The Friday Review - Greys Teas

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - it's Friday....that means we're back with a new tea review for you!

Recently, Greys Teas kindly sent me a selection of their teas to try.....as well as the samples, I was sent some handy tasting note cards.....

Tea-riffic post from Grey's Teas

Grey's Teas specialise in teas from individual tea gardens or tea growing areas so that tea lovers can experience their diversity of character. The range of tea currently on offer features approximately 150 different teas from around the world. These teas comprise of  black, green, oolong, white, flavoured green and flavoured black teas plus herbal infusions - something for everyone!

Richard Grey, founder of Grey’s Teas has previously worked for Lyons, Tetley and Whittard. He has a particular interest in new product development and has an honours degree in marketing and a masters degree in product design. He has travelled extensively in India and China. 

Richard is descended from the First Earl Grey. It was the Second Earl Grey (British Prime Minister 1830-1834) who had today’s most popular tea named after him. Unsurprisingly, Grey's Teas stock an excellent Earl Grey, a traditional blend of China Keemun, Darjeeling and oil of Bergamot!

The first tea I sampled from Grey's Tea is the Ceylon Oodoowerre Silver Needle white tea.....

Silver Needle - Grey's Teas

This budset white tea is from the Ceylon Uva district of Sri Lanka, situated at an altitude of nearly 4000 ft. This is a rare tea, picked from only the right tea bushes in the Oodoowerre garden. These pale green-grey tips are large at over one inch long with a blackcurrant aroma to the dry leaf which is just dried on blankets in the sun.

Ceylon Oodoowerre Silver Needle white tea - Grey's Teas

To enjoy a cup of this tea, you need to infuse three grams of leaves per cup, for four minutes.

Once brewed the tea is a pretty amber colour.....

The taste is very smooth, with an ever so slightly nutty flavour. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this cuppa!

For more information about this tea pop by the Grey's Teas website.

I'd like to thank Richard for sending us the samples - however please note that this has not effected our taste buds and all opinions expressed in this blog post are our own.

Thank you for popping by today - don't forget to pop back to see which other teas from Grey's we've been sampling!

Rachel

The Friday Review....Silver Needle tea from Ahmad Tea

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends.

It's Friday....and since the crazy festive season has finished normal service has returned and we're back with a Friday tea review! Last year we were sent several teas from the Ahmad Tea range to try.....

Just look at all those teas! 

Ahmad Tea is a UK-based family tea business, drawing on four generations of tea blending and tasting experience. Since Ahmad Tea kindly sent us so many teas, we decided to spread our reviews over several different posts (to prevent tea fatigue - if there is such a thing!).

So let's start our tea adventures with the Silver Needle tea in the beautiful caddy....

A silver needle tea is a delicate, fresh tasting Chinese tea made of soft, plump young 'needles', or immature leaf buds, covered in tiny silvery hairs. As this tea is very light and mellow it makes it particularly enjoyable to drink in the afternoon.

To brew this tea use 1-2 tsp per 200ml cup using water temperature around 80°C. Infuse the tea for just 2-3 mins - this will leave you with a really pale yellow liquor, a little reminiscent of a glass of champagne (without the bubbles)! 

Enjoy without milk or sugar.

The flavour of the tea is light and delicate, with the smallest hint of nuttiness about it. It's a very refreshing cup of tea, perfect to enjoy with a slice of cake or something sweet.

We're looking forward to trying the other teas that Ahmad Tea sent us - in the meantime if you'd like to find out more about the Ahmad Tea range pop by their website.

We'd like to thank Ahmad Tea for sending us this lovely selection of teas, but please remember that this kind gesture has not affected our taste buds and all opinions expressed her are our own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

The Friday Review.....JING Tea - Part 1

Hello there,

Happy Friday! I hope you've had a fab tea-filled week!

This Friday Review we are taking a peek at a couple of teas from JING Tea. Launched in 2004, JING is drunk in 75 countries around the world. Their range of loose teas and whole leaf teabags includes authentic examples of Asia's greatest teas, from China, Taiwan, Japan, India and Sri Lanka. And their hand-blown glass teapots and cups are just beautiful!

JING Tea teaware - photo from JING website

I was given several different JING Tea whole leaf tea bags at a tea event recently and looked forward to trying the teas.

JING tea bags

JING pack their whole leaf teas and herbal infusions into large teabags to allow maximum room for the leaves to expand and infuse. I decided to try the Earl Grey and the Jasmine Silver Needle tea bags first...

Silver Needle is a white tea from China. Its buds are picked and sun dried in April, in the mountains of China’s Fujian Province. In August, the tea is laid beneath a bed of fresh jasmine flowers for seven consecutive nights, combining the sweet white tea with a fresh, fragrant jasmine aroma.

JING recommend drinking this light tea at lunchtime or in the afternoon.

JING whole leaf tea bags

This tea should only be brewed for 2-3 minutes as its a light, fragrant tea. Once brewed the tea had a very pale yellow colour and the aroma is a very subtle jasmine.

Jasmine Silver Needle - JING tea 

The tea was light with a very refreshing flavour - the jasmine is distinct but not overpowering and I agree that it makes a lovely tea for afternoon drinking.

The classic Earl Grey is a Ceylon tea, scented with natural bergamot, from Sri Lanka. The tea also features blue cornflower petals, making it a very pretty teabag! It's a robust cup of tea, which once brewed is a lovely dark colour and has a smooth flavour.

Earl Grey - JING tea

The flavour of bergamot is obvious, but not overpowering - again its a refreshing cuppa! I would probably prefer to drink this in the morning as its a more robust tea than the Silver Needle.

For more information about JING tea and to see the other teas in their range pop by the JING tea website....you should also take a peek at their gorgeous teaware while you're there!

JING tea teaware - photo from JING website

Do you have a favourite JING tea? We'd love to hear from you if you do - leave us a comment or contact us on Twitter or Facebook.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel