Whittard of Chelsea

So I haven’t posted in a while and so I decided to have something I haven’t had in a bit. I picked up this tea recently on a trip to London, and while it was a free gift with purchase, I was not at all upset at the blend concept. Keemun + Assam sounds like a rounded tea and I was looking forward to giving it a try.
First, the leaves themselves ranged from half inch to broken pieces, and majority were deep black, with the occasional golden leaf tossed in. The smell of dried leaves is quite subdued, having to really hunt for any serious aromas. After steeping, the leaves develop a fired, yet not smokey, smell. They smell almost charred, but not offensively, just very warm. All in all, the smell doesn’t really match the deep color of the liquor. Speaking of the tea itself, the smell is of dark caramel and heavily roasted carrots or beets. The taste is subtle and would be completely covered by any addition of milk or sweetener. It has a sizable body one would expect from an Assam, but without any heavy astringency.

In the end, the tea is a bit bland for my taste, but is a nice balance of the extremes of both tea types. Perhaps better in the afternoon rather than the morning. I enjoyed it, but would like to find a bit more in a black tea.

Happy sipping everyone!

Backlog:

Mondays tend to be my craziest day of the week, my husband is usually off on Mondays (sometimes he gets called in), and we seem to always be running, running, running. I don’t have the kind of time I’d like to have to enjoy a pot (several pots!) of tea, so, I usually grab a bagged tea and gulp it down before we start our running. Instead, today, I brewed some of this and poured it in a travel mug and drank it while running around. It was certainly a welcome part of the errands run. Rich and bergamot-y. I like this Earl Grey quite a bit.

What a lovely Earl Grey! Quite unlike others that I’ve tried. The base is a blend of teas, and this blend is very bold and distinguished, and the bergamot seems rather mellow as a result. But it has mellowed in a very enjoyable way, offering a sweet hint of juicy citrus notes throughout the sip, but, by the time I’ve reached mid-cup, the flavor begins to reveal some hints of floral tones. It’s a very unique bergamot, a very lovely Earl Grey.

Yay for Earl Grey!

Huh, I thought I had posted about this…

I’ve definitely had it before.

Anyway, as many of you may already know, I don’t actually care much for Darjeeling. I find it too finicky to brew and too prickly and grassy in flavour. I honestly don’t understand all the Darj. hype. I can only imagine that once upon a time somebody somewhere did some excellent marketing.

So when I was given 100g of this along with 100g of EG (sigh), it was accepted with as sincere a smile as I could muster and a secret thought that it would be exclusively for the husband, as he doesn’t dislike it as much as I do.

For the sake of thoroughness and openmindedness and what have you, I did try a cup of it though. This is the one I thought I had posted about, but apparently hadn’t. I wouldn’t say I particularly enjoyed it, but it wasn’t totally offensive either. I think I would say it was probably worth around 70-75 points, and drinkable. The things that I dislike about Darjeeling weren’t standing out so much.

This may be a question of leaf quality. The bag has no information on it at all regarding origin, so I assume we’re talking about a blend of several estates. This also makes me suspect that it’s a somewhat lower leaf quality than the FFs Darj-lovers happily shell out small fortunes for every year. The bag doesn’t even have any information regarding leaf grading on it.

So hot, it turned out surprisingly drinkable.

On a whim I tried putting some in the fridge for a cold brew last night and I have tasted the result this morning. It’s quite weak in flavour with a smidge of that prickly grassyness that I associate with Darj and don’t much care for. However, in a cold brew it doesn’t seem to bother me as much, probably because the flavour of the tea itself is so very, very delicate.

I wouldn’t say it was like drinking a glass of cold brewed tea really. It doesn’t really taste like something that is easily identified as tea unless you know about it. It’s more like drinking a glass of cold water with just a little bit of flavouring to it to make it interesting to drink. Not very different from how you can make a jug of ice water more intersting and refreshing to drink by tossing in a slice of lemon.

I would just like to point out that I’m not actually around at this point. Well, I’ll probably pop in for a bit here and there, but not properly. I likely won’t be again until in a couple of weeks time when we have returned from our honeymoon.

Only two sleeps now! Best man and his girlfriend have arrived safely from the UK and we have fed them dinner this evening. We had also bought them dessert, but as it had to thaw out and we forgot, they didn’t get any. So we’ve shown them where we live and how to get here so they can get here bright and early on Saturday morning. He will be going with the boyfriend into town while I’m at the hairdressers (we think) and she will be helping me into my dress and then going into town with me.

They brought us two pouches of Whittard of Chelsea as a present, this one and a first flush Darjeeling (which annoyingly doesn’t state the estate on it, so I just put it under a generic Darjeeling already in the system). sigh Well, they weren’t to know that both of these are pretty much non-hits with me. Particularly the Darj, which I’ll try, but it will probably be one mostly for the boyfriend.

Anyway, they just went back to their hotel about twenty-ish minutes ago, so I put the kettle on so we could try one of these new ones before going to bed. The EG was requested, so that’s where we’ll start.

As I was spooning out the leaf I noticed a fair bit of aroma. At that distance from my nose, it was suprisingly sweet and it reminded me rather of that Girlie Grey I had from Jeeves and Jericho some time ago. TeaEqualsBliss, you might remember that one, I believe I shared some of it with you.

This of course made me curious, so I put my nose closer to the bag to get a better idea of it, but then it was just all sharpness and sort of dusty turqoise bergamot. From a distance though, it smells a bit like a citrus-y pudding.

This makes me hopeful.

After steeping, it’s more or less the same thing, although the bergamot is softer and retains that dessert-y touch to it, even when my nose is closer to the cup.

This makes me even more hopeful.

I did oversteep it a bit, but only by a few minutes, so no real harm was done, and it doesn’t seem to be showing up in the flavour. It tastes very creamy and smooth. If I didn’t know better I would think it had a smidge of cream-y flavouring added or perhaps a touch of vanilla. It says nothing of the sort on the box, though.

I actually like the EG! I think it’s because it’s not just like being pelted with bergamots. It’s not so sharp and dusty like they can sometimes get. It has that extra dimension of creamyness which makes it slightly pudding-y. Not very, just ever so slightly.

I’m suspectly, actually, that this may have more to do with the base blend (unfortunately not elaborated on) rather than the flavouring process, because it is indeed very very flavoured. For once it’s just not completely offensive. I feel certain we’ll get through this tin with little trouble.

I am drinking this tea right now. Well, I tried to make ice tea but I think I failed it. very Bitter.

I have only just got this and don’t have a clue how to brew it, but what I can tell you straight away is that it is a hundred time better than my usual jasmine tea. And I really didn’t think it would be.
I am thoroughly impressed

A must try one. I’m from Turkey, one of the country where tea is consumed most. Unfortunate to say that we do not have this kind of flavoured tea varieties in here. I am lucky enough to find out about Whittard, and its spice imperial. About a decade a go, discovered it during my visit to London. It has an amazing taste; a very strong taste as well. Therefore you get the best joy of it when blending it with a regular (not flavoured) black ceylon tea. Don’t use same amounts while blending, whittard s.i. should be added half amount of the other that you’re adding. Enjoy!

The smell reminds me of summer. I do like also the taste, it’s not too flavoured black tea.

A very fruity-tasting, sweet instant tea with a slightly citrus aftertaste. If you don’t have a sweet tooth then you probably won’t be a fan, but I do and am! I wasn’t sure about the idea of ‘instant tea granules’ when I first saw these tubs in Whittard’s, but this mulled wine flavour brought me around to the idea. I could drink it all year round.

Was not a Rooibos partisan before or after this particular blend, but I must say it is the most delightful Rooibos I’ve ever tasted. Blended almost perfectly, the cinnamon and orange blend with the rooibos to produce a unique taste that lingers slightly. Excellent breakfast tea and also useful as a gateway to new converts to loose-leaf (a big crusade of mine..)

It’s a bright and warm day in Leicester today so I coaxed my husband into helping me do some spring cleaning. Only going to manage downstairs today but it will be a good start, sort my house out for when it gets looked after at the end of the month before I go on holiday to Brighton.

I forgot all about this tea until I pulled it out of the back of my cupboard this morning along with my last tin of baked beans (which was used for breakfast). A delicious pineapple and coconut instant tea drink that can be brewed hot or cold as it’s an instant mix. Very delicious and non time consuming in a pinch.

This is an instant tea that requires 3 spoons per mug that slowly dissolve’s. It can also be used with hot or cold water. I am trying it with boiling water.

Smell is pleasant and strong with sweet pineapple and coconut aroma’s that make me close my eyes and pretend I am on a beach somewhere far, far away.

Colour is brown with honeyed tones.

The taste is unbelievable (in a good way). Pina Colada is the perfect name as that is truly what it tastes like. Refreshing and full on flavour with sweet goodness. Not something I could drink all the time but it makes a nice change. It also leaves a pleasant after taste. Who would have thought a fruit cocktail tea medley would be so nice?

In one word? YUMMY!

I bought a box of the bagged version of this tea (50 teabags) last year- before discovering I hated it. I would not recommend drinking it black – although, I may be biased, preferring most black teas with milk – it just tastes bitter and a bit nasty to me without (perhaps my fault?). I can’t really distinguish any of the individual flavours – just a vague hint of mixed spices. Saying that, it is still pleasant to drink, if I manage to offset the bitterness with a huge amount of milk.

The dry leaf smells a bit sour, but smooth and creamy. The first thing I taste is the tea base. It’s just slightly smooth and a little bit astringent. The rhubarb comes out at the end of the sip as a tart bite. The cream is more present in the scent than in the taste. I am enjoying this cup, but I think that I like the idea and the scent more than the actual taste. I’m expecting more flavor than tea base… but maybe that’s just me. Thank you to maisonlula for a sample of this tea!

I love milk oolongs, so I simply had to try another one out there! I don’t taste buttery or milky flavors that I do in other milk oolongs. There is a little bit of a peachy note in the background, but otherwise it tastes like an astringent green oolong, to me. Not a favorite, but I’m happy that I was able to try it! Thank you maisonlula for a sample!

A while ago I gave this a try in its teabag form- 50 teabags to one box, basically gave me 50 unsavoury, terrible tea experiences. However I’m hearing good things about the loose leaf version and I’m always willing to give teas another shot, so I caved and got the loose-leaf Sencha yesterday, thinking I could use this for breakfast.

Steeped to the pale gold colour the packet recommends (the leaves look… unimpressive, to say the least, like bancha rather than anything of a higher grade), it still has this foreboding, sharply tangy aroma to it. Part of this fresh citrus-y scent is what makes Japanese green teas so unique, of course, but too much of that gave me an entirely bitter experience last time I tried this tea. And onto the first sip…

Much better! Smoother, softer over the palate and nothing as astringent as how it smells or how the teabag tea tasted! I understand the main difference between this tea and the teabag version is the teabag version uses Sri Lankan tea leaf fannings, whereas this, as whole-leaf Japanese tea, is more delicate. I’d used about a level teaspoonful— I’d say the flavour, being so easily spoilt, is absolutely based on the quantity of tea used. In a teabag there’s simply too much to make one pleasant mugful…

As I’m getting through the cup the citrus astringency is slowly beginning to settle in, but not unpleasantly. It reminds me of drinking tea and eating maple-leaf dorayaki in the ryokan in Miyajima… definitely making me crave red bean paste, anyway. I had to take quite a bit of care with letting the boiled water cool before pouring it but I think I’ll make this part of my morning routine from now on. ♥

Usually for breakfast I tend to have a green tea rather than a black English breakfast tea, and a 50-bag box lasts a long time (compared to 20 bags in Twinings boxes) but… this is really difficult to make in teabags.

I’ve tried everything from using water off the boil, adding cool water, taking the teabag out early, brewing it at a cooler temperature than usual, brewing it in a big mug; nothing seems to stop it tasting bitter, acrid and scalded. Even following the directions (“brewed lightly” for a pale gold colour— you have to take the teabag out after a few seconds or it’ll turn brown and bitter) doesn’t help. It might just be a dilemma concerning the teabag tea, since I haven’t tried the loose-leaf version, but it’s disappointing.

After having been through a variety of other companies’ teas, Whittard of Chelsea’s remains still one of the more well-rounded, delicate ones. Somehow I’d thought due to kickstarting my tea obsession with Twinings that I could only tolerate Earl Grey very, very strong— but even brewed strongly this tea tastes delicate, even flowery, and takes milk pretty well! Lightly with a little lemon is delightful, too, but there’s more to this tea than just its ‘light’ taste. It’s a distinctive bergamot flavour that accompanies the black base rather than becoming overpowering alongside it.

In previous experience of Whittard’s Earl Grey blend I found it rather weak, probably in comparison to the Earl Grey I usually drink (the old blend in Twinings teabags, which can get incredibly strong very quickly); but since I didn’t bring any Earl Grey to uni and the new Twinings blend doesn’t sit well with me, I thought I’d give it a shot.

It’s definitely not as weak as I’d remembered! It just needs a little while to brew fully, and takes milk very well. The balance between the black tea and the bergamot is great (and it smells divine; the temptation to just leave a box of it open in my room… XD)— a definite favourite.

The best English Rose teas I’ve had so far haven’t actually been English, and this one continues the trend. Even though it says “a hint of tropical fruit” has been added, there’s a hint of fruit, but there’s also just a hint of rose. Neither flavour is particularly bold or characteristic (if anything, the fruit might come out just a little more) as I’d usually expect from a rose tea. Brewing longer doesn’t make a difference either.

Well, it’s so-so, but it’s nothing interesting.