Basilur Tea: Ceylon Tea With Added Fruits

Just recently I was lucky enough to review a wonderful tea from Basilur. It was their gorgeous White Magic milky oolong. As I explained in the review it was a tea that made a staggering first impression and from the minute I took my first sip of White Magic, I fell head over heels in love.

Within a few minutes of trying the sample of the milky oolong I had gone online and ordered a substantial box of the tea, 100 tea bags in fact.

I also acquired a really gorgeous little musical caddie which has come from their Christmas line.  It's really, really pretty and plays a lovely little Christmas tune. Though we are long past the Christmas season now, the caddie will be carefully stored and brought out this Christmas!

Within the caddie, there lay a packet of tea, and a packet of tea filters. What a brilliant idea! Sell loose tea and include a free pack of filters that will help you infuse it. I was very impressed with that little touch. The caddie is just so beautiful, but what about the tea included?

The magical tea which is included in the caddie is a wonderful Ceylon tea.  I adore Ceylon tea. I know Darjeeling is considered the champagne of tea, but actually, as much as I like Darjeeling, I prefer Ceylon.

I love Ceylon's smooth elements. Whereas Darjeeling is delicate, Ceylon is rich and full of flavour. And Basilur's Ceylon is of a very high quality. And that quality makes this tea desirable, moreish and easy to drink.

However, this blend is not just a simple Ceylon. It has wonderful things added to it. These things include pineapple, ginger, apple and orange. And these flavours, when added together, make for something as heavenly as their White Magic tea, albeit it for different reasons.

The first thing that I really liked about this tea is that it is a black tea. I have been dipping between green tea and herbal tea recently so it's really nice to get back to a robust, truly satisfying and gorgeous black tea. I also like the fact that this blend has added flavours that should be quite strong and out there, yet, are delicate enough to not outshine the Ceylon but bring something unique to the blend.

Pineapple is not a typical fruit that is added to black tea, yet, within this blend it's sweet qualities are the first thing I noticed when taking my first sips of this tea. It is a fresh flavour and makes your mouth tingle slightly. It also adds just a tiny sharp twang to the blend. Not unpleasant but exciting.

The next flavour that comes through for me is the crisp, freshness of the apple. The orange follows slightly behind, bringing that citrus flavour I so love in tea. And towards the end of the sip, you get a burst of ginger which makes your tongue fizz ever so slightly.

This is a blend of many depths and layers. Rather like peeling an onion, with each layer comes a new flavour. Some layers are sweet, others crisp and some, as I've said with the ginger, are fizzy, a flavour that dances across your tongue, making your taste buds burst into life.

Many years ago I had a dream that I was floating down a river, sat in a massive cup and saucer. In the dream I was so happy as the river meandered, I enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness as I floated. Well, this tea is rather like that dream in as much as this tea has twists and turns. One flavour is sweet, another slightly sharp, all coming together to create something very special.

As you can tell by the caddie of course, that this is a Christmas item. And this is where the tea is really unique. Rarely have I seen Ceylon in a Christmas tea. And I certainly haven't seen fruits like pineapple, orange and apples feature in a seasonal tea. It's normally all spice this and spice that. And quite frankly, I find a lot of spiced tea's hard to drink as I no longer take milk or sugar in my tea. So, Christmas tea's tend to be a once a week treat.

However, with this tea, it's so different to what is typically sold at Christmas time. I can drink as many cups of this tea as I wish to, without feeling guilty, and even a bit poorly, as I don't have to add anything in it. (I really struggle with milk in tea now!).

This wonderful caddie and utterly beautiful and classy tea is still available on the Basilur website. 
Who can deny themselves the pleasure of being able to listen to Christmas music whilst you infuse your tea? I have to say I'm a great fan of Christmas music and do listen to it through the year to it's absolutely perfect. The caddie is reduced from £13.99 to £9.99 so it's an absolute bargain.

I find Basilur's tea and the people who work there, utterly charming. This is a brand that values high quality tea and also knows how to package tea's so beautifully that you get a complete tea drinking experience. I really do wish I had discovered the brand so much earlier. However, I hope to be able to review many more from their line in the near future.

For the time being, though, I shall happily sit and make a second cup of this extraordinary tea and count my blessing's that I'm lucky enough to be able to!

Bluebird Tea: Bears Like Marmalade

As regular readers know, I LOVE anything remotely orange in tea.

I even love orange flavoured food. Sweet marmalade on hot toast ... jaffa cakes ... chocolate orange ...

I even like "real" fruit, like clementines, satsuma's and oranges. Occasionally. At Christmas.

So, when my brother and his girlfriend paid another visit to Brighton and stopped off at Bluebird Tea to get me a treat, I was delighted when they picked me up this gorgeous blend, which has the cutest name: Bears Like Marmalade.

Bluebird Tea is a popular brand in my house. I haven't tried all their blends, but I've certainly loved the one's I've tried, and this tea is no different.

Bears Like Marmalade is a gorgeous, aromatic and tasty cup of tea, and, for me, who is not overly fond of fruit tea's, it's extremely impressive.

 Firstly, the tea is just so gorgeous to look at. It's so colourful and bright, a wonderful tea for this time of year. The chunks of orange peel, apple and other gorgeous things such as, rosehip, orange blossom and lemon peel are of a really nice size and the quantity that you get for the weight of tea is amazing. This is certainly a tea that will go a long way!

For me though, aside from the taste, the most delightful aspect of this tea is the gorgeous aroma you are greeted with when you open the pack. It's unbelievable. Delicious, mouthwatering and there is absolutely no way you could not make a cup of this tea once you've opened it! It really does smell just like your favourite jar of orange marmalade. When I opened the pack a million happy memories of thickly cut toast spread thick with Dad's Robinson's marmalade came flooding back. That is the thing I love about Bluebird. If they say the tea taste's like something, then it really does!

As this is a fruit infusion, I made up my own teabag and filled it full of tea. I was quite laid back about the infusion time and I think I left it to brew for around five minutes, so the flavour and scent were really strong! I was quite surprised that this brewed to a gorgeous rose hue, not the orange I was expecting.

This is a smooth, sweet tea. A delight for all the senses, but I suppose it's the taste that is the most important thing, of course!

Though this is a sweet tea it's not overly sweet. I have tasted fruit tea's that actually have hurt my teeth because they were sweet, this tea has the right balance between sweetness and a tart, slightly bitter twist. It certainly keeps your taste buds tingling.

Naturally, the most prominent flavour is the orange. It's really quite strong and full of flavour and I really, really like it. It's a very refreshing flavour and you feel absolutely lovely when you are drinking it. This is going to be perfect for the hot summer months!

Underneath the sweetness from the orange comes the slightly sharp taste from the lemon. The two flavours work extremely well together, each balancing the other. I love the citrus twang of this tea, it's very satisfying for me.

There is also a fresh crispness from the apple which adds another dimension to this tea. I do not know how Bluebird manage to succeed in making absolutely perfect fruit infusions - but they do, time and time again!

I did pick up a ever so slight twang of orange blossom too, but I will admit that the orange, lemon and apple are the flavours that are most easily detectable in this blend. But that is to be expected in a tea that is created to be just like marmalade.

If you like fruit tea's or if you have a liking for citrus fruits in general then I would say this is very close to a pretty perfect fruit tea! It's ideal to be served with hot cross buns, which are flying off the shelves this time of year. In fact, I'm saving some of this tea for Easter Sunday. I'm working Easter Sunday and am saving the tea for a after work treat - something to keep me going through what I already know will be a horrendous shift.

This is a very well put together blend. It's tasty, refreshing and incredibly moreish.

Well done to Bluebird Tea. Yet again, you've made this fruit tea sceptic, fall head over heels in love.

You have made a tea that is Easter in a cup, and will be delightful in summer as well. So far, this is my favourite Bluebird Tea. Why not treat yourself and see if you feel the same!

Love At First Sip: Why I'm Proud To Be A Tea Lover

Today, something quite unique happened to me.

That something was I sat down to sample and review Basilur's White Magic tea. Within ten minutes of taking that first sip (or slurp as I was encouraged to do today!) I had gone online and ordered 100 teabags of the aforementioned tea. Now, this is a very lean pay month for me with several birthdays and Mothering Sunday to cater for, however, sometimes, you just have to say 'sod it' and treat yourself.

Some tea's I've fallen in love instantly with. Others have been a bit of a slow burning romance, where a little more love is developed with each new cup tasted. But, with this White  Magic tea something happened. I knew I had found 'my' tea. Just like Earl Grey, Lady Grey and Gunpowder Green, White Magic tea has now established itself onto my list of tea's that will always stay with me. I'm sure, in the future, more will be added, but at the moment it's a bit of a elite list!

But it's the experience I had today which makes me feel so grateful that I'm a tea blogger, and more importantly, a tea lover. I don't drink alcohol, which sets me apart from my people of my own age. Tea is my vice.

To most people, tea is just tea, right? It's just that brown liquid that you rush down before work, or which you may have on  your tea break. To me, though, it's something different, far more important and it's always valued. Each sip appreciated.

I have a physical and emotional attachment to tea. Nothing brings me more joy then walking into a shop and browsing the tea aisle. Or, visiting one of those souvenir shop's in London with the bestie, and finding out they do the cutest tea caddies, then looking at the maker of the tea and realising it's a damn good brand, a win win.

Tea has seen me through some of the most horrendous moments. The breakup of a long relationship and the subsequent loneliness that followed. More tears have been shed into a cup of tea then into my pillow. Nursing a friend over the phone when she lost her much wanted baby, sitting in a hospital waiting room, scared stiff about what was going on with Mum. Those moments have always been soothed by a cup of tea - where there is tea, there is hope.

And of course, the good times, too. Laughing on the sofa with my bestie, gentle teasing by my boss (who I do actually like!) memories of my Dad drinking one cup after the other - chain drinking I suppose!

There are so many emotions tied up with the art of tea drinking. My tea drinking started seven years ago this year, and the journeys I've been on, with tea in hand are quite staggering.

And then there is the blogging. The people I have met, from other bloggers to those who own their own companies, or who work for famous tea brands, or who simply love to read about and try new tea's. There are so many people who I now consider friends, and whom I would not be without.  For as much as their is physical comfort in drinking tea, there is love and support from other tea lovers too.

So it does irk me a bit when people look at me and say "but it's just tea ... just tea". For me it's not. It's a lifeline, a passion, one of those things I simply cannot do without. Just like some people cannot do without coffee, or chocolate or cigarettes.

Yet, there seems to be a stigma around tea drinking, that it's somehow boring or nerdy. Granted I suppose it's not as sophisticated as drinking a frothy latte or whatever the coffee thing is, but there honestly is just something so special about tea. I mean, who doesn't love a Gunpowder Green or a satisfying mug of Earl Grey?

I am not ashamed to stand up and say "my name is Laura, and I love tea". In fact I wear my love of tea like a badge of honour.

And I know I will never loose that feeling of excitement when I see a new blend of tea, or a lovely new caddie in a shop, or when I stumble across a new tea shop. And for that, I consider myself extremely fortunate.

Basilur Tea: White Magic

It's fair to say that this blog relies on the kindness of people, both those I know and strangers. Family and friends (and even my boss!) know of my love for tea, and at some point or another, everyone close to me hands me a new tea, simply because I love it! My boss, who recently holidayed in New York, came back with a packet of fruit tea. It's nice that people think of me like that.

But it's also the kindness of strangers that makes the blog what it is. Tea companies generously send me samples to review. So it's always heartwarming - and encouraging - when a message pop's into one inbox or another asking me if I'd like to sample some products.

Earlier this week, I received a message from a lovely gentleman called Robert from Basilur Tea asking me if I'd like some samples to feature here on Laura's Tea Room. Naturally, I said yes! Tuesday afternoon I spent some considerable amount of time browsing the website and I can honestly say I don't think I've come across a range of tea so beautifully packaged.  Some of the packing is so sweetly dreamlike, others could come straight out of Alice In Wonderland. And some of their tea tins are so beautiful, I could honestly buy it all. (Fall in love now, find a place to store it all later!) In the days of moderately packaged tea, with sleek branding, it's nice to see such beautiful products.

Whilst sorting through the samples I received this morning, I was struck by a green tea called White Magic. I know you shouldn't judge a tea solely by it's packaging, however, the single envelope was so pretty that I couldn't resist trying the White Magic tea first.

White Magic is actually a Milky Oolong green tea - a type of tea I can say I've not actually experienced before, making this all the more interesting, and for me on a personal level, extremely exciting.

The tea comes in teabag form and it's filled generously with a good amount of tea.

I followed the instructions on the sachet and boiled the water to 80 and infused the tea for three minutes (oven timer on to make sure it was brewed perfectly). Whilst this was brewing I could smell this lovely, sweet aroma. I had just polished off a bowl of home made rice pudding and thought it was coming from that. How wrong was I ...

I don't think any sort of preparation would of prepared me for the uniqueness of this tea. I don't think I've drunk a tea like it, and I don't actually think I've fallen in love so quickly with a tea like I have with White Magic.

This is a tea of two halves. Strong, and yet delicate. Slightly tart, yet mouthwateringly creamy.

The base tea of this blend is a strong, green tea.  The green tea has that ever so slightly astringent, strong flavour that I adore in green tea. It's quite sturdy and very, very satisfying. I always keep green tea very close to my heart, it's my tea of choice and I find it a nice change from black tea, so I found this tea delightful from the very start.

Alongside the tart flavour of the green tea comes this wonderful, creamy, milky flavouring that is added to the tea and is, in simple words, utterly beautiful. It's sweetness is extremely moreish, and once you've taken your first sip, you just want more of it. When I finally finished my cup of tea, I was slightly disappointed. It had all gone! Oh no ...

This tea takes your tongue on a really lovely journey. Your taste buds dart from the sharp, tart green to the lovely, soft and creamy milky flavour. It's like two tea's in one cup. And each flavour compliments the other. I find vanilla flavoured tea's quite sickly, but the creaminess in this tea is well balanced with the sharpness of the green tea, making it the perfect partnership.

I was so impressed with this unique, truly one of a kind tea. Never have I tasted a tea like it and I don't think I will again for quite some time.

I am, honestly, stuck for words to describe this tea. Beautiful, stunning, gorgeous .. perhaps are the first few that spring to my mind.

One of my favourite bands are a band from the 1960's, called The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. One of their most famous hits is a song called 'I'm The Urban Spaceman'. One of the lines in the song goes like this .. "my natural enthusiasm spills out all over the place .." Maybe that's the best way to describe how I feel about this tea.  Or, like an over excited puppy could be another, less elegant way!

Either way, you HAVE to try this tea. If you like tea's that are different, or even if you are a traditionalist who wants to try something new, I can't recommend this tea enough. Once tasted this tea will stay with you. And I can guarantee that one cup simply won't be enough.

And if you do have a few spare minutes, don't forget to browse the Basilur website. You're eyes will certainly be in for several beautiful treats!

English Tea Shop: Organic Earl Grey

 

(Photo sourced from http://www.theenglishteashop.biz/)

Christmas was a long time ago now, in fact we are scarily headed towards Easter! But, last Christmas I was incredibly lucky to have been given several tea related gifts. One of those gifts was a wonderful selection box from my brothers lovely partner, Michelle. The box set was from The English Tea Shop and featured a great selection of black and green and fruit tea's. 

Naturally, being a Earl Grey obsessive it was one of the first tea's I tried and I was very impressed.

The main thing that I love about Earl Grey is no blend tastes the same. So when you try a new Earl Grey it's like your trying it for the first time.  Earl Grey is one of those blends I genuinely become excited by! No surprise then that I drunk most of my supply on Boxing Day but thankfully I have kept back one or two sachets which I found this morning.

The English Tea Shop's wonderful Organic Earl Grey is quite different from a lot of Earl Grey's that I have tried. 

I absolutely love the lightness to this tea. By lightness I mean the added bergamot which provides Earl Grey with it's famous taste, is subtle. It's there, and certainly easy to detect, but it's not overpowering. It doesn't that that perfume type element that some cheaper Earl Grey's can have. So, you get that lovely flavour, but without the cloying, overpowering scent which is extremely off putting. 

For me though, the real beauty to this tea is that English Tea Shop have used a high quality Ceylon tea as the base tea and it's really lovely. Due to the superb, subtle flavour of the bergamot you can enjoy the taste of the Ceylon tea and it's just lovely. It has a gentle sweetness to it, it's smooth and easy to drink and is a very refreshing cup of Earl Grey.

This was the first tea I've tried from English Tea Shop and I'm really impressed and cannot wait to try their pure green tea and tropical green tea. If the standard of these tea's match up to the standard of the Earl Grey then I'm certainly in for a treat!

As a genuine Earl Grey lover, that has Earl Grey running through my veins, I give this blend a huge thumbs up. I'm really impressed. And I'm sure you will be too!

Born Wild Tea: Reggae Refresh

Last year I wrote a post about the FANTASTIC tea subscription service brought to you by teatourist. It really is a superb and exciting way to discover tea and through this I have tasted some delicious tea's. And it's now going to be a huge honour to review those tea's over the coming weeks.

As I'm sat here writing this review I have a documentary about Princess Diana on the television. In this show, it refers to her final love letters to her last partner, Dodi Fayed in which she referred to their final holiday together as a bit of a 'oh my god' moment. Now, I'm sure the late Princess was not referring to the extensive selection of tea available on the Jonikal when she wrote that fantastic comment.

I, however, will use my 'oh my god' moment in reference to tea. As there is no better phrase to use for Born Wild Tea's stunning Reggae Refresh. This tea is a tasty fruit tea that will guarantee to make your mouth water.

Oh the whole, I'm not a huge fan of fruit tea. I love the artisan type fruit tea's from websites such as Bluebird Tea, but the general, supermarket brought fruit tea's don't appeal to me much as I never get on with the strange texture that some of them can have. However, when the fruit tea contains pieces of real fruit that oozes flavour, then I certainly enjoy a fruit tea.

Reggae Refresh contains apple, papaya, mango, lemongrass, banana chips and goji berries.

From the moment the hot water splashes on this tea, you are hit instantly with a gorgeous, heartwarming aroma of fruit, and it fills the whole kitchen with it's wonderful scent. It really does take your breath away. It's mouthwatering and once you experience that aroma you cannot wait to see what it tastes like.

There is a natural sweetness to this tea and one of the first flavours I experienced was one of my favourite fruits: mango's. It's just very sweet and very moreish. After the mango, there is a slightly tart taste of very ripe and fresh apples.

Amongst these two very prominent flavours there is a rich, honey like taste which I think is likely to add to the sweet texture that in threaded through this tea. I love how you get a sharp tang from the fruit, yet in the background a wave of sweetness flows making it a tea for all tastes.

But this tea gives you one final kick ...the lemon grass really adds a lovely, spicy after bite. I just loved every sip of this tea because every single sip provided you with different flavours, different experiences and a winning combination of sweet and savoury.

This tea is tasty hot but would make for a ideal iced tea in the hot summer months as well!

I am so very impressed with this tea and this really is a high recommendation from someone who has no particular loyalty to fruit tea - it really does have to be something special to impress me!

If you want a nice, refreshing tea, that is bursting with flavour and oozing with tastiness then I would say Reggae Refresh is the tea for you. This tea is summer in a cup and just about as perfect a fruit tea as you can get!

Whittard: Blend No 240: Chelsea Garden

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to find myself attending a matinee performance of The Phantom Of The Opera. Before Mum and I watched the breathtaking show, we spent the morning in the glorious and sunny Covent Garden in London. Whenever I'm in Covent Garden I find it physically (and probably emotionally too!) impossible not to visit the Whittard shop. In fact I visited both shops, the store on The Strand and the larger store within Covent Garden itself.

On this particular visit Whittards were sampling a glorious loose leaf white tea. That blend is the fabulous Blend No 240: Chelsea Garden. 

I am a huge lover of white tea. I love the delicate traits white tea has. I also love the fact that white tea is dainty enough for china cups and saucers and afternoon tea, yet, has plenty of flavour, too. By drinking this tea, you gain only a wonderful experience.

That day I was in the shop there were various samples available of black, white and green tea, but I will admit, hands up, I'm a bit of a sucker for anything floral, in particular rose, when it comes to tea, so this appealed to all my senses and I couldn't resist sampling this gorgeous tea.

Visually, this is a stunning tea. It's nature at it's very best, appearing in your box of tea. I love the lush tea leaves that come in various shades of green. It's vibrant and alive and healthy. Within those leaves you have pink tiny rose buds and rose petals which adds a dash of stunning colour. The appearance of the tea, with it's gorgeous rose scent is just about as close to perfect as you can possibly get.

As I make my own teabags at home, I usually fill each bag with three generous teaspoons of tea. This is carefully measured in order to get just the right amount of rose flavouring. Each teabag can be infused a couple of times, but I find by the third infusion the tea is significantly weakened so I'd say two infusions is just about right for a tasty cup of tea.

Considering this is a white tea, and white tea has to be handled gently, I boil the kettle and let it cool for a couple of minutes for pouring over the teabag. I infuse this tea for around three minutes. Personally, this is the perfect recipe for making the ideal cup of tea.

Well ... what can I say about this tea? I LOVE IT!

Rose scented tea's are often hit and miss, if I'm totally frank. A really good tea is a delight, but many cheaper rose tea's can taste somewhat artificial, soap like even, so my advice would always be pay as much as you possibly can if you want a truly  natural tasting rose tea. Chelsea Garden costs £6.50 for 50g's but it's money well spent, in my opinion of course!

This tea is very smooth and very easy to drink. It's blended exceptionally well.

I absolutely love the taste of the actual white tea. The vegetation like element really appeals to me. This could be off putting for some but it isn't. It's smooth and is a really good base tea.  It's refreshing and yummy but has that strength to it too to make it truly satisfying.

Naturally, the rose flavour is the more prominent flavour, but it's so delicate and gentle and the aroma when you open the tea packet is ever so slightly Turkish delight like. It's mouthwatering and just so gorgeous. Due to the addition of tiny rose buds and petals, the rose tastes as if it had been picked, freshly from the garden just before infusion. This is no oily, artificial addition. This is good, honest rose and it tastes as it should.

I will admit that I have crushes on several tea companies, but Whittard has become the latest love of my tea life. They are classy, they make totally fabulous tea, and they leave other names standing in the shadows. Their online service is also very good, but it's the shops where my heart lies. The amount of choice available is staggering. The quality is very high and uncompromised. I am hugely impressed with Whittard.

If you want a tea perfect for afternoon tea sat in the sunshine (when it eventually arrives!) then this is surely one of the best tea's to try. If you like your tea delicate with a nice floral flavour then do not hesitate in trying blend Number 240. 

This is ideal served up with jam tarts, Victoria sponge cake or a strawberry shortbread.

Chelsea Garden is a truly sophisticated, classy and elegant tea. This is to be supped delicately and enjoyed at your leisure. Each sip should be savoured and adored.

I will end this review by saying you HAVE to treat yourself to this gorgeous tea. Because, lets be honest, you're worth it!