Monthly Archives

September 2017

Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Herbal Tea Tea Reviews

Bluebird Tea Co. Tea Tipples Cocktail Review

24th September 2017

Recently I received an exciting delivery from Bluebird Tea Co., it included some of their cocktail teas. These are teas that there perfect from making alcoholic cocktails with but are equally as exciting without the alcohol.

There’s three all together: Bramble Ramble, Rasberry Russian and G & Tea.

Review time!

Bramble Ramble

First up is Bramble Ramble, a blackberry flavoured tea that is perfect to make a berry gin cocktail. It’s always nice to see good quality fruit pieces in Bluebird’s blends. I like that this blend has a slight zing to it and isn’t overly sweet, there’s also a really nice green tea flavour too which isn’t overpowered by the fruit flavours.

Rasberry Russian

Rasberry Russian is a caffeine free rooibos blend, with a huge helping of fruit including raspberries & apple pieces. This blend also includes a couple of not so common ingredients for extra excitement, vanilla pieces and hibiscus. Raspberry Russian has a really nice raspberry fragrance, with good sized fruit pieces. I often find that rooibos overpowers the other ingredients in rooibos based blends but it’s nice to see that this blend features more fruit than rooibos, which is reflected in the flavour. An overall amazing blend from Bluebird!

G & Tea

This is a sencha green tea based blend with a helping of berries, licorice, spearmint and almond pieces. The first thing I noticed about this blend is a strong marigold-like fragrance, which at first I wasn’t that excited about but I was pleasantly surprised by the amazing and unique flavour! It has quite a herby flavour that’s actually really refreshing, alongside a nice subtle mint flavour followed up with a sweet liquorice aftertaste.

Final Thoughts

This was an exciting surprise delivery as always from Bluebird. If you want to make some Bluebird alcoholic tea cocktails this is a great place to start but they are equally as exciting without the alcohol! You can find all of Bluebird’s fantastic range of teas on their website.

Huge thanks to Bluebird Tea Co. for sending me these blends, I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing them and will definitely be drinking them for weeks to come!

Thanks for reading and as always you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Bye for now xXx

Matcha

T2 Vanilla Flavoured Matcha Review

22nd September 2017

Hey!

I’ve been working on a flavoured matcha comparison post for the last few weeks that’s growing and growing so I’ve been on the lookout for new flavoured matcha.

A while back T2 launched a few flavoured matchas including cinnamon which I reviewed and added to my comparison. A few weeks ago I posted a pic of my collection on Instagram and one of my followers said there was new T2 matcha flavours. I reached out to T2 and they were awesome enough to send me their vanilla flavoured matcha to review for you guys.

Review Time!

I adore T2’s packaging, everything they sell looks awesome and this is certainly true of the tin for their vanilla matcha. It’s a sleek black tin with a baby pink embossed pattern and a nice double-lock airtight lid to keep it fresh.

The first thing I thought upon opening the tin is how much it smells like cake mixture, like a really sweet cakey victoria sponge kinda smell with a vanilla buttercream hint 😍

The matcha is good quality vivid green matcha, as can be expected from T2.

I was intrigued to see how the sweet vanilla flavouring blended with the matcha and it seriously couldn’t of been better! There’s a slight vegetal hint which I always enjoy from matcha but the vanilla sweetness is heavenly.

The sweet flavour lasts through each mouthful with no bitterness, making this perfect for anyone new to matcha.

I recently popped in to a T2 store to spend a gift card my boyfriend bought me for my birthday and found the perfect matcha accessory. It’s a matcha flask that is perfect to use on the move, due to it’s built in whisk. You simply add matcha, add water, shake and you’re good to go! Since buying this I’ve been drinking a ton of iced matcha and T2’s vanilla matcha is incredible for this ☃️

Final Thoughts

I simply adore this new matcha from T2, it’s one of my favourite flavoured matchas I’ve tried so far (and I’ve tried a lot😜). If you’re new to matcha I’d highly recommend this for it’s sweet cakey flavours. If you’d like to try it you can find it on their website or in their stores.

I was really excited to try it as vanilla isn’t a matcha flavour I’ve tried before so I was looking forward to adding it to my comparison post, which you can view here.

A massive thanks to T2 for sending me their vanilla matcha to review, it’s much appreciated 💚

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, come find me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for more tea fun!

Bye for now! xXx

Black Tea Fruit Tea Green Tea Rooibos Tea Reviews White Tea

TeaTourist Subscription Box Round Up Review

20th September 2017

Hey guys!

Recently I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my health, as a result my blog has been a bit neglected and I’ve got a few tea tourists subscription boxes to cover, so I thought  I would do a roundup of my favourites from the last few boxes.

Keep reading to find an exclusive code to get 30% off your first tea tourist subscription box!

Review time!

Apple and Grapefruit – Tea Shirt

First up is Apple and grapefruit, fresh and exciting fruit blended with apple, strawberry, orange, hibiscus and more! With how many fruits there is in this tea I knew it was going to be bursting with flavour! I really love the crisp grapefruit smell mixed with the sweet apple tones. The tea has an unusually long steeping time of 10 to 12 minutes but it’s definitely worth the wait, as you watch the water turn a deep reddish pink colour. The refreshing sharpness of the grapefruit pairs beautifully with the sweet apple flavour. This is honestly one of the most exciting fruit teas I’ve had for a while!

Rooibos Rhubarb Fudge – Piacha

Next up is a beautiful Rooibos blend which I always enjoy! This smells so sweet, it’s literally like a sweet shop with a beautiful vanilla fragrance. Rooibos goes really well with the sweet fudge flavour and it goes a really long way, making it very economical. You’ll definitely get a lot of cups of tea in TeaTourist’s  generously filled sachets. I wasn’t sure if I would like this tea as rhubarb isn’t something I’ve eaten a lot of but I was pleasantly surprised!

White Bellini – The Tea Experience

I absolutely adore the delicate flavours of white tea, especially when they’re paired with sweet fruit. White Bellini is a good-quality white tea, with large leaves. The delicate white tea flavours are partnered with just the right amount of peach, there’s also raspberries and sweet succulent peach. This is definitely one of my favourite white teas, so I’ll definitely be checking out the tea experience website!

Mint Chocolate – Cheshire Tea

This is another rooibos blend that smells just like mint chocolate chip ice cream but without the calories! I always like it when I find tea with desert like flavours, you get the treat without the consequences (calories!). I often find that the mint flavour in mint teas is overpowering and can be quite off-putting but I was really pleased to find that the chocolate and rooibos flavours are sweet enough to avoid this happening with this tea. You can also definitely taste the rooibos flavour which is often lost when it’s blended with stronger flavours. An all-round excellent find!

Assam Tea With Vanilla – Pure Leaf

I adore all tea with vanilla flavouring, it’s one of my most favourite flavours to find in tea. The cake like fragrance of this tea is mind blowing, as soon as I smelt it I knew it was going to be good! Often with vanilla tea you lose the black tea flavour but this doesn’t happen at all with this blend due to the good quality black tea that’s used. I received this tea in pyramid teabags, which is a nice change as most of the tea in TeaTourist’s subscription boxes are loose leaf, so I sometimes appreciate the convenience of high quality teabags.

Rhubarb and Vanilla – Hoogly Tea

This is a green tea based blend with a welcome dose of hibiscus and rhubarb pieces. When the water is added to this tea initially turns a nice blue colour which is enjoyable to watch. It has a really nice sweet vanilla fragrance with a good fruity tang from the rhubarb. This is an excellent tea to use in glass teaware to show off the purple and blue liquid. Rhubarb and the vanilla is a tea I wasn’t expecting to like that much but I loved it!

Go Nuts – Tea Total

This is a rooibos based blend which I’ve been enjoying when I haven’t been able to sleep recently, I love its caffeine free goodness. This tea has a stunning pecan flavour with a sweet caramel flavour, due to the caramel pieces used in this blend. Once the water is added to the tea it’s scent fills the kitchen like a delicious desert! This is the best tea if you’re craving something naughty!

Summer Fruits – Teagime

Summer Fruits is an exciting flavoured black tea that is perfect for your less adventurous guests. The primary flavour is the black tea base but with a healthy helping of red currants, peach, blackberries and an unusual ingredient, blackcurrant powder! I like that this tea isn’t overly fruity and still primarily tastes like black tea but is a bit more exciting with the addition of a fruit twist. Another exciting and unique blend from TeaTourist.

Masala Chai – Spice Kitchen

Masala Chai uses a base of Kenyan black tea mixed with 11 carefully selected spices, creating a gently spiced, well blended chai. The first thing I noticed about this tea is it really smells amazing, it’s not too spicy which sometimes happens with chai tea. I’ve been using it to make a chai latte with rice milk as a base and a base and it really is phenomenal. What I really enjoyed about this tea is it doesn’t require much sugar to sweeten it, due to the expertly blended spices. Overall one of my favourite chai teas!

Final thoughts

This has been an exciting  few months from tea tourist with an amazing mix of new and exciting tea. I love the variation of the TeaTourist boxes, there really is something for everyone. They are a great company to work with and always do an excellent job sourcing new and exciting teas!

If you’d like to try to tourist box for yourself you can use the code RUSSTEAS30 at checkout to get 30% off your first box! I highly recommend you check them out and join them on a tea adventure!

If you’d like more from Russtea’s come and find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook! Thanks for reading! 😃

Bye for now xXx

Matcha Tea Reviews

Bluebird Tea Co. Salted Caramel and Ice Cream Matcha Review

19th September 2017

It’s been a while since my last post, I’ve been having problems with my wrists and as a result not been able to type and have been off work for a while. Luckily I was able to set up Dragon Professional on my Mac so I’ve been able to speak my reviews but had difficulty with the photos, I hope to be back to my normal workload soon.

On to the review! 🙂

I’ve always particularly loved bluebird’s flavoured matcha so I was super excited when they sent me samples of their new salted caramel matcha and ice cream matcha. They were also awesome enough to include one of their new Tote bags and a matcha measuring spoon, which is the nicest I own!

Review Time!

Salted Caramel

The first thing I noticed about this amazing salted caramel matcha is the smell! It has a strong  hit of pure caramel goodness alongside the traditional matcha aroma. I like that the salted caramel flavour doesn’t overpower the matcha flavour like some flavoured matcha, Bluebird always manage to get the balance exactly right. As well as the sweet caramel flavour and the natural matcha flavour there is a subtle saltiness that is the perfect strength.

Ice Cream Matcha

Next up is ice cream matcha, a gorgeous, sweet, syrupy and vanilla flavoured matcha. As always the base is good quality vivid green matcha, which you’ll find across the whole Bluebird lineup. This matcha blends well with lots of froth and really tastes amazing!

The ice cream flavour is stronger than the salted caramel matcha but you can still definitely taste the matcha, which I always prefer with flavoured matcha. The flavour is primarily a syrupy flavour with a nice vanilla ice cream vibe. Another unique and exciting flavoured matcha from Bluebird.

Final Thoughts

I’m always excited when a Bluebird delivery arrives, and this is no exception! I adore their matcha so it’s always nice to try the new flavours and they never disappoint. If you’d like to try these flavours for yourself you can find them on the Bluebird website.

A massive thank you to Bluebird for sending me these new products to try and thanks to all my readers, I hope you’ve enjoyed this review!

As always you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook so come say hi!

Bye for now! xXx