The Friday Review....Krocus Kozanis Tea

Hello there,

Happy Friday! Welcome back to another Friday review from Tea With Me and Friends...today we have something very different to share with you.....Organic Greek Saffron infused tea!

Nope, we had never come across this tea product before either!

Krokos (Krocus, is the English spelling) Kozanis is Greek for saffron and also the inspiration behind the brand name of this tea collection. Greece is considered to be one of the leading producers of organic and non-organic saffron in the world. Greek saffron is blended with various organic herbs to create the taste of these teas.

Krocus Kozanis Tea

We had three different varieties to try, each featuring saffron:

Green tea with ginger, liquorice and saffron

Herbal tea with mint, lemongrass and saffron

Herbal tea with cinnamon, clove and saffron

Each flavour sounded very unique and I was most looking forward to trying the herbal tea with cinnamon, clove and saffron as it sounded very warming and comforting.

We started with the green tea (which comes in the box with the white label!)....

Krocus Kozanis - Green tea with ginger, liquorice and saffron

This was probably the one I was looking forward to the least, as I am not a fan of anything liquorice. The first thing we noticed was the vibrant yellow colour of the tea, it was actually quite surprising how yellow it was! The tea also had a slightly thick appearance (although it wasn't thick in consistency at all).

You could definitely taste the saffron and there was a ginger aftertaste which lingered, I could not tell it was a green tea though. It makes for a very refreshing and different tasting cuppa - not like anything I have tried before. 

From here we moved to the herbal tea with mint, lemongrass and saffron.....

Krocus Kozanis - herbal tea with mint, lemongrass and saffron

This made a darker cup of tea which reminded us of honey - quite a pretty cuppa! 

As you would imagine this is a very minty tea, with the mint and lemongrass flavours coming through strongly. It would be really good if you had a cold, as it cleared our noses!

We thought this would also be perfect as a cooling drink in the warmer months.

Finally we tried the herbal tea with cinnamon, clove and saffron - the one I was most looking forward to.....

Krocus Kozanis - herbal tea with cinnamon, clove and saffron

This tea was a wonderful, vibrant orange colour and it smelt just like Christmas!

You can really taste orange and cinnamon from this cup, although we both struggled to taste the cloves. It was definitely my favourite cup and I look forward to supping this when the autumn/winter months come back again.

All three blends were really different and challenged our taste buds. However, there were no unpleasant, artificial flavours at all. If you are looking for something a little different these are worth a try - there are several other blends to try as well. Take a look on their website for more information.

Please note that although we have been asked to review these products, all opinions expressed in the post are our own.

So, over to you - have you tried these teas or any of the others in the range? What did you think of them?

Thank you for popping by today,
Rachel

Time for Tea....Claridges

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends....today we are really excited to share with you a recent afternoon tea adventure to Claridges in London. Claridges has been on our wish list for a long time now, and recently Lorna received a really wonderful gift of afternoon tea for two at Claridges (I am really pleased that she decided to take me along with her!).

We were so excited about this particular afternoon tea adventure that we have decided to talk about it in two different vlog posts! Firstly, Lorna talks about the anticipation of waiting for your next afternoon tea adventure and how the build up can be just as exciting as the tea itself (especially if it involves posh post!). We have also added a before, during and after vlog....so you can join us on this adventure! Take a peek at both vlogs and let us know what you think!

Afternoon tea has been enjoyed at Claridges for nearly 150 years, with that much experience they must be good at it.....

Afternoon tea bone china - Claridges

Everything about the afternoon tea is well thought out, from the iconic bone-china and beautiful menu (yes I just complimented their menu!), to the tea selection and amount of filling in their sandwiches. The adventure begins as you are whisked into the 1930s inspired foyer area and shown to your seats, a menu is thrust into your hands and you are asked to pick your tea. Our tea included a glass of rose champagne, which we sipped as we picked from the 22 teas on offer.

Once our teas were picked, the sandwich plate was brought out to us and each filling described. Claridges are very particular about the amount of filling in each sandwich (it should match the bread size) and also the cut of the bread - this makes for an aesthetically pleasing sandwich plate....

Afternoon tea sandwiches at Claridges

The fillings included:

Smoked salmon scone, Aquitaine caviar

Clarence court duck egg mayonnaise on white bread

English cucumber, cream cheese, rocket on white bread

Corn fed chicken, lemon thyme, walnut on malt bread

Poached Var salmon, garden herb mayonnaise on rye bread

Dorrington ham, smoked tomato chutney, watercress on onion bread

This was a very traditional sandwich plate, and the sandwiches were all very uniform in appearance. The flavours were delicate and the bread soft and fresh. I'm not the biggest ham fan - but I gobbled down this ham sandwich rather quickly! We were offered more of the sandwiches once we had finished the first plate.

Once we had polished off the sandwiches, we were brought out a plate of scones and the pastries.

Afternoon tea scones at Claridges

The scones were pleasingly warm when they arrived at the table, and we had one plain and one fruit scone each. They were served with clotted cream and Marco Polo gelee (aka the most amazing jam!). Lorna commented on how handmade the scones looked - not at all uniform. 

They were a good size - not too big, not too small, and had a good texture.

Scones dressed the Claridges way!

The gelee is strawberry with a touch of vanilla and Bergamot, making it sweet and light - perfect with the clotted cream. I thought that maybe the scones were a tiny bit claggy...but Lorna informed me that I simply didn't have enough cream on them!

Warning - the next sentence might upset some of our readers........

We were delighted to note in the menu that Claridges suggest that you enjoy their scones with cream first, topped with a teaspoon of the gelee! We obviously followed this great advice!

Finally we moved onto the pastries....now you might drool a little now if you haven't already.....

Afternoon tea pastries at Claridges

I did warn you!

These were slightly bigger than we expected, but each one looked beautiful. The choice changes weekly, according to the availability of the ingredients. Most importantly they are made fresh each day. 

Our selection included a chocolate and caramel financier, a passion fruit macaroon, a citrus cake and a raspberry and lemon tart. Again, the flavours were all very delicate and not at all artificial - each pastry was well balanced and not too sweet.

If you have seen the vlog post you'll know that the chocolate and caramel financier was Lorna's favourite.....

This was rich in flavour and texture, but also delicate - it melted in your mouth!

I really liked the citrus cake, which surprised me as it had grapefruit on the top, along with some micro-basil.....

The Madeira cake at the bottom was rich and dense, this complimented the Sharp grapefruit well.

Once we had finished we were pleasantly full, but not too full that we couldn't move. This was of course all consumed with rather a lot of tea - although it's worth remembering that your waiter will be in charge of your tea pouring, each cup is brewed individually for you.

The service throughout our experience was faultless, nothing was too much trouble and everyone we encountered at the hotel was friendly and helpful. This is most definitely service done the right way - we felt well looked after without the experience being overly fussy.

Our experience ended with a little treat courtesy of Hope and Greenwood to take home with us....

Sweet treats from Hope and Greenwood

Claridges offers a variety of different afternoon teas ranging from the classic which is £55 per person to the rose champagne afternoon tea which is £80 per person. For more information and to see the current seasonal afternoon tea please visit the Claridges website.

This afternoon tea is definitely a treat rather than an everyday experience, but in our opinion if you want a special afternoon tea adventure you can't go far wrong with Claridges. Please note that you need to book in advance.

Tea With Me and Friends at Claridges!

We'd like to thank the person who gave us this rather wonderful gift.

Don't forget to take a peek at the vlog post for more details about this afternoon tea adventure - we'd love to know what you think (please excuse the awful sound and picture quality!)

So, over to you.....you've heard about our new favourite afternoon tea adventure.....now it's your turn to tell us about yours! Leave us a comment below, or on the Facebook Page!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for Tea.....The Greedy Frog Tearooms

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends.

Recently Alex and I ventured to the Greedy Frog Tearooms in Oakhanger, Hampshire. The Chocolate Frog Company is a unique shopping experience in Oakhanger, which is made up of shopping galleries, a food hall and the Greedy Frog Tearooms. Alex and I had a lovely wander around the shops looking at the gifts and food items before settling down for a spot of afternoon tea.

The tearoom itself is quaint but comfortable, full of wooden tables and chairs. The china used when we visited was of the plain white variety, modern but elegant.

We opted for an afternoon tea for two, which comes with your choice of a pot of tea or a cup of coffee. The coffee is served with a piece of the most wonderful, creamy fudge.....

The afternoon tea was freshly prepared while we waited and served on a pretty cake stand.....

The sandwiches were cut into fingers, but were quite large. We had just two varieties - cucumber and egg mayonnaise, served on both white and brown bread.

We found the sandwiches very fresh and filling, they looked very rustic....

The bread was soft - I liked the egg mayonnaise a lot (being one of my favourite fillings), but was pleasantly surprised by the cucumber which had been peeled.

Once we had finished the pile sandwiches we moved onto the scones - we had one each....but one was more than enough as they were GIANT....

As well as the scones we had a pot of clotted cream between us and two little jars of strawberry jam....

To be honest I think the scones could have been a little smaller, as they were on the verge of being a bit claggy. However, they tasted wonderful and had plenty of raisins in them.

Finally we made it to the sweets on the plate, which included a piece of super rich chocolate brownie and a huge slab of Victoria sponge cake.

The Victoria sponge was light and flavoursome. I liked the fact that it had been cut into three as it meant there was more cream and jam!

Now, we visited the tearooms a couple of weeks ago now and my memory is failing me now and so I cannot remember the exact amount we paid for the tea but I remember it being less than £20 for both of us. Considering the amount of food and the quality we thought the price was really good.

 Although it wasn't the most elegant afternoon tea experience, everything was fresh and well prepared. If you are in the area and fancy a filling, rustic style afternoon tea experience then you won't be disappointed.

For more information about the Greedy Frog Tearooms visit their website. 

Now over to you - do you have a favourite tearoom that you think we should know about, leave us a comment and let us know!

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

Time for ....a little introduction!

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends!

Lorna and I have some really exciting news....we have launched a YouTube channel to go along with this blog! As well as reading about our afternoon tea adventures and drooling over our photos you'll now also be able to listen to us ramble on about all things afternoon tea!

We launched the channel this weekend and so far just have an introduction post live, but we have lots planned for future posts and can't wait to start filming more! We will aim to post something new every week on a Saturday morning, so watch this space!

If you'd like to take a peek at our introduction vlog you can find it here - take a peek and leave us a comment to say hi! We'd love it if you hit the "thumbs up" button too!

We can't wait to share more afternoon tea adventures with you all, and thank you for your continued support!

Thanks for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

PS - the vlogs will get better - we promise!!