Tuesday Tea Tasting I first tried T2 a few years ago when an Aussie mate brought a box over for me. Happily it's now available for in the UK so you can try some yourself without flying 24hours down under for a good cuppa. T2's style is bright and bold and recently they teamed up with design duo Raw Edges to create a set of limited edition packaging for London Design Festival 2016. Each hand-drawn design reflects the colour, texture and patterns in the loose-leaf (all so pretty), reflecting the...
Tuesday Tea Tasting Do you remember your first afternoon tea? When I was a kid my school friend’s parents took us to York during half term. If was just before end of year exams so as a bribe we were told if we revised every day we would be taken to Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms for a treat. Needless to say we revised our socks off and it was all worth it. Afternoon tea at Bettys is one of my top childhood memories – probably the first time I had a full-on afternoon tea in what was the grandest...
Tuesday Tea Tasting You wait all winter to do an iced tea review – and then three come along at once! No cold brewing is involved, Harry has done all the hard work for you…the London brand, Harry Brompton’s, is a small company with big ambitions: To bring fantastic British Ice Tea to the world. And happily for me, a box of their iced tea made it to my door. Harry Brompton's started out as an alcoholic iced tea (will be reviewing soon as part of my Boozy Brew series) but recently released...
Tuesday Tea Tasting My first cold brew! Well it is summer isn't it? Kind of - the English weather needs to sort itself out - but while the sun has briefly decided to pop out then it's about time I gave cold brewing a go. Flavoured teas are supposed to be a good shout for cold brewing so I used London Tea Club's Apricot Peach (Ceylon black with dried peach, apricot and papaya pieces). After following their instructions (like below) I had to wait overnight to taste my brew but, after loading it...
Tuesday Tea Tasting Just opened but already super busy is tombo Poké & Matcha Bar in Soho. Having never tried the green stuff before, but always intrigued by it, I headed to tombo during their opening week to see what all they hype was about. With a queue out the door (a 50% off opening offer will do that) tombo's new spot was taking orders thick and fast but the staff were friendly and calm. I went for a long, hot matcha tea (there's a long list to choose from so I went for what look the...
Tuesday Tea Tasting Curious about Curious Tea? Well, it's a monthly tea subscription offering two types of high-grade premium loose tea each month. You can pick your box...light, dark, or mixed. I love the little tea cards included in each package which explain each tea and have a space for your own tasting notes! Apparently they took this idea from the collectible tea cards that were produced in the U.K. from the 1940’s by certain tea producers for their loose teas. My box included 50g of...
Tuesday Tea Tasting Strawberry season!! I love it when British strawberries are finally ripe and we get to enjoy them topped on a cream-laden scone or floating in a jug of Pimms on a sunny day. Well Tea Blossoms have taken it one step further and added the juicy British fruit to your English tea cup with their Aussie Green Strawberry tea. Their bright, colourful packaging tells me that it's a green tea blended with rose, sunflower and orange blossoms, combined with the fruity aroma of...
Tuesday Tea Tasting Have you been to any of the factory outlets in Hackney? For cheap Burberry, Pringle or Nike, fashion lovers can head to Hackney Walk for amazing bargains...and we all know shopping is thirsty work! So for a pause in your perusing, head to Brew For Two - a cute little yellow-fronted tearoom tucked among the famous stores. It's full of lovely tiled tables and vintage crockery, perfect for all the bargain-hunting tourists looking for a classic British tea sipping experience.
Tuesday Tea Tasting With Game of Thrones Season 6 starting last night I couldn't resist doing a blog on Dragon Well tea from Jing. (I could have tried their Jade Sword or Jasmine Silver Needle tea too but I'll save them for season 7 and 8!) It's a green tea from Mei Jia Wu village in China, one of only five designated and protected centres for Dragon Well production. It's spear-like leaves give a deep, nutty taste but its light floral flavours and smooth texture make it a perfect cuppa to sip...
Tuesday Tea Tasting As the famous Grand National horse race took place on Sunday, I thought an appropriate tea to try this week was Speedy Breakfast from Rare Tea Company. It's quick and strong (the attributes of any winning racehorse) and comes packaged in colourful stripes that would look great as jockey's silks. The tea leaves are cut a bit finer to infuse faster, so if you want to make a quick cuppa, but still avoid teabags then this is perfect, and great with a dash of milk. There are no...