meliorate

After having been through a variety of other companies’ teas, Whittard of Chelsea’s remains still one of the more well-rounded, delicate ones. Somehow I’d thought due to kickstarting my tea obsession with Twinings that I could only tolerate Earl Grey very, very strong— but even brewed strongly this tea tastes delicate, even flowery, and takes milk pretty well! Lightly with a little lemon is delightful, too, but there’s more to this tea than just its ‘light’ taste. It’s a distinctive bergamot flavour that accompanies the black base rather than becoming overpowering alongside it.

Tried this in a darling little tea salon in Perpignan of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. As I’ve been craving a green tea with peach flavour I went for this one, and was pleasantly surprised by the flavour! It isn’t strongly peachy, both for the fact it’s beautifully mixed with a mellow cantaloupe melon flavour that gives it a lot of depth, and it didn’t scald or go bitter quite as quickly as green tea tends to in the pot, for the amount I was served. Rather light, and the green base was still noticeable beneath the whole fruit notes.

Last time I tried this it was loose-leaf, brewed strong in a tearoom… Since my friend went to study in Calgary and brought me back a tin of this, however, I’ve been trying it from teabags.

My gf usually has this with milk and the idea is just /strange/ to me considering the white wine taste, but… I think she might have the right idea because black, it’s a little difficult to get to just the right strength and flavour! That’s for next time.

I always find Betty’s tea very light for the supposed amount of tea used per cup (the leaves are always rolled tightly, full orange pekoe) so in order to get the most out of the orange, lemon and cinnamon flavour, I brewed it with 1 and a half teaspoons for longer than usual and added soy milk… A real treat! The citrus doesn’t resist added milk at all and it’s an altogether warming, sweet flavour with the cinnamon softening the fruit.

First genmaicha I’d ever tasted, to be honest, in Orpington’s tearoom Mystic Brew. Since then I’ve tried other brands, like the Neal’s Yard Tea Emporium brand, but the bancha they used always seemed a bit lacking, a bit too sharp. This one comes out a beautiful green colour rather then the typical gold of green teas, the bancha is light and the rice really adds a kind of fullness to the flavour. Also, it seems to be a bit more hardy against boiling water and less easy to scald than most green tea blends! Always amazing.

Usually for breakfast I tend to have a green tea rather than a black English breakfast tea, and a 50-bag box lasts a long time (compared to 20 bags in Twinings boxes) but… this is really difficult to make in teabags.

I’ve tried everything from using water off the boil, adding cool water, taking the teabag out early, brewing it at a cooler temperature than usual, brewing it in a big mug; nothing seems to stop it tasting bitter, acrid and scalded. Even following the directions (“brewed lightly” for a pale gold colour— you have to take the teabag out after a few seconds or it’ll turn brown and bitter) doesn’t help. It might just be a dilemma concerning the teabag tea, since I haven’t tried the loose-leaf version, but it’s disappointing.

In previous experience of Whittard’s Earl Grey blend I found it rather weak, probably in comparison to the Earl Grey I usually drink (the old blend in Twinings teabags, which can get incredibly strong very quickly); but since I didn’t bring any Earl Grey to uni and the new Twinings blend doesn’t sit well with me, I thought I’d give it a shot.

It’s definitely not as weak as I’d remembered! It just needs a little while to brew fully, and takes milk very well. The balance between the black tea and the bergamot is great (and it smells divine; the temptation to just leave a box of it open in my room… XD)— a definite favourite.

One of my favourites! It’s difficult to get ahold of in the UK, though maybe I’m not trying hard enough. Before my friend sent me a 100-teabag pack of this, I would conserve the few teabags she sent me preciously, since it’s so delicious…

It’s not exactly overly sweet, since like with most rose teas it loses its fragrance if the water’s too hot, but the safflower and fruit are an amazing touch; it’s just floral enough to soften the rose flavour. I drink it black; it’s too floral to take milk, I think. It’s also lovely and delicate to drink that way, even if the flavour can get strong. I love it <3

The best English Rose teas I’ve had so far haven’t actually been English, and this one continues the trend. Even though it says “a hint of tropical fruit” has been added, there’s a hint of fruit, but there’s also just a hint of rose. Neither flavour is particularly bold or characteristic (if anything, the fruit might come out just a little more) as I’d usually expect from a rose tea. Brewing longer doesn’t make a difference either.

Well, it’s so-so, but it’s nothing interesting.

Nicely sweet and very herbal— not sure what exactly to rank it on because it’s my first ginseng. Ahh well, it was a good start?

So gooood! It gets strong very quickly, which is unusual in a white tea (I think?), but you can get more brews out of just the one teabag.

It tastes like white wine. ___ A winner.

Not so sweet that I couldn’t taste the Earl Grey, and not so strong that either flavour was cancelled out. Still though, it was really quite sweet. I might try it without milk next time :)

I made a pot of this earlier! I like my darjeeling weak and milky, so the fact that Betty’s loose teas are weak unless you use double the amount of tea per person is a mixed blessing. Even when it got strong it wasn’t /too/ strong— it’s probably difficult to scald this one. Good Darjeeling, not as strong as regular types!

Definitely one of the gentler citrus Twinings teas out there. Even when I brewed it for a full two minutes, it didn’t get too strong, and the teabag was still good for a second cup. Tastes nicely sweet and complements the green tea well.

Brew lightly. I was served this in the Betty’s of Harrogate flagship store tearoom and they scalded the tea so it went bitter, which is a shame, because it tastes so lovely and delicate when brewed correctly. I pour a little cold water on the tea shortly before pouring on the nearly-boiling water.

It’s also fun to brew this in a glass teapot, because the little coils unwind one by one. :>

Can definitely taste the rose, but even though I brewed this quite lightly, the bergamot is still overpowering and doesn’t really go with the white tea at all…

Labelled as ‘black tea with lemon’. Just like Lady Grey or Blossom Earl Grey, or— any of the Twinings citrus teas, it gets strong very quickly, and just tastes like lemon. That’s all.

I made the mistake of letting this brew for five minutes once. Undrinkable.

But at just the right balance of strength and milk, I find this really comforting. It’s a good black tea with the right amount of floral taste and it still has a kick to it.