – A more traditional take on this great british pastime, including an in-depth view of Afternoon tea at The Ritz. A nice extra is it even includes recipes so you can enjoy a posh afternoon tea in the comfort of your home (and without missing that mortgage payment).

6. Tea: A History of the Drink That Changed the World – This book gives an entire history of tea and its impacts on the world, including it’s social implications and it’s effect on the ethics of business.

7. The Art and Craft of Tea: An Enthusiast’s Guide to Selecting, Brewing, and Serving Exquisite Tea – This book makes the history and traditions of tea accessible to everyone. If you want to take your reading one step further the book also has recipes for blending tea using natural ingredients.

8. The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook: A Guide to the World’s Best Teas – The perfect guide to the world’s finest teas and how to get the most out of them, with an approach that behind every tea is a story of the land it came from and the skills used to craft it.

9. Little Black Book of Tea (Little Black Books) – What could be better than a pocket sized guide of tea?! This book is beautifully finished and would be an awesome gift for the tea lover in your life. It has 160 pages of the different grades of tea from around the world, including the best ways to enjoy them and recipes.

10. The China Tea Book – This is the most expensive book on the list but after doing my research I found that the reviews are always positive and it’s bound in a lush hardcover. The focus of the book is China and its 5000 year history of tea drinking and the culture and tradition that surrounds it. It covers the sophistication of tea drinking and the love that goes with it.

That brings us to the end of my top 10 tea books, I plan to eventually buy them all but I hope this helps you to decide which one(s) to buy. Remember to share and thanks for reading! 😀

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Black Tea Reviews Rooibos Tea Reviews Tea Storage Teaphernalia

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 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!

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.

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?! 😀

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!

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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Reviews Teaphernalia

Bosch TWK8633GB Multi Temperature Styline Kettle Review

10th August 2015

I’ve been sampling and writing notes for a ton of reviews I’ve got coming up and one thing I always found tiresome to get right was the correct temperature for each kind of tea. I felt that if I’m going to write reviews I should get something that reliably controls the temperature of the water, after all I’d hate to give a company a bad review because I burnt their tea without realising. I’d been using an olden days thermometer to check the temperature but I decided it was time for modern technology to lend a helping hand!

Enter the Bosch Styline Collection Kettle TWK8631GB. It can reliably heat water to 70°, 80°, 90° 0r 100° celsius, so you get perfectly steeped tea every time and switches between different temperatures for green, white, fruit or black tea with ease.

The other features that are worth noting are:

Removable Anti limescale filter
Easy opening
Acoustic signal (beeps when ready)
Stainless steel interior
Rubberised soft grip handle
Double walled to remain cool when touched
360° cordless base
economical 1 cup boiling mode
Keep warm function retains the water at the required temperature for up to 30 minutes
Litres and cup measurements, one on each side
3KW heating element for rapid boil

The removable limescale filter is super convenient and a large button on the lid smoothly pops the lid open, the acoustic signal is also quite helpful, especially if you’re in another room. The quality is phenomenal as you would expect from Bosch, the kettle features solid robust construction throughout. Everything just feels so sturdy and bulletproof, the hinge on the lid is solid and whisper quiet and the handle offers a reassuring grip thanks to it’s seductively soft rubberised handle. Surprisingly the Bosch Styline Collection Kettle TWK8631GB, is still light enough to be easy to use, impressive with build quality of this standard.

1 cup boiling is fantastic, I often used to return to my kettle the following day to find wasted water in the kettle, this is now a thing of the past and this kettle heats the water FAST!

The kettle is simply stunning to look at, I love the gloss black finish of the kettle and base combined with the brushed steel and sturdy handle. The kettle is also available in gloss white with brushed steel but I’ve gotta say the black wins, especially as the white will get diiirty in the kitchen. The base is also beautiful and features the controls to choose the required temperature, which is as easy as pressing 1 button. The base matches well with the kettle and together with the red illuminated display it’s perfect throughout.

I did a lot of research before ordering this kettle and priced at £59.99 (at the time of writing) I was debating whether it would be worth it, after all how much can a higher priced kettle offer? But I was wrong, this kettle has changed the way I drink tea, making it easier to prepare, now the white and green teas I have which are my favourite are being drunk more often (some would say relentlessly!).

This kettle has won a Which? best buy award as well as having nearly 1000 Amazon reviews across both colours (at the time of writing), with a rating of slightly below 5 stars.

That just about rounds it up, please take a look at the pictures, I hope they convey the overall quality and beauty of the Bosch TWK8633 kettle. If you have a similar kettle I’d love to hear about it and how it compares to my new baby! Also if you’d like to ask any questions I can answer from an owners point of view, you can reach me on Twitter or by Email, I’d love to help.

Thanks for reading and I hope this has helped you to make an informed decision! 🙂 xXx

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Teaphernalia

Top 10 Tea Infusers Guaranteed To Add a Dash of Character to Your Next Tea Break!

21st July 2015

My boyfriend recently bought me this kitty tea infuser which has made my tea breaks even lovelier! Which made me wonder what other cute infusers are out there, so I went on a mission to find out! Here’s the results, the top 10 best tea infusers I found 🙂

1.NOKI Pug in A Mug Silicone Tea Infuser

2. Kitchen Craft Le’Xpress Stainless Steel Novelty Monkey Tea Infuser

3. AdHoc Floatea Floating Tea Infuser Green

4. Sharky Shark Tea Infuser

5. iNeibo Kitchen Silicone Colorful Tea Bag Shape Tea Infusers

6. SUCK UK Goldfish Tea Infuser

7. Kikkerland Stainless Steel Owl Tea Infuser

8. Kikkerland Stainless Steel Rocket Tea Infuser, Silver

9. Luckies Tea Sub Infuser

10. Slow Brew Sloth Tea Infuser

I hope you’ve enjoyed these top 10 tea infusers, my only trouble now is resisting buying them all! Which ones are your favourites?

If this is the kind of thing you enjoy reading you’ll have fun with my newsletter, you can join below. Thanks for reading! xXx 🙂

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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?