Saturday, 21 July 2018

Leaves of the World | June Box (+ recipes!)

Hello Readers and Happy Saturday! Have you all had a fabulous week? I've been super busy this week, and super behind on posts too! But here are my four tea's I received from the fabulous Leaves of the World. And this month I've included my recipes for ALL FOUR TEAS! They are super simple, and easy recipes to follow for something to do on a chilled saturday afternoon when you're craving something sweet!

Company: Leaves of the World 
Name: Fig 'n' Peach
Tea Type: Fruit Infusion 
Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf
Rating: 3.5*
Best Served: Hot w/o Milk
Water Temperature: 95° 
Brew For: 3-5 minutes 
Price: £4.50 for 50g. £8.00 for 100g

Description: Fig’n wonderful I am. Fruity fun ‘n’ peach ‘n’ all, not too tart mind, bit’a pink pepper t’ take it down a notch’a two ‘n’ a bit’a ginger t’ warm yer up like. Proper cuppa stuff I am. Caffeine free an'all!
Ingredients: Organic: Figs, apple pieces, ginger, orange peel. Natural peach flavour. Organic pink pepper

*REVIEW* This tea is beautiful, it really is. It's quite a light and delicate flavour but I really enjoyed it, and I often brew quite a big mug too. With the hot weather we've been having recently I've been leaning more towards flavoured green teas and fruit infusions. To be fair, I'm not a massive fan of figs but I do really love peaches so I was quite excited to give this one a try. I loved the addition of a little bit of pink pepper in this blend, it really made it something special and a little different from your normal fruit brews. Gave it a slight depth and character whilst lifting the fig and peach flavours. 

*RECIPE* As a fruit tea I think this is perfect to be iced. Brew 4 leaf loaders of Fig n Peach into a bottle, I use my Jugalot from T2, and brew overnight. When you're ready to drink, top with either Sparkling Water or Fizzy Peach Flavoured water! Add slices of lemon, and a straw! (But remember always  us a bamboo, glass or metal straw though guys!) 
*My favourite way to drink this is add 2 shots of the concentrate, 1 shot of gin, and top with tonic water for a delicious twist on a classic G&T!


Company: Leaves of the World 
Name: Pink Flamingo
Tea Type: Fruit Infusion 
Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf
Rating: 5*
Best Served: Hot w/o Milk
Water Temperature: 100° 
Brew For: 3-5 minutes 
Price: £10.00 for 100g

Description: Greetings tea lovers. The hottest bird around has landed and brings a refreshing treat for you to enjoy. Tropical flavours of wild hibiscus, rose hip, sweet beetroot with rhubarb and vanilla send me all in a pink flurry of feathers. Hot or Iced I taste just like your favourite rhubarb and custard sweets. See, why be like all the others, spread your wings and stand out with me

Ingredients: Organic: Apple, rose hip shell, hibiscus blossoms, orange peel, beetroot. Natural rhubarb and vanilla flavour

*REVIEW* This was on of my favourite blends that I received in the box. Sadly, I never got to try Pink Flamingo last year, and forgot to place an order when it was on a special a few months back. But the wait was so definitely worth it. If you love anything Rhubarb and Custard like I do, then this really is the perfect tea for you. You get  nice tartness from the hibiscus blossoms and a sweetness from the apple and rose hip shells which give the tea such a different dimension. Then you get that retro reminiscent flavour front the natural rhubarb and vanilla flavours. 

*RECIPE* I didn't know what to do with this tea, and I wanted to so much to just drink it it's that good. But I did do a recipe, in the name of blogging! So use 5 heaped leaf loaders of tea in a tea sac and brew in a half a mug of water. You can either cold brew over night, or steep it in hot water for around 10 minutes to really get a very concentrated and strong flavour. 
Add around 1/4 of a cup of the liquid to a pan and add 400th of chopped rhubarb and cook until all the rhubarb has broken down. You may want to add more liquid it depends how you prefer it. You wont need sugar either because you'll get a nice sweetness from Pink Flamingo! And voila a rhubarb and custard compote. Add this to top your yoghurt in a morning, below a crumble or mix with oats and set for a few hours. Delicious. 

Company: Leaves of the World 
Name: It's Strawberry Thyme 
Tea Type: Flavoured Green Tea 
Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf
Rating: 4.5*
Best Served: Hot w/o Milk
Water Temperature: 75° 
Brew For: 2-3 minutes 
Price: £5.00 for 50g. £9.00 for 100g

Description: Yooooo, what’s up? I’m this super tasty Green tea packing to the max with some flavour, man. Check out my stats. Hey you got the time? That’s right, it’s strawberry thyme

Ingredients: Organic: Sencha green tea, sea buckthorn, lemon verbena leaves, thyme leaves, lemongrass, pink pepper, strawberry. Natural  strawberry flavour 

*REVIEW* Strawberry THYME?! Yes THYME! I love blends with sweet and savoury notes to them. When a company wants to be more daring about their lends I think it shows a unique quality to their brand and always attracts my attention Leaves of the World have a fantastic range of vege-fusions on their site too. I loved the flavour of the Sencha green tea, such a smooth clean and refreshing taste it's perfect for this. The natural strawberry flavour and strawberry in this blend is really prominent which is quite nice, LOTW have done a good job at making it stand out. Which, as that, would be a perfectly sweet and fruity green tea. But then adding the pink pepper, thyme eaves and lemongrass makes this just something different it really does. I've honestly tasted nothing like it, but it's delicious! I loved the earthy flavour front he thyme, the peppery notes form the pink pepper and a slight sweetness but herbal flavour front the lemongrass. This is a very well blended brew!

*RECIPE* Hmm what do you do with a savoury sweet blend? Well you take 4 leaf loaders of tea and brew it in around 100ml overnight (along with a couple of sliced strawberry and 2 mint leaves). You have to cold brew it to pull out a better more natural flavour from this brew, brewing this hot for too long could turn it slightly bitter. Once brewed, add the water to a small saucepan and add half 1/4 - 1/2 cup of sugar and leave to simmer until the mixture thickens. You now have a base Strawberry and Thyme. 
*Add 1 teaspoon of Leaves of the World 'Just Matcha' to a matcha bowl and add a small amount of hot water and whisk until combined. Add a shot of your syrup to a cup of ice, pour over your matcha and top with coconut/almond/soya milk.

Company: Leaves of the World 
Name: Sunburst 
Tea Type: Vege Fusion 
Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf
Rating: 4.5*
Best Served: Hot w/o Milk
Water Temperature: 75° - 80° 
Brew For: 3-6 minutes 
Price: £5.00 for 50g. £9.00 for 100g

Description: Brighten up your day with me! Have you ever wanted to glow like a golden god/goddess as you strut down the street? Well, now you can. Drink me and feel the burst of sun come into your life and your skin.
My refreshing orange wedges and turmeric pieces will have you glowing in no time, plus I also contain  carrots and pumpkin too. I’m just a burst of sun in your life. You can even turn me into a Soda Tea Pop, and I’m a cool refreshing replacement for your everyday fizzy drink
Ingredients: Organic: carrot, apple, sea buckthorn peel, ginger, curcuma (turmeric), pumpkin, orange wedges, anise. Natural orange flavour
*REVIEW* I love this. Honest to god, I literally was speechless when I opened this packet. Looka t the colour of this tea! It's MENTAL. I can't believe how bright and orange it is. It really makes you feel slightly happier inside. Which is the perfect start to a Saturday morning. The orange, turmeric and carrot definitely contribute to this. The smell of this tea is sure the first thing that hits you. It's slightly sweet, but more herbal and savoury notes to it. When I brewed this up, it did discolour my brewer but after a hot soak it was perfectly fine again. Just wash what you use sooner than normal. I loved drinking this tea, so refreshing! Hot: this tea is stunning. The sweetness front eh huge pieces of dried orange, and carrot bits. With a spiciness form the ginger and turmeric. It doesn't taste medicinal but it tastes good for you which I find a very attractive attribute of the tea. Cold: this tea comes into it's own when you cold brew it. It has such a strong flavour! Ginger and Turmeric are also super good for you. 

*RECIPE* Finally, the last recipe! This one was the hardest to find a recipe for though, I wont lie. Because it is very split, savoury and a sweet blend of tea. But in the end I decided to take it somewhere savoury. Use 3 heaped leaf loaders of Sunburst tea and grind it down to a fine powder in either a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Use 2tsp of the power and fry off in a little bit of olive oil, add half a block of extra firm tofu (I used Fry's Chicken Style Strips) and fry until crispy and fried off. Add sliced spring onions, 1 tsp of miso powder, grated carrot, 100ml of boiling water and bring the to the boil. Add a handful or two of sliced curly kale and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Once done, add a little salt and pepper and serve. This is such a beautiful style soup/broth and tastes delicious. You can always add some rice nooodles too. Healthy. Gluten Free. Vegan. INCREDiBLE. 



All four teas were delicious, when you are receiving a surprise box every month it's very rare you're impressed every time. But with Leaves of the World tea's I always am. They have such a wide range of incredibly good teas to suit anyones taste. My first ever Leaves of the World blend was Greek Mythology, a peppermint and greek mountain tea blend, but now it's Many Shades of Grey, a luxurious and floral black earl grey. It's amazing how they've perfected so many types of tea. 

Don't forget if you do fancy giving them a try but not sure what to get then try out their Collection boxed for a little variety! You can also use TEANOMADBECCA20 for 20% off your order too. (Not applicable on current Christmas in July sale). 


Friday, 29 June 2018

Bird & Blend Tea | Tea Club Subscription Box

When I visited Bird and Blend in Manchester I was trying to decide which Liquorice brew I wanted *This isn't totally irrelevant bear with me*. I opted for 'Aniseed Balls' for the time being but the lovely lady behind the counter told me if I signed up for the Tea Subscription Box I would be pleasantly surprised for my liquorice loving self! So guess what I did? Signed RIGHT UP! 



I've been eyeing up the Bird & Blend Tea Club for months, I'd say definitely a good 18 months, but it's taken me this long to actually go ahead with it. But when I saw a 'Fairytale Collection', I decided now was the time. 

Every month you sign up and the Tea Club is £7 + postage (I opted for the next day delivery at £3.95) and every month around the same date you'll receive 3 x 20g of tea, dependant on theme these will vary. In your first box you also receive a Perfect Tea Spoon and some drawstring Tea Bags! 

B&B have 4 different tea clubs:
- Original Tea Club 
- Caffeine Free
- Vegan and Veggie
- I Have and Allergy 
*I have opted for the Original tea Club, in hopes that not too many non-vegan friendly teas arrive. 

Above all for just shy of £10, 60g of tea, next day delivery and the chance to try teas up to a month before they go on general sale this tea club subscription is an absolute steal. I loved it and I think it is well worth the tenner a month, to be fair I probably waste a tenner a month on crap and now I get something awesome instead. As well as a free new tea scoop and some teabags to take my favourite brews on the go. 

The only downside I do have, well not down side but a way to make it better, would be some tea sacs in every box, I just think it would widen the market to who is able to buy this box and would make it a lot more favourable for me. As I normally have to wait till weekend to drink loose leaf! 


Now for this months tea's: 

Tea No.1: 
Company: Bird & Blend
Name: Mermaid Mist 
Tea Type: Fruit Tea 
Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf
Rating: 4*
Best Served: Hot w/o Milk or Iced
Water Temperature: 100° 
Brew For: 4 minutes 
Buy: Bird & Blend
Price: 

Description: Mesmerising deep sea blue liquorice brew!

Ingredients: Hibiscus, Apple Pieces, Aniseed, Rosehip, Blue Pea Flowers, Liquorice, Blackcurrant Leaves, Natural Flavouring. WARNING: May Contain Traces of Nuts!  

So this is the liquorice brew that I was promised inside this months tea club. I've got to admit though I wasn't bowled over by the liquorice flavouring in this tea when it's piping hot, but the more it cools the more evident that sweet spicy flavour becomes. I think this would be a good brew if you both do and don't like liquorice it would just depend on how long you brewed it for. 

The colour of this tea is amazing too!! Such a deep purple-y/blue colour, reminded me a lot f the ocean at night time. You do get more of a blue sea colour when you cold brew the tea rather than brewing it hot. It smells fruity, sweet and you definitely get notes of that liquorice too! 

Tea No.2: 
Company: Bird & Blend
Name: Butter Brew 
Tea Type: Black Tea 
Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf
Rating: 4.5*
Best Served: Hot with or without Milk
Water Temperature: 100° 
Brew For: 4-5 minutes 
Buy: Bird & Blend
Price: 

Description: A wizarding wonder of creamy, caramel-y, delight!

Ingredients: Indian Assam Black Tea, Sri Lankan Black Tea, Calendula Petals, Natural Flavouring. 

The Butter Brew is possibly one of the most exciting teas to me. I am a HUGE Harry Potter Fan, and butter beeris one of those top HP items everyone wants to try. So imagine how excited I was to see it transformed into a magical brew from B&B! Having a full fairytale collection' in the box was a wonderful start. I'm still amazed at ow they manage to come up with such weird and wonderful blends all the time! 

It smells incredible, it has a deep, bold scent with a little creaminess from the caramel flavours. It does have quite a sweet smell to it as well, but I think that's to be expected from a caramel type tea. Butter Brew steeps to a dark, caramel colour because of the various black teas in the brew. I mean look at how pretty the tea is! Those flecks of elbow really remind me of Hufflepuff too! Going of scent and looks alone this is a really nice tea so far. Bird and Blend have done really well in blending a tea that isn't too overpowering with such strong ingredients. 



I'm not the biggest fan of black tea, black coffee yes, black tea not really! Mainly because when I first started drinking tea it was to cut down on caffeine, and then when I finally tried black tea I just didn't like how strong the flavour was. I often find my self drinking some, I love a Chai and an Earl Grey, but that is about it. But Butter Brew is a really nice tea! I am very pleasantly surprised if I'm honest. I probably wouldn't buy a tin of 150g of it, but I probably will have some in the house for early mornings. 

Tea No.3:
Company: Bird & Blend
Name: Belle's Breakfast
Tea Type: Black Tea 
Loose or Bagged: Loose Leaf
Rating: 3.5*
Best Served: Hot with or without Milk
Water Temperature: 100° 
Brew For: 4-5 minutes 
Buy: Bird & Blend
Price: 

Description: An enchanted breakfast blend, perfect for your tea cup!

Ingredients: Sri Lankan Black Tea, Kenyan Black Tea, Chinese Keemun Black Tea, Chinese Black Tea, Rose Petals, Flavouring. 

The Belle's Brew was actually one I wasn't looking forward to trying that much. With every surprise subscription box you may end up with a tea that just isn't for you. And this, I assumed, was going to be that tea for me. As I said above, I don't really *love* black tea and only have it rare occasions, and I also don't like rose or many floral things at all. 

It wasn't too bad, I won't lie, I did enjoy the brew and I will be finishing the pouch. But I don't think I'll buy any again. Don't get me wrong the tea is a good quality tea, the strong bold flavours form the black tea are great and the rose really does come through which I didn't expect. But it was just a touch too floral for me. But if florals brews are your thing, I strongly recommend you give Belle's Breakfast a go! 

All in all I am really impressed with the Subscription Box. There are three very different brews, to suit different tea tastes which I liked. It's nice to find something new and possibly find something inside your comfort zone. I'm always up for trying any type of tea so this box is perfect for those who are hard core tea drinkers and those wanting to explore new avenues. LOVED IT! 

Wednesday, 27 June 2018

Blog Tour | Just Don't Mention It by Estelle Maskame

Title: Just Don't Mention It 

Author: Estelle Maskame

Pages: 432

Rating: 5 stars +

Form: eBook and Paperback 

Release Date: 21st June 2018

Publisher: Ink Road UK 

Acquisition: Sent to me by the Publisher in exchange for an honest review 

Buy: Amazon UK | Waterstones | Amazon US 

Blurb: "And all that’s left is me. The Tyler who doesn’t know who he really is."

At seventeen, Tyler Bruce is hot – a hot mess. His girlfriend is a knockout, his reputation untouchable, parties are nothing without him. Even his car is unreal. But inside Tyler is in ruins – and he'll stop at nothing to keep that a secret.

Then one summer Eden comes to stay. She's upfront, sharp and far more enticing than a stepsister should be. She also sees straight through Tyler's bad boy façade … to the vulnerable kid within. The quiet kid who took all the punches. As Eden draws Tyler in, his defences start to crumble around him.

As irresistible and dazzling as its Californian backdrop, Just Don’t Mention It is Tyler's story – his heart-stopping tale of past hurt, finding hope and figuring out who the hell he wants to be.

First of all I just want to say a a massive thank you to Ink Road for thinking of me for this blog tour and sending me a copy of JDMI to read ahead of Publication Day, this has been one of my most anticipated book for a long long time. And thank you to Estelle Maskame for signing and personalising all of the ARC's that was such a nice touch. And a very excited Becca when I noticed it too! 
Just Don't Mention It follows Tyler's Story whilst following the storyline of DIMILY. So to see everything from his point of view really made you view the story in a very different way. The Did I Mention I Love You series is one of the best book series I've ever read, and I binged all three books in just two days. Which is non stop reading when you work full time FYI! It's just such a unique and captivating love story, it's blissful reading. 
Tyler was always seen as a bad boy in the DIMILY books, especially the first one. More portrayed as an arrogant half wit with no sense elf responsibility or care in the world, and as good as he was written JDMI was a great way to see why he was written like that and why Estelle made such an excellent character.
JDMI is not only from Tyler's point of view, but it is also in two different time periods too. So it's set in present day at the same time as DIMILY and set 5 years previous when Tyler is 12. This just made the book flow so perfectly, to delve into the past of Tyler and see the way his past shaped his future and his attitudes and behaviours. It's also quite open about the affects of Child abuse too. 
I think what I loved the most about this book is so open and as hard as some scenes were to read they felt so real so emotional. Estelle deserves a medal for writing such a stunningly read book. As much as I adore the love story between Tyler and Eden, JDMI and DIMILY are so much more than that. It's a story of love, friendship, heartbreak, the affects of abuse, mental health. 


The back of JDMI has a page of contact details for Samaritans and NSPCC and this honestly made me tear up. That's just such a thoughtful and meaning thing and something I've never seen before. This book does have triggers, and to help address that at the need. To offer help and support and help guide people who may not know where to go, is just. I don't know, well done Ink Road. 
Want to keep up to date with DIMILY updates and Tyler love? You can follow Estelle on Twitter too! And you can follow the rest of the Blog Tour: