Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Whittard of Chelsea
Tea Description:
The gently perfumed taste of Jasmine Tea makes it one of the most popular scented teas in China. It is a hugely elegant drink that fills your mind with oriental splendour every time you take a sip.
Believed to date back to the Song Dynasty, Jasmine tea was originally a tea for China’s elite, drunk only by members of the Imperial Court. It’s beautiful taste is achieved through its very precise preparation. The beautifully aromatic jasmine flowers are picked at dusk, just when their scent is headiest. At night-time they are layered with the long leaves of fine green tea, the petals infusing the tea with their perfume. The result is a sweet, aromatic tea that captivates the senses.
Jasmine tea is a naturally flavoured green tea with an unmistakable floral taste. It is a great-tasting and reviving tea to drink throughout the day.
Learn more about this tea here
Taster’s Review:
Warm and spring-like weather, to me, is perfectly suited to Jasmine tea. Hence, today was the perfect opportunity to give these tea bags a try! I used 1 bag (which looks to contain maybe 1.5tsp of leaf), and gave it 2 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. While tea bags have the advantage of convenience, they can suffer in terms of the quality of the leaf. This looks to be the case here, as the bag contains primarily very fine-shred fannings. No variety is specified for the green tea, either, so I can only assume it to be a blend. The resulting liquor is a medium yellow, the scent lightly floral.
To taste, this one comes across as a very mild, light, jasmine flavoured green tea. The initial sip is a primarily a smooth, slightly buttery green. There’s a tiny bit of bite towards the end of the sip, almost verging on bitterness, but it’s actually quite pleasant in that it gives what is a very mild-tasting tea a little texture and depth. It doesn’t impact on the overall flavour, which is fairly sweet and floral, too much.
The jasmine emerges in the mid-sip, and adds a sweet, floral accord. It’s not a heavy, perfumey jasmine, and it’s by no means overpowering. It’s still possible to taste the green tea base underneath, and it really just gives a taster of what jasmine as a flavouring can add to a tea. It fades fairly quickly and doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression.
I think this would make a good introductory Jasmine tea for those who are uncertain or who are just beginning to explore this category. It would also be an excellent choice for someone who likes jasmine in principle, but who doesn’t like overly strong, overpowering jasmine that can be found in some varieties. As someone who falls into the latter category, I have to say that this one is a touch too mild for me, but it still gives the impression of jasmine without too much lingering floral. The green tea base is pleasant, if unremarkable, and the cup as a whole is eminently drinkable. It makes for a refreshing cup on a warm day, its only failing being that it’s a little lacking in flavour.
Assam Hazelbank from Whittard of Chelsea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Whittard of Chelsea
Tea Description:
This small and picturesque garden produces one of the world’s best teas. This tea was named after Hazel, the daughter of state official, Dr Mead. The richness, size and color of its tips make Hazelbank an all-time favorite.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I visited the website for Whittard of Chelsea, I noticed that this tea is currently sold out. Looks like I got a pouch of this just in time! And I’m SO glad that I did; this Assam Hazelbank is exquisite. (And I recommend keeping an eye out for the next harvest of this to become available, this one is worth that effort!)
There are many different Assam teas out there. Each one varies depending upon where it is grown: Whether or not it is a single estate or not, and if it is a single estate, the flavor of the Assam is affected depending upon which estate it comes from, and even how it is processed affects the flavor of the cup. And even though there are many different Assam teas, I tend to consider Assam teas as either bold and malty OR somewhat mellower and wine-y.
However, this Assam from the Hazelbank estate tends to take on all of these characteristics. It is bold and malty… although it is somewhat mellower than a strong, robust Assam … and it does also have the fruity, wine-like character of a mellower Assam. This tea has it all!
The first thing I really noticed about this tea is its sweetness. It is a fruity sweetness, but there is also a caramel-y sweetness that melds quite nicely with the malty tones. It has a solid, full-bodied flavor, but it isn’t an aggressive flavor. I didn’t notice any bitterness to this, but then, I didn’t come close to oversteeping it (I steeped it only 2 minutes), but even with other Assam teas I find that there are hints of bitterness in the background that tell me that oversteeping the tea would lead to more. This doesn’t have that. That’s not to say that if it were oversteeped it would not become bitter, I’m just saying that this cup is remarkably smooth and free of anything resembling bitterness.
This is pleasantly complex, and has one of the most well-rounded flavors that I’ve yet to taste with an Assam. I like it a lot.
Spiced Imperial from Whittard of Chelsea 1886
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Whittard of Chelsea 1886
Tea Description:
Set against smooth black tea, this blend is enriched with the exotic taste of cinnamon bark and fragrant citrus peel; scented with spiky cloves and long dark pods of vanilla. From your steaming cup these majestic flavors curl and twist. Let them take you on a journey to lands rich with the fragrance of spice.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This smells so good. It is spicy with strong cinnamon notes and hints of clove. It has a delightful citrus-y undertone and a background note of earthy black tea with just a subtle touch of vanilla in there too.
I expected it to taste super spicy, like the spicy-hot cinnamon hearts. But it doesn’t. It certainly does have a warm level of spice, but I wouldn’t call it spicy.
What I am liking right off the bat with this tea is that the black tea is not hidden beneath all these spices. It is evenly matched with the cinnamon, which is the strongest flavor of the spices. The cloves come through about mid-sip, while the orange notes seem to peek through, brightening up the entire cup. The vanilla is more of a subtle, distant note, and I find myself wanting a little bit more from it. However, as it cools, the vanilla seems to rise to the surface, and gives me what I was hoping for. It doesn’t ever become a strong flavor in the cup, but, it becomes a little less shy about revealing its flavor after the tea has had a couple of minutes to cool. Not cold, it’s still hot … but, it’s not as hot as it was when I first poured the cup.
I am enjoying this, but I do find myself wishing there was a little more … something … from the black tea. From what I am tasting, I would speculate that this is a Ceylon, and it is pleasant enough and tastes good, but, it’s just not quite as solid a tea as I would like. It’s a bit too mild here; I think needs a bit more roundness to it. I think that this could have done well with a touch of Assam, perhaps, or maybe Nilgiri, to give it a slightly denser flavor with a hint of malty flavor. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very enjoyable tea – I just think it could be even better!
Overall, though, I am really enjoying this warmly spiced blend – it evokes thoughts of autumn – my favorite time of year – and reminds me that it is on its way! And this tea would be a delightful one with which to start those days in fall. I can’t wait!
Breakfast Earl Grey from Whittard of Chelsea 1886
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Whittard of Chelsea 1886
Tea Description:
Earl Grey has become a defining flavor of Britain, distinguished by its fragrant taste. Traditionally an afternoon tea, our customers wanted a version strong enough for breakfast. So we created a fine blend of black tea with malty Assam, crisp Ceylon and mellow Kenyan. It is a vigorous blend with a beautiful, delicate bergamot taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
There is just something about Earl Grey that … when I encounter a new-to-me Earl Grey (one that I’ve not yet tried), I get all giddy, quite unlike any other flavor of tea. There’s just something about that bergamot that makes me happy.
Occasionally, I’ve been disappointed. Occasionally, I’ll come across one that just doesn’t do the name “Earl Grey” justice. But it is a rare occasion, indeed, and fortunately, today is not such a rare occasion. This Breakfast Earl Grey from Whittard of Chelsea 1886 is lovely!
The aroma is beautiful – although, I must admit that it did scare me just a bit. It is a strong bergamot fragrance, but there is just a hint of … something … there that made it smell a bit more like perfume than like tea. It scared me momentarily, but once the tea was brewed, that worry was over. The aroma of the dry leaf is a tad perfume-y, but the brewed tea smells much more like a proper Earl Grey. Sweet, bergamot-y (which is much now much lighter here in the brewed tea), and possessing a pleasing earthiness from the black tea base.
The black tea base of this Earl Grey is a blend of Assam, Ceylon and Kenyan tea. I know I’ve tasted a lot of Earl Grey teas, and I can’t possibly be expected to remember all the Earl Grey bases I’ve tried up until now (can I? … hope not, because I can’t!) but I don’t remember a blend of these three particular teas used as a base for an Earl Grey. The result is a robust background with malty intonations and a really rich, solid, well-rounded flavor.
The bergamot is rather soft in the presence of this powerful black tea base, but I still find it rather pleasant. Usually, I like my bergamot bold and in-your-face, but, I have also quite enjoyed the softer side of bergamot on occasion. I find that with these particular teas, the citrus-y tones are much more bright and sweet … it’s almost juicy!
There is much more of a fruit note than an “exotic” note, if that makes sense. Yes, I’m aware that bergamot IS a fruit, so indeed it should not be unusual that it actually tastes like fruit, but, bergamot is quite unlike any other fruit that flavors teas that I’ve encountered. Here, it is mellowed somewhat, allowing the distinct fruit tones to express themselves in a different way. As I continue to sip, I notice some floral notes begin to reveal themselves … a taste that becomes more dominate as I reach mid-cup.
What a lovely bergamot experience I’m having with this Breakfast Earl Grey. This is one that all Earl Grey lovers out there should try!