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A good berry tea from the subscription box. I liked this one a lot, I just need to remember to brew it lightly or the coconut quickly becomes too cloying. It was the most complex from the box.

It has a really nice berry flavour that’s predominantly blackberry but also a bit of raspberry too. I’m not sure what chokeberry tastes like, but that’s in there as well.

Tastes best cold. Doesn’t need any additional sweetener.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/teapro-subscription-box-review-fruit-tisane/

So, I finally got round to reviewing this one properly. I had it 3 ways:

Hot – lovely orange zest aroma. Hibiscus dominated flavour but you could definitely taste the orange-ness in it. Not too sweet. It went well with the ginger acacia honey that came with the tea.
Cold – orange aroma again, but 99% hibiscus in flavour. Wasn’t too tart. I quite enjoyed it.
Frozen – 100% hibiscus, I liked it but it’s just not as described.

Also take a look at the pictures in my review. This tea is bright pink – the pics on the teapro website are of a completely clear liquid. It doesn’t directly say that this tea is clear, but it’s certainly implied. This just added to my expectations that this would be orange flavoured and not hibiscus dominated.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/teapro-subscription-box-review-fruit-tisane/

2018 June harvest. Over a year old and it’s still tasting pretty good to me. I really enjoyed this one. It’s described as an atypical Assam. Western style, 3 steeps:

Steep 1, 3 minutes 30 seconds, slightly bitter, malty, smooth, pear, honey, honeysuckle, drying mouth feel.
Steep 2, 7 minutes, sweet sweet sweet honey and pear. Bitterness and malt have vanished.
Steep 3, 20 minutes, super sweet and rich, floral aroma, bready, sticky apricots, sultanas.

That third steep had me imagining sticky Easter fruitcake loaves with honey drizzle.

All 3 steeps came out this delicious golden syrup colour that was very inviting.

The only things I didn’t like was the bitterness in the first steep and that it only lasted 3 steeps. I wanted more from it. That 20 minute steep was a real surprise – I was expecting it to grow weaker rather than develop that fruity/bready flavour. I wish I had left the 2nd steep for longer. 4th steep wasn’t worth reviewing.

No fancy staged pictures this time, I was far too busy drinking it https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/what-cha-india-assam-kanoka-tea-review/

I wasn’t a huge fan of this. Maybe my EG expectations are just too high.

The dry tea bag had no aroma at all, even though it was sealed up in a wrapper, sealed up inside a box, sealed up inside my tea drawer. The chances of it going stale from time (still a year before expiry) or air exposure are virtually non-existent… so why was it so un-aromatic and watery?

The bergamot is simply listed as “natural flavouring” which I thought was odd too. Why not “natural bergamot flavouring”? The flavour was lemon zesty when I took a sip so maybe that’s why. Maybe it’s not entirely bergamot.

The flavour was bitter, lemony and had a weak black tea base. No body or warmth. The lemon wasn’t as bad as some toilet cleaner teas, but it didn’t taste natural either. I only brewed for 2 minutes but it went very dark, very quickly. If I have it with milk, I go for nearer the 3 minute mark.

Don’t get me wrong, the tea wasn’t bad. I wasn’t grimacing with every sip. It just wasn’t good either. Not sure what to do with the rest of the box.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/the-london-tea-company-earl-grey-review/

Teapro subscription arrived this morning and I couldn’t resist trying one straight away. I picked the Orange Sunshine blend and actually froze it in the lolly mold that was in the box.

First, the smell is very citrusy and reminds me of candied orange (it’s on the ingredients list but there’s no Steepster ingredient for it, or the orange blossom or the rose peel).

The colour, however, is red. Like deep raspberry red. And the flavour is mostly hibiscus and berry-like. I can’t taste any orange at all.

I’ll leave scoring it for another day – maybe I just got too much hibiscus in the 2 teaspoons I used… or maybe it’s more orangey when brewed hot or cold rather than frozen. I will shake up the bag for next time and find out.

I keep thinking to myself “wow, should it be this hot already?” and then I remember we’re in July. This year has just flown by so quickly.

Another camomile tea in my collection. I prefer the spelling chamomile so writing my entire review using camomile caused some eye twitching. But it’s the actual spelling Twinings use.

It was far better than anticipated. Most camomiles I’ve tried have been light with honey sweetness. But this was thick, syrupy and way more sweet than usual. It’s golden syrup with hay.

Reading the existing tasting notes for this, I think the key is to pick the individually foil-wrapped tea bags, rather than the whole box. It keeps the tea fresher and stronger. I’d definitely drink this tea again.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/twinings-pure-camomile-tea-review/

You’d think I’d get bored of trying earl grey after earl grey, but they’re all surprisingly different in notable ways. This one is the darkest I’ve tried so far. The black tea base is stronger, heavier and richer than the usual Darjeeling or single Ceylon bases. It’s rich and filling with a good amount of bergamot – not too strong or bitter, but enough to live up to the black tea base.

You could substitute this one for your usual heavy breakfast tea. In fact, I might do just that!

I reviewed it without milk but I like it with milk too. https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/ahmad-tea-earl-grey-review/

Cold brewed a few teaspoons of this tea overnight. It smells nice but obviously artificially peachy. The flavour is quite nice too but it needs sweetening to taste really good. I didn’t sweeten this time to cut down a few calories. It’s astringent sencha with peach flavouring – not sweet, just peachy. Refreshing? Hell yeah.

Personal note:

It’s the hottest day of the year so far at 31c where I’m living. For me, that’s too hot. I can’t function well above 25c. Predicting this in advance, I had the good sense to make a pitcher of this tea the night before to cold brew in the fridge.

Of course, it all went wrong. I was drinking this outside in my smoothie cup because it has a built in straw and lid so the flies can’t get to it, when a cherry from the tree above me landed on my head. No joke. My head jarred forward in surprise and the hard plastic straw lodged itself in my gums. Blood went everywhere including down the straw into my tea. Now I’m sulking inside with a painful, bruised gum and only a small amount of blood-free tea left. I hope everyone else is having a better day!

Another tea from the subscription box (I finally got the blog review written up!) that is fast becoming my favourite. I love love love jasmine green tea, but jasmine white tea is even better. The jasmine smells very very fresh and the white tea adds a slightly nutty sweetness that goes with the jasmine even better than the usual slightly grassy green tea flavour.

The pearls are much smaller than I expected however. Once they unfurled I noticed the leaves were not in great shape. Some were quite badly damaged and others were yellow, black or brown in places at the edges, like the leaves should have been discarded rather than made into pearls.

It didn’t impact flavour as far as I can tell.

3 pearls, 80c water, 3 mins. I could have left it for longer.

Review of the full subscription package (including the teaware) – https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/teapro-subscription-box-review-white-tea/

The third tea from this company I’ve tried, I can’t say it’s better or worse than the others as they all taste pretty similar. This was the most pleasant, but also the most bland. The herbs and spices mixed together so well that it was impossible to really give any a name without looking at the label. There’s no dominant flavour to pull through, apart from a little anise-sweetness that I detected in the last few sips.

It does smell good though, it reminds me of samosas. The colour is beautiful thanks to the saffron too.

I’d recommend it if you asked me about trying it… but I definitely wouldn’t bring it up in conversation. It’s really not that good.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/ayurveda-pura-saffron-cardamom-delight-tea-review/