There is nothing more disheartening (or annoying, mood depending!) then going to your tea cupboard (or caddie) and finding that your favourite tea, the one you simply can't get through the day without has run out. But, on the reverse there is nothing nicer then thinking you've run out of something and finding, squirreled away in a box, just a little bit left of the tea you enjoy.
This week this exact thing happened to me.
Not all of my tea survived my recent trip from North to South which for a tea obsessive is saddening. However, I was overjoyed to find, packed away safely in the corner of a box, my last few remaining Northern Tea Merchants Gourmet Tea Bags.
Naturally, I was overjoyed at this discovery.
Now, I've long been an advocate for loose tea. And you may be thinking, well, she doesn't like teabags. However, with this tea you get something totally different.
I enjoyed the Gourmet Tea Bags from the first try because the tea is of an impeccable quality. And that makes all the difference. My general dislike of teabags is simply because the quality of the contents (and indeed the bags themselves) is quite often not up to my (high, I admit) standards.
Gourmet Teabags are impressive because it is just like drinking loose tea, such is the standard. And I'm quite fond of these teabags because according to Northern Tea's website, they produce the teabags on site, and when you purchase the boxes of 40 these are made by hand. Nothing as special as that, is there?
So what does it actually taste like? Well, it's quite simply, blinking marvelous. The tea itself is a small leaved tea with ingredients from Assam, Ceylon and Kenya.
Although Northern Tea suggest to take the drink with milk, I only drink tea black which is the best way because you get to really taste the tea and all it's flavours. And it's perfect to take if you like black tea because it's, quite frankly, scrumptious.
I brewed the teabag for around five minutes, a little longer then suggested, but it doesn't detract for the lovely flavour. This is a very pleasant tea to look at as it brews to a dark coppery, reddy colour. It's very pretty indeed.
I like the smoothness to this tea. It's very well blended and has a nice, relaxing mellow taste to it. Though it's strong and plentiful, and you feel like you're getting a really nice and high quality brew, it's still quite dainty at the same time. It's a perfect 'everyday' type of tea or to serve at a tea party.
Thankfully, it lacks that strange malty taste that supermarket everyday tea's can have, and which I find incredibly off putting and rather distasteful if I'm to be utterly frank.
This afternoon when I made cup of Gourmet tea, (rather sneakily as I have so few left and didn't want my mum to know I'm in possession of teabags) I sat down and drunk the whole cup without even registering. So when I picked up the cup for a sup to find the cup was empty it was one of those "ooh no ..." moments.
I really do think that Northern Tea produce a fantastic teabag that is perfect for everyday use (but in my mind it's something special, if I'm honest). The fact it's made on the premises is also impressive. It makes the brew even more special, a hint of luxury rather then something that is mass produced.
I have been fortunate enough to try lots of tea's from Northern Tea Merchants.I've not been disappointed with anything that I've tried from NTM. I'm pretty sure you won't be either.
And to the lady readers of this blog, they do a quite extraordinary chocolate tea.
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