The Friday Review....Peppermint infusion by Sainsbury's

Hello there,

It's time for another Friday review and this week I thought I'd show you that we're not all fancy-pants all of the time!  You know that we love nothing more than a luxurious brew with loose leaves and precision timers but let's be honest, sometimes we don't have time for all of that.  Sometimes we just need something simple, warm, comforting and quick.

So with no further ado I would like to introduce you to my trusty Sainsbury's peppermint infusion.  Ok, I'll give you a moment..  have you all picked your jaws up from the floor?  I know that it is not "proper" tea and that it comes in a bag but I don't care - in fact, that's one of its charms.

You boil the kettle, poor the water over your teabag, brew it for three minutes and Bobs-your-Uncle, you have a delicious hot beverage!

It is light and refreshing, not full of caffeine so can be enjoyed at all times of the day and at the grand price of £2 for 80 teabags, you don't feel guilty if you leave half a cup because you saw something on Pinterest, got distracted and wandered off!

So now I've let you in on my secret everyday brew, how about you?  What's your favourite everyday brew?  We'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for popping by today,

Lorna & Rachel

The Friday Review .....Yogi Tea

Hello there,

Yet another Friday is upon us....so grab a cup of tea and enjoy this week's Friday tea review! This week we have a selection of herbal infusions for you, celebrating the new brand launch of Yogi Teas. We were really lucky to receive this lovely hamper of teas and tea items...

Yogi Tea isn't just about the tea, they have a strong focus on Wellbeing. For over 40 years Yogi Tea has been producing herb and spice teas based on Ayurvedic tea recipes, which are designed to promote individual well-being and encourage the balance between body, mind and soul. The website is full of wellbeing information, including lots of yoga poses.

Yogi Tea comes in the form of teabags and brewing instructions are given on each box. I love the little inspirational tags on the teabags...

Yogi Tea

Let the tea tasting begin!

Tea tasting - Yogi Tea

We had six teas to sample....if you take a look at the Yogi Tea website you'll see that this represents only a small selection from the teas on offer! We had the following....

A selection of Yogi Teas

We began our tea tasting adventure with the Bedtime tea....

Bedtime Tea - Yogi Tea

This soothing tea is a blend of fennel, chamomile, peppermint, cardamom, lemon balm, lemon grass, valerian root, sage, lavender flowers and nutmeg. It needs to be brewed for approximately five-six minutes and should be enjoyed in the evenings to help aid relaxation before bedtime. Once brewed its a beautiful amber colour and has a slightly earthy aroma.

I do sometimes find it difficult to drop off to sleep at night, so I was particularly interested in this tea. It's a very soothing cup of tea, which did leave me feeling more relaxed. There is a slight sweet flavour to the tea, but nothing artificial or overpowering. 

From here we moved onto the Throat Comfort tea....

Throat Comfort - Yogi Tea

This tea has been designed to comfort you if you are suffering from a sore throat. The herbs, fruit and spices in this blend include liquorice, fennel, cinnamon, orange peel, ginger, thyme, mullein, citrus extract, orange extract, cardamom, black pepper, cloves, turmeric root. This is a rather sweet tasting tea and we all thought that the taste and the aroma were not the same.

We brewed this tea for five minutes too and I have to say it has quite a magically effect as once you have swallowed a mouthful of this tea you are left with what feels like a coating on your throat. Lorna, her hubby and I all experienced it so we can't all be mad (can we?). Admittedly none of us had a sore throat at the time, but I can see how this would have a soothing effect.

Next we moved onto the Stomach Ease tea....

Yogi Tea - Stomach Ease

This tea has won a Great Taste award in 2014.

The spices in this comfort blend include cardamom, fennel, coriander, barley malt, liquorice, peppermint, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves. The tea is a light brown colour when brewed for approximately five minutes. Again, it has a slight earthy aroma, it's another soothing blend that has a sweet aftertaste.

We then tried the Classic tea...

This blend is the tea that Yogi Bhajan originally served to his yoga students.

Another light brown tea, the ingredients include cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon oil. You can really smell the cardamon once the tea is brewed and this tea is less sweet than the others. A very pleasant cuppa!

Something a little different was the Choco tea....

Yogi Tea - Choco

This is a warming, sweet blend which includes cocoa shells, liquorice, cinnamon, carob, barley malt, cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon extract, vanilla extract, black pepper, ginger oil, vanilla beans.

We brewed this cup for seven minutes and it produced a dark brown tea. We tried this without milk, and it tasted a bit like a watery hot chocolate - therefore I think adding milk would give the flavour more depth. It definitely reminded us all of hot chocolate, and had a chocolately aroma,  although it was quite sweet.

Finally we sampled the Licorice tea...

Yogi Tea - Licorice Tea

Another earthy blend, the ingredients include liquorice, cinnamon, orange peel, ginger, cardamom, roasted chicory, cloves, orange oil, black pepper, vanilla extract. This was much sweeter than we thought it would be, we could easily taste the cinnamon and it reminded us of honey.

For more information about Yogi Tea and to see the other blends in their range please visit their website. We'd like to thank Yogi Tea for sending us all these teas to try, but please note that this gift hamper has not effected our taste buds and all opinions expressed are our own!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Tried and Tested...Pukka Herbs Uplifting Blends

Hello there,

Welcome back to another tried and tested tea review post from Tea With Me and Friends. Recently we were asked if we would like to try a new range of herbal teas from Pukka Herbs, the organic herb specialists. Having not tried any of the Pukka teas before, we were keen to see what they have to offer.

Pukka was first founded in 2002 by Sebastian Pole and Tim Westwell who have a mutual passion for natural health and wellbeing. Pukka uses only organic herbs in their products, they are certified by the Soil Association as a totally organic business. Their range currently includes 35 herbal, green, fruit and black teas, along with 37 food supplements.

Pukka Herbal Teas

I recently had a homemade afternoon tea at home with a group of friends, which I thought was the perfect opportunity to try out the new uplifting blends from Pukka. The first thing we all commented on was how pretty the packaging is - pretty patterns in bright colours adorn all the boxes, which would look wonderful in any kitchen!

The four uplifting blends we had to try included Wild Apple & Cinnamon with Ginger, Womankind, Detox with Lemon and Chamomile, Vanilla & Manuka Honey.

The first two teas belong to the "Feel Alive" family at Pukka....

Womankind - Pukka herbal tea

Womankind was created by Pukka to help women "balance and bloom", the tea is a blend of cranberry, rose and sweet vanilla - giving a pretty pink brew. The aroma is slightly earthy, with a hint of sweetness. This blend is a caffeine free, everyday tea which has a pleasant taste of rose and cranberry, with a lingering aftertaste of sweet vanilla. 

The second tea from the "feel alive" family is the Detox with Lemon....

Detox with Lemon - Pukka herbal tea

Lorna really enjoyed this soothing blend of aniseed, sweet fennel, cardamom, lemon, lemon myrtle and lemongrass. The brew was pale yellow in colour, and had a spicy, aromatic aroma - it's definitely an uplifting cup of tea, perfect for a cold winter morning.

Again this is a caffeine free blend, which tastes wonderful hot .....but also rather good once its gone cold! There was nothing overpowering or artificial about this blend.

Next we moved onto the "taste alive" family of teas. 

These are Pukka teas that are bursting with flavour.....

Chamomile, vanilla and manuka honey - Pukka herbal tea

Melissa was the taste tester for the Chamomile, vanilla and manuka honey blend and her initial comment was that it smelt just like a freshly baked tarte tartin, a tasty blend of apples and caramel. 

The honey and vanilla make this cup of chamomile an altogether sweeter cup of tea, very smooth and comforting. The brew was a pale yellow in colour and makes for a perfect caffeine free everyday cup of tea.

Finally we enjoyed one of the "super fruity" teas....

Wild apple & cinnamon with ginger
Pukka herbal tea

The Wild Apple & Cinnamon with ginger blend was tested by Becca, who really enjoyed this fruity tea, which reminded her of Christmas. The blend is warming - perfect for the winter months, with the ginger and cinnamon complimenting the apples. 

Again, this is a caffeine free blend which gives a pale yellow brew - slightly reminiscent of mulled wine. Again there was no artificial tastes with this cup of tea.

All these blends come as teabags with a RRP of £2.39 for 20 tea sachets. For more information please visit the Pukka website.  We'd like to thank Pukka for inviting us to sample these new blends.

Please note that although we have received samples of the teas to try, all opinions expressed within this post are our own.

Have you got a favourite herbal blend that you think we should know about? If so please get in touch and let us know!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna