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I’m not entirely sure how a box of this tea came to be in my possession. I’m pretty snobby when it comes to tea bags so it seems unlikely that I purchased it myself. The wording on the packaging gave me hope that it might be leaf tea in triangular bags but it wasn’t to be. The tea itself is cut into small fragments and is housed in a conventional tea bag which is a bit disappointing for a company that appears to be aiming itself at a premium organic market.

The instructions on the package indicated a short brew at low temperature and this produced a darker than expected brew which for me was quite bland. The guava flavouring has a pleasant enough smell but it is difficult to detect in the mouth.

It is hard to tell if my teabag bias is stopping me from really enjoying it. I think it could make a nice iced tea once sweetened up a bit so I’ll pull it out again when the weather is warmer.

To me this is a an Earl Grey variant that was made with Earl Grey drinkers in mind. Although the description uses the word soft, I find the bergamot flavour very dominant. To me it is a strong traditional style Earl Grey with a creamy vanilla background and just a little hint of rose.

I do enjoy drinking this tea but I have to be in the right mood for an Earl Grey so don’t reach for it that often.

This tea was recommended to me by the lovely lady who runs the Brisbane Arcade store. I was looking for a jasmine that was delicate and sweet and this didn’t disappoint. The jasmine flavour is fresh but doesn’t overpower the green tea underneath. As mentioned the drink is very delicate and only really shines for me when brewed with filtered water.

Unfortunately the price at $320/kg makes it a ‘sometimes’ tea for me.

Another tea that I wouldn’t have bought except for the free tasting in store, they are onto me with this sales tactic!

This oolong contains sugar and honey in the nougat so is a bit sweeter than I was expecting. Sweet and oolong isn’t a combination that immediately appeals to me but this is a really lovely tea for a cool drizzly night. The flavour changes a lot with multiple brews too, even though the first brew is a little too sweet for my taste, subsequent brews have just a hint of honey and a richer, nuttier flavour.

It is a little on the expensive size at $180/kg but since I get a lot of use out of oolong leaves, a small package lasts a reasonable amount of time.

Ahh the T2 French Earl Grey… This was the tea that made me overcome my suspicion of T2’s fancy stores and packaging to actually try the tea.

The French Earl Grey is nice. It isn’t a conventional Earl Grey as the bergamot is nestled amongst the fruity floral flavours. This is another T2 tea that I’d really like to taste sans the ambiguous ‘flavour’ mentioned in the ingredients list. Sometimes I find floral flavoured teas all taste a little bit the same but this one stands out to me. It is nice.

I was completely sucked in by a store tasting and bought this with the intention only to use iced as an alternative to sugary drinks in summer. It is wonderful iced and really perfect on a hot day.

I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it hot too. The flavourings don’t overpower the green tea flavour but compliment it instead. In the end I used most of my packet drinking it hot rather than cold. I’ll definitely repurchase it again but not until the weather down here warms up again. Even as a hot drink it is has the taste of summer.

Ignore my water temperature and brewing time at the bottom of this review as I make chai with milk on the stove and stop brewing according to taste.

I’m still not sure if my lowish score is because of this particular tea, or if I’m just not quite convinced by chai mixes. I always find myself adding and taking out spices from my spoon to adjust the flavour, in this case it has usually been removing cloves. I also find that for a milk brew, the tea base gets lost. I can’t help but think I’d be better served in the future by tracking down a black tea that brews well in milk and raiding the spice cupboard for the rest.

I get given T2 sample boxes regularly and this must be a best seller because it is always in them. The samples are in teabag form but the bags are the nice kind that contain decent amount of quality leaf tea (not dust) and allow water to move around a bit.

I’m not a tea purist of any kind and always try to enjoy a tea for what it is. I usually prefer my flavoured teas with a bit more tea and a little less ‘flavour’, I’m also not super keen on spotting “strawberry and cream flavour” (what does that mean?) printed in the ingredients. At the end of the day though this is lovely drink that is very easy to enjoy.