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I enjoyed this one more than I was expecting. It has a rich summer berry aroma and flavour, with a hint of anise. I was also getting these red wine notes which were very pleasant – and I don’t usually like/drink wine.

What stood out, however, was the texture. It’s soooo juicy. With wine and slightly tart berries you’d expect it to be drying… but it’s the opposite. It bathes my mouth in moisture with every sip and leaves me feeling very refreshed.

The aftertaste lingers for quite a while, getting slightly sweeter as time passes.

Can’t say I detected any elderberry or echinacea though. You could say the flavour was a little generic, but it’s definitely not bland.

Full review with pictures, in case anyone is interested: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/pukka-elderberry-echinacea-tea-review/

Found a couple bags of this tea lingering in the back of a cupboard, probably pinched from a hotel room.

I read through some of the tasting notes for this tea and I’ve come to the conclusion that this tea has either been re-formulated/changed or just re-marketed in the past few years. Twinings now describe this is as Sencha that’s been steamed and then pan-fired after (what is the point in that? I’m not sure) – so not a Chinese green tea like I first expected. It certainly tastes like a Chinese green tea to me.

It’s actually not that bad. No bitterness or astringency at all – it’s very smooth and warming, typical green tea with notes of hay/straw and a little grass. It’s also a bit musty, but not unpleasantly so.

No defining characteristics really. I wouldn’t say it was bad tea… just uneventful. I’d still recommend it.

My usual review nonsense with a few pictures: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/twinings-pure-green-tea-review/

There was a weird freshness to this tea that was verging on menthol. I could feel a slight coolness in my nose and throat, no idea why. Ingredients are just jasmine and green tea.

It’s a pretty bland jasmine green tea, very subtle on the jasmine and a green tea that doesn’t leave a lasting impression. I really love my jasmine teas so this was a bit of a let down. Ahmad’s lemon vitality was good for a standard supermarket tea bag so my expectations were a little bit higher than usual for this Jasmine Romance.

I guess if you aren’t so keen on jasmine it would be nice.

It’s slightly bitter but not grassy, it has that warm honey gold colour and aroma from fired Chinese green teas.

I’ll finish the box but… yeah. The score is accurate, it’s neither good or bad, just hovering in the middle. I did take some nice picture of it for my blog, using spring blossoms from the hedgerow across the road from my home. Spring is probably my favourite season and jasmine tea usually embodies the freshness and floralness of it.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/ahmad-tea-jasmine-romance-review/

Quick additional note for this tea.

Found a recipe from Twinings for a Lady Grey and lime iced tea, but I only had Earl Grey in the cupboard. The bergamot goes spectacularly well with the slightly sour lime cordial, I highly recommend trying it with EG.

The recipe is so simple: https://www.twinings.co.uk/blog/2018/july/lady-grey-lime-cooler

Loved this tea. The rhubarb is so fresh and real… despite there being no rhubarb in it, just rhubarb flavouring.

Brewing it hot was lovely, the longer it brewed the more the colour of the tea transformed through shades of rose gold and peach. Then the aroma develops from tart and almost sour to sweet, vanilla, rhubarb and crumble. The flavour is spot-on. Rhubarb is not the sweetest, friendliest fruit – it’s got a bite, an edge. This tea has managed to perfectly balance the tart vibrancy of rhubarb with sweetness. It should be sour and suck in your cheeks, but the sweet aftertaste rushes in and saves it.

I greedily drank the whole cup. Definitely going to buy this fruit tea again. Full review and a few pictures: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/taylors-of-harrogate-sweet-rhubarb-tea-review/

Found this very old pack of oolong plum tea in the back of a cupboard this week. The label is half worn off so I can’t tell where this tea is from, just the name “oloong yello plum”… and a use-by date of 2014. So I guess random steepings is where I’m supposed to review this tea?

5 years past the use by date… can anyone beat that?

Smells amazing despite being so old (it was sealed up very well, although opened inside) with plum and apricot and warm black tea.

I brewed it. First few sips there’s a light fruity sweetness and earthyness that’s lovely. Then there’s what I can only describe as bin juice. To be precise, it’s the smell of the juice/liquid that’s lingering in the bottom of your bin after being too lazy to take the trash out for a few too many days. Rotting garbage and earthy and sweet, because the trash is full of sugary drink cans.

Once you’ve got that smell in your mind and what you imagine it would taste like, this tea becomes a mind battle. The more you think about the bin juice, the more you can taste it. I battled to the bottom of the cup by focusing on the taste of plums.

I’m now pretty sure the plum flavouring was added, not just a description of the natural oolong leaf flavour. I think that’s what has started to rot. Throwing this tea away now, sadly. I imagine it was delicious fresh.

A nice tea to power me through a dreary week. It has a juicy aroma and flavour that’s quite pleasant, probably from the passion fruit in this blend.

I’ve found it’s the least bitter of all the Zest Teas – I’ve no idea why, but I’m glad. The hibiscus is nice but I wish the citrus flavours would come out more. There’s this sort of generic citrus flavour which isn’t detectable as lemon or orange, but some kind of hybrid. I think adding some bergamot would really lift this tea.

Nonetheless, it’s enjoyable and I finished the cup easily.

The only downside to the high caffeine level of this tea is that it becomes my one tea of the day. Having another tea later on is just too much, even if it’s a normal caffeine level for a tea. I’m too sensitive to caffeine.

Full review and a few pictures, like usual: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/zest-blue-lady-tea-review/

Love the aroma of this tea, it’s very fragrant and tropical. I get this really lush juicy aroma of mango and passion fruit, but there’s also something starchy about this tea that I don’t think anyone else has picked up on from the tasting notes I’ve read. It’s just a vague hint of sticky rice but it works so well. You have to really stick your nose in the cup to find it.

The flavour is also delicious, even though I slightly over-brewed it. I’ve had this tea many times, so I know what it’s capable of delivering when I get the timing just right. The green tea isn’t anything to shout about, it’s the fruity flavour with citrus kick that’s the highlight of this tea.

There’s a chemical/nail varnish tang that I’ve noticed as well – it’s not ruining the cup but I can’t ignore it either. It’s happened before when brewing these tea bags but not when brewing the loose leaf version. It’s still a good tea so I’ve rated it as such.

I also adore the new tea discoveries caddy it’s available in, so pretty.

https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/whittard-mango-bergamot-tea-review/

Reviewed this tea last week when the sun was shining, but I’ve only just got round to posting my review and tasting notes.

I’m a freelance writer and I’m currently on a short contract to write website content and articles for a Chinese tea company (can’t share any details, sorry!) so they can launch in the UK and start selling. It’s hard to write about tea all day for work and then write even more about tea in my spare time. You’d think writing about tea for 8+ hours a day would be fun, but it’s starting to get to me. Hopefully the contract will be finished by the end of this week.

Anyway, this seemed like an easy tea that wouldn’t take me too long to write about. Picked up 3 sachets of it from a hotel last year. It’s very artificial and one dimensional.

Couldn’t finish the cup because it’s just too powerful. As a soft drink, the sickly sweet, strong, fake strawberry flavour would be nice. As a black tea with fruit flavouring, it’s just not good.

I brewed it lightly and there’s definitely nothing subtle about the syrupy texture and strawberry flavour. The black tea is barely detectable.

Artificial strawberry and banana are probably my least favourite flavours because, to me, they never taste anything like the real fruit.

Full review with a few pictures: http://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/lipton-strawberry-tea-review/

Thank you Martin Bednář for recommending this! It arrived a few days ago but my first cup was really underwhelming.

I gave it another go tonight, doubling the amount of leaves, and I’m so glad I didn’t give up on this. It’s smooth and malty and rich, yet it still feels light.

I brewed up a 3-cup teapot western style – the first cup was smooth and malty but relatively flat. The second cup, however, had steeped for quite a while longer (probably 5 to 6 minutes instead of the recommended 3 to 4) and the resulting tea was richer and far more complex. The jammy, fruity notes are subtle at first but they grow as you take more sips. It’s definitely a raspberry jam but there’s a hint of strawberry too.

I’m onto the third cup now and it’s getting quite strong and not so smooth. The jam notes are holding up though. I can’t detect any of the spicy notes that other tasting notes have described.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this tea and writing up my full review: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/what-cha-india-assam-mancotta-tea-review/