Teatourist January Box - closer look part 1

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

Our last post about Teatourist talked about the January box that we had received, which included six different teas for us to try. We were very excited to receive a diverse selection of teas from six different tea companies. Today we're taking a closer look at the teas in the box from Morgan's Brew Tea Company and Exclusivitea.

Teatourist January Box 2017

Let's start with Morgan's Brew Tea Company and their Gunpowder Tea, which is a Chinese Green Tea from the province of Zhejiang.

Gunpowder Tea - Morgan's Brew Tea Company

Morgan's Brew Tea Company is an independent, family run company which operates out of a 19th century stone townhouse in Welshpool, mid-wales.  I just love how  this tea company began....

 In 2006 Geoff and Anne Meredith took over Poppy's Tudor Tearooms in Shrewsbury Shropshire and their regular customers enquired about tea they could enjoy at home. So, a plan was born where the regulars would taste 50 or so different teas and chose an overall winner. The tea they chose was a black tea from Kenya and Rwanda... and that was the beginning of Morgan's Brew Tea.

Gunpowder Tea - Morgan's Brew Tea Company

Gunpowder tea leaves are rolled into small pellets and the tea is believed to taken its English name from the fact it looks like black shot power grains.

Morgan's Brew Tea Company has a top tip when buying this tea - look for shinny leaves and the smaller the pellet the higher quality the tea which gives you a more fragrant delicate tea.

I followed the instructions found in my Teatourist box and brewed myself a wonderful cup of green tea...

Gunpowder Tea - Morgan's Brew Tea Company

People often say they don't like green tea because they find it bitter, this is usually because the tea has been brewed with water that is too hot. The brewing guide suggests pouring the water into your cup first and then adding the leaves as this avoids scorching the leaves.

I found this tea to be well rounded and easy to drink. A nice, refreshing cup of tea!

Exclusivitea is a small boutique tea company, which specialises in sourcing teas from Sri Lanka. The tea company, which is based in Kent, works directly with the growers and suppliers bringing regional teas to tea lovers across the UK and Europe.

Pure Ceylon Tea - Exclusivitea

The tea included in the January Teatourist box from Exclusivitea is a Pure Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka. It's a Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF) grade, which is the most common grade, from a single estate.

Pure Ceylon Tea - Exclusivitea

As you can see these are intensely rich black tea leaves, so I was looking forward to a good punchy cup of tea - perfect for first thing in the morning! 

Again, I followed the instructions on my brewing card, using just one teaspoon of the leaves and allowing them to steep and develop for three minutes.

Pure Ceylon Tea - Exclusivitea

I was not disappointed by this cup of tea - it was rich in colour and bold in taste. If you love your back tea, then I would suggest this is perfect for you. 

I really enjoyed discovering the teas from these two companies and look forward to sharing with you the rest of the teas in upcoming posts - watch this space!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Friday Review....Harrods First Blend Tea, 1901

Hello there,

Welcome back to the Tea With Me and Friends afternoon tea blog ..... it's the end of another week and that means it's time to share another cup of tea with you!

Last year when I was wandering about the Harrods food hall (as one does), I came across a rather beautiful tea caddy....

Harrods First Blend Tea

On closer inspection I discovered that this tea is from the Harrods archive collection, in fact this blend dates back to 1901. I couldn't resist giving this tea and try!

The Harrods tea counter has always been popular, the archive records show that shortly after the 1849 store opening the tea counter was already making £200 a week.

This first blend tea brings together ceylon, assam and china teas...

Harrods First Blend tea leaves

This blend appeared on the tea counter from 1901 until 1932 and once brewed you have an unusual, punchy tea with a beautiful amber colour...

Harrods First Blend Tea -
from the Archive Collection

The tea has a slightly nutty flavour, its a very robust cup of tea, but not too overpowering. Equally as good first thing in the morning with my breakfast or with a piece of cake in the afternoon...

Harrods First Blend Tea - perfect with a bit of cake!

I paid just under £20 for this tea, but that is for two foiled wrapped packs of tea - each 125g. Plus the caddy is rather cool! It would make a really nice present for a tea enthusiast!

For more information about this tea and the others in the Harrods range please pop by their website. Do you have a favourite tea from Harrods? We'd love to hear from you if you do - please leave us a message below!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

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

Christmas Tea....Tiger Spring Tea

Hello there,

Recently I met Nigel from Tiger Spring Tea at the Farnham Christmas Market. We got chatting about tea and I might have bought some rather lovely Christmas Tea in the process!

Tiger Spring is a small company run by two dedicated tea drinkers. They offer more than 30 loose leaf teas which you can buy from their online shop or from their stall at various food and farmers markets. Nigel is passionate about his tea, something which was apparent as he was talking to other visitors to his stall.

As well as more traditional teas, Tiger Spring currently have three special blends - the Balham Builder's Blend (a black tea blend), the Moroccan Mint Blend and also their Christmas Tea (Spice Blend).....

Christmas Tea - Tiger Spring Tea

This Christmas tea is a blend of black ceylon tea, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon bark and ginger. It has a zesty aroma when you open the bag.....

Christmas Tea - Tiger Spring Tea

The tea needs to be brewed for about 4-5 minutes and can be enjoyed with or without milk.....Nigel told me I might like to add a little sugar or honey too. I opted to drink it without milk and sugar to start with.....of course I drank it from my Santa mug.....

Christmas Tea - Tiger Spring Tea

This is a lovely Christmas cup of tea....its warming because of the ginger and cloves, but it also has a lovely fruity feel to it from the orange peel. Its quite a light Christmas blend, but well balanced and very enjoyable.

To find out more about this and other teas on offer from Tiger Spring Teas pop by their website.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Friday Review....The Tea Makers

Hello there,

Happy Friday! So, I bet you've been wondering....what has Rachel and Lorna been drinking this week. Ok, well you probably haven't been thinking that...but we're going to tell you anyway!

This week we have sampled two teas from The Tea Makers of London, who are loose leaf tea specialists. Their teas are sourced from tea estates around the world such as China, India, Sri Lanka, Japan and Taiwan. They have a large range of teas, from Green Tea, Black Tea, White Tea, Oolong Tea, Pu-erh Tea, Special Blends and Fruit Infusions - something for everyone!

We were lucky enough to be sent two of their tea range - Supreme Earl Grey Tea and Jasmine Dragon Pearls Tea. The teas can be bought in various ways, including these lovely tea caddys....

Let's start with the Supreme Earl Grey Tea which is a blend of Ceylon teas selected from tea growing estates in the Nuwar Eliya and Dimulla regions of Sri Lanka. The Ceylon leaves are scented with Bergamot oil and infused with the cornflowers....

The Tea Makers give brewing guides on their website for perfect home brewing. For this tea they recommend using 3-4g of tea in a 200ml cup. The water should be 100°C and the leaves should be brewed for 3-5 minutes. 

Once brewed the tea is a beautiful rich amber colour, which is matched with an equally rich but well balanced flavour. It's a very aromatic blend, which you can enjoy with your nose as well as your taste buds.

Next, lets take a look at the Jasmine Dragon Pearls Tea which comes from comes from the Fujian Province in China.

A little tea education for you - Jasmine Dragon Pearls Tea is created by hand rolling specially plucked long silver velvety shoots into little tea balls which are naturally scented multiple times with fresh, aromatic jasmine flowers. Jasmine Dragon Pearls Tea is named after the shape of the tea like pearls. Let's take a look at those little pearls.....

To make the highest quality tea alternative layers of fresh jasmine petals and tea leaves are layered until jasmine scent is fully merged with tea leaves. Then the petals are removed, and the tea carefully dried again. Each pearl will blossom when put into water.

Brewing recommendations for this tea are as follows - you should use 2-3g tea in a 200ml cup. This time the water should be cooler, at 80°C and brewing time is only 1-3 minutes. 

As you can see this brew produces a beautiful champagne coloured tea, but what you can tell from this photo is how fragrant the tea is. The tea is light and delicate - very refreshing. 

To find out more about these teas and the others in the Tea Makers range please visit their website.

We like to thank The Tea Makers for sending us these teas to try. Although we have received these teas to review, please remember that this has not effected our taste buds and all opinions expressed here are our own. 

Have you tried any of the others teas in The Tea Makers range? We'd love to hear what you thought!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

The Friday Review....The Ritz Royal Blend Tea

Hello there,

We hope you are enjoying Afternoon Tea Week 2015 at Tea With Me and Friends. Today is Friday (woo hoo) and that means we have another Friday Review for you.

Today we are trying a rather special tea, on my recent visit to The Ritz I was given a caddy of The Ritz Royal Blend tea to try at home. The tea caddy is rather lovely...

This tea is a blended black tea which consists of Ceylon & Assam leaves, which also appears on the afternoon tea menu at The Ritz.

When you open the caddy, inside you will find instructions on how to boil the perfect pot of tea including timings and measurements.

Once brewed the tea is a beautiful light brown colour....

The tea is a delicate blend, very refreshing and perfect for enjoying in the afternoon with a piece of cake....or the odd scone....

This caddy is available from The Ritz website and costs £15.00 for 10g of tea - for more information take a peek at The Ritz website.

I'd like to thank The Ritz for giving me this lovely caddy, however this gift has not effected my taste buds and all opinions expressed her are my own.

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Friday Review....exclusivitea

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends....it's Friday so that means only one thing....time to find out what tea we have been supping this week.

Recently a company called exclusivitea got in touch with us to introduce the teas they source from Sri Lanka. Keen to try new teas they kindly sent us some Ceylon black tea from Halpewatte Tea, a tea factory in Sri Lanka. We were sent a couple of different grades to try....but we had to start with this one in it's rather cute packaging....

The packaging is made from dried Reed leaves, which makes it eco-friendly and really rather cute....not something that you want to hide away in your cupboard. In fact the tea bags themselves are also rather special as they are manually woven envelopes .....

Inside the tea bags there is FBOP1 graded Ceylon black tea leaves - otherwise known as Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe tea. This tea is high grown and medium grown in the hills on the estate, the high elevation at which it is picked gives the tea a bright colour and full flavor.

We found the tea to be bold in colour and flavour, not quite as mellow as we expected but very refreshing. All in all a lovely tea to be enjoyed in the afternoon with a slice of cake!

Exclusivitea have wanted to bring high quality Sri Lankan tea to European tea drinkers for a while now, they will be gradually introducing new ranges and individual teas from various parts of Sri Lanka. 

A little bit about Halpewatte Tea - they have been producing Ceylon tea leaves for over 35 years on their tea estate in Sri Lanka, exporting all over the world. They do not store teas in warehouses for long periods of time to keep the freshness and flavour in their teas. They offer a single origin pure Ceylon tea from their own plantations, and they do not blend their teas with other leaves.

Halpewatte tea is a bearer of the Lion logo, a symbol of quality granted by the Ceylon Tea Board, the body regulating the tea industry in Sri Lanka. 

You can buy this refreshing tea directly from exclusivitea for £9.99 for ten bags. This seems quite expensive....but we feel this is no ordinary tea experience. From the handmade box to the beautiful tea envelopes - this feels like a decadent tea experience to be savoured rather than a rushed cup of tea first thing in the morning as you are getting ready for work. For more information visit the exclusivitea website.

Thank you exclusivitea for sending us a selection of your teas, we look forward to trying the other blends. Please note that although we have received this product from the tea company, all opinions expressed in this post are our own.

So over to you...what do you think about this cute tea packaging.....does the packaging affect your tea purchases at all?

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Tried and Tested Tea....Bellevue Tea

Hello there,

Welcome to a new series of articles from Tea With Me and Friends - since it's tea month in March we thought we'd start sharing some tried and tested articles with you. If you read our resolutions post at the beginning of the year you'll know that I wanted to spend some time in 2014 learning about tea and trying out different types of tea.

In these "tried and tested" articles I will be sharing with you some of the teas I have tried and what I thought about them!

I'm kicking off with several different teas from bellevue Tea, which is an independently owned family business based in London. Bellevue was founded by Clare Jones and her tea trader husband Mike...both have a love of tea a an extensive knowledge which helps them source high quality tea.

Clare and Mike very kindly got in touch with me and sent us some lovely tea to try out......

A selection of Bellevue Tea

We were really spoilt by bellevue who sent us Ceylon black tea bags, Rooibos tea bags and a pouch of the bellevue belter (a strong, loose leaf blend). The teabags all come neatly packed in a box, each is stringed and has a tag - there are 25 individually wrapped bags in each box. The bellevue belter comes in pouches of either 100g or 500g.

Nicely packaged bellevue tea

I decided to start my tea tasting with a cup of Rooibos tea......which proved to be a lovely, rich and smooth "red bush" tea. The tea had a gorgeous mahogany-red colour, and a slightly sweet flavour. I drank my cup without milk or sugar/honey...but you can add all of these to taste.

A tasty cup of bellevue tea rooibos tea

This tea costs £2.50 for 25 individually wrapped teabags.

The next tea I tried was the Ceylon black tea, which was also in teabag form. Now, I am a bit of a fan of  Ceylon tea, I love the refreshing flavour and its often my default choice when I am out for a spot of tea!

A Tea With Me and Friends favourite - a nice cup of Ceylon tea!

bellevue tea's Ceylon tea is hand-picked in Sri Lanka and has a lovely, fresh taste. Again, I enjoyed my cup black without any sweetener. This tea is also £2.50 for 25 individually wrapped teabags.

That just left me the bellevue belter to try, which is the bellevue house blend tea. This tea got its unusual name when a friend of bellevue tea was drinking it on holiday declared that it was ‘a real early morning belter’. This is a good strong blend, including teas from India and Africa.

A belter of a cup! May I introduce the bellevue belter!

Now I read all about this tea on the bellevue website and decided I would enjoy this tea first thing in the morning as an alternate to the cup of the coffee that I sometimes require to kick start my day! The tea had a wonderful aroma to it and was a lovely dark colour. It turns out that I'm quite a fan of stronger teas and this was a lovely cup of tea! Not too overpowering, I really enjoyed my cup of belter!

The bellevue belter is available as a loose leaf tea at £3.00 for 100g and £12.60 for 500g.

I really enjoyed my tea adventures with bellevue teas (thank you again for spoiling us!) - if you'd like to know more about the teas available pop by the bellevue tea website.

If you have tried any of these teas we'd love to know what you thought!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel