Bird & Blend | Milk Oolong Chai

Company: Bird & Blend

Name: Milk Oolong Chai 

Tea Type: Oolong Tea 

Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf

Rating: 4.5*

Best Served: Hot w/o Milk

Water Temperature: 90° 

Brew For: 3 minutes 

Buy: Bird & Blend

Price: £8.90 for 50g. £24.03 for 150g pouch. £26.70 for 150g tin. 

Description: We've been waiting oolong time for this blend... Another milk oolong blend to add to the collection! This time the hypnotic aromas in this smooth cozy chai will certainly light your fire! You gotta chai this one!

Ingredients: Taiwanese oolong, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon, cocoa shells, chilli.

*This is also part of their Autumn Collection 

*REVIEW* 

This tea is pretty delicious. I have tried very little Oolong tea, and that is purely down to price. It's a costly brew but usually always worth it. My favourite are Peppermint Cream from B&B and Berry Oolong from T2 Tea. But alas, I received this the in the Bird and Blend Subscription Box (which I no longer subscribe to). 

The flavour of the oolong tea is really delicious. It's slight sweetness paired with the silky smooth flavour is just ultimately unique. It's like no other tea out there. It is quite a high quality leaf and you can really tell. The little pearls of tasty tea unfurl while you brew and not only does it taste delicious but it looks so pretty too. 

The flavours of the chai I didn't expect to work. Chai is a spicy bold flavour and milk oolong is softer and soothing. But surprisingly it really really works. The cinnamon is definitely the strongest flavour in the tea rather than the cloves or ginger which blend for a softer flavour chai, less harsh than normal more standard chai's. The kick of the chilli is more prominent than I thought it would be too, it's a nice surprise as an aftertaste of this brew. 

This is definitely a whole leaf tea and I received this loose rather than in bags (I don't think they do bags of this?!). Just look how pretty this tea actually is. Those big chunky pieces and little balls of tea leaves. It's just lovely. 

BUT Milk Oolong Chai is only around now for a very limited time. It's still available online but I HIGHLY recommend you stock up fast if this is the brew for you. 

T2 | Jade Mountain

Company: T2 Tea 

Name: Jade Mountain

Tea Type: Green Tea 

Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf

Rating: 5*

Best Served: Hot w/o Milk

Water Temperature: 80° 

Brew For: 2-3 minutes 

Buy: T2 Online

Price: £8.50 for 100g cube. £18.50 for 250g pouch. £21 for 250g tin.  

Description: Explore Jade Mountain and discover a utopia of cocoa, brittle pieces and green tea. A hint of chocolate and sweet hazelnut praline is totally worth it.

Ingredients: Gen mai cha (roasted rice, green tea, popped rice), brittle pieces (sugar, hazelnut), cocoa husk, sweet blackberry leaves, chicory root, almonds, carob, natural and artifical flavouring

CONTAINS TREE NUTS.

I had been meaning to try this tea for the longest time. Every time you search a review for T2 or see a T2 haul nearly every time they've bought Jade Mountain. I've been shopping at T2 now for around a year and I had never picked up this blend. Mainly because when I get there I totally forget what I've gone in for or because I buy the t2 sips boxes and it rarely has Jade Mountain it even though it's a best selling tea? 

Anyway, I went to meadow hall a few weeks back with Andy and finally remembered to pick up a box of this tea. Aren't I glad I did! This tea is delicious. It was always penned as the Liquid Nutella Tea and it does actually have that creamy, chocolate-y flavour we all know and love. The main thing I love about this tea is how chunky the leaves are. It'll easily brew in any strainer (even those comical silicone ones too!). But the large leaf gives the tea such a better flavour. 

This tea smells incredible. it has a deep chocolate scent with that nutty aroma from the hazelnuts. But the scent of the tea is nothing compared to the flavour. The flavour of the green tea does have the favourably well known earthy flavour but this tastes slightly different. It's cleaner with a fresher taste almost lighter than normal. I love the flavour of Gen Mai Cha it's a little more... rustic. With the roasted flavour from the popped rice. 

But what really makes this a stand out brew is the hazelnuts. Hazelnuts are one of my favourite nuts and I rarely see it present in many tea blends. So I was happy to find a brew where this flavour stood out amongst the other ingredients. With the nuttiness from the Hazelnut Brittle and the smooth creamy flavours from the Cocoa Husks this tea is just delicious. I really wish I'd picked it up a lot sooner. 

I highly recommend this brew, and even to those who don't enjoy green tea. The flavours add to the overall brew but aren't a prominent flavour. You could also add a little sweetener if you like to heighten the flavours of the cocoa. 

Pure Chimp | All The Matcha

So, As you may or may not be aware unless you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you probably won't know about my love hate relationship with Matcha. Whenever I buy it, I usually love it or loath it. There is never any in between. It has taken me probably since last january to really start drinking Matcha and getting into the habit of drinking it as often as possible. So when Pure Chimp were extremely kind enough to send me a jar of each of their blends I was excited to get into them. I had been following them for quite a while on Instagram and was really excited to finally had their Matcha's in my hands. Especially after them releasing the new Turmeric Matcha too. 

Pure Matcha

Price: £4.95 for 20g pouch. £11.95 for 50g glass jar. £19.95 for 100g pouch. £79.95 for 500g (5 x 100g pouches)

Buy: Online

Description: Our specially grown matcha green tea leaves are carefully ground down to form a fine powder. This enables you to consume all of the natural goodness.

Ingredients: 100% finely ground matcha green tea leaves (ceremonial grade). That is all! 

Review: Like I said, I'm not a massive Matcha fan so I didn't have the highest hopes for this blend. purely because I didn't think I'd enjoy it. I haven't tried much plain matcha, as with normal blends of tea I find my favourites in the flavoured varieties. But I did actually like this, I didn't enjoy it hot on it's own, but as a latte it's spectacular. It's clean and fresh with a strong earthy flavour. Mixed with a nut mylk it's really really pleasant. My favourite was 2 perfect scoops of matcha, frothed with hot water, pour over ice and top with soda. Perfection on a hot day. 

Lemon Matcha

Price: £4.95 for 20g pouch. £11.95 for 50g glass jar. 

Buy: Online

Description: Just when you thought matcha couldn’t get any better, we’ve gone and mixed in fragrant lemongrass. PureChimp Lemon Matcha Tea tastes amazing as a matcha latte.

Ingredients: 80% finely ground matcha green tea leaves (ceremonial grade), 20% lemongrass. That is all!

Review: The Lemon is my favourite. It's so full of flavour and the lemon is really quite strong in the matcha. I really really enjoy this one. With Pure Chimp adding lemongrass rather than an artificial lemon flavouring the tea brews to taste far more superior than most lemon Matcha's I've tried. With lemongrass it also adds a very subtle floral note to the tea rather than the tart zingy lemon fruit which I really enjoyed. I did try these over Summer so I must admit I opted for Iced Tea versions after trying them hot. Although I enjoyed this hot without mylk, this tea iced topped with Lemonade really is the best Matcha Lemonade ever. 

Mint Matcha

Price: £4.95 for 20g pouch. £11.95 for 50g glass jar. 

Buy: Online

Description: Matcha made the traditional Japanese way, packed with antioxidants and fit to bursting with fragrant peppermint leaves. Our Mint Matcha is glorious, and provides a lift of well being we think just can’t be matched! 

Ingredients: 90% finely ground matcha green tea leaves (ceremonial grade), 10% fresh mint leaves (peppermint). That is all!

Review: I love mint, anything with mint in I will try. I did try this one first because I was more excited to try this flavour than any of the others. I was suitably impressed. Mint can often be overpowering or a harsh ingredient in something subtle. But Pure Chimp have blended this perfectly for a great balance between the two. I think grinding in fresh peppermint leaves is what makes the tea taste so pure. With the earthy flavours from the tea powder and the bold mint flavour from the mint leaves it's quite nice. I'll definitely be purchasing a jar of this once I'm out, and it's been the one I've leant towards the most. I prefer this hot on it's own. It works great as a tummy tonic too if you suffer from IBS like me! 

Turmeric Matcha

Price: £0.50p for 2g sachet. £11.95 for 50g glass jar. £19.95 for 100g pouch. 

Buy: Online

Description: Specially grown green tea leaves ground into a fine powder with turmeric, cinnamon & ginger.

Ingredients: 70% ceremonial grade matcha, 25% turmeric, 2.5% cinnamon, 2.5% ginger. That is all!

Review: Firdtly, I love that Turmeric is making it's way into the Matcha Market. With all the benefits from the Matcha Powder plus the benefits from the Turmeric this is one super brew you should definitely be getting into your diet. But we all know Turmeric is a desired taste, which makes the 2g sachet a perfect addition to your order. The flavour for he turmeric is quite strong and does overpower the flavour of the matcha slightly, being more than it's the stronger flavour for the two. And this blend is the most savoury of them all, being that they are both quite savoury flavours. But the cinnamon and ginger do allow this to be a sweetish brew if you add sweetener, but I prefer it like it is. Turmeric is a great anti-inflammatory and I try to add it to my diet as much as I can so when I saw this I knew it'd become a staple. It's really nice! 

I have also used this in cooking too, if you mix 3-4 perfect scoops of the Turmeric Matcha Powder with a tbsp of melted Coocnut oil add to a pan and fry off some extra-firm tofu it makes for a delicious stir fry! 

Pure Chimp are an amazing company. Their Matchas are Vegan and they use only Japanese Matcha Powder too. They are a Living Wage Employer meaning every employee earns the National Living Wage. 5% of all profits go to charity. They use only pure ingredients with nothing artificial. 75% of products on their website are packaged in recyclable glass or card/paper and 25% are packaged in partly recyclable plastic/aluminium foil pouches. Their teas also have a shelf life of 12 month but consume within 6 weeks for maximum freshness. 

If you do want to give these a go but unsure which to try Pure Chimp do sell a Sachet Set. Which contains 20g each of the Mint, Pure and Lemon Matchas for just £13.95 and the Turmeric 2g Sachets are just 50p. 

I also recommend if you're placing an order to pick up their Matcha Scoop, this is like a perfect tea spoon but for Matcha. Giving you the perfect measure every time. At only £2.95 it's definitely worth the investment. 

*Products received in return for an honest review. 

Leaves of the World | Caramelised Pear-drop Cake

So this months post is Autumnal, Sweet, Delicious and something completely new to me. I have never tried poached pears before and I've never tried an upside down cake either before. So when Leaves of the World sent me the new Caramelised Peardrop Tea I couldn't think of what I could make  but I knew for a fact it was this tea I wanted to use. But I came up with the idea of poached pears in pear tea, how perfect. But then I had the idea of adding cake and making it a little special. Well, it's Autumn! 

That's where I got the idea of a Caramelised Peardrop and Poached Pear Cake from.

You Will Need:

- Two Cake Mix (I used Morrison's Basic Vanilla Sponge)

- 1 Can of Diet lemonade

- 4 Pears (Buy the hardest you can find)

- 6 Leaf Loaders of Caramelised Peardrop Tea 

- 1 tsp. Vanilla (or honey if you prefer)

- 1 Litre of Water 

For the Pears:

- Peal all four pears and set aside

- In a large heavy based pan add 1 litre of boiling water, 6 leaf loaders of your tea and the vanilla (you could use honey if you'd prefer but I opted for a vegan cake)

- Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour. 

- Remove the pears from the syrup and leave the syrup to boil for another 20-30 minutes until thick. 

- Slice the pears down the middle and leave to cool in the fridge. 

For the Cake: 
- Add both packs of cake mix into a heavy bowl and add half the can of Lemonade and stir well.

- Fold in the remaining lemonade and set the cake mix aside.

- Line your tin with vegan spread/butter or any kind of non stick spray. Line the base with a disk of greaseproof paper.

- Place your cooled pears, it doesn't matter if they're totally cool, sliced side down into your tin. Like this:

- Pour over the cake mixture. If you want you could sprinkle over a little brown sugar or coconut if you'd prefer. But I didn't.

- Bake for an hour or until a skewer comes clean from the centre. Depending on your oven these times may vary.

- Serve with Vegan Squirty cream and enjoy!