As we are now in Spring, with the sun shining and the temperatures (slowly) rising, I woke up fancying something really fruity this morning. So, I turned to my trusty box of tea samples and single sachets and found this little gem at the bottom of the box, which was kindly sent to me from Rebecca who regular readers will know is a good friend who I often tea swap with.
I love rhubarb. Be it in a crumble, pie or covered with yoghurt or custard, but I do tend to struggle with it in tea because it can be extremely sharp, paired with ginger (which is fine but often the ginger overpowers) or, is extremely sweet. As you can tell I'm hard to please when it comes to rhubarb tea!
So, quite frankly, I was looking forward to trying Sweet Rhubarb which is produced by Taylors of Harrogate.
The tea comes in the shape of a traditional tea bag, as you can see below.
I adored the aroma of this tea as soon as I removed the bag from it's envelope. It reminded me of one thing only - rhubarb and cream boiled sweets that I used to enjoy quite often when I was a little girl.
It smelt gorgeous and brought back happy childhood memories in a instant.
As there were no brewing instructions on the individual packet I decided to brew this for five minutes but actually ended up brewing for about seven, but as this is a fruit tea, it doesn't matter too much if the tea is brewed for longer. In fact it's preferable to steep for longer as you get a better depth of flavour.
I did try to capture the colour of the tea but this photo doesn't do it justice. It brews to a glorious blood red colour. Extremely inviting I have to say!
As I gingerly took my first sip, I waited for that grimace inducing sharpness that almost every rhubarb tea I've ever encountered has, but it simply did not appear. Instead, I experienced a well balanced, fruity and flavoursome tea and it was nice to take it without the traditional additions of vanilla or ginger as you'd normally find in rhubarb tea's.
This is a tea that Taylors ought to be proud of. The rhubarb is fresh and fruity, and tastes as if the rhubarb had been picked and prepared only this morning. It is full of flavour and has a wonderfully smooth texture, not at all bitty like some fruit tea's can be.
It's incredibly refreshing and would go perfectly with a afternoon tea of sandwiches and scones served with lashing's of strawberry jam.
In addition, there seemed to be a ever so slight kick after you take a sip. I have to admit I couldn't put my finger on it so going onto Taylor's website found it to be the added ingredient of blackberry leaf. It's a brilliant addition to this tea and adds just a little bit of something different to this very traditional ingredient.
Sweet Rhubarb is perfect for this time of year. It's Spring (and Summer) in a cup! It's incredibly light and refreshing and will be a good option to use in iced tea over the summer months. It's also incredibly moreish and makes for a perfect treat.
And the good thing is that this is readily available in most of the UK's main supermarkets so it will be easy to source too. However, if you are experiencing difficulties it can be purchased from Bettys, Kew and on Amazon.
This really is a fantastic fruit tea. If you love fruit infusions, you'll love this!
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