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!

Leaves of the World | Rep Box - September

Afteroon Guys! So today I have my review of the September Box from Leaves of the World. I do want to publicly apologise for how far behind with these reviews I am. I have been having some life issues and health issues which have made it difficult for me to keep up to date and sods chance of getting in front. Hopefully over the next few months I'll iron this out and get up to date while also putting together a proper posting schedule so you'll all know where I'm at! *I also have this months box too! There are some super exciting things doing ups ith LOTW and I'm really excited to share these with you. This box is full of Late goodness, so every tea is a latte with a recc on which Vegan Mylk I think tastes best with each brew. But you can always jazz it up and give it a go with which ever you like. 

Buddha Buddy
Company: Leaves of the World

Tea Type: Infusion

Loose or Bagged: Loose

Rating: 5*

Best Served: Hot or as a Latte (Latte using Almond Mylk!)

Water Temperature: 100°

Brew For: 3-4 minutes I find is ideal

Buy: Leaves of the World

Price: £5.50 for 50g and £10 for 100g

Description: Hey there, fancy a feel good blend? I’m a cinnamon chai with a delicious set of spices. I’m not as hot as my friend the hot monk if you’ve met. I am your buddy in time of need. Take off your shoes, lay back, and relax with your Buddha Buddy

Ingredients: Organic: cinnamon, cardamom seeds, black pepper, clove and ginger

This is one of my favourite blends from Leaves of the World. It's warming and spicy without that caffeine hit. I rarely find a nice chai style tea without black tea as a main ingredient. Black tea isn't my favourite and I'm always more inclined to opt for a caffeine free tea first.So this is both caffeine free and delicious. It makes the perfect latte before bed, instead of a calorific hot chocolate. None of the spices are overbearing or overpowering, they're perfectly blended together. 

A Warm Hug
Company: Leaves of the World

Tea Type: Black tea

Loose or Bagged: Loose

Rating: 4.5*

Best Served: As a Latte with Coconut Mylk

Water Temperature: 90°

Brew For: 4 minutes

Buy: Leaves of the World

Price: £5.50 for 50g and £10 for 100g

Description: Come quick my dears, let me warm your cockles up with a nice big warm hug. Pop them slippers on and sit back and relax with a big mug of me. I’ve got everything you need to warm you right up

Ingredients: Organic: Black tea, cinnamon, apple pieces, pineapple, pear pieces, hibiscus, liquorice, ginger, cardamom, cloves and pepper.

A warm hug is exactly that. A warm hug in a mug. I love this in a morning, when it's freezing cold on the way to work. A big travel mug of this is perfection. It literally makes a monday morning feel ok. The black tea is bold and strong without being nasty and bitter which I love. You can really tell this is a good quality black tea. Blended with the winter spices of he cinnamon, ginger and cardamom it's the right base for a chai inspired brew. The liquorice and pear pieces give the tea a subtle sweetness balancing the flavours of spices and fruit together and make this a very unique flavour. 

Matcha Carobeauty 
Company: Leaves of the World

Tea Type: Matcha 

Loose or Bagged: Loose

Rating: 500*

Best Served: Latte style! Perfect with Oat Mylk

Water Temperature: 80°

Brew For: Add hot water, and whisk. No steeping required! 

Buy: Leaves of the World

Price: 20g for £15.50

Description: Okay, so a lot of you may not of heard of the super health benefits of Carob and Astragalus, so let me give you the 411 on what I'm allll about. Firstly, Carob has a beautiful, rich chocolatey taste, without any fats! Carob is also naturally high in calcium and vitamins and minerals, a natural antioxidant, and is also a power plant when it comes to digestion. With it's subtly sweet and earthy chocolatey taste, it's a perfect fit for it's friend over here, Astragalus.

Astragalus is a virtually unheard of herb among most people, however, once you begin to take notice of it's health benefits, you'll never want to live without it again. Medicinally used for centuries to treat heart and respiratory problems, even the common cold is no match for it, Astragalus is one of the worlds best herbs for improving the immune system. It even has cancer fighting properties as well as a whole range of other respiratory aiding benefits. Buddhist practices use Astragalus to enhance 'qi' which is Vital Energy.

Putting these two tasty beasts with your main man Matcha over here, and we've got ourselves a winner baby! 

If you fancy a treat, you can also latte me to get a creamier chocolatey taste.

Ingredients: Organic: Matcha Garucha, Carob Bean, Astragalus.

When I first received this tea I was beyond excited to try it. I have a love hate relationship with Matcha, I either love it or hate it and I was curious to see where this would go. I've heard of Carob Beans before but never heard of Astragalus. With the mounds of health properties this super tea has it was right up at the top of my to try list. It's absolutely incredible. If you're new to Matcha or you aren't that fond of that earthy flavour then this is definitely the Matcha for you. It's sweeter, creamier and packed with even more health benefits than your original Matcha!! Could it get any better? Yes, yes it could because it tastes like hot chocolate. Brewed with any nut Mylk this is sure to be delicious but I brewed it with Oatly Barista which kept the sweetness down and enhanced those earthy flavours. It tastes cosy and comfy. Especially after a crap day at work or freezing your preverbal off somewhere 'outdoorsy'. 

Nanna's Brew
Company: Leaves of the World

Tea Type: Black Tea

Loose or Bagged: Loose

Rating: 4*

Best Served: Latte! Hazelnut Mylk

Water Temperature: °

Brew For: 

Buy: Leaves of the World

Price: £5.50 for 50g and £10 for 100g

Description: Ey up there. This is my proper cuppa, a real Yorkshire brew like I've always liked it. Strong, punchy, and a little sweetness too! If you like a strong cuppa like me, with or without a dollop of milk, you'll like this. It's how I've always made it!

Ingredients: Organic: Broken black tea blend. Natural flavour

Now, this tea is different. Like I said previously, and do a lot, I am not a huge fan of black tea and this essentially is a predominantly black tea. But the flavour is quite nice and enjoyable. It's definitely more a first thing in a morning kick me up the butt caffeine fix type tea. Which to me is a good thing. Everybody needs 'that' tea! It has an earthy boldness to it with a nice touch of sweetness from the natural flavour. I enjoyed this. Making this into a latte with Hazlenut milk heightens the flavour of the nut milk nd the nut milk just allows the tea to shine into that perfect sweetness without the sugar. 

Bubblegum Yum
Company: Leaves of the World

Tea Type: Green 

Loose or Bagged: Loose

Rating: 5*

Best Served: Latte with Coconut Mylk

Water Temperature: 80°

Brew For: 2-3 minutes

Buy: Leaves of the World

Price: £4.50 for 50g and £8.00 for 100g

Description: Who put the yum in bubblegum? I did. That's right. I'm a sweet cranberry sencha green tea but don't let that fool ya! I make a delicious hot tea, but my secret is to brew me as a latte, hot or iced, and I freak out! It's like chompin' on gum. Chew on that peeps 

Ingredients: Organic: Green tea, cranberries (cranberries, raw cane sugar), rose petals and orange peel. Natural orange flavour.

This. Is. FIT. Literally. If you ever loved the blue slushy or bubblegum flavoured anything as a kid this is nostalgia in a cup. It baffles me every time how LOTW always manage to get teas to actually taste like other foods. Like The Jaffa, Caramalised Pear Drop or Bubblegum. Amazing!! This tea is delicious, it's sweet, it's creamy, it's earthy. The green tea is a very underlying flavour so if you're not a lover of green tea it's ok, you'll probably love this anyway. The sweetness from the orange peel and natural flavour mask the earthier tones from the green tea. Whilst the floral notes from the rose petals mellow the flavour into something superb. If you're trying to cut the calories before Little Black Dress season this would make a better after dinner treat than a dessert too. 

Fancy trying these tea's? Well if you use TEANOMADBECCA20 you'll get 20% off any teas across their whole site. And if you're ready for the colder weather these latte's will make the perfect addition to any kitchen cupboard. 

T2 | Strawberries and Cream

Company:  T2

Name: Strawberries & Cream

Tea Type: Fruit Tisane

Loose or Bagged: Loose

Rating: 5*

Best Served: Iced

Water Temperature: 100°

Brew For: 5-10 Minutes 

Buy: T2 | Loose Tea 

Price:  £7.50 for 100g | £16 for 250g | £18.50 for 250g tin

Description:
Strawberry fields are forever with this beautiful red brew and sweet aroma.

Ingredients:

Apple, hibiscus, rosehip, strawberry granules (glucose syrup, strawberries, fructose, modified starch: E1414, thickener: E401), sweet blackberry leaves, yoghurt crispies (skimmed milk yoghurt, sugar, maltodextrin, modified starch E1412, acidifier: E330) , flavouring

CONTAINS MILK.

I picked this tea up in my Birthday Haul from meadow hall a few weeks back and I've really been loving this blend! It's been right next to my kettle where all my 'go-to' teas are left. I really wasn't expecting to like this blend much, and I honestly only bought it for the smell and because my aim is to try teas out of my comfort zone this year. I've never been a fan of the whole 'strawberries and cream' fad, not even when Wimbledon is on! 

It brews to quite a deep red/pinky colour due to the strawberry granules and hibiscus, and the smell is heavenly. It's sweet, creamy and definitely fruity! 

The flavour was just something else. It was definitely one of the nicest fruit teas I've tried in quite a while, I've been steering clear of fruit teas recently and more towards black teas so it was nice to go back to an old favourite in something so delicious. I really didn't know what to expect when I first tried it but I definitely did not see the creamy flavour coming. The yoghurt crisps really add a sweet, smooth creamy flavour and texture to this brew which gave it extra depth and stand out in a cluster of teas so similar. 

Although I'm overloaded with fruit teas and they're in abundance at supermarkets and on every shelf I really think T2 Strawberries and Cream is a staple cupboard type fruit tea. It has everything you'd want from a fruit tea. It's also awesome iced too!! I have cold brewed this in my new T2 Jug-A-Lot. I much prefer it hot, but I am very much a hot tea person, but iced it is delicious nonetheless.

Manga | Seraph of the End, Vol. 1:

Author: Takaya Kagami

Illustrator: Yamato Yamamoto

Volume Number: Volume One 

Volume Title: Vampire Reign 

Rating: 5* 

Publisher: VIZ Media 

Pages: 200 pages 

Published: 3rd June 2014 

Format: Physical

Bought/ARC: Bought via Waterstones 

Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Waterstones | Book Depository 

After trumpets of the apocalypse proclaim the fall of humanity, vampires arise from the shadows to rule the earth. Yuichiro wants just one thing—to get revenge by killing each and every vampire.

Yuichiro’s dream is near-impossible, given that vampires are seven times stronger than humans, and the only way to kill them is by mastering Cursed Gear, advanced demon-possessed weaponry. Not to mention that humanity’s most elite Vampire Extermination Unit, the Moon Demon Company, wants nothing to do with Yuichiro unless he can prove he’s willing to work in a team—which is the last thing he wants!

I loved this Manga. I was recommended it by Alisha @ Reality's a Bore. I literally one day thought, I wonder what manga is like? And I knew exactly the right person to ask! So I sifted through the probably 15 recommendations I got from Alisha and chose three. Seraph of the End, Mermaid Boys and Servamp. (Reviews on those soon!)

When I went to the Isle of Man on 1st of August I took a few manage with me and the first one I read was Seraph of the End, and it pretty much only took me the ferry journey pretty much to read this. It is a 3 hour ferry, give me some credit! I started with a Vamp Manga because you really can't go wrong with Vampires, the good, the bag and the ugly. They're all such good reads. 

Seraph is based on the premise that humanity has fallen fate to a plague that has only affected everyone aged 13 and over thus leaving the kids to fend for themselves. Until the vampires turn up and take over the world. Forcing all the children underground to become their own person food supply. Yuichiro is the one, the bad ass, no thinking, hot headed 11 year old who has high hopes and dreams for taking down the vampires, single handed. One day, when Yuichiro's friend, Mikaela shows Yuichiro a map that he's stolen from a Higher Vampire that outlines a way out, Yuichiro is the first to get everyone together and plot their escape. In a shocking twist, only Yuichiro manages to escape and get to the surface. Which, he discovers, not ll the adults have actually been wiped out, it's just something the children have been lead to believe to keep them below ground. Where Yuichiro's real journey begins. A single player lifestyle, Yuichiro learns the true meaning of family and the importance of working in a team to succeed in life. 

I really loved this manga, it's quite fun and fast paced and really sets up the series in a really good way. I really loved the twists and turns and dynamics which are there right from the the beginning of the book. There were a few characters to get to know form the first page, which at first was a litteld difficult to follow but it didn't take me a while to catch up. There was a certain scene around about the middle of the book that was very 'omg he's not what we thought' which I really loved. And without giving away too much, I wont say anymore. 

All I will say is that I will really recommend this book. it was just awesome, vampires, family, friends and a little bit of attitude. BRILLIANT! It really has given me the Manga Bug and I've read a couple more since. 

Manga | Tokyo Ghoul

Author: Sui Ishida

Illustrator: Sui Ishida

Volume Number: Volume One 

Volume Title: NA 

Rating: 5* 

Publisher: VIZ Media 

Pages: 224 pages 

Published: 17th March 2015 

Format: Physical

Bought/ARC: Bought via Waterstones 

Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository | Waterstones 

Shy Ken Kaneki is thrilled to go on a date with the beautiful Rize. But it turns out that she’s only interested in his body—eating it, that is. When a morally questionable rescue transforms him into the first half-human half-Ghoul hybrid, Ken is drawn into the dark and violent world of Ghouls, which exists alongside our own.

Okay, so my second manage read of 2018, and my entire manage read collection. Ha. Literally though, OMG, have I just got really lucky or I love Vampires. One or the other. Because this manga guys, I LOVED IT. It was heartwarming, in a weird way, funny, charismatic, enticing, fast-paced and ultimately so ugh brilliant. 

So, Tokyp Ghoul follows Ken Kaneki, a cute, slightly geeky bookworm who has his head constantly in the pages of books. Not paying much notice to the attention of girls. Until one day, when he's having food with a friend and he catches the eye of the attractive Rize Kamishiro. With similar interests and the same favouriteauthor it's obvious they will hit it right off. I mean, c'mon same favourite author! The world that Kaneki lives in is filled with Ghouls, those who fee doff living humans to survive. And in a fun little plot twist Rize is a Ghoul. On the all home, Rize attacks Kaneki and he finds out what she really is the hard way, luckily for Kaneki he survives thanks to a superior doctor who takes a big risk in order to allow Kaneki to live. When Kaneki comes round, and wakes in a hospital he starts to feel different, think different, and ear different. 

This book is pretty funny too to be fair. Even with a more serious storyline there are a few little quips that really add to the storyline and give it that extra dimension you really want in a Manga. I really enjoy Horror, in any way shape or form. my favourite movies, books, comics are all horror nearly. I just love the way someone can catch your fears and trepidations and put it into a work of art. Something to keep you guessing, make you jump and a little bit of gore here and there is always a bonus. Tokyo Ghoul really delivered on the promise of the horror genre, and I wasn't expecting too much as I hadn't read a Horror manga before so id din't know how it'd work. I loved the idea of 'Ghouls' beings that appear to look 100% normal and human with an incessant need for human flesh. 

Especially with illutrastions, but it worked so well. The artwork is incredible too,t he way they captured emotions such as fear and horror was just insane. There are brilliant scenes of dark alleyways and constructions ties, the exact places you would expect beings like ghouls to hunt at night. 

I really thought Tokyo Ghoulg was a really good set up book. The perfect start to what is quite a lengthy series, I haven't den reading Manga long so yes 14 books in a series is a lot to me! But I have high hopes for what this series is gong to bring and where Kaneki is going to go with his new life. The horror elements are strong so far and I really hope that this continues throughout the series. There's also a spin of series too Tokyo Ghoul: re.