Jing Tea are going through a lot of changes at the moment and they’re asking all existing and new customers for their feedback. If you’re a fan or just fancy helping them out with your comments (you get 10% off your next order!)then be sure to check out the survey: Jing Tea Survey
NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) tea was first on sale to the servicemen and women of Britain’s military in 1921. NAAFI have been responsible for feeding and watering the armed forces for the past 100 years and their NAAFI tea has only been available to service people until now.
It recently went on sale in Spar shops (a UK convenience store) up and down the country. The NAAFI is a non-profit organisation and 50p of every box sold will go to the Help for Heroes charity for UK servicemen injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Greatest Event of 1886
Williamsons Assam (forgive the quality)
Williamson Tea is a UK tea merchant with a long history of tea wholesale and farming, especially in Kenya where they’re one of the biggest tea plantation owners in the country.
Today though I’ll be reviewing their Pure Assam broken leaf tea which you can purchase from their site for £2.60 for 125g.
The leaf is a broken orange pekoe which has a fresh, clean and crisp aroma. The initial taste is a basic and woody which is typical of its single origin status.
This Assam is slightly weaker in body than I’d expected and would make a good mid-morning tea. Although I initially tried this without sugar this tea actually responds well to just a pinch of demerara.
I attempted to get a bit more kick out of this tea by using 1+1/2 teaspoonfuls rather than the recommended single teaspoon. Unfortunately it fell very rapidly into being too tannin and bitter – even when taken with sugar. This Assam seems quick to release its tannin when pushed.
I’m happy overall with this tea and I’ll continue to use it as my standard mid morning beverage but it lacks a lot of the creamy, freshness of other Assams and indeed I prefer even the bagged Assam by Twinnings! In my attempts to boost the body of this tea it slipped into bitterness too easily.
I’ll give the tea a respectable:
3/5
The Nothing But Tea merchants (UK-based) are having a birthday sale! So if you want to buy tea related gifts for Christmas now is a great time with their current offers including:
You can reach them at their website: Nothing but Tea.
Blogged with Flock
The prestigious Whittards of Chelsea – one of the UK’s oldest and greatest tea merchants is holding a 10% off sale for the Christmas period from today (21st Nov) to the 21st December.
Never been a better time to get someone a tea present for Christmas.
Whittard Darjeeling
Whittards teas have been established since 1886 and I’ve always been a fan of their Lapsang Souchong for a number of years. Its one of the biggest tea and coffee supply chains in the UK and was originally set up by a Walter Whittard on Fleet Street at the height of the UK tea industry.
Imports from India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and other parts of the old empire were plentiful and demand was high.
Today its stores number in the undreds across the country and I recently decided I’d go for a browse and restock on a few of my dwindling supplies (I have approx. 16 varieties at any one time). So I got myself some Badamtam First Flush Darjeeling and it comes as loose leaf. Its not one I’d tried before and I expected great things considering the price.
However, I was to be disappointed. Darjeeling teas are traditionally a delicate flavour with no bitter aftertaste – this one was different. There was a sharp sting in the tale of this tea and when drinking it you felt positively cheated. Although better than your average supermarket teas it was still seriously lacking in quality kick with a low quality bitterness you’d more often find in dry and poorly kept teas.
Whittards have let themselves down with this line, which is a shame because I’ve always been a fan of their other teas and I will still continue to buy their Lapsangs and green teas but this Darjeeling didn’t pass muster unfortunately.
After much anticipation I recieved my tin of Portsmouth tea all the way from the US. I was expecting great things and I wasn’t disappointed, in fact I was more than impressed!
You see from opening the box the quality and thought thats gone into the product. From the inset letter-head instructions on brewing the various varieties to the polished aluminium tin the tea leaves came in.
This was tea provided by tea lovers for tea lovers.
Now the tea I recieved was Kenya Black. I’m more of a black tea than green these days and this was a welcome addition to the collection as it provided a refreshing and smooth taste. Portsmouth tea provides tea in loose leaf form and I’ve always advocated the use of leaves over bags except for when convinience and speed are necessary. The leaves settled well in cup allowing you to drink without straining. It must be noted that I always leave my leaves in the cup to infuse throughout the whole drinking process rather than filtering it out. In this way I believe you get a more varied spectrum of intensity as you’re drinking the tea which adds to the whole experience.
Normally I use filtered water as the water in Stoke can sometimes be a little hard but I decided to give it the hard-water test and skipped the filter. Very nice! Even when challenged by high-lime levels in the water this tea still shines through.
I’ve had this tea 9 times so far and every time has been a pleasure. The taste is fantastic and I feel pampered everytime I reach for it because the quality is tangible from tin to cup.
Its for all these reasons I’m going to give them the maximum score:
5/5
You will love this tea!
Now I know that in the past I have been very vocal about green tea in the bag. However, I have come across a product by Clipper that seems to pull it off. How? It doesn’t rely on the green tea alone for its flavour! The name doesn’t give away its not-so-secret ingredient – Raspberry!
Thats right this tea has a good crisp raspberry flavour along with the green tea and ginseng.
When these three flavours combine they produce a very crisp fruity tea with a hint of the ginseng mustiness. Of course the ginseng is of the Siberian variety and so you benefit from its adaptogenic properties and its energy boosting effects. This is a morning wake up tea for those not into their caffeine and want something a little gentler.
As with all Clipper teas it is part of the Fair Trade campaign so you know Siberian ginseng farmers are happy with a good wage – BONUS!
I strongly recommend this tea – even to those who are not normally fans of fruity teas, because it really does suprise you and is highly refreshing.
5/5
