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This is the other tea my friends Rahel & Kees gave me as a present when we saw each other (we had seen Rahel “only” ;-) 6 years ago, but Kees I hadn´t seen for 30 years!!!) 10 days ago.
Also black tea based (Rahel & Kees surely knew what I like!) with added sea buckthorn and juniper…which gives a fresh aromatic touch to the tea, both dry as steeped. As I prepared my cuppa in a glass mug, I could also enjoy the really nice dark cupper colour of the steeped tea.

My friends Rahel & Kees changed their programmed trip to Brussels to come to Leuven on my last day there before returning home, and they had a nice present for me (apart from the wonderful afternoon we spent together) : 2 Dutch tea blends.
This one is from a Den Bosch based company indicating “exclusive Amsterdam tea” : a black tea (Ceylon) base with touches of speculaas, orange and “stroopwafel”…good to read the intention, as the list of ingredients is long and makes it hard to see this intention. In nose the dry blend is full of spices, but way more balanced than the average Christmas blend, for instance; once steeped, the spices make an elegant addition to the nice black tea backbone w/o overdoing it (OK, maybe a tiny bit too much of the cloves!)…great effort!

Another (herbal) tea I tried at my friends Cathy&Frank´s place. I normally don´t really enjoy herbal teas, but this blend I found great…the fennel, aniseed and licorice are really in balance, with all adding a natural sweetness to the tea w/o the need to add sugar.

I´ve just returned from a 4000+km road trip to my parents in Belgium. On my way back I managed to meet up with good friends I hadn´t seen in 12 years, so we spent many an hour chatting over a cup of tea, a glass of beer or wine :-) One morning, I drank this tea. Similar to a standard Earl Grey with less prominence of bergamot, soft on the whole with orange lending a sweet touch. Not bad at all, although I tend to like stronger teas in the morning.

Another teabag picked up in UK. In nose quite boring lacking character. The pouch indicates “Brew for 3-4 mins (or longer if preferred)”, and indeed, this long steeping time could well be ok for the tea doesn’t taste as bitter as the Twinings EB I had yesterday at similar steeping conditions.

Another of the teabags my husband picked up in UK recently…if it’s this particular one alright! It says “golden and well rounded” on the pouch of the teabags, and it doesn’t seem to fit the “classic” EB.
On average, I like EB in the morning, as the assam blends used normally are bold and strong (but still complex and enjoyable), ideal to start the (working) day…but here, only the dry teabag smells anything like “well rounded” and there’s nothing “golden” about it, if you ask me. As a matter of fact, it turns (too) bitter even when the recommended steeping time of 2-3 minutes has been respected. The only posible reason/cure for this I can think of, is it’s use with milk…which doesn’t apply for me, as I never take milk with my tea. A shame, as I remember the classic EB from Twinings (and loose leaf) to be quite okay.

My husband returned to UK recently for work and picked up some teabags for me… as I’m currently at my parents’ I took them with me to have a cuppa in the morning.
Twinings has indeed a very fine reputation (I read Martin’s review from a few years ago and I must admit he made a great observation) but as far as the teabags go, they might smell nicely dry, once steeped the tea goes way down in appreciation! Black tea base is quite ordinary and I think the bergamot flavouring doesn’t really come out in taste. Because the flavouring doesn’t seem artificial, my rating of the tea is still above 50.

Gave up drinking commercial ice tea years ago, as I most often don´t identify any good tea in them. Op top of that, they are almost always way too sweet(ened) so they don´t really quench your thirst. Therefore, I didn´t know this brand, and I don´t know either whether it had a proper product line before entering teh Coca Cola group. Anyway, this bottle was part of a pack of products I got at a low price at ny supermarket, so obviously, I tasted it. Honnestly, I had feared worse ;-) Yes, it´s very sweet (how they dare to fool us saying it is “low in calories”!!!), the peach stands out and you can even tell the black tea backbone, but I´ll stick to my home made ice teas, thank you!

This is another fruit tisane from Kent&Sussex : I bought a pouch of 50g to try this as an alternative ice tea. First, I give it a try hot following K&S´s steeping indications.

From K&S website : “Cherry Compote Fruit Tea is a strong, full-bodied infusion packed with an unmistakably fruity punch. It blends the indulgent aromas and flavours of cherries with those of raspberries and bananas to create a match made in heaven.
Other ingredients include apple pieces, sultanas, elderberries, coconut pieces and rose petals, all of which have something unique, indeed extraordinary, to offer.”

Already strong in nose, which is confirmed in mouth at the very first sip : as no flavourings figure in the list of ingredients, I guess the elderberry is to blame. This even overwhelms the kirsh-y cherry (I love cherries but the kirsh-like smell and taste come through, I sort of lose interest)! Needless to say, the rest (raspberry, apple…) is lost in the hot brew.
But then I put my cup aside, and had half of it when it had already cooled down quite a bit…and then the volatiles of the strong kirsh-like cherries had gone, and the blend showed more harmony! So, I guess I will like this tisane much better as an ice tea, hurray.

I´ve been brewing this tea for ice tea about twice a week for the last month, and I think the subtleties of the rhubarb get through better when drunk hot. The ice tea is nice, but it seems it´s already diluted even when I make a point to cooling the brew overnight instead of adding ice cubes… imagine doing it the latter way! It would end up as water with a slight taste and a light colour.