Whittard of Chelsea

I wanted to like this because the idea of a tropical Earl Grey is so fresh and summery feeling to me, but I made a cup of it today and in practice I found the flavours very muddy and lacking in clarity. Just vaguely fruity without enough of a distinct, crisp tropical mango note or the depth and high aromatics that I associate with bergamot. I have a few other bags to try later, but snap impression was a let down. So generic and forgettable.

Made this a few nights ago, but I feel like I maybe over steeped it a little. It didn’t taste unpleasant or anything, but the cup was pretty bold and intense and I think because of that I potentially may have lost some nuance that would have benefited the flavour clarity. Instead this really just tasted like a punchy red fruit blend. Nice, but not unique. I’ve had many strong, tart, and sweet red fruit black teas before and I bought this one because I specifically wanted to try the combo of rhubarb and ginger…

Earl grey tea bags. Package says this was made in Sri Lanka and the black tea base is very delicate, heavy cream completely overpowered it. Personally I would say this is one of the best earl greys I’ve had because I really like the floral bergamot, on the flip side some people might really not like this tea because of how strong the bergamot is. The blue package is beautiful.

Bought mine on sale and I think even for the full price this is still worth it.

sold for $ 9.95/ 25 tea bags

https://www.whittard.com/us/gifts-and-confectionary/gift-type/tea-gifts/tea-discoveries-earl-grey-25-individually-wrapped-teabags-350421.html

Had a mug of this with a nice splash of milk on Monday.

I do very much enjoy a simple black tea with rose, and that’s kind of what I thought I was getting with this. It was rich, full bodied and definitely floral. Personally, I would have still enjoyed twice the amount of rose, but I understand that most people would likely disagree. The mug through for a loop though because it was also pretty fruity. I even went back to double check the ingredients because I was seriously tasting something like strawberry as I was sipping. I did like that berry-ish flavour with the florals, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s intentional.

I have more teabags of this one though, so I’m curious to see if I still get those fruity notes if I try this without the milk addition.

Tea Pop!

We saw so little matcha during our trip because most shops we visited were sold out, so when we saw Whittard had a flavoured but unsweetened matcha we were excited to pick it up and give it a try. It was vacuum sealed in the smaller 30g tin it was purchased in with one of those pull tab/pop tops. So, I was INCREDIBLY disappointed to open it up this morning and be met with a super, super dull and chalky looking powder. Not very fresh seeming at all!

Unfortunately it didn’t taste very high quality either. The vanilla flavour was totally fine, but the matcha itself was very dull, bitter and grassy. I ended up pouring most of the matcha I’d made into a cup with ice and then topping with a coconut flavoured La Croix, which definitely saved the drink big time. You could still taste the matcha a little, though the vanilla note was heavily masked by the coconut. Better overall that the matcha on its own, though…

I guess it was a Whittard day because I also drank this one today along with two other Whittard blends. I didn’t love this one though. It was very oily and fatty in mouthfeel from all the coconut shreds in the blend, and even though I intellectually know this is just a result of using real coconut that doesn’t mean it makes the experience much better for me. The coconut flavour itself was very mid to me, but I did like the cream flavouring that was paired with it a lot. Between that and the slightly nuttier taste of the oolong base I kept thinking a lot of coconut cream pie.

In the end I left what was probably the last half of my mug sitting at my desk for most of the day, only coming back to it as I was wrapping up my work. At that point it was very cold and a lot of the coconut fat had solidified around the walls of the mug. That was gross, but I actually liked the taste of the tea much better when it was cold. Maybe iced latte would be a good brew method for this tea next time…

I don’t know why but I really just assumed that the oolong in this blend would be a lot more green and floral leaning. So, I was pretty surprised when I took my first few sips and was greeted with a more nutty and mineral-leaning oolong base. Nothing super dark and roasted, but just not that pop of fresh green I’d anticipated given the name. I thought it was very smooth though, and the oolong chosen did work nicely with the milder strawberry flavour I was picking up. A little floral still, but really felt like the floral notes were coming from the flavourings and not the tea itself.

In general, as I work my way through this LARGE tea haul from London, one thing I’m heavily noticing is how much more floral-leaning most teas tend to me – either overtly in ingredient inclusion or in the under/overtones of the tea based or just in the types of flavourings used. It’s a fun little quirk of the UK palate – florals are so much more polarizing here.

I had this as a hot cuppa over the weekend, and it was very nice! Medium-bodied and smooth with a lot of distinct floral character from the oolong itself, which I thought played really nicely with the fresh, bright and tropical flavours. I’d call this more of a pineapple tea, but in that sweet and juicy way and less the tangy, acidic qualities of pineapple. A few sips sent me back a decade to drinking Butiki’s Flowery Pineapple Oolong and wow what a trip of nostalgia! The dragonfruit does the pretty predictable thing of tasting more like a fruit punch than real dragonfruit, but that’s to be expected with a commercial blend.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the average person simply doesn’t know what dragonfruit tastes like so the flavouring industry has basically created a generic and pleasant enough flavour that could be attributed to dragonfruit without feeling offensively out of place. It’s a nice flavour, but anyone looking for real dragonfruit is bound to be disappointed. At least it’s not too saturated, and just sort of rounds out the sip following those fresh florals and gentle pineapple notes.

Probably this would have been better iced or cold brewed. Arguably more juicy made that way. However, I think potentially less oolong forward too – and I like that I’m not losing the base in this blend.

Cold Brew!

This cold brew was so incredibly delicious, but also deeply familiar and it’s really bothering me that I can’t figure out what other tea it’s specifically reminding me of. Very lush, sweet and tropical flavour profile that leans a lot more in the direction of dragonfruit than I expected it to. That kind of candy-esque “fruit punch” style of dragonfruit that I associate with drinks such as the Starbucks pink drink. Not too cloying/syrupy though, and quickly followed by a mix of fresh, sweet pineapple and floral oolong. Really refreshing and summery feeling!

Iced!

This was nice and very quickly slurped back, but I did find myself a little frustrated because the sweet, lush and floral profile between the juicy lychee and rose is so nice that I find myself really, really wanting it outside of this instant format. Like, it’s kind of too sweet to drink regularly but the balance and those flavourings are soooo good that I would drink it more regularly were it not for the sweetness.

Kinda a bummer in that way.

Revisiting this Whittard instant tea, but this time brewed much more strongly to see what changing the concentration does for the flavour balance. Honestly, I liked it much less than the first cup I’d made for myself. I thought it might come off sweeter and more juicy since the lychee was so prominent when I first made this, but it actually seemed a lot more floral. However, the stronger rose flavour combined with all the sugar was both very cloying and artificial feeling to me. I definitely found this much more refreshing (but still flavourful) with less powder used to make the drink…

Iced!

I really, really wish that Whittard had offered their instant teas in some kind of sample pack (maybe in stick pack format) because they all sounded really good and I would have really liked to have taste them all. As it is, they were only sold individually in these large tubes that were pretty heavy. So, we just picked one flavour to bring back with us…

I thought this was interesting because it was sort of exactly what I expected but also so different!? Obviously it’s sweet. I knew to expect that after sampling some of the other flavours in store. However, compared to the in store samples it was much less intense than I’d expected. As a powder you can obviously easily control the intensity by using more or less powder/water, but following tin instructions I’d just expected a more sugary cup than I actually got.

I knew the rose would be milder than the lychee because rose is just so much more of a polarizing flavour, and that was true. I’d call this a juicy, fresh and lychee forward drink. However, the rose wasn’t actually as muted as I’d expected and it was a VERY lush, fresh, and natural tasting rose than leaned in so perfectly with the supple notes of the lychee too. Really balanced, but distinctly floral in a way I think would appeal to even people who typically don’t tend to like rosy flavours. It was just very refreshing and accessible feeling!

…and bonus points for whisking up a sort of dusty rose/blush pink kind of colour.

Served 3 bags in a large pot to D and D guests. I only let the bags soak for 3 minutes. It’s a little bit artificial, but not bad. I brew it individually to keep the jasmine softer at 2 minutes. It was easy for tea newbs to like. Can do two rebrews for the bag before it gets bitter when keeping it short. Not the best jasmine, but does the trick.

I kept coming back to the Mango Green they sold. There’s bergamot in that blend, so I keep going back to it because you don’t notice the bergamot. It’s more of a zesty/sweetening finish that shines with some honey.

I’ve gone through my bags from Whittard quickly. I combined 3 teabags, and used a nurri vanilla protein shake as a cream. Weirdly, it worked. This is the first time a protein shake combo with tea didn’t taste terrible.

Backlog:

I’ve got to say, I’ve been going through these bagged teas more often than a few others that I got from England. I only may have gotten a Mason and Fortnum tea at the cafe in the undercroft for Windsor Castle, but this Earl Grey is pretty reliable. It’s balanced, and can go without sugar when I brew it for too minutes with just enough malt and acidity to balance itself out. I actually like more than the Numi teas…

This was the last tea we sampled in the Whittard store, though we did try (and love) some of the hot chocolates they were also sampling. I thought this was nice with a mild, floral leaning fresh strawberry note that suited the medium bodied black tea base. In the moment I was a little unimpressed by it, but reflecting on it I could see this being one of those really reliable but adaptable blends that just sort of suits any type of mood. One of those teas you fall more in love with over time.

This was one of the other teas being sampled within the store, so of course I had to try it too. I still don’t really understand what about this particular instant tea makes it more suitable before bed/as a “sleep tea” but I did think the apricot, vanilla, and honey combination was really interesting and a bit more unique. Apricot is for sure the strongest flavour, and like the Pink Lemonade instant tea we also sampled it was VERY sweet tasting. Though a little less, I suppose. I enjoyed the jamminess of the apricot a lot, but wished I tasted the other flavours a little more strongly. Honey only made an appearance in the finish, and the vanilla seemed totally absent to me.

Our next stop was Whittards which was easily the most packed shop we were in for the whole trip (not just London). In addition to the sampling station they had set up out front, there were nine other self serve sampling spots in the store. That definitely pulled in a lot of people, so navigating the shop felt like wiggling around in a can of sardines.

This was was they were serving outside, and we grabbed a few of the little shot glasses of tea. Both to experience the taste and then afterwards just to cool down a bit. It was insanely sweet tasting, but also very bright and zingy with exactly the flavour I picture in my head when I think of Pink Lemonade. So spot on and summery! And based on the tightly packed in circle of people surrounding the station at all times it seemed to be quite popular too! I imagine if you made it only half as strong it would still be really good, too.

Tea in the UK was a bit of an experience, though one I was surprisingly disappointed in certain ways. It’s weird because I know in general UK culture leans more towards coffee at the moment, and What-Cha with Alistair is easily the best loose leaf vendor in the UK, but I was expecting more loose leaf shops than there was. The cultural heritage/museum cafes in every undercroft in every cathedral and castle had amazing Earl Greys and Elderflower teas that were insanely good with a few good teas at some of the coffee shops like the Blueberry Matcha at the Black Sheep Coffee chain, but a lot of other places were mostly the same of what you’d see in the US.

I managed to go to Whittard of Chelsea and Bird and Blend, but Fortnum and Mason was really hard for me to reach since it was just off from the sites I was going to. It was also in a different terminal altogether at the airport, so I decided not to go.

Bird and Blend was hugely disappointing. I’ll go on a mini rant on that later.
I was pleasantly surprised with the teas from this company, beginning with this one. It was a round bagged tea in the Discovery collection box sampler that was a little overpriced, but this assam was exceptionally smooth for a round compostable tea bag. I’d easily rank it above Twinings, Numi and some Republic of Tea blends (though not all).

This was a straightforward assam, but not too astringent after 3 minutes. Had a really nice malt body that wasn’t overpowering, a little bit of a cocoa and toffee vibe in the aftertaste rather than flavor. It’s simple, but effective and easily better than most teabags and way smoother. I was surprised with how good it was for a teabag. Color me happy after a persnickety rant.

Well, Merry Christmas all, whether you’re pulling out all the celebrational stops or passing the day quietly—ours is leaning toward introspective and broody, and that’s OK. More time to rest, read, rock, and sip. (We did, however, hit the local Waffle House for breakfast this morning—it was busy, with all the wait staff in full blinky-light Rudolph regalia.)

The lovely and gracious ashmanra slipped a couple bags of this lovely tea into an envelope for me, and it was yesterday’s afternoon treat. I don’t see any notes about what kind of black tea is used for the base, but it’s beautifully balanced and smooth. Just enough rose for you to know it’s there; very elegant and understated. I steeped the cup in a plain old mug, but I’m sure a fancy teacup would’ve doubled the pleasure.

This single teabag was from Cameron B – thanks very much! Since it is in a teabag, I don’t think it has the “full rose buds” that the loose leaf description claims, but the cup was tasty anyway. Hints of rose, hints of fruit, but I really can’t tell what type. I would guess raspberry. It’s decent for a teabag, but I bet the loose leaf is much better.

Sipdown 7 – 2024

This just in’t very good. Super tannic and bitter.

Someone at work very kindly brought some of this back from their trip to London. It’s…okay. A little bit drying, some muscatel flavor going on, but overall too tannic for me.