Twinings Sweet Summer Fruits Black Tea

After yesterdays disappointment, I'm back to my favourite brand.

Twining's have really great customer service and this is a tea that I won in one of their competitions.

This is a black tea with "juicy fruit flavours"- from Elderberry Strawberry, Vanilla, Orange, Marigold and Rose.

Picture from the Twinings website

I am entering unfamiliar territory as this is a tea that is best drunken black, and I usually like a good splash of milk in my mug.

When brewed, the tea is a coppery brown colour. In yesterday's Earl Grey,a redy tone was a little odd, but somehow tonight it seems right. The smell is nice and fruity and sweet, with a good strawberry scent. I followed the instructions, and skipped adding milk. The result was better than expected-the sweet berry flavour made an interesting addition and overall I found it to be quite refreshing.

The tea is packaged in individual ennvelopes, sometimes this can seem a bit wasteful, but I do like the fact that you can slip an one or two in your bag for when they are needed. I will be taking some into work to have there.

Twinings is very good at coming up with unusual and unexpected blends, they are very good at striking just the right balance and this is another prime example. Two mug fulls have been consumed this evening, and I am sure I will brew up again tomorrow.

Taylors of Harrogate Earl Grey Tea

When it comes to buying tea, I tend to have brand preference (you can probably work out what it is). This week however, I spotted some teas on the clearance shelf at the supermarket. As a bargain lover, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a new brand.

The first tea I picked up was Taylors of Harrogate Earl Grey Tea, in it's sleek black box. This tea is getting reviewed first, as I was talking to a fellow blogger and Earl Grey lover (Laura- http://lovetealoveblogging.blogspot.co.uk/) and she mentioned that she would be interested to know my thoughts.

Picture from the Taylors of Harrogate website

An ingredients check reveals that I am drinking black tea with "natural bergamot flavouring with other natural flavourings (5%)". The tea bags are standard rectangles, nothing special to look at and to be honest there wasn't much aroma from the box.

Mug no. 1 had been mashing ready for drinking. However the phone rang at this point and it ended up sitting in the mug for just over the five minute mark. The resultant brew was an unappealing orangey colour, and when I sipped at it I could not taste the bergamot, just the bitter tannin.  The kind of flavour you get when you squeeze the tea bag (for me, it's a pet hate). This would not do. Kettle back on for mug number 2.

This time a strict 3 minutes is observed and... the weird orange colour is still there. I still can't smell the bergamot. There's a hint of it in the taste but it's kind of like someone has made a massive vat of builders and put in 1 Earl Grey tea bag and 9 regular ones.

My verdict is- this isn't the Earl Grey for me. It's a robust tea that will go down well in the office, where it's all about the quick caffeine fix and no-one has time to drink more than a third of a cup anyway. If I take it out of the box, no-one will realise it's Earl Grey and I won't be accused of bringing in more posh tea.

As an Earl Grey, this is disappointing. I am not feeling any bergamot vibes and I have had to reboil to make a cup of real Earl Grey (i.e Twinings). Taylors of Harrogate cannot be accused of having produced a tea with an artificial soapy flavour, but neither have they produced a tea with a proper Earl Grey flavour. I'll stick with Twinings for my fix of the Earl.

Twinings Silky Pyramids: Liquorice Allsorts Earl Grey

For the past 18 months, this has been one of my favourite teas. The Twining's silky pyramid range is a bridge between tea bags and loose leaf tea; the loose leaf tea is enclosed in a delicate mesh pyramid, giving it plenty of room to move about. These are good quality teas, available in supermarkets.
Liquorice Allsort Earl Grey is a blend of whole leaf bergamot scented Earl Grey, with coconut and liquorice flavourings. The result is amazing, if you love the sweets then you will love this tea.

Image from the Twinings website

It's a tea with plenty of depth and body, able to hold it's own when partnered with foods- it goes nicely with a fried breakfast. However it's equally nice on it's own, and manages not to be overpowering. I find it makes a great pick me up.

This is a tea that I always have in my cupboard- other teas come and go but this is an essential.

Twinings Jasmine Butterfly in Love

Now for something a little different- Jasmine Butterfly in Love by Twinings.

In my personal experience, Twinings really do go the extra mile to look after their customers, with lots of competitions and the odd free sample. I was very lucky to win a tea tasters membership in February, which means that I get a fine tea delivered each month.

Jasmine Butterfly in Love is (according to the tasting notes) a tea from Southern China. It's a green tea, which means that the fresh leaves have been steamed in order to stop oxidation. The leaves are then made into a bow, and tied with a jasmine leaf. Don't they look lovely.

I have been using 4 butterflies in my teapot, each set can be re- infused  two or three times. They only need infusing for a minute or two to unfurl release the heady jasmine scent. As this is a green tea, it doesn't need any longer or else it begins to become bitter.  When poured, the scent of jasmine continues to shine through. The tea is a very pale, almost golden colour (the picture however comes out a bit greener).

The jasmine gives the tea floral notes, and means that it lacks the bitterness that you can find in green teas. It's fragrant, delicate, and refreshing. The tea tasting notes describes it as "sublime" and that isn't an overstatement.

This is the perfect tea for an elegant treat, and makes me feel oh so refined!

Twinings Christmas Thanks

Today I am sipping away at a fabulous blend that unfortunately you probably won't be able to get hold of. I have been using this tea sparingly as I know it cannot be replaced. Unless Twinings decides to reissue the tea next year- fingers crossed!

This is Christmas Thanks, a tea that tastes like Christmas cake! It sounds gimicky but it really works. As soon as you open the tin, the aroma of rich, fruity christmas cake fills the room.. The dark leaves brew to a nice deep amber colour, and the aroma remains even once the tea has been brewed.

I find with Christmas thanks that because it tastes like Christmas Cake, I don't always "need" to have a biscuit with my cuppa as psychologically my brain thinks it has had cake. If I do have a nibble with my tea,  it goes really well with a ginger oat biscuit. It also goes well with savoury nibbles, like real Christmas cake a nice slice of crumbly cheddar or other white cheese complements it really well. For me, however, the perfect side dish is a bowl of warm custard! It reminds me of the times my mum would use up the Christmas cake by serving it as a pudding with custard. Yummy.

This really is a super tea, flavoursome and satisfying.  The only criticisms I have is that the tin is only 100g, and was only available for Christmas 2013. I should have brought more than one!

Twinings Lady Grey

Following on from Earl Grey, I now present the sophisticated Lady Grey.

Lady Grey is one of those teas that I just love the look of. You would never get that visual experience with a tea bag. The blue of the tin perfectly complements the blue cornflowers among the tea. You can also see the dried peel (orange and lemon) to give extra flavour.

Like Earl Grey, Lady Grey has a bergamot base. But added to it is cornflowers, orange and lemon, making it a more delicate brew. 

The serving suggestion is black, or with a slice of lemon or orange. I am guilty of not reading the instructions and making it with a dash of milk. This works fine for me, and I don't think it detracts from the delicate citrus flavour at all. 

The tin is from a set with Earl Grey (red) and English Breakfast (white) but unfortunately I have not got hold of the English Breakfast tin so will be unable to review it.

Twinings Earl Grey

Let's start with a classic.

I would start with English Breakfast, but I currently do not have any in loose leaf form. Which is quite an achievement considering the fact that there are 10 different black loose leaf teas in my kitchen cupboards at the moment.

So it is going to have to be another classic: Earl Grey.

I have been meaning to do this post for about a week, which means that I have consumed several cups with the intention of writing about them, but this is the first time I have actually managed to remember to do so.

The tea is a blend of black tea with bergamot flavouring, and was first created for Earl Grey, who was a British Prime Minister in the 1800s.

I had to do a little investigation in regards to bergamot, and have discovered that it is a citrus fruit, with a similar size and shape to an orange but more like a lemon in terms of it's colour. As well as being used in tea. bergamot is used as a top note in many perfumes. Wikipedia also informs me that one of the chemicals in bergamot can block potassium channels and cause muscle cramps (the original source of this information is the Lancet, a highly regarded medical journal). If you drink 4 litres of Earl Grey tea a day that is. That would be twice the recommended daily fluid intake.However other chemicals in bergamot may reduce cholesterol levels, reduce skin inflammation, and reduce anxiety.

Anyway, I digress.

The bergamot lends the tea a citrus air, but it is not a sour flavour. It's light and not at all chemically. I like my tea with milk, but I know lots of people would object. It's just a matter of personal taste.

Interestingly, whilst my loose leaf lists the ingredients as "black tea, bergamot", the tea bags also include lemon. I never really had a taste for Earl Grey before becoming a loose leaf devotee, so it would be interesting to do a comparison and see if I do now like the teabags.

Anyway, I must finish off my cup before it goes cold.  Then I will put the kettle on for cup number 2...