Whittard of Chelsea

Dried aroma is a “standard” black tea smell; malty, a little fruity, with tiny hints of tobacco. Once steeped these notes develop an additional smoky hint! The actual flavour is beautiful; malt, a subtle smokiness, that’s easy to miss in the first few sips, and what I can only describe as a puerh likeness. These deep, peaty notes hint at the dark and mysterious past the blend is associated with! It’s a warming cuppa, and the subtle smokiness should ease the transition from warm to cool days.

For more on the Whittard Tea Chest Subscription Box: https://www.tastethetea.co.uk/2017/09/26/whittard-tea-chest-subscription-box/

Just noticed I didn’t have this listed in my cupboard nor have we reviewed it. It technically belongs to youngest, as Superanna buys Lapsang all over the place in her travels just to bring home for little sis!

Not to overshadow the tea itself, but these tins are gorgeous. Our first was a small blue tin, and this newest one is a large grey tin – absolutely gorgeous and oh so manly looking, and why not? If a tea can be manly tasting, I would say Lapsang qualifies. Like pipes and Scotch in a gentleman’s study.

Did you know that Patrick Stewart wanted Captain Picard to drink Lapsang and the producers said that no one would know what that was, so they made it Earl Grey instead and now poor Patrick gets scads of Earl Grey from fans, and I bet he would rather have Lapsang?

Moving on…this is stronger in smoke than the parcel of Lapsang from Postcard teas, which is tasty but isn’t smokey enough for youngest. The smoke level is great in this one, but I do wish that perhaps the base could be a little more present. I would definitely buy it again, don’t misunderstand, but this is a common problem with Lapsang. Why cover up an amazing base tea with smoke? But a great base makes a difference. Even Black Dragon from Upton was a little weak in the base for me.

So far my favorite Lapsang ever was the incredibly expensive Wuyi Shan Lapsang from Harney and Sons which ran about twelve dollars an ounce. I would buy it again right now. Lapsang Crocodile from Dammann Freres was awesome, too. And Teavivre and Zen Tea both had great Lapsang teas as well.

This one is very good, though, until that someday when I restock the top shelf stuff.

Another sample (gift) from Steepster ashmanra, my wife and I waited until we had time to try it as a couple.

It’s smokiness is boldly evident in the leaves – dry or steeped. I was warned Lapsang Souchong was an acquired taste, and I have apparently acquired it. The aroma of smoke is forward enough that it masks the flavors that scream to be identified. Cloves, maybe? Cinnamon?

Whatever it is, I like it. My wife’s one word review: “Smoky”. I asked if she wanted more and got another one word response: “yes”.

I think this is something I’d stock for the purpose of sharing or drinking on a cool day. Steeped it twice so far, going significantly longer the second time around. I am going to attempt more…until the leaves give up. It’s that good.

My mother used to give this to me all throughout my early childhood, so I am biased in writing this, but I find no fault in flavour. It’s sweet, honeyed and comforting and puts me right to sleep. As with all instant teas, the texture on my tongue is slightly cloying. This really doesn’t factor for me.

The lavender scent surprisingly isn’t overpowering as I’d expected. Light pleasant almost sweet floral taste.

I’m not really a fan of lavender so I have to say I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed drinking this instead of a black breakfast tea.

Incredibly strong fruity chocolate aroma which stays fairly throughout the brewing process. Taste-wise the tea is smooth with more of the fruitiness to it.

The tea visually looks great with the little cocoa pieces in it too.

Warm: Lichtjes bitter. Lekkere nasmaak van de mango.

Ice tea: Lekker, verfrissend.

I would recommend this tea for anyone who likes flowery tea, or anything that taste sof roses. I don’t usually but this was very good. Though a bit astringent and sour, I had to add to teaspoon of sugar. Maybe I should try with honey…

I find this tea to be very relaxing and i love the flavours. Bergmot in general i love in tea, its just a great taste for me. You will always find this tea in my cupboard. It has a really light fruity taste. I can drink quite a lot of this tea and would recommend giving it ago

I made a cold brew of this using the same three teabags I’d previously hot steeped to make regular iced tea, and it actually still had a lot of flavour to it. I wouldn’t really say it was all that different, but I’m upping the rating from 77 since I managed to get double the tea from it.

I ate a lot of salty food earlier and was desperately thirsty, so I iced this by using three bags in a cup of boiling water for 5 minutes, then slowly filtering the concentrated tea through an infuser filled with ice cubes into my iced tea bottle, which I then topped up with ice cold water. It’s just what I needed. The liquor is a beautiful clear red, and smells of sweet strawberries and cream. The flavour is subtle enough that I can gulp it down to quench my thirst whilst still tasting strawberries and a hint of woodsy rooibos, and the vanilla comes through in the aftertaste so that it reminds me almost exactly of strawberries and cream flavoured hard boiled sweets that I used to love when I was younger. I bought this because I love Whittard’s loose strawberry rooibos, but couldn’t find it on the website to replace mine when I ran out, so I thought these might work as a replacement. The flavour is quite noticeably different: it has a slightly artificial note which the strawberry rooibos doesn’t have, and the vanilla note is very pronounced, particularly in the aftertaste, but it’ll do for now. I definitely prefer the old one, though.

Sipdown 47/375

Finally from the Vanishing Trio we have Afternoon Earl Grey, a tea which I probably got the most use out of of all three before it vanished. I drank this frequently in the early stages of my tea adoration development, and though it started out as a nice, creamy, citrus-y Earl Grey with a decent black tea body, it lost flavour quickly and I forced myself through much of it. I’m fairly indifferent to Earl Greys in general, but this was a fairly tasty one at first.

Sipdown 46/375

Another of the Vanishing Trio. My bag of this tea was labelled just as ‘Amaretto’ rather than ‘Amaretto Explosion’, but it seems to be the same thing only renamed. I was more keen on this than the others I lost, but am still not too sad to have lost it. I get a lot of the acerola cherries in this blend, and not much almond nuttiness which would lend itself to being called amaretto. I do like cherries, though, and it was a pleasant sour cherry tea. Now my tastes have (massively) expanded I can’t see myself picking this up again.

It had a slight mango and bergamomnt flavor but it was very light. The smell was more over powering than the taste which was underwhelming.

A very greasy biscuit with incredibly buttery smell and taste. The earl grey is easily detectable, making the flavour fairly nice. Despite being a little on the crumbly side the biscuits dunk well and no rescue missions had to take place to save drowning biscuits!

I love Earl Grey tea. It was one of my first teas I began to drink regularly. I am now more of a green tea drinker (and love a nice Jasmine tea) but when I do drink a blacktea, I often turn to Earl Grey.

I have found Whittard’s a solid brand of Earl Grey. I love the look of the tea itself with the violet cornflowers mixed into the Bergamot flavored tea leaves. I usually can get two maybe even three steepings out of must Earl Grey’s. Each good in their own way.

I had one of these left over from summer cold brews, and I’m pretty sure I said when I last logged this one that I wanted to try it hot once it was colder. Well, now it’s colder!

I gave this one 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 175 degrees. It’s fair to say it’s as I imagined it would be – lovely juicy mango flavour, strong and slightly peppery, followed by the almost-bitter orange/floral of bergamot. The green tea base is just a touch on the astringent side, but on the whole fairly unobtrusive.

I’m not really a bergamot fan, so this isn’t one I’d choose to buy for myself, but I do like the mango flavouring. Next summer, I’d quite like to seek out some other mango blends from Whittards, just to see whether they stack up…

Today’s work cold brew. I wasn’t entirely sure how this one would work out, particularly with the bergamot, but I was lazy last night and this was pretty much the only tea to hand, so it was a decision by default. I used 3 bags in 2 litres of water, into the fridge for 10 hours overnight. It’s not too bad. There’s a slight bitterness/borderline astringency that I think is a combination of the green tea and bergamot. It’s not actively unpleasant, but I wouldn’t want either element to be any more prominent. The mango is good, and kind of saves it. It’s slightly peppery, juicy, and pretty flavour accurate. I do wonder at the kind of mind that decided bergamot and mango would be a good combination, but that’s probably why I work in an office rather than an exciting, imaginative job.

I think I’m probably going to prefer this one brewed hot, and I have a couple of bags left so I can try that once the weather turns cooler. This is what I get for being lazy, though. It’s not bad, but I think on balance I probably wouldn’t cold brew it again.

Day 14 of the Whittard advent. I’m getting there; possibly by tomorrow I’ll be caught up.

This one apparently contains liquorice, which is my nemesis, but it’s muted enough that I can’t really taste it. I noticed it a little at the back of my throat by the end of the cup, but I can live with that. It wasn’t in my face from the first sip, at least.

There’s lots of sharp green apple (nice!) but not a lot of elderflower. I want more elderflower. This is actually okay for a fruit tea, though. I’d definitely drink it again.

Today’s work cold brew. I figured on the strength of Very Berry Crush, I could stand to try another bagged Whittards blend this week. This one is the only other fruit blend of theirs I have, so it won by default. Having skimmed the previous reviews, I think they must have changed this blend recently, because I don’t get any rose at all (I don’t think it’s even an ingredient anymore), and there’s plenty of elderflower. Yay for that, because I love elderflower!

Unfortunately, this blend does contain hibiscus (why?), and it drowns out the more subtle apple flavour almost completely. I can taste the elderflower, though, and it’s sweet, syrupy and mildly floral in the best possible way. There’s a touch of crisp, sharp, green apple at the end of the sip, but it’s particularly fleeting and borderline imaginary if I’m honest. Still, an elderflower flavoured tea is a tea that’s fine with me!

I’d probably repurchase this one, simply because it tastes good (not too tart or sour), despite hibi’s best efforts. I’d keep it for summer cold brews, though. I have a feeling it would be hibi central hot, and I wouldn’t be a fan of that.

For reference, I used 4 bags in 2 litres of cold water, into the fridge for 10 hours overnight.

Day 13 of the Whittard advent, and a change from rooibos at last! Having said that, this one’s mostly hibi so it may be a case of “out of the frying pan, into the fire”…

It’s tart and a little sour. Hello hibi! There’s a mild fruitiness, but it’s far from exceptional.

Probably one of the most disappointing so far (and I have at least another 50g of this from a present I was given earlier this year. Life is a chore sometimes.)

Today’s work cold brew. I wasn’t expecting a great deal from this one, because it’s a hibiscus based fruit tea and because it’s a fine-shred bagged affair. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, though. I used 4 bags in 2 litres of water, for 10 hours overnight, and the resulting brew is a medium red-pink. The first thing I noticed about it is how amazing it smells, like literally. It reminds me of fruit coulis. Always a good start.

It’s an even better start when the flavour actually lives up to the scent, which can be a rare thing indeed. I was expecting a strong, sour-tart hibi mess, but it’s actually not like that at all. There is an element of hibiscus, and it is a little sharp and sour tasting, but it stays in the background and isn’t overwhelming. The majority of the flavour is a strawberry/raspberry/blackcurrant combo; fresh, fruity, and very berry. I keep trying to imagine what this would be like with some carbonation – I think very good!

I didn’t expect to like this one, but it’s actually very pleasant and drinkable. I’d pick up more of these bags next summer specifically for the purpose of cold brewing – tasty and convenient!

Smallest amount I could grab was a 40g tin. Will have to pitch the tin, sadly… but wow this is a lovely cup.

Smells sweet, tastes sweeter, thick and rich, creamy from the coconut, with a hint of green grassy to offset the fullness. I’m surprised by this, especially after the coconut from yesterday.