The Friday Review...Piacha Tea

Hello there,

It's Friday again (doesn't it come around quickly??) and so it's time for another Friday tea review from Tea With Me and Friends! This week we are sharing with you a couple of teas from Piacha a tea bar & shop in London.

Bit of a weird name I hear you say...one you haven't heard of before...well according to the website Piacha means either ‘drink tea’ or ‘devoted to tea’. However, in this tea bar's case it also means Pia’s tea – as the tea bar was founded by Pia, a tea enthusiast ex-lawyer.

Pia got in touch with us recently to introduce her tea bar and tea range they offer.  The Piacha tea range consists of an impressive twenty-two teas and blends, including black, green, oolong, herbal, rooibos and hibiscus teas. The website includes phrases such as "intriguing tea blends", "full flavours" and "tea smoothies" - as you can imagine this peeked our interest some what!

Pia kindly sent us a selection of teas to try, but today we are going to focus on two Rooibos blends - rhubarb rooibos and rooiboos choc cinnamon.

If I am honest I am not a huge fan of rooibos teas, there is something about the flavour that I'm not keen on. In fact I might have asked a friend to sample the rhubarb rooibos first....

Rhubarb Rooibos - Piacha

Now this blend is described as a "guilt and caffeine-free treat", as rooibos has been blended with  strawberries, rhubarb and a hint of creamy fudge. But does it live up to this claim?

The minute I poured the boiling water over the infuser my nose was hit by the sweet aroma and my mouth actually watered! I was rather jealous of this cuppa that I had asked my friend to sample for me! As I handed her the cup full of ruby red tea I wondered whether it would taste as good as it smells.....blends like this have let me down so much previously. However, Beth assured me that the tea was indeed delicious....and that was it I needed to taste it for myself!

The blend is sweet, but not in an artificial way, it's refreshing and ever so slightly creamy. All in all a lovely cup of tea....I even made myself a cup to enjoy! I also think this would also make a lovely iced tea in the warmer months.

Inspired by this discovery I decided to brave the rooiboos choc cinnamon blend on my own....

This time the rooibos is blended with cardamom and cinnamon for a more soothing cup, it is then finished with a hint of vanilla and cocoa to add some sweetness.

The tea is a strong amber colour and its extremely fragrant, the aroma lingering in the air for a while after I had finished my cup (weird I know!).

Now if the first blend reminds me of the summertime, then this one definitely reminds me of the winter months - full of cinnamon treats and comfort. It also sort of reminded me of apple pies, but that was probably just the cinnamon and the vanilla in the blend. I have to admit that I didn't enjoy this blend quite as much as the first - I couldn't quite put my finger on why, but it wasn't as appealing to me (it could just be my rather sweet tooth!).

You can enjoy these blends for yourself in the tea bar in Islingston, London - either as a take away or drink in experience. You can also buy the loose leaf blends directly from the website. The weights vary slightly, but it's approximately £6.90 for 100g.

You can also buy really cute tea gift cards....

Thank you for Pia for sharing these teas with us, please note that although we have received samples for free all opinions expressed in this post are our own. Look out for more tea reviews featuring Piacha tea blends in the future!

Now over to you, have you tried any Piacha teas? Do you like rooibos teas and do you have a favourite? We'd love to hear from you....let us know by leaving a comment below!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel