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

Tried and Tested....Homemade Cold Brewed Tea with a little help from Whittard

Hello there,

Welcome back to another tried and tested tea article from Tea With Me and Friends. Recently I was invited to try out the Cold Brew T Bottle from Whittard which has been designed to make cold brewed loose leaf tea to be enjoyed at home.

Cold brewing at home!

Having not tried cold brewed tea before I was rather intrigued by the end results. On reading more about the process I found out that a cold, slow infusion produces a brew with reduced tannins and therefore a smoother, less bitter taste. Perfect for summer picnics, but also enjoyable with meals at anytime during the year as the tea tends to be really refreshing.

The Whittard Cold Brew T Bottle makes the whole process of cold brewing at home incredibly simple, with five simple steps....

1) Add 15g (5-7 teaspoons) of your favourite loose leaf tea to the bottle (fruit and herbal infusions are not suitable for use with cold brew)

2) Fill the bottle to the mark with cold water.

3) Add the lid/spout

4) Let the tea brew in the fridge for 3-6 hours

5) Serve and enjoy 

As well as the bottle Whittard also sent me some Mango & Bergamot loose leaf tea to try as a cold brew. This was a blend that I haven't tried before, but have become a huge fan of. It's a naturally sweet green tea, blended with mango and a hint of bergamot. 

Cold Brew T Bottle - Whittard

I followed the simple instructions above, putting 6 teaspoons of the leaves into my bottle before adding cold water. I then left the bottle in the fridge for about four hours to infuse before trying the brew. There is a clever filter in the lid which allows you to pour directly from the bottle into your teacup of choice.

The Whittard Cold Brew T Bottle

Not really knowing what to expect from a cold tea brew (and not being a huge fan of iced coffee) I was pleasantly surprised by the end results. The tea was a bright, clear green-yellow colour when poured out of the bottle, and no tea leaves made it into the cup. The flavour of the Mango & Bergamot blend was clear and smooth and very refreshing...definitely something I would drink again.

I am looking forward to trying more tea varieties from my cupboard in the future.

The bottle itself is elegant in design and sits neatly in my fridge. I think this would make a lovely present for the tea-lover in your life who already has lots of tea accessories and is looking for something a little different.

To find out more about the Cold Brew T Bottle visit the Whittard website. I'd like to thank Whittard for sending me the Cold Brew T Bottle. Please note that although I have received this product all opinions expressed are my own.

Do you have a favourite tea gadget that you think we should know about? Is your infuser the best? We'd love to hear about how you blend your teas at home and whether you've tried a cold brew before!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel

Tried and Tested....More from Whittard

Hello there,

Welcome back to another tried and tested tea article from Tea With Me and Friends. Recently I was lucky enough to receive a lovely package of tea from Whittard, which included the Chelsea Garden loose tea and the Mango and Bergamot loose leaf.

I recently had the lovely Becca over at my house, so I decided some tea tasting was in order.....

Loose leaf teas from Whittard

We decided to start with the Chelsea Garden Blend which is a blended tea with white tea, rosebuds and flavouring, which was Whittard's tea of the month in May. White tea is the base for this blend, which is very delicate, light and sweet. 

Chelsea Garden Loose Leaf Tea  from Whittard

The tea is made from the youngest buds and softest leaves, which are then left to dry naturally in the mountain air. When we opened the package we found the leaves were quite large and did not fit in my infuser and so we made a pot of tea for this one...

This tea was a lovely amber colour when brewed. We found the tea to be light in flavour, not overly floral and something we could enjoy at different times in the day. We brewed the tea for about three minutes and drank it without milk.

We then moved onto the Mango and Bergamot blend, which has green tea as a base. The Green Sencha is combined with petals and the flavour of mango, lulo and a gentle hint of bergamot to make a really pretty blend....

Mango and Bergamot loose leaf tea from Whittard

This tea is sweet and fruity, yet light and not at all synthetic. Again we brewed it for about three minutes and did not use milk or sugar. ....

The tea was light in colour when brewed and very refreshing. I have since enjoyed this tea at different times of the day, but I particularly enjoy it as an afternoon beverage.

The Chelsea Garden tea is £6.00 for 50g and the Mango and Bergamot is £6.00 for 100g.

Although I was sent these teas from Whittard, all opinions and thoughts expressed in this post are my own. To find out more about the teas on offer from Whittard visit their website.

Do you have a favourite tea that you think we should try - let us know by leaving a comment, we'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Tried and Tested....Whittard English Rose Tea

Hello there,

Welcome back to another tried and tested tea article from Tea With Me and Friends.

Recently I received a wonderful box full of tea goodies from Whittard and Joanne at Halpern. I have to say that I was rather excited as I rummaged through the box that arrived with me and I look forward to sharing with you the various teas that I have enjoyed as a result.

I will start with the English Rose Tea that I was sent, complete with a cute little infuser. This is part of the Alice in Wonderland themed range on offer at Whittard, and I was rather pleased to also find this charming fine bone china mug to drink my tea from....

English Rose Tea
 from Whittard

The mug has a lovely key handle, which I thought was a brilliant quirky touch. Although Joe found it a little too delicate to use ("I'll snap that" were his exact words), I am pleased to report that anyone with normal sized hands will find the handle a good size and easy to use. The design is very elegant and would make any Alice in Wonderland fan happy!

The tea itself is a blended black tea with flavouring, which is best enjoyed without milk. The black tea leaves are enhanced with rose petals to produce a rather fruity blend, which I found really pleasant. 

The leaves are very dark in colour as expected, punctuated with the colourful rose petals. I'd recommend about a teaspoon of them per cup, infused in freshly boiled water.

I really liked the handy infuser, which was easy to use and allowed for simple brewing once my water had boiled.

If you look closely you might see me in the reflection!

Once brewed the tea has a beautiful amber colour and wonderful aroma. 

If I'm honest - I'm not normally a rose tea fan, as I often find them very artificial and far too floral to enjoy. However, the rose in this brew was quite subtle and gave a sweet, almost fruity taste to the tea which I enjoyed.

English Rose Tea
from Whittard

I found this to be a very mellow tea, that I enjoyed at different times of the day - but it was particularly refreshing in the afternoon with a slice of cake! 

In fact I enjoyed this tea so much that when I worked away from home this week (three nights away) I took my loose leaf tea, infuser and mug with me! Now, I think this might make me a bit of a tea snob....but I really enjoyed having a decent cup of tea at the end of the work day!

Tea on the road....
I took my home comforts with me!

The tea and infuser come together as a lovely gift set and costs £14 and the mug costs £15. To find out more about these items and more of the Alice in Wonderland range (there is lots more to see!) visit the Whittard website.

I'd like to thank Whittard and Halpern for sending me these items to try. Please note that although I have been asked to review these products by the companies, all opinions expressed are my own and I have not been influenced.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel