Chash Tea: Orangery

Late last week I was very kindly approached by the fabulous team at Chash Tea asking if I'd be interesting in working with them. They offered me the chance to pick some tea's from their website for review here on the blog.

I'm always cautious when told by a company to pick something off the site. I never want to take advantage of a kind offer and always give the company a list of maybe five tea's and they can pick which they would like to send.

I'm a huge lover of orange in tea. I find orange and black tea work hand in hand. However, as far as I can recall, I've never had orange in green tea. Intrigued about how it would work, one of the tea's I put on the list was their Orangery. Thankfully, the team choose to send me a rather substantial tea to try!

As I snipped open the pouch the lovely, fresh aroma of orange emerged from the packet. It was just lovely and mouthwatering and I knew this was going to be an interesting tea.

Visually, this makes for an utterly stunning tea. I love how vibrant and fresh the green tea looks in the picture. As if it were only harvested yesterday. It's rich, green tones are just so pretty I could look at them for some time! Within the tea, sat bright bursts of orange from the orange peel that is included in the tea. It's certainly an attractive, aromatic tea!

I did have to remind myself during the preparation that this isn't a sturdy black tea that normally comes along with orange. It's a far more delicate and refined green tea and has to be infused properly if you are to get the best out of the tea. So, I boiled the kettle, let it cool for a few minutes and poured water on the homemade teabag, which, was stuffed generously with the tea. I timed the infusion period for two minutes and settled back to taste this tea, with, I have to admit, a great deal of excitement.

The first thing that I experienced drinking this tea was how lovely and earthy the green tea is. As vibrant and fresh as it looks in the photo, it has those traditional, earthy qualities that I adore in some green tea's that I've tasted. Though green tea is delicate, there is substance to the base tea, something to get your teeth into and really enjoy. It's sturdy and I love that quality of the tea. This tea will leave you with the same amount of satisfaction that you'd normally get from a robust black tea!

So does orange work with green tea? Yes, it does. I was slightly worried that it may not, but I was pleasantly surprised. The orange flavour  has a real depth to it, which I am so happy about being mad about orange tea. I love the citrus tones which are multi-layered as not only does this tea include orange peel, it also includes orange blossom too!

What the orange flavour does so very well is add that much needed sweetness to the tea and just calms down the earthy tones from the green tea. Not so much that it wipes the green tea out, but just adds a bit of delicateness to a rather robust green tea. The two flavours work exceptionally well. Both complimenting the other. I'm hugely impressed.

I know I say this quite a lot but I will repeat myself whenever I think it's necessary. It really does pay to spend a little bit more on your green tea. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong if you like supermarket brands. But to get that special element, that non-bitter beauty that is real green tea then you have to go online and buy it from companies such as Chash (and other's, too!) For it's companies such as this that use better quality green tea, finer ingredients and only sell fresh tea.

As snobby as it sounds, I have brought orange blossom green tea from a supermarket once and it was nothing but poor quality tea with orange blossom oil flavouring - you could actually see the oil floating on the top of the water. How is that even tempting to drink? It really does pay to buy green tea at the highest quality you can afford. That way you will get the best experience you can from the tea.  And I know this is very good quality green tea! Why? Because only the best quality green tea stays fresh and delicate even when it cools, cheaper, inferior tea is known to go bitter when cooled.

I was really impressed with this blend. I thought it light, refreshing and just perfect for the upcoming warm and sunny days. It's rather like summer in a cup! Or at least sunshine in a cup! A true joy to drink!

Yes, green tea and orange are a ideal pairing. I really loved this tea!

I have other samples from Chash waiting to be reviewed. They will be coming up over the next week or so. For now, though, whilst I am binge watching series two of Twin Peaks, I think I'll indulge in just one more cup of Orangery.

Well, why not? I think I deserve it!