Whittard of Chelsea

Brewed well, this tea is a delight. Sweet, delicate jasmine flavour over a slightly tart green tea. However, it’s very easy to brew it so one or other flavour dominates, which can spoil the experience somewhat.

I found that a level teaspoon of tea – 20-22 of the pearls – is ideal for the amount I brew, about 250ml. Much more and the jasmine can become cloying. Like many delicate teas, this can be brewed a couple of times. The first brew I do for slightly longer, to give the leaves time to unfurl – 3.5 to 4 minutes, anything longer and the bitterness of the tea takes over. The second brew needs a minute or so less.

Hooray, Whittard has steeping instructions for this on their website now! Unfortunately 2 minutes is too long for the first steep, especially with the amount of dust and broken leaves I pulled up in my spoon. The flavor is pretty good, but I dislike the astringency, which makes the entire inside of my mouth feel like fine sandpaper. Next time I’ll try it at 1 minute and see how that works out.

The aroma of the dry leaf is amazing, though. I could spend all day with my face in the container.

Had this today needs just a little rock sugar to give it some sweetness without any sugar it is slightly tart but nice to drink. I steeped slightly longer that the 5 minutes more like 7 minutes nice ruby color lovely fruity scent.

Wait a minute, I ate macadamia nuts in like everything on the cruise (macadamia nut hummus even). This morning I wanted a fun black blend and once I almost finish my cup I remember this blend has macadamia nuts in it!
I can’t escape Hawaii! It’s a sign, I need to go back!

Ahem, anyways, nice cup this morning. Very sweet, despite not adding any sugar. See previous notes for full review of this tea, or my blog post http://oolongowl.com/sticky-toffee-black-tea-whittard-chelsea-oolong-owl-tea-review/

Hello sweet tooth tea!

Quite a rich black tea with lots of malty, smooth flavor. The black tea base is accented with hard candy toffee flavor. I like the macadamia nuts in this blend, it’s like chestnuts, but sweet and bright. Very sweet of a blend though, like I already added a small spoon of sugar in my cup, in fact, the ingredients state “sugar” on them too.

With that said, totally a dessert tea for someone who likes sweeter teas.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/sticky-toffee-black-tea-whittard-chelsea-oolong-owl-tea-review/
I wish my Tea owls had more of a sweet tooth, I’m buried in sweets from Christmas! For some reason this year everyone gave me candy!

I brought this in to a university seminar on food. I made close to 20 cups from about a quarter of a brew basket of leaves (no way to measure in class), and it was a smash hit. People came for seconds. The leaves are of superb quality, whole, unbroken, with a powerful buttery aroma and a strong creamy buttery taste. They unfold beautifully, and are worth spending time with.

This tea was expensive. Super, super expensive. Which made me hope that it was a real milky oolong, and not one that has had additives thrown in it. I specifically enquired at the Covent Garden branch of Whittard’s if this was the real deal, no flavourings etc, and was told it was. So, I’m going to treat it as such. I’m writing this down because I have been tricked in the past. But I do think that this is the genuine thing this time, not only because of Whittard’s reputation and the knowledgeability of the attendant at the shop, but also because of the way that this tea brewed and re-brewed.
This tea should be called “buttery oolong”. It brews a light orange-yellow, and is silky smooth on the tongue. The yellow green balls of large whole leaves unfurled fully at the third steeping, though they kept growing until the 5th or 6th one. I got 10 steepings of full 200ml cups, each one full of flavour out of a teaspoon of leaves. So an expensive tea, but economical if you re-brew it (and you should!). This tea smells and tastes like good, creamy butter. It smells like butter when dry, the tea “soup” smells like butter, the wet leaves smell like butter, and all ten steepings tasted like butter. The difference between them are with the added flavours that rise in later brewings. If you are a butter person, take the first few cups. Otherwise, take later ones. This tea will not take milk well (very light), is naturally sweet (no sugar needed), not at all astringent, and I have a feeling that it will be hard to ruin it by over brewing.
The only question is: do you like butter?

Sipdown!
This was a very unusual, but rather good Yunnan, and it helped me this evening through a slump at work. Nothing that I would rush to buy again, but it was nice while it lasted.

I overleafed this one to death accidentally at work on Thursday. Putting this out there to remind myself to re-review it during one of the times that I properly make it.

This is a very nice Oolong that I got a few years back from Whittards, but still tastes and smells as it did when I bought it. Whittards no longer has it, from what I saw.
This tea does smell and taste a little like peaches, but with an added toasty taste to it. It is silky, not astringent, and without the mineral or grassy taste that some oolongs have. The leaves are huge, so this tea needs a lot of space to unravel. As you re-brew it the fruity tastes become more dominant than the toasted ones.

I have had these beautiful tins on display in my secretary desk and realized I was letting it get old. Almost three years old now, I think! Time to drink them up.

I completely forgot what was in this tea and decided to make a really nice batch of sweet iced tea with it. I saw Afternoon Blend and immediately thought of Chinese black with Darjeeling. I made two gallons. Yes, two gallons. It will be gone very soon because it is hot as blazes here and in the South we survive that by drinking glass after glass of tea.

Hubby loves it, and prefers it to plain black tea and to the Apricot Black I made last. I was surprised when I tasted it and pulled out the tin and saw the jasmine and bergamot listed. At this point and in this huge amount, they are more subtle but it is seriously great.

Stay cool, all.

Note: this is the loose leaf version, purchased in London.

I saw this described as Whittard’s lightest Earl Grey but the scent when I opened the tin seemed to challenge that notion. I notice that it is only referred to as black tea here except for one person who mentioned oolong, yet when I turned my tin over it said there was 13% green tea in this. Hmmmm. For this reason I pulled the temperature back ever so slightly and kept the steep a little shorter.

And guess what happened? The jasmine stepped forward in a big way and the bergamot was perfectly matched with it. It made a sweet dance of the most elegant flavors that made my pinky hoist into the air and made me glad I had used my favorite tea cup. The brew is fairly light in color, but the tea has plenty of strength so don’t oversteep this. You don’t want to miss it in all of its glory.

This is a tea I would serve to a friend who was sad and needed for me to say “There, there!” and give them tea and sympathy. Or one for a young lady’s first elegant tea party. Or for drinking when you need a touch of glorious beauty in your life.

Brilliant. And I wish you could see these tins. They are gorgeous.

I was so excited a few weeks ago when I saw a gift pack of Whittard tea at Home Goods. It was beautifully packaged and although it is sachets and not loose tea, there is quite an assortment of tea for a very low price, with twenty sachets of each.

I was in the mood for a solid black tea this morning with my bagel and eager to try the English Breakfast…only to come here and discover that I have already had three of these teas in an assortment my eldest daughter bought in London years ago for me!

That’s okay! I am going to enjoy having them again! As for this EB, it was a solid black tea, good for morning, and just smooth enough to escape me wanting milk and sugar with it. (I generally avoid teas that have to have it, or I find a way to make them smoother so I don’t need it.)

I notice that last time I had this tea, I was having it with gingerbread biscotti. Guess what I have in the cabinet right now? :)

Note: I am drinking the loose leaf version.

I am really, really eager to try the Afternoon Tea in this set with jasmine and bergamot, but I wanted to dip some gingerbread almond biscotti in my tea this morning, and that really calls for unflavored tea to me. I opted for this one and braced myself for the first sip because it says, “Strong, Traditional” on the front of the beautiful little green and gold tin that I doubt I will ever part with because it is so beautiful.

The color in the cup did not lie. I made this in a small glass teapot and saw that it was a medium color with great clarity, though not too pale. I am a little afraid of some assam teas and I figured there would surely be some in this blend (and there is) but it isn’t harsh at all. I made a resteep because I hadn’t finished my biscotti and it was a little paler, not quite as strong, but still very enjoyable.

This is a good all around tea, easily drunk without milk or sugar, tasty for dipping biscotti or tea biscuits, and perfect for when you are not craving a particular tea or flavor and want an easy choice. Very nice!

You can buy this tea loose or in tea bags. Verry nice anytime of the day,I add sugar to taste.

This is not a review – this is a note of mourning. Someone stole – yes stole – the container with this tea, my favourite Assam and one that is no longer available. So sad…

Bold, malty, fruity, sweet, Assam –
A great way to start the day.
How did you start yours?

A thoroughly good, malty, bass-y, fruity, Assam, with a good powerful kick to it too. What more do you want?

Had a cup of this yesterday morning, instead of my morning coffee. A very satisfying Assam – bold, bass-y, slightly nutty, very malty.

Had this at work today, on a cold and stormy day. Rich, bold, malty, very good – and a welcome afternoon pick me up. One of the best Assams that I have, and works perfectly well without milk (and of course, takes milk well).