Brooke Bond Choicest
Its been quite some time since my last posting and indeed – my last review. In that time I’ve switched jobs, Christmas has been and gone and its a brand new year.
I’ve decided to hit the ground running though and start the year off with a tea review of Brooke Bond Choicest Blend. I found this quite difficult to get hold of after a friend recommended it some weeks back but during a trip to London I managed to pick some up in an old tea shop with some out of date merchandise!
Brooke Bond Choicest Blend is a well balanced blend of the traditional English breakfast tea. It has a full bodied flavour without being too bitter and with a little milk is the perfect start to a busy day.
The company that bought the Choicest Blend brand of tea from Brooke Bond had a major accident in 2005 making this tea very hard to get hold of. If you do manage to get hold of it though then you’re holding onto something quite valuable!
review
black tea, brooke bond, review, tea
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.
A resounding 5/5.
review, websites
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.
Betty and Taylors also offer a range of gifts for the true Yorkshire Tea fanatic at their site.
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.
5/5
merchants, review
Lydia Gautier’s “Tea: Exotic Flavors and Aromas” is the National Geographic of all tea books! It is suitable for any coffee (TEA) table in the world, whether in the breakfast nook of a cottage on Martha’s Vineyard or resting on a foyer table in a manor home in England’s Hertfordshire.
The black and white photographs interspersed with the vividly colored pictures are breathtakingly beautiful – thanks to photographer Jean-Francois Mallet’s good eye for subject matter. Paired with Ms. Gautier’s informative text, tea aficionados will find the visual impact and written word riveting. Non-tea drinkers will find the historical and cultural details seductively interesting as well.
The book is quite large, which does the author and photographer justice. Mr. Mallet’s close-ups are exquisite – real works of art. You won’t need a looking glass to examine the details of the pictures, as the publisher generously gave full two-page spreads to the photographs that could not be contained on a single leaf. Who knew the curled and rolled buds of the Camellia sinensis bush could make such a captivating still life?
Go ahead. Splurge. This book is a must-have for your collection. You will enjoy many cups of tea looking over this masterful volume.
5 stars.
books, review
books, reviews
This tea book
is pretty, but not that exciting. Despite its attractive photos the volume falls short – not so much because there is anything innately “wrong” with it, but rather because it pales in comparison to its competitors in the tea book niche.
It’s not a comprehensive almanac of tea trivia and it’s not a tea table book with breathtaking photos. Because of its title, “Having Tea: Recipes and Table Settings,” you might expect a book that flaunts its tablescapes – real innovative table displays or traditional settings done right with exquisite pottery, linens, utensils and themes. But instead, you are left feeling rather ho-hum, disappointed that there is very little inspiration for new décor ideas for the up-and-coming tea society season.
It’s almost like “Having Tea” went to press before it was finished. Did the deadline arrive and the publisher say, “That’s good enough”? With just a little more research, Ms. Foley could have seen what her fellow tea book authors were up to and tried to address the deficits. The recipes were run-of-the-mill for the most part. In this day of global accessibility and a plethora of communication devices, surely Ms. Foley could have tapped her resources and gotten some recipes to pique the interest of her tea savvy readers. It was not a bad book, just uninspiring.
3 Stars
books, review
books, review
“The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea” by master tea blender Michael Harney is suitable for the hard-core tea merchant, as a reference book for a culinary professor, or for the tea connoisseur whose hobby borders on a fetish.
The book does not bother itself with pretty pictures of lovely Victorian tea sets, but instead focuses on the analytical facets of tea: the best environment for growing Camellia sinensis, the ideal time and temperature for brewing a particular type of tea, what the dry leaves or tea buds look like, how the liquor appears when it is made properly, and what to expect from the tea’s aroma. For example, Mr. Harney describes one of China’s most famous black teas, Keemum Mao Fengke, as having hints of “light notes of chocolate or cocoa with the suggestion of ripe apricots.”
Such a book would be helpful if you ever participate in a tea tasting or food pairing or are trying to train your palate to detect the nuances of different teas. The volume dispenses trivia as well that would be of interest to tea buffs and Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy game show addicts. On the back cover, Mr. Harney writes:
“You can’t judge a tea by its name: Consider Orange Pekoe. “Orange’ stands for the Dutch Royal House of Orange and once indicated tea of a quality suitable for its monarchs. ‘Pekoe’ is a mispronunciation of the Chinese words ‘bai hao’ – bai meaning white and hao meaning tippy or downy. ‘Pekoe’ may have once meant tippy tea, but the ancient word has long since lost its original meaning.”
The book is probably not for the general population, but is ideal for those have raised the bar on their relationship with tea.
4½ stars.
books, review
book review, books, review
I never used to be a fan of glass tea cups until I tried them for the first time. Being able to see the tea infuse and the rich colours and whisps through the wall of the cup is refreshing in itself! Here’s just 5 of my favourite glass tea cups and sets.
Frosted Blown Glass Tea Cup
These small glass tea cups are a fantastic addition to your favourite teapot. They were hand-crafted using a technique that adds small bubbles in the bottom of the glass cup. The bubble patterns are unique from cup to cup and makes each one an exceptional tea cup. This is art, but also a functional glass tea cup that you can enjoy for years.
You’d think something this delightful and delicate looking couldn’t cope without kid gloves but its fully dishwasher safe.
Only available at Teavana.
Bodum Insulated Glass Tea Cups
Glass is a poor conductor of heat anyway so glass tea cups often keep your tea warmer for longer. These insulated glass tea cups from Bodum have a double wall though which means your tea stays hot for much longer. They come with a stainless steel saucer too and being glass blown they look great and show off the tea brilliantly.
From Shop.com.
Petit Fleur Suspendu Glass Tea Cup Set
These wonderful cups have an almost fragile appearance, but the borosilicate glass they are made of is strong and durable. They have a pocket of air between the inner glass wall and outer glass wall to insulate the tea and keep it hot. These are similar in shape to the Bodum cups but they have a wonderfully light printed floral pattern on the outside. It is just enough to show flowers when tea is in the cup. They come as a set of 4 5oz cups.
From Teavana.
Japanese White Pebble Glass Tea Cup
These cups are all the way from Japan and hand-made by a famous artesian glass blowing workshop. These unique glass tea cups have a circle of white dots around the rim for a unique finishing touch. They are all mouth blown glass cups, so each is a completely unique tea cup that you will treasure for a lifetime. It is a great way to start your own tea set and I have some myself!
From Teavana.
Basic Glass Tea Cup and Saucer
This is a nice basic but stylish glass tea cup with matching saucer. Made of tempered glass, which is very sturdy and able to withstand high temperatures and dishwashers. These tea cups are great to have as your everyday cups with a low cost and simple design.
Adagio Teas.
review
art, cups, japan, tea, teapot, teaware
I’ve only seen these specific jasmine teas at Adagio (US) and Jing (UK). I’ve seen other rolled Jasmines but I’ll be concentrating on Jasmine Pearls for this review.
I first bought some of these back in August 2008 and falling head over heels for the tea alost immediately I wanted to give it some time to allow sense to prevail so a more objective review coul be formed. Jasmine Pearls are quite simply one of the finest jasmine teas I’ve come across.
As they’re hand rolled you are treated to their gentle unfurling as they steep in the hot water, unleashing the fragrance and colour as each second ticks by.
The taste is incredibly refreshing and the leaves will provide at least 3 to 4 cups of good quality. Though I’d recommend at most 2 cups per serving of leaves as it feels almost criminal to not have a fresh batch of the balled leaves opening in your cup for each drink.
I’d strongly recommend these to anyone regardless of whether youre normally a fan of green and jasmine. These are a truly amazing tea and have entered the cupboard as my favourite jasmine of all time. Never will my stock run down!
A fantastic 5/5
Get from Adagio Teas (US)
Get from Jing Tea (UK)
review
green, jasmine, review
Tetley started its life 1822 when two brothers, Joseph and Edward Tetley started to sell salt in Yorkshire. They started to sell tea as well and became so successful that they set up, in 1837, as the tea merchants, “Joseph Tetley & Co.”. They moved to London in 1856 and set up “Joseph Tetley & Company, Wholesale Tea Dealers”.
Tetley was famous for being the first company that launched tea in tea-bags in the UK in 1953.
In terms of sales in the UK they’re the third largest but in the world they are the biggest by volume and only second biggest by revenue (to Unilever – owners of PG Tips).
Enough History! How does is taste
Mediocre at best but as a supermarket tea its not all that bad. Being owned by the huge Asian tea group Tata they have massive resources and contacts to produce some truly great tea and they succeed to an extent by creating an average blend of tea that manages to refresh and invigorate at the same time. Its got a richer colour than Typhoo or PG and you can feel that in its body. A much more substantial tea and worthy of a:
3/5
review
black tea, review
Continuing on with my series reviewing the most popular supermarket teas of the UK I’ve now come to PG Tips. PG are the second biggest tea merchant in the UK and were first established in 1930 by Brooke Bond who originally called it Digestive Tea. It got this name due to teas claims of aiding digestion but after the second World War the government decided to put a stop to this claim and so the name was changed to Pregestee.
A silly name I’m sure you’ll agree!
As time went on the PG delivery drivers shortened the name to PG and the name stuck. So thankfully they became PG Tips in the 1950’s.
How does it taste
Better than Typhoo but still a poor quality tea. Its the tea rival at our office where Taylors of Harrogate is drunk by the decent tea drinking folk and the evil Morlocks drink PG Tips while feasting on the bones of children and murdering innocent people.
I’m not saying PG Tips causes this – but its is a definate link!
PG has a very clear and crisp taste. With little body it doesn’t cope well with too much milk and adding sugar can kill the taste almost entirely. Although it’s technically a Breakfast Tea it lacks the punch and so I’d say its lacking Kenyan black and rolls more towards a low quality light Ceylon.
Having said that it is much better than Typhoo so I’ll give it a:
2.5/5
history, review
black tea, review
