The Tea Centre

Sipdown (pretty much!). Now this is an Assam I wanted for flavour and body that stood up to milk!

‘Oversteeping’ it and then adding milk, made for a thick and silky brew that uplifted my spirits and actually made me want to get up in the morning. Tasty straight too.

Sipdown! The most non-descript loose leaf I’ve encountered.

I’ve brewed this a few different ways – casually tossed in a strainer and paper cup at work, as well as per instructions on the website, and also overleafed and oversteeped in a tea pot.
It’s not user error as each method still gives a bodied brown brew of no flavour, and mildly unpleasant astringency on its own. Adding milk smoothed out the tannins, but the bland bitterness peaked through.

The minimum purchase quantity is 50g, so I had to find a way to use it all up. The solution? Experimenting with making a black tea blend!

I quite enjoyed playing around with this. I combined two teaspoons of this boring Assam with one teaspoon Ceylon (a very mid Yorkshire Blend, also from The Tea Centre), and one teaspoon Ailaoshan Black (from Whispering Pines).

Wondrous result! The Assam gave the body and colour I wanted for a blend to stand up to milk, the Ceylon lended some brightness and middle notes, and the Ailaoshan Black lended the top notes of cocoa florals and a lovely glassy texture.

Moments like these, I feel like a genius.

However, the Ailaoshan Black in the blend definitely benefits from a lower temperature than the Indian teas, so when I brewed the blend at 93C or so (all the teas were happy here in this heat), it turned out quite different from brewing it at 99C (the delicacy of the Ailaoshan was lost although the Indian leaf benefited).

Gave me a new respect and understanding for the complexity of black tea blends.

This has an interesting flavor and aroma. Overall a well balanced note with no 1 ingredient sticking out. My husband would describe this as burnt rubber tasting but I personally like this. It does have that off aftertaste which can’t be described. I believe you should try a sample first before purchasing in bulk as it’s not for everyone.

This seemed like a reasonable quality tea, so I would certainly buy from The Tea Centre again. But this tea was far too scenty for my liking; I didn’t mind the flavour, but the smell was overpowering and would make me feel nauseous.

This is one of my favourite ginger teas. Depending on how much rosella you have in your strainer, it leaves the cup absolutely bright pink.

I love this tea because it has more depth than a regular ginger tea. I usually drink ginger teas if I have an upset stomach, and a lot of bagged ginger teas can taste pretty medicinal or flat.

This tea has lots of depth due to the citrus-y lemongrass and the rosella makes it really tangy.

I’ll have to buy some from Australia when I’m there next. c:

I was honestly surprised just by how much this tasted like the real deal! I love it!

The first time I tried this tea, I had it black and with zero sweetner, it was amazing at first and then got progressively bitter. Second time I tried it, I added some cream, not loads, but enough to take the edge off, it was amazing.

Lovely tea,It helps not only rejuvenating your Body but also gives you an inner peace

Best tea i have in kerala

Delicious!

A very soothing herbal drop to send one off to dream. A very nicely balanced blend of floral and herbal notes, and the gently soporific qualities of the plants seem to have their intended effect. Highly recommend.

A very light, refreshing citrus tea. Tastes equally delicious hot or iced! The sweetness of the limes cuts through the grassiness of the tea with a lovely degree of acidity in its bite.

Historically, I have been a bit of a fence-sitter on the subject of rooibos tisanes. I like them in principle, but have never fallen so deeply in love with one I’ve tasted to buy it to drink at home. I bought this one on the recommendation of a Tea Centre customer service representative as a response to a suggestion I made to consider including a chocolate/cacao genmaicha, and I will say, it’s pretty good. It has all of the usual tobacco-ey caramel-y woody rooibos notes with a savoury sweetness from the almonds and brittle, and the chocolate doesn’t overwhelm the blend. I’ll probably buy it again, it’s a very nice dessert tea. I’m still hoping Tea Centre creates a chocolate genmaicha, though.

Upon receiving this tea, I immediately arranged a blind taste test for my husband, an avowed disciple of another “Australian” (owned overseas) tea merchant’s French Earl Grey . The Tea Centre’s French Earl Grey won hands-down and is our new favourite breakfast tea. As other commenters have noted, it is a lighter black tea with deliciously subtle floral notes and a natural fruity sweetness. The bergamot is present and accounted for (as it should be), but sings in delightful harmony with the blend, rather than beating you upside the head like other blends we’ve tried. And as always, I will note my appreciation of the use of natural ingredients and flavours over artificial flavouring. A beautiful tea.

I, too, really love this tea! The sweet, almost grassy greenness of the leaves is enhanced by the tart cherry pieces and delicate floral aromas. It’s not too sweet, though, just light and pleasant – a very enjoyable brew. I warily rebrewed the leaves as directed on the packaging (suspicious of a bitter brew as so often happens to greens) and was surprised with a very drinkable cup the second time around, too.

Also, I want to note that it’s nice to find naturally flavoured green teas for those of us seeking that sort of thing. While I appreciate the molecular similarity between Nature Identical ™ artificial flavouring and natural flavours, I still prefer supporting teahouses that use natural flavours in their teas.

I thought this was a beautiful tea on the occasions I didn’t underbrew it. It was too easy to do for me unfortunately, it always turned out best when it was walked away from and forgotten about for 10 minutes. If it was made in a pot, the second cup was always best. I’ve finished my whole packet though and I think I would repurchase next time I am in the CBD and no other flavours jump out at me first.
As with all my black teas: white with one, thanks love.

It’s not very orange-y, even with the big pieces of orange in the loose leaf blend. The cinnamon and cloves are spot on. I drink this in water with a bit of agave syrup for sweetning.

I had this tea for the first time at the Tea Centre the other day.

The flavours and ingredients sounded like something that really appealed to me, but the end product wasn’t what I had anticipated. It wasn’t bad at all, it just wasn’t what I expected.

I wanted something bold and fragrant – instead I tasted something smooth and mellow. The tea was coppery and none of the flavours were overpowering – but I think the rose got lost a little bit. This blend did have some depth to it, which I was happy to see but it was much softer than I expected.

I probably ordered the wrong blend to drink that day – but there’s nothing wrong with it. Now that I know what to expect, I’d like to try it again!