Whittard of Chelsea

Backlogging this from yesterday. My boyfriend brought it for me from the UK.

This smelled overpowerly of charcoal/smoke, so I was a little nervous to taste it. It turned out to be quite delicious however. It has a nice light flavor which is very earthy. It almost tastes like cedar or pine. It was a very pleasant mix of flavors.

On a good day, it tastes like an Earl Grey with a twist – something with Bergamot will always be Earl Grey in my eyes. The jasmine makes it taste quite civilised and regal somehow. I think it’s probably the perfect Afternoon drink with scones or something like that.
On a bad day the flavours seem to be battling each other rather than harmonising. Not sure whether it’s how I brewed it or the mood I was in. So in short, it’s quite a mixed review going on here…

Very nice, light tea to drink at any time of day. I drink it with a splash of milk usually or very few leaves and no milk. Refreshing, zingy after-taste too.

i rarely drink strong tea but this is a strong slightly smoky tea
taken without milk or sugar (its how i take all my teas)
a good early morning wake up tea

My standard green tea. It’s hard for me to write a note about it because I compare all other green teas to gunpowder. This has slightly more tightly wrapped gunpowder balls than the last gunpowder I had. It’s still delicious though. I expect that when I’m old and grey, I will have some gunpowder tea sitting in my cupboard, it just wouldn’t be the same without it.

This time I might have made it with the water a little bit too hot. I am feeling impatient but the more I sip at a cup when it’s this hot, the more I am going to burn myself, and I’ll regret it in the morning (they always say that “you’ll regret it in the morning” about drinking too quickly, not usually about tea…)

had my rather over-infused chai vodka, mixed about 1 part into 2 parts Izze sparkling Pomegranate soda. It’s ok, but the cinnamon is rather strong. I will try mixing the chai vodka with bailey’s next time…

used this recipe to make Chai vodka:
http://coffeetea.about.com/od/preparationandrecipes/r/MasalaChaiVodka.htm

I have about 1/5 of a “fifth,” so I just put one heaping teaspoon in it last night. It will probably “steep” for 24 to 36 hours instead of the recommended 10 because a) I’m lazy and b) I can’t decide what other container to strain it into once it’s done. I also haven’t decided how or when I will drink it… probably just a vodka “martini” with Bailey’s like this http://cocktails.lovetoknow.com/Baileys_Vodka_Martini

Is it wrong to blend Indian chai with Irish creme? I think I’ll call it a “George Thomas,” after this wacky dude I just learned about via the magic of the internets: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Most-Famous-Irishman-in-India,-George-Thomas&id=1650863

made this tried-and-true, super-easy, foolproof recipe using this Chai instead of Earl Grey. The perfect treat for my yoga instructor’s retirement party: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/earl-grey-shortbread-cookies-recipe/index.html

Note: this blend has large leaves and spices, some of which had a crunchy texture in the final cookie (the EG I’ve used is much more fine). So, you may want to crush the leaves with mortar & pestle or a spice grinder a bit before putting them into the food processor.

made some of my chilled brew into an iced chai latte at lunchtime. Wish I’d thought to sweeten the tea before chilling! Tried adding agave after the fact but didn’t add enough. Still good, just not as sweet as I’d like.

I brewed a strong batch of chai and used 3/4 cup to replace some of the milk in a tapioca pudding recipe (also replaced some of the milk with half & half to make up for the thinness of the tea).

Turned out nice – a good amount of flavor and spice without being overpowering. Goes well with the creamy vanilla flavor of tapioca. Would also be good in rice pudding I’m sure.

brewed this strong in 3/4 cup water and used to make my instant whole grain cream of wheat (based on Samantha’s suggestion of making oatmeal with tea). This gave the otherwise tasteless gruel a nice hint of cinnamon & spice that complemented the whole grain nuttiness. With some milk, sugar, and raisins I had an edible and healthy breakfast. Also got a burst of energy after – maybe from the caffeine? Will def experiment more w/ cooking with this and other teas (ex. cooking rice in green or jasmine tea, etc.)

I’ve also made banana chai cake with this tea using this recipe: http://www.teachef.com/view_recipe.html?recipe=457

[[Note: I’m cooking with this tea instead of drinking it b/c my bag is very old, and I don’t like heavily spiced chai or heavily caffeinated black teas anyway. If you like chai that is heavy on the cinnamon you may like this one.]]

I got this in a pack that also contained the ‘Whittard Original’ blend. I prefer the other one because there is more flavour to it, and I think more assam, which is a sure-fire way of keeping it interesting.

So this is a bit of a disappointment really. Maybe I just set my hopes too high

Uhm, not sure why so many of the reviews are mixing the tea into pudding.
shrug

Works for me, but I admit I took the more traditional direction in my chai tastings. And I found it to be quite good and smooth. I blame this chai on helping wedge open the door into posh chai-wonderland to which I have visited and won’t be returning FROM any time soon.

Sure there are chais that followed and blew this one out of my cupboard ( those were the peppery and bitchslapping aggressive ones that I reviewed previously), but this was the first one to take my hand and say ‘hey, you don’t need to buy the twinnings chai from the grocery store anymore. Because frankly I am much better.’ And it is. Smooth as silk and gentle on the palate, this one is flavorful and friendly. So let it take you by the hand and show you the light. It won’t be your last, but you’ll think of it on quiet nights like a summer fling and smile. :)

Emm..Actually I have this tea on my shelf over 3 years long and just forgot to drink it until last Sunday when I cleaned my stuff on it. Although it has been over the fresh time to drink it, it still has a fruity fragrance when I open the package. I used two-cup teapot to steep it with the boiling water. It has a milky sweet of the taste but the tea taste itself is not obvious any more.

Just to give you an idea of the nutty teastastic nature of this one.
Its 3 for £9 at Whittards of Chelsea and I was in the neighborhood (honest,
I didn’t know it was there) and despite the plethora of choice I bought 2 of
Amaretto Explosion :D

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…