Taylors of Harrogate

I picked this one up at Walmart for $6 Cdn. The box contained 40 bags, and they are the old fashioned style of teabags that we had growing up, not individually wrapped.

As it was hot outside, I decided to do a glass of iced tea, after walking to buy the tea bags.

I used 2 tea bags and 250 mL of boiling water. That’s about 6 grams of tea. Then I filled up a big bowl with ice and poured the tea in. That was enough to make one extra large cup. I squeezed in part of a lime as well. I also added sugar.

The first thing I noticed right away was the colour. Immediately after pouring in the water you see the most beautiful gold tea colour.

The flavour was light and drinkeable. I didn’t find it strong like Liptons.

The review for the hot version will follow. Special thanks to Stockman for suggesting this tea.

For the hot version, I decided to go with two tea bags and 250 mL of water and then added some cold water after. The tea had a good flavour.

I also tried ot hot with lots of milk and sugar. I found it a bit week, even using two tea bags. The asssam in my cupboard was tastier. I will continue to try thus tea as I have lots left.

The last of my Taylors of Harrogate samples. This is probably the one I enjoyed most out of the three I tried. It has a pleasant buttermint vibe going on, and it also reminds me of spearmint softmints which are just…the best. The sencha base is smooth and unobtrusive, allowing the mint and vanilla flavours to shine.

As green teas go, this one’s pretty perfect in my book. No bitterness or astringency, flavourful, lives up to its name. It’s a teabag, which I don’t usually go for, but it’s convenient and since I’m really busy at work at the moment, that suits me!

I’d drink this one again. I’d actually really like to try it cold brewed.

My second sample from Taylors of Harrogate. One thing I will say about these is that they smell amazing while they’re brewing. This one is pretty much spot on rhubarb and custard, and it’s a real shame that they don’t taste as good at they smell!

This one is also a fruit tea, and has the same hibiscus/rosehip base as Sour Cherry. It’s that tell-tale red colour pretty much straightaway. The initial sip is very tart and a touch sour (thank you, hibi!), but there’s a distinctive creamy rhubarb flavour in the midsip that’s really almost dessert-like and quite delicious. It lingers well into the aftertaste, too. Rhubarb seems like a pretty rare flavour in tea, at least in the UK, so this is one I’d happily drink again if given the opportunity.

My samples came with a card that lists the rest of the range, and the Rose Lemonade immediately captured my attention. There’s also a green tea with grapefruit and lime that I’d quite like to try. I’ve got one more sample to try – green tea and sweet mint, and I’m looking forward to that one because spearmint is one of my favourite things! I like that Taylors are trying to do a few unusual combinations as well as the stuff you’d expect, but what I’d really like is a fruit blend that doesn’t use hibiscus as a base. It’s a lifelong dream, I know.

This came as a free sample from Taylors of Harrogate. It’s a fruit tea, in a bag, and its predictably heavy on the hibiscus. It takes on that tell-tale bright red hue pretty much straight away, and it’s mostly all I can taste, at least initially. There is some cherry in the mid-sip, but it’s more fleeting than I would have hoped. It reminds me a bit of cherry throat sweets – soothers, or tunes, or something along those lines. It’s a little bit sour, but I think that’s mostly the hibiscus and rosehip. I get flashes of liquorice and aniseed, which are a little odd, but they do add a sweetness that helps to pull the tart, sour hibiscus back a bit and make this a palatable cup. Really, though, it’s not particularly well balanced, and there are definitely much better fruit teas out there. I’m glad I had the opportunity to try this one, but it wouldn’t be one I’d go out and buy in quantity.

I’m not well versed in actual British teas, so this one was a shot in the dark when I was at World Market. I’ll have this one when I feel like having something strong, with milk and sugar. As close as I’ll ever get to a “cuppa.”

Herbal infusions are by far in the minority in my tea cupboard, probably because during my childhood my mother used to prepare me all sorts of herbal teas she put together with herbs she had previously picked and dried, and I have already had enough for an entire lifetime ;-) But ginger is very useful when you´re suffering from a sore throat, so I decided to give this infusion a try. Very often, whenever ginger is added to a dish or a drink, it overwhelms it completely; therefore, I prefer to be careful using it. The tea makers of Taylors of Harrogate seem to have had the same care, as the ginger is balanced very well by the lemongrass. As far as I am concerned, the resulting herbal tea is rich, tasty and perfectly alright to please people who not normally drink herbal teas. it managed to convince me!

Bought a great little sample box of 10 teabags at Gene’s Sausages (important, since this is an excellent deli, and I don’t want to forget where I found this). Made 5 bags in one coffee carafe full of water. Can’t have too much caffeine, so did not brew as long or strong as I might have, especially having read other reviews of it being strong . Even kind of weakly brewed, this has an assertive presence, which I like in my black teas. Sometime when I haven’t been plagued by muscle cramps, I’ll have a cup made more strongly, since taste-wise I do prefer that, and can tell this will suit very nicely.

Picked this tea up at my local Whole Foods store. It was at least as expensive as tea bought online. It is somewhat malty and has another flavor that I don’t know how to describe. The cashier at Whole Foods said I could return it if I didn’t like it. It’s not exactly bad it’s just got a flavor I’m not sure I like. This was the only brand of loose leaf tea the store carried so I just had to try one. Their coffee was much more reasonably priced.

I steeped this tea one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.

I’ve been drinking this a lot lately, in order to sipdown older teas. I purchased this about two years ago at the Discount Outlet near the house. The D.O. carries overstock from Amazon and various stores around Northeastern Ohio. They often have tea priced down a lot, but it’s rare to find tea there because of people like me, who buy the stock out, and give it away to friends and family. I’m looking at the tin and I bought this at $1.99 for 125g.

Anyway, the tea is pretty basic, but it’s a good tea to have when you’re on the go, storing it in bags, or need a quick fix. It’s a tea that I put cream or sugar and/or both in, depending on the day/my mood. I’d like to drink this more often, and may make the habit of doing so in the mornings. That, or see if my father will take it for himself.

This is a nice tea for today, since it is snowing and cold outside (who has ever heard of April snow showers brings May flowers?). I’m not planning on heading to bed early tonight, nor getting up early tomorrow, so I’d figure that it’s okay to drink the “hard” stuff. Ha-ha. Then again, I’m still coming down from the drunkenness which the ’07 W2T Basic Raw Pu-erh sample that LP had given me (a review on that later).

Being new to the world of tea reviewing, I decided to start off with this one. Why? I felt like drinking some today and figured this one was as good as any with which to start. It’s not bad. In fact, I rather like it. That being said, I can also understand why teas of this type are something of a niche product here in the U.S. where the style is somewhat rarer than the more approachable English and Irish breakfast teas.

For my first glass, I decided to avoid additions of cream, milk, or sugar and steeped the tea for approximately 5 minutes. On its own, the tea presents a rather odd aroma. I perceived scents of caramel, molasses, moss, and wood. In the mouth, the tea is heavy and almost chewy with powerful notes of wood, nuts, caramel malt, molasses, moss, and toast. The aftertaste is similarly powerful, but unlike the body which presents a mixture of earthiness and sweetness, the aftertaste is biting and astringent.

Knowing that this style is not meant to be consumed without an addition of milk or cream, I decided to prepare another glass at the same temperature with the same steep time, but of course with a small amount of milk added. I tend to prefer my tea without additives, but the milk did seem to tame some of the rough edges here. The caramel and molasses sweetness was enhanced on the nose, and in the mouth, the flavors became smoother, more rounded, and more nuanced with less of an astringent finish.

As mentioned above, I rather like this, but I tend to have something of a sentimental attachment to Old World brands. This definitely is not a tea that is truly approachable on its own. It has a heaviness, earthiness, and astringency that is definitely going to put off fans of milder and/or more balanced blends. Still, I think I could get used to having this with or in place of breakfast most mornings.

Very strong taste

I drink this tea every morning and absolutely love it. I’m quite picky when it comes to black teas and really enjoy the blend of flavours in this tea. I wish it was available in larger boxes here in Canada, but I got a 240 bag box whilst in England this past summer and have already finished half of it by myself in less than five months. The perfect tea for a proper brew!

I have had the bagged version of this tea, and it is good with cream and sugar, but depends on cream and sugar. Otherwise way to strong, astringent, and dehydrating.

I’ve tried Scottish Breakfasts before that were a little…shall we say raw. This one isn’t raw at all. It’s very complete and coherent. I’ve been a fan of Irish Breakfast for years, but this one might top it. It’s such a rich black tea that it has a dark chocolate overtone to it. Of course I’ll always trust anything Taylor’s of Harrogate produces. They sell spectacular teas.

This tea is like candy. It has a strange sweetness on its own, but a little sugar and a lemon wedge really livens it up. The actual black tea flavor is a bit muted, but it makes up for it with the sheer deliciousness of the fruit flavorings. Also, this is a British tea, so you can act all fancy around your friends and exclude them from your fancy tea parties.

You can begin speaking with a British accent, causing everyone to trust your opinion more than they normally would. This will lead to promotions and general success in your life.

Then, one day, atop your mountain of gold, you will inevitably tell your supermodel wife some sweet nothing in your original accent and the world will come crashing down. She will divorce you and take everything you own, leaving you with nothing, right back where you started.

This glorious tea has the power to change your life for the better or worse or not at all. Basically, it’s just like any other tea. Enjoy!

This is my go-to bagged tea for busy mornings at work. I add plenty of sugar and some cream to this, and I love the malty taste. Besides, it’s one of the only teas in my arsenal that can truly make me feel ‘awake’ despite the fact that I’m not a morning person.

This is the second try on this one. I found both the English Breakfast and Scottish Breakfast sachets at the grocery store and figured I’d give it a try as a cheap desk drawer offering for those days I need tea but don’t have the time to make a more quality mug up. I do like their Yorkshire Gold on occasion as a cheap tea option, so I figured I didn’t have much to lose trying these.

The first go of it, around a month ago, I found pretty lacking. Not much flavor. No real distinction. No real impression made. I didn’t steep it long, knowing that Yorkshire Gold goes bitter on a dime.

For today’s second round, I steeped an English Breakfast bag and a Scottish Breakfast bag together in my big mug, and I steeped it for about six minutes. It didn’t get bitter, but the longer steep didn’t pull out any more flavor, either. I’m still not impressed. The best word I think I can use to describe it is “muddy”. There just isn’t any nuance to this tea at all that I can discern.

I think I might “donate” it to the cupboard down in the lounge at work and stick to Twinings Irish Breakfast as my go-to desk tea for when I have no real time to do things up right.

There isn’t too much bergamot, but I don’t care for strong bergamot so yay! I think this is going to end up being my go to Earl Grey :)

This was a gift from a friend. She passed on several bagged teas to me. Since I’m on a horridly high dose of prednisone right now, sleep is hard to capture. So NO CAFFEINE TEA after 5pm!!!

Last night I made this one. I am not a fan of chamomile, but it’s supposed to help relax you, right? This didn’t taste absolutely horrible, but it wasn’t my fave. Again, I don’t like chamomile, so it’s probably not fair for me to even rate this. Do you have suggestions for calming, soothing evening teas?

This is what a morning cuppa should be. I actually crave it in the morning! So malty (which is one reason why I prefer this to PG Tips — there is a bit of a maltiness and less of an astringency that I like). Note: This is coming from someone who is more of a green tea drinker – I’m not a big black tea person. I’ve been picking it up in the English import section of my supermarket and I really like it for those busy mornings.

It is morning and I just finished my first cup of tea for the day, Earl Grey by Taylors of Harrogate. A decent black China tea with a noticeable shot of bergamot. Out of the many Earl Grey teas out there, while this is not my absolute favorite it is one that I would probably purchase twice. I am drinking it from the beautiful Anne of Green Gables cup that my friend Bonnie brought back for me earlier this summer from Prince Edward Island. Does a beautiful cup, given with love by a friend make the tea taste better? In a way it does. At least it definitely adds a positive touch to the experience.

I like plain black tea mainly iced, but when I’m in the mood for it hot, I reach for either Yorkshire Gold or PG Tips … neither have any characteristics to me that differ one from the other. They’re both very excellent black teas to have on hand. If for whatever reason I need to use one to ice – which is rare as I have my favorites for iced – I prefer PG Tips just slightly. I do have several breakfast blends I sometimes bounce between. Depends on what I have on hand at the time.

Yorkshire Gold is smoooooth and bold and I love it. No frills, just a delicious blend. Having it on hand is a great addition to your tea collection.