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Enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. I’m usually guilty of overbrewing this tea and then quickly gulping down the bitter liquor to finish it as quickly as possible. But, as this is review time, I made sure to time it perfectly. 1 minute 30 seconds was just right.

The aroma is tantalising. Dry, it has a lemon and lime zest aroma – like when you’re zesting a lemon and that fine spray goes everywhere. Pour over water, and suddenly it’s smoky and earthy which was completely unexpected but I love smoky so I was breathing that in deeply. About 2 or 3 minutes after removing the tea bag, the aroma switched back to bergamot, citrus and floral notes. The smokiness just evaporated but I’m certain I didn’t imagine it.

The flavour is delicate and refreshing. It’s a pretentious tea in my opinion. Supposed to be eaten with tiny sandwiches and cakes. The texture is silky smooth and I love how it glides over my palate – sometimes citrus sticks to my throat and gets a little tingly, but that didn’t happen here.

The body is medium-light but the floral and citrus notes are undeniably pungent – it’s a weird light/heavy combo that upsets my stomach if I drink it without food. It’s also weird that this tea contains a mix of black, green and oolong teas. It works!

The 70 score is accurate though. I’m not falling in love with this tea or craving another cup. A once-a-month tea when I have to be in the mood for it.

Full review with some nice pictures: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/whittard-afternoon-tea-review/

Having this tea cold brewed as it’s getting quite warm today. Aroma is even better than when hot, lots of juicy passion fruit notes going on. The taste is a little bitter but has a smooth texture. Just green tea, the fruits are just an aroma. I only left it to brew for 3 hours in the fridge so I guess that’s why. I’m too impatient to wait for it to brew longer.

The bitterness and extra caffeine/l-theanine is making my stomach feel a little funny. I should have rinsed the tea bag to shake off some of the tea extract that’s added.

Weird tip for this tea. Inhaling through the nose while you sip somehow adds the fruit aroma to the flavour and diminishes the slight bitterness.

I’ve been taking some time to “sipdown” many of the teas in my cupboard, hence so few reviews being posted the last week or so. No point repeating myself unless there’s something new to add.

This was a nice tea. Very simple, but still nice.

The apple aroma changed a lot from dry to wet, going through stages of bitter granny smith apple to sour sherbet to sweet apple laces. The taste was a bit of a mix of them all.

I appreciated how full the black tea base is. I thought a rich tea base might clash with the vibrant, sweet and sour apple, but actually it works really well. A lighter black tea or green tea would have let the sourness take control of the blend. It’s balanced well.

Not much else to say about this tea, other than it’s not refreshing in the slightest. I’d rename it “Apple Boost”.

Review with pictures https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/ahmad-tea-apple-refresh-review/

I’ll finish the little box I’ve got of this tea in the early afternoons. I’ve been carefully cutting the wrappers to save them for Martin, storing them in an envelope that probably won’t be big enough by the time I’m finished! It’s highly satisfying seeing my tea bag wrappers cut perfectly and left whole – not sure why. I’ve always been a bit like that. I like order and symmetry and organisation and keeping careful records. I’ve been known to create a spreadsheet organiser just for fun.

I’m wondering if maybe I did something wrong with this tea. It just doesn’t taste good at all. Yet this blend won a Great Taste Award in 2013, with judges saying:

“Lovely delicate liquor. Happy marriage of delicate flavours. Gentle and well blended. An apple note coming through, along with really well-managed flavours.”

I didn’t get any of that at all, it’s very bland and generic. I brewed as recommended and there was no flavour to this tea other than a hint of herb. The black pepper stung my tongue and the ginger actually made my eyes water. There’s no way I’m going to brew this for longer next time – even if the cinnamon, cloves and green tea are finally detectable, I think the pepper and ginger will kill me.

I’m disappointed :( I’ve now reviewed 2 out of the 4 teas from this company. The first was meh, this one was bleh. Really hoping the last 2 will save the day.

My scoring system for teas includes the quality of the ingredients, as it’s important to me that I’m drinking something real, organic or healthy, not artificial. That plus the dry aroma (which was actually alright) and my overall score has been bumped to about 50. The flavour score column is 1/10 though. If there was no flavour at all or it physically made me ill, I’d be giving it 0 for flavour.

I’ll finish the last of these tea bags with an unhealthy dose of honey, or maybe have a go at making a masala chai with them.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/ayurveda-pura-cinnamon-ginger-spice-tea-review/

I enjoyed this one more than I was expecting. It has a rich summer berry aroma and flavour, with a hint of anise. I was also getting these red wine notes which were very pleasant – and I don’t usually like/drink wine.

What stood out, however, was the texture. It’s soooo juicy. With wine and slightly tart berries you’d expect it to be drying… but it’s the opposite. It bathes my mouth in moisture with every sip and leaves me feeling very refreshed.

The aftertaste lingers for quite a while, getting slightly sweeter as time passes.

Can’t say I detected any elderberry or echinacea though. You could say the flavour was a little generic, but it’s definitely not bland.

Full review with pictures, in case anyone is interested: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/pukka-elderberry-echinacea-tea-review/

Found a couple bags of this tea lingering in the back of a cupboard, probably pinched from a hotel room.

I read through some of the tasting notes for this tea and I’ve come to the conclusion that this tea has either been re-formulated/changed or just re-marketed in the past few years. Twinings now describe this is as Sencha that’s been steamed and then pan-fired after (what is the point in that? I’m not sure) – so not a Chinese green tea like I first expected. It certainly tastes like a Chinese green tea to me.

It’s actually not that bad. No bitterness or astringency at all – it’s very smooth and warming, typical green tea with notes of hay/straw and a little grass. It’s also a bit musty, but not unpleasantly so.

No defining characteristics really. I wouldn’t say it was bad tea… just uneventful. I’d still recommend it.

My usual review nonsense with a few pictures: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/twinings-pure-green-tea-review/

There was a weird freshness to this tea that was verging on menthol. I could feel a slight coolness in my nose and throat, no idea why. Ingredients are just jasmine and green tea.

It’s a pretty bland jasmine green tea, very subtle on the jasmine and a green tea that doesn’t leave a lasting impression. I really love my jasmine teas so this was a bit of a let down. Ahmad’s lemon vitality was good for a standard supermarket tea bag so my expectations were a little bit higher than usual for this Jasmine Romance.

I guess if you aren’t so keen on jasmine it would be nice.

It’s slightly bitter but not grassy, it has that warm honey gold colour and aroma from fired Chinese green teas.

I’ll finish the box but… yeah. The score is accurate, it’s neither good or bad, just hovering in the middle. I did take some nice picture of it for my blog, using spring blossoms from the hedgerow across the road from my home. Spring is probably my favourite season and jasmine tea usually embodies the freshness and floralness of it.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/ahmad-tea-jasmine-romance-review/

Quick additional note for this tea.

Found a recipe from Twinings for a Lady Grey and lime iced tea, but I only had Earl Grey in the cupboard. The bergamot goes spectacularly well with the slightly sour lime cordial, I highly recommend trying it with EG.

The recipe is so simple: https://www.twinings.co.uk/blog/2018/july/lady-grey-lime-cooler

Loved this tea. The rhubarb is so fresh and real… despite there being no rhubarb in it, just rhubarb flavouring.

Brewing it hot was lovely, the longer it brewed the more the colour of the tea transformed through shades of rose gold and peach. Then the aroma develops from tart and almost sour to sweet, vanilla, rhubarb and crumble. The flavour is spot-on. Rhubarb is not the sweetest, friendliest fruit – it’s got a bite, an edge. This tea has managed to perfectly balance the tart vibrancy of rhubarb with sweetness. It should be sour and suck in your cheeks, but the sweet aftertaste rushes in and saves it.

I greedily drank the whole cup. Definitely going to buy this fruit tea again. Full review and a few pictures: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/taylors-of-harrogate-sweet-rhubarb-tea-review/

Found this very old pack of oolong plum tea in the back of a cupboard this week. The label is half worn off so I can’t tell where this tea is from, just the name “oloong yello plum”… and a use-by date of 2014. So I guess random steepings is where I’m supposed to review this tea?

5 years past the use by date… can anyone beat that?

Smells amazing despite being so old (it was sealed up very well, although opened inside) with plum and apricot and warm black tea.

I brewed it. First few sips there’s a light fruity sweetness and earthyness that’s lovely. Then there’s what I can only describe as bin juice. To be precise, it’s the smell of the juice/liquid that’s lingering in the bottom of your bin after being too lazy to take the trash out for a few too many days. Rotting garbage and earthy and sweet, because the trash is full of sugary drink cans.

Once you’ve got that smell in your mind and what you imagine it would taste like, this tea becomes a mind battle. The more you think about the bin juice, the more you can taste it. I battled to the bottom of the cup by focusing on the taste of plums.

I’m now pretty sure the plum flavouring was added, not just a description of the natural oolong leaf flavour. I think that’s what has started to rot. Throwing this tea away now, sadly. I imagine it was delicious fresh.