Whittard of Chelsea

In the height of our dizzying tea madness at my previous job, L. brought in a number of fabulous tisanes from Whittards of Chelsea. They were truly a fab array and I did look forward to trying them all…but first I went for the almond fix. And well, I was doomed b/c ever after I went to try another and I couldn’t help but just have more of the Amaretto Explosion. Its that good. Addicting! Beware you might find yourself selling off your kids and pets to keep this one in stock. :P

Fairly pleasant but not over the moon with this one.
I found its better milky with this one.

Nasty. Poor quality black tea with a strong whiff of gone off peach.

My favorite of the ‘Earl Greys’…love the citrus note.
The base that is used for this blend does not seem as rough as most of the other Earls that are out there.

No milk, no sugar…the real deal.

…second time that I rate this blend.
It truly comes to life when brewed in a Yixing clay tea pot and gets treated like a Chinese would treat its tea…
I was rather disappointed when I drank it the very first time.But that was when I touched it with the hands of a European. Big mistake here…
So, as ‘Whittard of Chelsea’ is claiming to use a blend of Chinese teas, I started to re-think those nasty,little leafs. And it paid off…very interesting flavors are pushing through.
The Oolong on the left, Jasmin on the right and those rose pedal notes…well,slightly shy…trying to catch up with everything somewhere in the back.
This Afternoon blend is on the British market since almost 70 years by now…today I found out why!

I am a bit disappointed with this blend. It makes a very smooth cup of tea. This, of course, is out of the question. But the flavors of the jasmin and the rose pedals are overpowered. The subtile notes of Oolong tea are very hard to find on one’s tongue.Bergamot and a very strong black tea as base make me end up with just another cup of ‘Earl Grey’….Anyways, I’ll keep trying. Maybe reduce the steeping time.

Decent oolong. Surprisingly resilient to over-steeping (one of my bad habits).

Steeped to three minutes and drank without milk. I enjoyed this tea as a refreshing thirst quencher. That said, if you are looking for subtly, forget it. This is a bold tasting tea with an almost overpowering Jasmin taste. If I didn’t know this to be an unadulterated tea, I’d suspect it to have added flavours. What I did like about it was it’s scent and the way from very first sip, it took me back in time to the flowery days of the ’60’s when I drank tea like this from trendy little cups to the sound of Sitar music. Ahh happy days…

I’m going old school with my last bag of this. Milk and sugar and drinking it from a nice cup. There’s something to be said for the classic blends like EB.

I posted a bunch of teas in the ‘Take It Away’ thread last night and I’m already getting lots of interest from people. There’s still some teas left so if anyone wants in you’d better hurry. ;D

I added milk and sugar to this tea even though I don’t often like to sweeten my teas. The taste reminds me of when I first started drinking tea as a small child at my grandmother’s house. Happy memories of times long past. :)

So given that yesterday I drank a bunch of not-so-great teas, I decided that today I’d go for some tried-and-true favorites that I know are good.

This tea is quite unassuming and ‘normal’ tasting, but it’s a good, pleasent kind of normal. The tea is practically made to be taken with milk and it goes down smoothly and at the same time it isn’t bland or flavourless.

Mmm, there’s something really warm and cozy and comforting about this tea.

I got several bags of this tea from a friend who lives over in England. It was supposed to arrive for X-mas, but Canada Post apparently backlogged all of its incomming deliveries.

The colour, when I add milk, is quite unique – it’s the exact colour of butterscotch, or maybe of creamy peanut butter. Maybe that’s the Kenyan tea they added ‘for colour’?

The tea is quite full-bodied and the tastes makes me think of toast, which seems quite appropriate all things considered. ;)

Ooh, I say! A lovely drink. The subtle mixture of jasmine and bergamot gives a delightful light taste. Considering that I do not usually like Earl Grey, this more subtle addition to the blend is more to my taste.

Made with a teabag, am drinking it with a splash of milk and am very much enjoying this cuppa :-)

This is my first cup of this company’s Assam and it’s a little less malty but a little more astringent than other Assams I’ve had. It’s very drinkable though and makes for a pleasant everyday cuppa

Just with Darjeeeling teas, I just can’t get on with Earl Grey teas. However, of the ones I’ve tried I find the Whittard version the easiest to drink, perhaps from the relative short steeping time (and so not that strong).

Darjeeling, the Champagne of Teas. Hmm, if only I could enjoy Darjeeling as much as I enjoy Champers! I just can’t get on with Darjeeling, regardless of company. To me, it’s just like drinking a cup of hot gritty water – not pleasurable at all.

However, I do find that it works well when blended with other black teas, so it does have its usefulness…

I bought this tea when I ran out of Ringtons classic 1907 blend – a favourite of mine. Sadly the tea came nowhere near my expectations of it being similar. That said it was a pleasant enough tea with a lingering after taste. Slightly astringent in the mouth. Best drank black and without sugar in my view – I think milk would overpower the flavours.

This is a good tea for something easy to pop in the water and hit the road with. You get a lot of caffeine, and a flavor that’s not too bitter like tea bags tend to be. benefits from a little cream and honey.

It has a boldness of flavor which can be nice in the morning but which I tend to avoid.
The liqueur is dark reddish and inky. It will stain your teeth, the glass, and your newly pressed white shirt. It will make your breathe smell like a compost heap. You could say that all teas do this to some extent, which is true, but Whittard’s breakfast blend seems to excel in “most like ink” category.

This is a good fruity black tea, but it is not the most flavorful that Whittard offers. Sometimes it’s difficult to taste the mango, and it’s just not as lush as some of the others.

One of the few teas that I will drink in bags, rather than loose- this tea has one of the nicest strawberry flavors I’ve tasted. The flavor is not at all fake, just sweet summer strawberry.

Nice, strong cup of black tea.Very good with milk, and the Assam gives it a nice jolt without being too overpowering.