Marks & Spencer Tea

Although I´m not a huge fan of ginger or ginseng (both are easily too overwhelming, in my opinion), it´s useful having a pack of these teabags around, to drink when you´re having a sore throat or feel under the weather. Not overly aromatic, not too strong, simply a nice drink to sooth the throat.

Every time I´m in UK (whenever I´m not living there, that is), I need to have a look in M&S, especially when Easter or Christmas is near, as they always have original ideas for presents. When I last was over there, at the end of March, I could buy a few really fun presents to take back to my family in Belgium and here in Spain…and I bought a few boxes of teabags. This “spiced apple” was one of them.
Look at that, another blend with white hibiscus! (I just commented earlier today that I had never come across “white” hibiscus before, and today, twice!!!) The infusion is exactly what it is supposed to be : it tastes of a spiced apple, and it does smell of a spiced apple as well…very autumn and winter-y…but the list of ingredients doesn´t include cinnamon, which I find amazing, because the spiced apple tastes of cinnamon. Obviously, using ginger, liquorice and cardamom they can make someone believe there´s also cinnamon somewhere ;-) . Very enjoyable at this time of year.

Just before Christmas, I went to Marks&Spencer´s and bought myself some nice tin lanterns in the shape of houses which can be lit by a small LED in the bottom. The bigger one contained a pack of shortbread biscuits, the smaller one a pack of this tea (just stating the name of the tea and containing 40 teabags, nothing else). When I was studying in UK almost 30 years ago, I would always have teabags in the house, very English and very easy to make oneself a cuppa, but I admit I now mostly buy loose leaf tea, so I needed to “force” myself to open the pack. As the fuse of my water kettle blew (and I still haven´t replaced it), I now have the occasion (heating the water in the microwave) to use the teabags ;-) .
First thing to notice is that the round teabags are fully packed with tea, so I guess they could be used for various steeps, which I won´t do but then again. The malty aroma is confirmed once steeped, but the tea when taken black (as I do) lacks complexity. It isn´t bad however, and it doesn´t seem to get bitter that soon when oversteeping it either, but I reckon this is primarily a great tea to have with milk.

Sipdown! 234/365!

Mixed the last of this with a resteep of iHeartTeas’ raspberry/apricot for a jug of iced tea. Husband sadly remarked that it wasn’t as good. Which is true, because this tea is honestly pretty terrible. Hopefully he still drinks it! Next up for him is probably Lupicia’s Paradise Green, which smells like it will be even better than the raspberry/apricot, at least for sweetened iced tea.

Made this into iced tea. Unfortunately, though I was careful to brew at a lower temperature, it was quite astringent. I tried diluting, and sweetened it, but the astringency persisted. We did drink it, but it wasn’t the best, and overshadowed any nice raspberry flavour that might have been there. I’ll try a shorter infusion next time, but I’m not sure if it will help.

Sipdown! 173/365!

And just like that, this entire box of 20 teabags is gone. Poof. Won’t miss this; nothing special about it.

Secondhand tea from a friend who was moving away, and the latest iced tea candidate. I used 8 teabags for a pitcher of iced tea, which seems to be about the right amount, and this made a very typical hibiscus-heavy iced tea. No elderflower to speak of. A little woody-tasting (I wonder if it’s the licorice root?), but alright when sweetened. Leaving most of it to my husband to drink, though.

Somehow I managed to go through a whole box of these teabags without adding them to my cupboard or spreadsheet. At least I’m pretty sure it’s these teabags. The box in the picture looks similar if memory serves me (I threw out the box a while back and kept the teabags elsewhere), and the description both on here and the M&S website lists cocoa nibs as an ingredient, but the label on my teabags said ‘Rooibos, Vanilla and Cocoa Nibs’ rather than just ‘Rooibos and Vanilla’. I also thought I had reviewed this tea before, so there’s something weird going on somewhere here. Never mind. I actually really like this tea! It’s soothing, malty, chocolatey and reminds me of a chocolate digestive biscuit. It’s dark and rich, with the kind of depth I rarely experience in rooibos blends, and even more rarely in chocolate teas. It’s delicious plain, pops with sugar, and mellows out beautifully with milk. It’s genuinely a really lovely night time tea option that I would seriously consider picking up again, if I can ever figure out which tea it is, exactly.

Sipdown, I guess, even though it was never logged on here. It still counts, right? 144/396.

055/365

Made this one up as a latte this morning. I used three bags in 250ml boiling water, for around 8 minutes, then I added 150ml of hot milk. It’s not quite as flavourful as I expected it to be, if I’m honest. There’s quite a lot of cardamom, because it’s having that tongue numbing effect, but otherwise I can mostly taste vanilla. It’s pretty sweet, with both liquorice root and vanilla, and then the milk, but I don’t mind that too much. I just wish I’d been able to taste more of the fennel and pepper, which would have balanced things out a little better.

I’ll try this one brewed straight next, I think, and that should give me a better idea of what it’s like. Maybe a latte just isn’t the thing for this one (although it’s warming and comforting, and that’s really all I wanted this morning…)

Great balance in aroma, with aniseed, fennel and liquorice subtle permeate each other, a a bit of dried apple lies in the background.
The taste is distinctly sweet both liquorice and aniseed, bu fennel is also strong. Too bad the dried apples are barely noticeable.

Nice warming infusion.

I need to agree with some other opinions written about this tea : these are excellent tea bags (in my opinion most probably the best quality and taste you can get from a teabag available nationally in a major store)… and when I finished the first box I bought (without writing about it in steepster), I bought another one. As someone else said : the Kenyan tea is quite strong, and in UK this implies mostly that people add milk…I like my tea black, but indeed, better steep it a short time if you want to avoid it getting too strong (I don´t really think it gets too bitter, it gets “deeper” if that makes any sense). It´s quite funny : when I bought the tea, the cashier at M&S told me that he had lived in Kenya and that he really believed that one of the better teas (and coffee) came from there, but that in general they are underrated. The strength of the tea is rated as 2, and I agree again with a comment I read on steepster that some teas rated 2 actually seemed smoother than some rated 3 (the same applies for M&S´s single estate Rwandan Rukeri teabags). I compare both with coffee (as I like it : strong and full-bodied).

Definitely one of the better bagged teas I’ve drunk recently. The label says " strength : no.2 medium" and I say “hurray”, as it has a definite taste, which might convince some people to add milk. I particularly like its finish, deep and full (confirmed by its fragrance), and not at all the bitterness one often finds with stronger bagged teas. A perfect alternative for coffee if you are on your own.

I bought these teabags a short while ago and they flew!!! Not that the tea is that exceptional, but it’s an easy drinking black tea, not too strong, and can stand it when steep time is not ideal (read : too long). So, as far as I am concerned, a decent cuppa made with a teabag.

That´s it…not too fond of the lemony taste, so I gave the box to a friend who could appreciate it more.

When I saw the name “Empress Grey” I was quite curious as I hadn’t seen Grey in this title before. I love Earl grey and I can appreciate Lady Grey teas, but this Empress Grey is more like a blend between a very aromatic Earl Grey and a lemon tea, and I’m not such a fan. Too much lemon for my taste.