The UK tea merchant Nothing But Tea is having their 7th birthday celebrations starting this week until Friday. What does that mean? Well they’re now offering the following discounts across the range:
Spend £10 get 10% off
Spend £25 get 15% off
Spend £40 get 20% off
If you’re in the UK its worth mentioning also that the VAT rate is going back up to 17.5% on January 1st so its worth getting all your gift buying in before as the usual January ’sales’ won’t be quite so cut price as normal.
It’s not often I point out good sites but after trying some nice organic food from an online caterer I thought I’d share my experiences.
Normally I don’t go in for organic but a friend decided to have a dinner party (with plenty of tea) from Healthy Chef Creations. It’s all part of a new years resolution diet I plan on starting – early but I start as I mean to go on!
I wasn’t expecting great things as I rarely use online caterers, but – woah. It was nice! When I say nice that’s an understatement. Considering this food was delivered it was incredibly fresh and tasty. We had cups of green and black tea on hand to wash it all down with as we tucked into our meals.
What I also like about them is that all the food is healthy and organic. So if you’re planning on a natural weight loss diet then this could be the magic bullet. They know their food and their nutrition so you won’t be forced to eat rabbit food or plastic just to achieve natural weight loss.
Just a quick message: A couple of new tea merchants have been added to the UK tea merchants list. If you’re a tea merchant based in the UK get in touch and I’ll be happy to add you to the list.
Well yes it does indeed look like a tea wiki has been created. A wiki is simply a way for people to edit the content themselves a bit like wikipedia. There’s loads out there all dedicated to specialist subjects. Now it looks like a tea wiki has been set up too!
You can visit it and fill in the gaps as you see fit.
Yorkshire Tea is one of the finest blended teas you’ll find in the British Isles. You will find it in most good tea shops, supermarkets and merchants.
Betty & Taylors of Harrogate tea merchants has a long history of quality dating all the way back to 1886 when it was first established by Charles Taylor. Its is one of very few independent and family owned tea merchants left in Great Britain.
The Taste & Brewing
Yorkshire tea has a strong malty flavour that goes well with just a dash of milk. Too much and you overpower the lighter notes in the blend. There are no brewing guidelines on the box they provide though I’ve contacted the makers to request a guide [awaiting response].
I’ve personally found a brewing time of 2 1/2 minutes to be about right. You can guage the level of milk to use because if you use just the right amount the tea takes on a deep red colour. If you lose that and it slips to all brown then you’ve gone to far or not steeped long enough! A travesty that can only be healed by binning it and starting again.
When it comes to sugar its all dependent on the circumstance. If you’re after a very refreshign cup then I’d go without the sugar but if you’re ater that relaxed, just-got-in-from-a-busy-day feel then you can’t beat half to one teaspoon of sugar to sweeten a little.
Discovering Yorkshire Tea
I remember when I first tried Yorkshire Tea very well as it was the first black tea I’d tried that properly converted me to the path of tea. A friend who was a huge fan brewed me a cup in order to convince me of the virtues of this incredible bush and I have to say it was like a personal visit from god/gods/aliens/some other worldly transportation to paradise.
How could a drink be so refreshing, so tantilising, mourish and delightful. What magic had been counjured in my cup! Since then I’ve been hooked and its now my staple drink.
As my number one tea it’s obvious that I’m going to give this a 5/5. But don’t let my bias put you off. This is by far one of the best tasting tea’s this country has to offer and I’d recommend it to anyone.
I recently moved house and due to my terrible organisation I’ve not managed to time the internet and phone service move quite right. Therefore I’m without the internet until late July. As such I won’t be able to make my usual posting but rest assured I will take this time away to dream up stunning new ideas and hit the blog with a bang soon!
Rooibos has been a popular drink in South Africa since the early 1900’s and started to gain popularity in the US and UK for its health benefits. Whether its deserving of the reputation for being an ‘elixir of life’ is what I’m going to find out!
Rooibos is Afrikaans for “red bush” which is the name it often goes by in the US and UK such as…. It bears no relation to the Camellia Sinensis plant responsible for our beloved green and black teas.
Rooibos does contain high levels of antioxidants such as aspalathin and nothofagin which aren’t found in traditional Camellia Sinensis and with lower caffeine content and tanins it has fewer side effects common in very high levels of tea intake. Although its worth noting tea has quite low level of caffeine anyway and few people suffer caffeine related side effects from tea unless sensitive.
I did note in a previous post on which tea is healthiest that Rooibos contains just 60-80mg of antioxidants per cup compared to the whopping 300-450mg available in green tea. Even black tea that has gone through a heavy oxidation process has more than rooibos with 130-200mg per cup.
Although it has to be said that amount of antioxidants isn’t the only indicator of the health benefits of rooibos. With its lower caffeine and tannin content it can be a useful alternative to those suffering from caffeine sensitivity.
Rooibos tea also happens to be a nice tea to drink for its own sake! I won’t switch to it as my ‘tea’ of choice any time soon but its certainly one I now keep in my cupboards whenever wanting the occassional nutty and sweat red bush.
The UK tea merchant Nothing But Tea is having their 7th birthday celebrations starting this week until Friday. What does that mean? Well they’re now offering the following discounts across the range:
Well yes it does indeed look like a tea wiki has been created. A wiki is simply a way for people to edit the content themselves a bit like wikipedia. There’s loads out there all dedicated to specialist subjects. Now it looks like a tea wiki has been set up too!
Yorkshire Tea is one of the finest blended teas you’ll find in the British Isles. You will find it in most good tea shops, supermarkets and merchants.
In a previous post I mentioned how 
Rooibos has been a popular drink in South Africa since the early 1900’s and started to gain popularity in the US and UK for its health benefits. Whether its deserving of the reputation for being an ‘elixir of life’ is what I’m going to find out!
