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Black Tea Green Tea Oolong Tea Reviews

Bruu The Gourmet Tea Club Subscription Box Review

21st June 2017

My obsession with tea subscription boxes has grown a lot over the last few months so I was excited when I found Bruu The Gourmet Tea Club.

I asked if they’d send me a box to review for you guys and they were happy to!

The Bruu subscription boxes are shipped for free and flat enough to slip straight through your letterbox which is super convenient. There’s three different teas included each month, expertly selected from over 1000 blends. Each month is £10 with discounts available if you sign up for multiple months at once and you’ll get up to 40 cups from each box. You can cancel or pause your membership at any time which makes it especially convenient.

I particularly like the transparent Bruu logos on each pack with the tea showing through, adds a nice dash of colour and a peek at the tea inside!

Review Time

Orangey Green

I love the name of this blend and I love green tea so I knew this would be the blend I’d try first! This blend has a classic green tea flavour with a “orangey” twist but I like that the orange isn’t overpowering. Often citrus blends are too citrusy and green tea based teas that are flavoured or blended sometimes lose the green tea flavour.I was pleased to find that Orangey Green doesn’t suffer from this at all, the flavour is predominantly green tea but the orange vibe is definitely there as well.

I’ve enjoyed drinking this in the warm summer evenings recently. It’s perfect to drink once the temperature cools in the evenings, the orange provides refreshment when you need it most! 😀

 

The Ministers Earl Grey

Earl Grey is one of my least favourite teas, which people are always surprised about because everyone else seems to love it! I’m still always intrigued by Earl Grey’s when I receive them because I always wonder if I’ll find one I love.

The first thing I noticed about The Ministers Earl Grey is how amazingly blue the cornflowers are, they really pop against the black Assam and Ceylon leaves. I couldn’t wait to take my photos and pair them with another vivid colour, I was pleased that the colour comes across well in the photos 🙂

As far as Earl Grey goes this is one of the better ones I’ve tried, I like that the bergamot flavour is a bit more subdued than others, so I could still enjoy the Assam and Ceylon in all their glory. Overall not my favourite kind of tea but it’s super pretty and if you love Earl Grey I’m sure you’ll love this!

 

Earthy Oolong

I’m a huge oolong fan, it’s one of my all time favourites so I was excited to see an oolong included in my subscription box from Bruu!😃 It’s always a treat to watch the oolong leaves unfurl in beautiful glass teaware, I especially love the golden liquor this tea produces.

The flavour is quite a dry earthy oolong but with an addictive subtly sweet aftertaste that I’ve enjoyed over and over. Oolong lends itself well to multiple infusions, meaning it’s a very economical cuppa. I love how cozy this oolong is, it’s perfect to fill your teapot with and enjoy during a Netflix session!

Final Thoughts

I’ve really enjoyed this subscription box from Bruu, the variation of the three teas was amazing and it’s definitely one of the cheaper tea subscription boxes out there so it’s good value as well. A massive thanks goes to Bruu for sending me this box to review!

If you’d like to try a Bruu subscription box for yourself you can find out more on their website.

Thanks for reading my review, if you’d like more from Russtea’s you can find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram!

Bye for now! xXx

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Black Tea Green Tea Herbal Tea Matcha Rooibos Tea Reviews

TeaTourist Subscription Box Review

3rd March 2017

I’m extremely excited to share another awesome TeaTourist subscription box with you!

If you’re new to tea subscriptions TeaTourist is a great one to start with. You get 6 teas instead of the 4 that you usually get from other tea subscriptions. The packaging is beautiful and a joy to receive through the post, it also slips straight through your letterbox which is super convenient.

All 6 teas come with a brewing card which gives you some information about the tea and the company it comes from, as well as water temperature and brewing times. If you’re getting more immersed in the joys of tea I’d highly recommend a multi-temperature kettle to guarantee you enjoy your tea at its best.

Review Time!

Reggae Refresh – Born Wild Tea

This tea is a really interesting combo of different fruits, including banana chips! It has an exciting zingy mango aroma to it with a hint of banana, giving it a wonderful tropical feel.

The smell only gets more intense once you begin steeping it. It creates a beautiful yellow brew with a deeply satisfying lemongrass flavour, alongside a nice sweet fruitiness. I really enjoy the variation of tea that the TeaTourist subscription boxes offer and this tea is another fine example.

 

 


Pure Ceylon – Exclusivitea

I’m really addicted to flavoured tea, I find it most exciting and I’m always hunting for something new and unique. Every so often I’ll receive some unflavoured tea that blows me away and this is certainly an example of this.

I love the deep rich malty smell of this tea, it’s a tea you just want to cuddle up with a big mug of and enjoy the fragrance. It has a complex flavour, combining a deep maltyness with subtle earthy tones and a sweet aftertaste.

The tea leaf in Pure Ceylon is really fine so I found it slipped through some of my less fine holed infusers but that’s easily resolved 🙂

 

 


Recover Tea – Blendology

This was my least favourite tea in this months box, I’m really not a fan of herbal, floral or minty flavours and this combines them all. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a great tea, the ingredients are high quality and you get a generous amount, it’s just ‘not my cup of tea’😛

I did find that the second mug from each teabag is actually a lot more enjoyable and offers more refined floral flavours and also that this tea is better at lower temperatures. Overall it’s definitely an exciting and different tea which is all part of being a TeaTourist! 🙂

 

 


Rooibos Earl Grey – Tea Leaf London

This is the second rooibos earl grey infusion I’ve tried and it’s a flavour I always enjoy. I love rooibos and drink it a lot at night, I struggle to sleep a lot so rooibos is a perfect caffeine free fix.

The smell of this tea is incredible, it has a gorgeous citrusy fragrance that I could smell all day. I always find rooibos goes a long way and this is certainly the case with this tea. The amber colouring of steeped rooibos is always enjoyable to watch and looks fantastic in my glass teapot.

The citrusy flavour from the bergamot comes through nicely without being overpowering. I like that you can still definitely taste and enjoy the nutty rooibos alongside the citrus tones.

 

 


Gunpowder – Morgan’s Brew Tea Company

I LOVE green tea, it may even be my favourite kind of tea! I love the vegetal flavour, the slight zing and the crispness of gunpowder tea and this tea definitely embodies these qualities. The portion of this tea is particularly generous given how much flavour erupts from a small amount.

The leaf is really nice quality with a deep green colour, it’s a joy to watch the leaves unfurl as the water turns a stunning golden colour. The tea has an addictive crisp vegetal flavour and a nice zing after every mouthful. This is definitely one of my favourites from this box!

 

 


Matcha – Teaologists

I was absolutely thrilled to find matcha in this box. Matcha is one of my favourite things in the world, I drink it every morning with my breakfast and often have another bowl with lunch. The inclusion of matcha in a tea subscription box is definitely something I haven’t seen before and a really unique idea from TeaTourist.

The matcha is packaged in a little tin and knowing how expensive matcha often is I was pleasantly surprised by how generous the sample was.

I love to see the vivid bright green colour of good quality matcha like this matcha from Teaologists. It froths up nicely and blends well for a smooth and easy to prepare treat. This matcha has the enjoyable vegetal, slightly savoury tones as well as the sweeter umami flavours that are only found in higher ceremonial grade matcha. This is an excellent inclusion by TeaTourist 😀

 

Final Thoughts

I loved the this box, it’s probably my favourite so far! The inclusion of the matcha leaves me excited to see the other unique blends TeaTourist include in future boxes. I’ll have a review of the next TeaTourist box up on my blog soon, I’m a little behind as I’ve been crazily busy at work and with uni but it’ll be up ASAP 🙂

If you haven’t tried a tea subscription box yet I’d highly recommend choosing TeaTourist as your first tea subscription, take a look at their website for more info. TeaTourist have even been awesome enough to provide a discount code for my readers to get 30% off their first box, simply use RUSSTEAS30 at checkout!

A big thank you to TeaTourist for sending me this box to review, I’ve really enjoyed it 😀

Thanks for taking the time to read my review. If you’d like to talk tea or get regular updates from my blog you can find me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and sign up to my mailing list below.

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.

full selection(web ready)

 

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 (web ready)

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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