Royal Air Force Tea from Rare Tea Co.

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Rare Tea Co.

Tea Description:

A bespoke blend created for the RAF. When only the best will do.

But don’t take our word for it. Here is comedian Alexander Armstrong explaining why RAF Tea is worth it.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I just received my package of tea from Rare Tea Co. today, and before brewing this splendid Royal Air Force blend, I perused the Rare Tea Co. website to learn a little more about the tea.  While I was there, I clicked on the link above (this one), watched the video and had a really good laugh thanks to Alexander Armstrong.

And now that I’ve tasted this tea, I have to say that Mr. Armstrong is right.  This is delicious.  And, yes, it does taste like tea.  But, I don’t think you visited this website today to hear me reaffirm the words of Alexander Armstrong.

When I opened the package I noticed that the leaf looked a bit like a Darjeeling, or at least a blend containing Darjeeling.  And after reading the website, I found that it is, indeed, a blend that contains a Darjeeling tea as well as an estate tea from Malawi.  So, I brewed this with not quite boiling water (200°F) and steeped for 2 minutes.

The results are marvelous.  The tea is rich with fruity high notes and I taste a hint of muscatel.  The Satemwa estate tea in this blend provides a strong, malty character.  The tea is sweet with bright fruit tones and the caramel-y taste of the malt.  These two teas meld together so perfectly, creating a very full-bodied, rounded taste.  It is bold enough to serve first thing in the morning, and smooth enough to serve as an afternoon tea.

This tea does take to the additions of milk and sugar well, but, I find this to be quite lovely served without additions.  It is nice iced, too, although I think the cooling process seems to dull the flavors somewhat.  For the best flavor, serve hot.

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Black Tea

2 thoughts on “Royal Air Force Tea from Rare Tea Co.”

  1. Thank you for writing about this, I’m a big fan of what Henrietta does for tea and have always wondered what her teas where like, especially the RAF tea.

    For viewing pleasure here is the Armstrong video:

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *