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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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Black Tea Fruit Tea Tea Reviews

Russtea’s review of Hope & Glory Tea

12th March 2016

Last week I was sent some new tea by Hope & Glory to review for you guys 🙂

They sent me 3 flavours which were Chamomile, Masala Chai and English breakfast. Also included was some of their loose Red Velvet tea.

Chamomile

I started out with Chamomile which smells wonderfully floral and creates a golden yellow tea. I found this blend to be sweeter than other chamomile teas which aren’t usually my favourite flavour, so this is a good improvement. The packet suggests adding a spoon of honey to sweeten it but I didn’t really find this to be necessary. I was able to get two infusions out of one teabag which is pretty good going!

Chamomile is known for it’s relaxing properties, making it a great tea for the end of a busy work day or before bed. I left some of the second mug of tea to try cold and it was really refreshing, making it a good choice for the spring.

Masala Chai

Next up is Masala Chai. As soon as I opened the packet the vibrant spicy punch bursted out. There’s also a noticeable ginger fragrance which kinda reminds me of cola bottles, which I love. I have ginger fragranced shower gel from The Body Shop for the same reason 😉

While the tea is steeping a beautiful almost fruity smell fills the kitchen, perfect on a cold rainy day! I tried this blend with water first and then a second mug with milk, I preferred it with milk. The amount of black tea and spice is just right and it isn’t overly powerful like a lot of masala chai, the Ceylon base is also really flavoursome.

Red Velvet

I was really excited about this blend, I’m a bit of a red velvet addict and was excited to see if it was deserving of it’s name. The strong berry fragrance that floats out of the packet is fantastic, it also has a slightly minty freshness to it, which is strange as it has no mint ingredients.

This blend produced a deep red colour the second the water was added and the fragrance took on more of a blueberry scent. A strong blueberry flavour was also noticeable in the tea, which is fantastic as blueberries are my favourite fruit! This tea goes a long way and I was able to squeeze a good few servings out of the sample pack. I like that this tea has a lot of flavour but without it being too sharp, I find some fruit tisanes are actually over flavoured.

English Breakfast

Last but not least! English Breakfast is a tea that I find hard to distinguish between different brands but this blend has a really deep malty flavour that’s really moreish. I got a few infusions from one teabag which was cool, this allowed me to try the blend more than once. I never add milk to my tea and found that it didn’t really require sugar either which is always a good sign. English Breakfast from Hope & Glory is a good all round tea that won’t scare off your less discerning visitors like something more exotic might 😉

See Ya!

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, I hope you enjoyed it! 🙂 Let me know what you think in the comments below or if there’s any other tea you think I’d like!

I’d like to say a big thanks to Hope & Glory for sending me their tea to try, check their website out.

Bye for now! xXx

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Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Reviews Rooibos Tea Reviews White Tea

Review of a Truly Exquisite Range of Loose Leaf Tea from Jadu Tea

13th February 2016

Recently I was sent a selection of tea from Jadu Tea for me to review. The first thing I noticed upon opening the box is just how incredibly Jadu Tea is presented, the gloss black packaging with the metallic gold labels feel luxurious and modern. I especially love the packaging for the China Green tea I received, which is in a blue velour box with metallic gold writing and wrapped in black paper, I felt like royalty as I opened it!

The teas I received are:

Mademoiselle Grey

Woodland Fruit

Rooibos Creme Brulee

Calming Chamomile

Mint Melange

White Mango Lime

Also included was a selection of individually wrapped pyramid teabags

Mademoiselle Grey

The tea I got most of is Mademoiselle Grey which is high-quality Sri Lanka tea with a citrus scent and a hint of lemongrass, finished off with red cornflowers for a luxury feeling. You can smell the floral bouquet with every sip, with a perfectly refreshing black tea that’s balanced with notes of bergamot and a slightly lemony zing. This tea is also very economical as it can be made quite weak while still tasting fantastic, I was also able to infuse this tea more than once. Overall it’s without a doubt one of the best Earl Greys I’ve ever had.

Woodland Fruit

Next up is Woodland Fruit, the first thing I noticed with this tea is it has whole dry berries, something you don’t often see. The dry smell smells like Ribena with berries filling the room when the water is added, tempting me as I work on my desk. The quality is unbelievable and the liquid is a beautiful deep purply colour. Overall this is a well rounded berry tasting tea with none of the dreaded sharpness often found with other teas.

Rooibos Crème Brûlée

Next to take centre stage is Rooibos Crème Brûlée, this is a really sweet tea with a dessert-like flavour. The dry smell has a cakey pudding feeling that would satisfy the sweetest sweet tooth. I love the flavour of Rooibos and that I can drink it at night without being kept awake by the caffeine. The colour once brewed is a magical deep red colour. This is one of those teas that you just want to fill a big mug with and sit for an evening with a good book.

Calming Chamomile

The quality of The chamomile is amazing, you can literally see the flower buds. It has a soothing summery fragrance with a nice yellow liquid. Chamomile is known for its calming effects so you really do achieve benefits when drinking this tea, it’s perfect to drink at the end of the work day. It’s also subtly sweet and fantastic before bed, you can really feel content as this tea as it eases you to sleep. Camomile tea has never been one of my favourites but this tea is of such high-quality that it’s made me change my mind completely and I’ve drunk a ton of it! 😀

Mint Melange

I usually steer clear of mint tea, I’m not really sure why but it does kinda remind me of toothpaste I guess but I’m always up for trying new things! Mint Melange from Jadu Tea is a blend of peppermint and spearmint and that’s it! The amount of each mint is perfect as you get the cooling of the peppermint while the tea remains sweet because of the spearmint. It’s also not overly minty and is really refreshing, it’s amazing if you have an upset stomach, one mug fixes almost anything! The tea also retains it’s flavour when it’s cooled down and can be drunk hot or cold. As mint tea goes this is one of the best I’ve tried, it’s my least favourite tea out of the Jadu Tea range but that’s probably largely because mint tea just isn’t my thing, I’m sure with this level of quality that if you like mint tea you’ll love this one!

White Mango Lime

I absolutely adore white tea so I’m always excited to get new and exciting flavours. The first thing I noticed with this tea is the incredible fragrance that bursts out of the packet when you open it, it’s a combination of the delicate scent of white tea with the sweet kick of Mango. This tea is packed full of good quality pieces of fruit and nicely sized tea leaves, no dust-like tea here! Every sip is heavenly and really conveys the magic of tea, something Jadu Tea are pationate about promoting. I love that alongside the sweetness of the mango there’s a lime kick to add an element of indivuality and excitemend to the blend, this kick also adds to the refreshment this tea offers. The silvery, almost metallic colour of the tea once it’s steeped is beautiful, along with the smell it really is a luxurious experience that I won’t forget.

China Green

The China Green that I was sent was in the most beautiful box I’ve ever received tea in. It’s a luxuriously soft blue suede embossed with the Jadu Tea logo and China Green in gold, it’s so nice I actually don’t keep it in my kitchen, it lives on my desk by my computer (making it really hard to resist!). The dry tea is a deep green colour with a clean a healthy scent, as well as the grassy fragrance there’s also a sweetness to it. When brewed it makes a lovely golden tea that always wows my guests and even wins over my less cultured guests that usually reject green tea. Watching the leaves unfurl is a magical event and this tea is fantastic made in large quantities as it tastes great at every temperature and any strength, varying the tea between sweet and more vegetal. Tea presented in the Jadu Tea gift boxes makes the perfect gift for any tea fan and is sure to blow them away, you get a little slice of royalty with every infusion 🙂

Pyramid Teabags

The last item sent for a review was a lovely little box with the same sleek black packaging that contained a selection of pyramid teabags. The pyramid bags are great, nice and roomy for the tea leaves to unfurl and swirl around, so maximum flavour is achievable even if you’re in a rush (or lazy 😛).

That’s the end of my Jadu Tea review, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it and drinking the fantastic tea from Jadu Tea. If you’re still undecided where to by your tea I strongly recommend Jadu Tea, you can find their website here.

The last thing I’d like to say is a massive thanks to the Jadu team for sending me your magical products to try, I really appreciate it! 🙂

As always you can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Come say hi or leave a comment below!

Catch ya later! xXx

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

11th December 2015

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

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

Snowball 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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Black Tea Green Tea

Tea Time Tea Subscription Reviewed!

16th November 2015

Recently Tea Time sent one of their monthly subscription boxes for me to review. Tea Time is a tea subscription service that delivers you amazing health-focused tea each month. The tea was received in a slim white box which fit through my letterbox perfectly. A nice touch is the inclusion of some empty teabags you can fill if required, which offers the best of both worlds.

Inside there were three pots of tea – Lemune Superboost, Jasmin Pearl Zen and Tummy Tonic, for only £4.95!

Also included was a flowering tea, which is a small ball that you drop in to a teapot, the ball then opens up and grows in to a flower and infuses the water at the same time!

Lemune Superboost

This smelt divine! As soon as the water hit the dry tea you could smell the lemongrass. It brings back fond memories of a local Thai restaurant, that I visit a lot with my partner. The leaf was nice and fresh with no powder or small bits and it goes a really long way using an infuser so it’s very economical. I really liked the inclusion of whole goji berries which added a really refreshing zing but without sharpness, as well as notable superfood health benefits. The smell the entire time you drink is incredible and you become immersed in a magical lemony mist with every sip.

Jasmin Pearl Zen

This tea was definitely my favourite out of the three teas I received. This also had nice sized leaf which opened up impressively once infused and it’s really nice to see such good quality jasmin. It has a strong healthy Jasmine scent with a flavour to match, this tea is perfect for leisurely sipping, as the jasmin flavour dances around on your tongue. The flavour overall is refined but clearly has the Jasmine tones, without being overpowering and I loved to watch the dragon pearls unfurl in the mug at the end of a busy day 🙂

Tummy Tonic

I think out of the three teas I received tummy tonic was probably my least favourite, it wasn’t really bad but just not my ‘my cup of tea’. I’ve never really been a fan of mint tea I find it is not sweet enough and it always reminds me of toothpaste. When you open the poy there’s still good quality leaf, with a definite mintyness which is the dominant flavour when you drink it. If you like mint tea this would definitely be a wise choice for you.

One thing I did notice about this tea is one day I had indigestion and a slightly upset stomach so I decided to drink this and test out it’s health benefits. I did find it really helped and quickly settled my stomach. I think despite the flavour not being totally perfect for me, I ‘ll keep a stash of this and ration it to use when I next have an upset stomach, which thankfully is very rare 😛

The packaging was really good and clearly labelled, I love the addition of the symbology guide inside the lid of the box, it shows you what the symbols on the lid of each pot of tea mean. Such as whether the blend is decaffeinated, how many servings per pot and also if it can be reinfused. The only info I felt was missing from the packaging is the temperature at which each tea has to be a infused, this is especially important with any teas that contain green or white tea.

Overall I really enjoyed the service and the variation of tea in the subscription box. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants new and unique tea without having to hunt it down yourself. You really can’t go wrong for the price as well, £4.50 per box, which is far less than rival tea subscriptions!

The flowering tea is a really nice addition to the box. I love flowering tea as it’s a really good centre piece for any occasion and always impresses guests!

Be sure to check out Tea Time’s website! 🙂

If you have any questions please contact me either via the comments below, email or Twitter. I’d like to say a big thank you to Tea Time for sending me their subscription box and I hope that my feedback is helpful.

Bye for now! xXx

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Black Tea Fruit Tea Iced Tea Rooibos

My First Tea Sparrow Tea Subscription Reviewed and Taste Tested!

29th August 2015

Tea Sparrow were kind enough to send me a monthly subscription box this month which I’m thrilled to be able to review for you all today. You can find out more about Tea Sparrow on their website.

I’m happy to share my pictures with you as I cover these four fantastic teas, read on to find out why a tea subscription service could be perfect for you!

All of the teas included by Tea Sparrow over the summer months are teas that are also great iced, this is a really nice idea to keep the subscription service exciting over the summer months.

The parcel arrived and it fitted straight through my letter box in a nice smart brown box. Inside were 4 very different teas, this months selection is Earl Grey Vanilla Rooibos, Pineapple Coconut Oolong, Citrus Sunburst and Mandarin Rose Tea. I also received a nice note explaining how to get the best out of the Oolong tea included in this months subscription, which is a really nice touch 🙂 All four teas are from different sources so the variety is great and they aren’t in any way similar, I’ll cover them in more detail below!

Earl Grey Vanilla Rooibos

This tea is from Aromatica Fine Teas and is really special! When I first began relentless tea drinking I wasn’t really a fan of Rooibos, I found it a bit sickly but I’ve had some truly great rooibos since then and this is one of them!

It smells fantastic, like sweets or dessert and the smell fills the room as soon as the water hits the fiery red leaf. The Earl Grey flavour is very definitely there and works amazingly as the vanilla sweetness swirls around with the bergamot. This tea is a beautiful colour and would be perfect to share with friends in glass teaware.

Earl Grey Vanilla Rooibos is also very economical and the amount provided by Tea Sparrow will be enough to enjoy this tea many times, I’m on about mug 10 and still have a lot left!

Mandarin Rose

Mandarin Rose is sourced from Mighty Leaf Tea. I was a little skeptical about this tea as I’m really not a fan of floral tasting tea but it actually is pretty amazing. Upon opening the packet I was greeted with a burst of a sweet rose smell just like Turkish Delight which I love! The rose petals are a nice size and a beautiful pink colour, paired with high quality black tea leaf. This tea kinda tastes just like a liquid Turkish Delight, and I think because it has a black tea base the rose element isn’t too overpowering.

I also tried this tea iced on one of the few sunny hours this summer and it was AMAZING, the smell becomes sugary sweet when it’s iced and provides the perfect refreshment on a hot day. I took the opportunity to get my Kilner mug set out and drink through a stripy straw, I’ve gotta say it tastes even better through a straw! :p

Citrus Sunburst

This fruit blend is from Tiesta Tea and is another great choice by Tea Sparrow. The smell is mainly citrus but with beautiful berry notes in the background, it smells amazing loose.

When I first added the water it turned a luxurious deep red colour. It smells literally intoxicating when it’s steeping, I found my self hovering over the mug breathing it in as it brewed. It has a multi-layered flavour that’s expertly created using a combination of the sweet berry element with the citrus tone.

Next I decided to take this tea for a spin iced and I’m so glad I did! I used two teaspoons which was enough to fill my bottle and I was also able to refill it from half full to get even more use out of it. It’s so refreshing as the pomegranate and apple flavours bubble to the surface while the citrus seems to take a slightly more refined approach than when hot.

Pineapple Coconut Oolong

I’ve saved the best until last! This tea has been created by Samovar Tea and I can honestly say it is one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted, Tea Sparrow really flexed their curating muscles with this one! 😀

I opened the packet and there was an outburst of a birthday cake like smell, I’m not really sure why as pineapple and coconut aren’t traditionally birthday cakey, either way this is a smell you need in your life! I decided to go all out and invite my favourite ‘special occasion’ teapot to the party. The prepared tea is a nice pale liquid that I still feel smells of vanillary cake, it’s also massively economical as you can brew the leaves 3 to 4 times and experience the full range of flavours this oolong offers.

I LOVE this tea, often tropical flavoured teas have way too much pineapple in them and the other flavours don’t get a look-in but this is different, the pineapple and coconut waltz across your tongue in perfect harmony. I urge you to try this fantastic creation, you won’t be disappointed!

Final Thoughts

I’ve been looking at tea subscription boxes for a while now and always felt that I’d need to find somewhere that I could trust to only send me good, enjoyable teas. Tea Sparrow are that company, all four of these teas are beautiful and the presentation and variation of this subscription box really shows that this service will provide you with expertly curated teas, from sources you probably wouldn’t ever find on your own. The amount of each tea provided is very generous and really will go a long way, Tea Sparrow’s service is actually really great value based on the quantity and quality of the tea you will receive.

Ask yourself, what could be better than a box bursting with character-filled teas arriving once a month, without you having to hunt for them yourself?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review, I had so much fun with these teas and loved writing this review. I also had so much fun taking the pictures, these teas were deserving of my favourite teaphernalia 🙂

Thanks for reading! xXx

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Black Tea Green Tea Tea Reviews

How Much Do I Love My Blackberry Mallow Forleaves Tea?!

26th May 2015

This week I was lucky enough to receive some samples from Forleaves Tea Company, read on to find out what I think of them!

Forleaves Tea Company is based in Leicestershire. The ethos behind Forleaves Tea Company is to “encourage everyone to take a moment in their day to slow down a little, take time to create something special”, their tea is certainly perfect for this very thing! Forleaves Tea Company is a home based business, which is fantastic and their tea really does have a homely feel to it.

The flavours I received were:

No.27 Blackberry Mallow

No.10 Orange Blossom

No 15 Flower Blossom

No. 10 Lavender White Tea

The package arrived well packed and the presentation of the tea is really smart. Each tea comes in a sealed pouch, which you cut open and then you’re left with a ziplock to seal the freshness in after each infusion. I’m really impressed with the quality of the tea, the leaves are big and they smell fantastic. I decided that these teas are worth a review for each flavour so this will be the first of 4.

Tea Info

The first tea I’ll be reviewing is No.27 Blackberry Mallow. This blend has a base of Assam black tea and China green tea which are entangled perfectly, the sweetness is thanks to the natural Blackberry flavouring. Forleaves Tea Company describe the tea as being “Malty Assam flavour with a blackberry & mallow sweetness”, sounds like a match made in heaven! They rate it as 5 (strong black tea) which I’d say is pretty spot on, I prefer a weaker amber toned tea so a lot goes a long way.

The flavour

As soon as I opened the teas I got straight in to steeping the Blackberry Mallow and WOW the smell blew me away, just gorgeous. You can smell that wonderfully intoxicating smell of good quality black tea but it’s softened by the blackberry tones, I really couldn’t wait to take my first sip. Immediately I tasted the perfect blackberry flavour. When the tea is made to the optimal strength you can almost forget the malty black tea is there because the blackberry is really strong, which is a magical balance.

Forleaves Tea Company suggest adding milk to a stronger cup. I basically never add milk to tea, mainly because I only drink soya and it’s not great in tea, but I could imagine if you were milk friendly it would taste great in this tea.

Overall

I definitely suggest you try this tea, I love black tea and the Assam paired with the blackberry is so comforting to drink, like a big hug in a mug! 🙂 If you prefer a more traditional flavour and aim for unflavoured black tea, you might find the blackberry overpowering but that smooth Assam flavour is wonderful. This tea is a fun tea, with the blackberry mallow it’s sweet and doesn’t take itself too seriously, a quality I like in a tea! 😉

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this review, if you’d like more tea joy delivered directly to your inbox you should definitely join my mailing list!

I’d like to give a huge thumbs up to Forleaves Tea Company for providing these teas for me to review, check them out and be sure to come back for the review of the other three flavours!

Tried any interesting teas lately? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below 🙂 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?