The Friday Review - Steven Smith Teamaker

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - it's Friday (again) and that means we're back with another tea. This time we have a really special treat for you as we are featuring a tea from America!

Some of you may remember the lovely Valarie from Portland who I met last summer when she visited the UK and we enjoyed a spot of afternoon tea at The Goring. Well, at Christmas Valarie sent me a rather lovely package which included some tea and some hot chocolate.

So today we are going to share with you two teas from Steven Smith Teamaker  - Brahmin and Bungalow, both are black teas which Lorna and I enjoyed without milk.

Steven Smith Teamakers have been involved in tea since 1949, and today we import their teas and botanicals directly from farmers at origin. Some of the farmers have been working with Steven Smith Teamakers for over 15 years. They blend their tea in small batches and package it in oversized sachets....

Lorna opted to try the Brahmin tea, which is blend of full-bodied Indian Assam teas paired with Ceylon teas. It's described as a Breakfast Tea.

The liquor was rich in colour, a lovely amber colour. Lorna enjoyed the taste, but when I tried it I found it very light and not exactly what I would call a breakfast blend. It was nice and perfect for anyone who prefers a really light flavour to their tea.

My tea was the Bungalow tea, which is a blend of first and second flush organic Darjeeling teas - the flavour is described by Steven Smith Teamakers as light but complex.

Again, this tea had a wonderful amber colour - but I found that it lacked flavour. It was pleasant enough and could be enjoyed in the afternoon as a light afternoon tea, but wouldn't be great for anyone who enjoys a robust cup of tea.

It's great to try teas from another country and we'd like to thank Valarie for sending us this tea! If you'd like to find out more about Steven Smith Teamakers, pop by their website.

I know we get lots of visitors from outside the UK - if anyone has a favourite tea they'd like to share with us please drop us a line!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

The Friday Review.....Margaret's Hope First Flush Darjeeling

Hello there,

We are rather excited this week at Tea With Me and Friends Towers as we have been sent a rather wonderful tea chest to sample....

Margaret Hope's First Flush Darjeeling
Whittard

Margaret's Hope Estate was founded in 1865 and is one of Darjeeling's oldest tea gardens, found in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Estate is named after the founder's daughter Margaret, who visited the estate from England and fell in love with the Darjeeling tea. Sadly, Margaret died from a tropical disease on her return trip to England and never realised her dream of making the tea gardens her home. To this day the Estate preserves the traditional methods of the founders.

This wonderful little chest contains "First Flush" leaves....the very first leaves of 2015. It's the first leaves which are considered one of the finest teas to be produced worldwide. So all in all this was going to be a pretty special cuppa.....

The chest itself is so cute.....

Margaret Hope's First Flush Darjeeling

 -Whittard

The tea is cultivated at altitudes of 915-1830m, mainly from the original China Jat bushes which would have been growing in Margaret’s day. The leaves have tinges of light green in them.

It's worth noting that a first flush crop is very dependent on the weather conditions - too much or too little rain could ruin a crop easily.

Margaret Hope's First Flush Darjeeling
Whittard

This tea should be enjoyed without milk and only brewed for a couple of minutes to preserve the delicate flavour.

Once brewed the tea is a beautiful golden colour, which reminded me of a glass of champagne. It has a really fresh and clean flavour which is slightly sweet. It's very refreshing.

Margaret's Hope First Flush Darjeeling
Whittard

We thoroughly enjoyed this tea and would recommend it to anyone looking for a very special brew. It is available from Whittards, visit their website for more information.

We'd like to thank Whittards for sharing this very special tea with us - however please not that our taste buds have not been affected and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Have you been lucky enough to enjoy a First Flush tea? If so we'd love to hear from you...

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

The Friday Review.....Dragonfly Tea

Hello there,

Well, it's Friday again (doesn't it come around quickly!) and so that means it's time to share with you our latest tea review. This week we wanted to share a slightly overdue review with you from Dragonfly Tea. Earlier this month a wonderful surprise arrived at Tea With Me and Friends Towers in the form of a scrummy dark chocolate Easter egg. However, this was no normal Easter egg....just look what we found inside....

Easter treats from Dragonfly Tea

Now I'm afraid that I don't have a photo of the beautiful Easter egg before I decided to smash it to pieces! I can tell you that it was made by New Forest Chocolates and was a decadent dark chocolate with a gold dusting.....and it was really nice....so nice that Lorna might not have actually eaten any of it (sorry Lorna!).

Now inside the egg I found four Dragonfly teabags.....

Dragonfly Tea

Dragonfly Tea are a family-owned, British company with a hundred year heritage of sourcing, growing and making pure and fine teas. They offer tea lovers a range of authentic, artisan teas from across the globe, and include black, green, white, naturally caffeine free and rooibos teas. 

All Dragonfly Teas are organic and each string & tag sachet comes individually sealed. On your tags you will find wonderful little quotes to make you smile.....

We were looking forward to sampling the four teas we found nestled inside our Easter egg (so much better than finding chocolate inside!). We had "Emerald Mountain" an organic green tea, "Golden Himalaya" an organic Darjeeling tea, "Cape Malay Chai" and organic spiced Rooibos and "Swirling Mist" an organic white tea to sample. Aren't those names just fabulous!

Let the tea tasting begin.....

Dragonfly Tea Tasting

We decided to try the four teas together so we could compare the flavours and really notice the difference between the teas....so we got our favourite teacups out (and my beautiful new Fortnum and Masons mug!) and got brewing.

The first thing we noticed was the difference in colours of the different teas....

Dragonfly Tea Tasting

From left to right we have the white tea which was a pale yellow hue, next the rooibos which was a rosy red, next the Darjeeling which was a beautiful amber and finally the green tea which had a pale green colour. All were vibrant, but clear.

Let's start with the Emerald Mountain, the green tea....

Emerald Mountain Organic Green Tea, Dragonfly Tea

This tea comes from Southern China and is a beautiful light green colour once brewed for approximately two minutes. It has a smooth and light flavour.....with no hint of bitterness.

Next came Golden Himalaya, the organic Darjeeling....

Golden Himalaya Organic Darjeeling Tea, Dragonfly Tea

I love the bright amber of this tea, its so welcoming and made me smile once it had brewed. This tea comes from tea gardens in the Himalayan foothills.

The flavour is warm and rich but remains light....it has a slight fruity taste which I really enjoyed. This was my favourite of the four teas and would make a lovely cuppa to brighten your day.

We then moved onto the Cape Malay Chai, the organic spiced rooibos....

Cape Malay Chai, Organic Spiced Rooibos, Dragonfly Tea

Now if you have read any of our Friday Reviews before you'll know my feelings about Rooibos teas....I have never really "got" them. However, the brilliant thing about The Friday Review blog posts is that its allowing me to expand my taste buds.

This tea has a lovely rosy hue, but as you can see from the photo it is still clear and not cloudy. It also has a wonderful spicy aroma. The taste too is warm, soothing and lightly spiced....not at all overpowering.

Finally we have the Swirling Mist, an organic white tea....

Swirling Mist, organic white tea, Dragonfly Tea

This is a delicate and light tea, which has a pale yellow hue when brewed for a couple of minutes. Lorna commented that this was a refreshing cup of tea, very thirst quenching.

All in all we enjoyed all these teas and would like to thank Dragonfly Tea for sending us these samples. We also have some more blends to try so watch this space for another Friday Review coming soon!

To find out more about the Dragonfly Teas please visit their website, here you will also be able to find out Stockists or buy directly online.

So, over to you....have you tried any of the Dragonfly Teas? Do you have a favourite Dragonfly Tea....let us know which it is....

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel