Teaware | Alexander Tea Set by Viva Scandinavia

Item: Alexander Tea Set

Colour: Peppermint 

Brand: Viva Scandnavia 

Cost: £69.95

Buy Links: Online

Acquired: Gifted for Review

Materials: Porcelain and Wood

Description: Life should never be dull. Neither should your tea. Now is the time to be bold whenever you drink with the Alexander set. This tall geometric porcelain design will inspire you to make space for you favourite brew in your everyday life. 

First of all, thank you so much to Kees at Viva Scandinavia for sending me a few of their items of tea ware to review. I am absolutely blown away by their products, they're just so beautiful! 

The first item they sent me was their Alexander set, which personally, is my absolute favourite. They have this set in Peppermint (as above), Slate, Scandi Grey and Powder Brown. All four colours are very nice and well suited to this pot, but the pepperminty blue/green just spoke to me. 

The Alexander set comes with a Teapot, an inner metal infuser and 4 little teacups. The teacups are quite small, but I liked this feature. It's a perfect serving for trying out new teas or sharing with friends. After all, it's nice to take the time to enjoy tea. To sip it gently, whilst reading a good book or binging a good series. The Alexander allows exactly that. 

The pot kept the tea warm whilst serving smaller cups of tea to allow you to really taste the elements of the tea. The porcelain hold the heat of the tea really well. The shape of the teapot is very eye catching and modern. The spout isn't drip proof, but that didn't bother me. 

The feel of the teapot is a course feel, it doesn't have a smooth feel to this and that made it all the more stunning in itself. It feels handmade and rustic which I LOVED. The inner side of the teacups have been finished off so are a smooth texture you've expect to find from a teacup. You can see the shine from the teacups in the image above. 

The cost f this product is £69.95 and although i is on the pricey side I feel it's 100% worth it. You really do get what you pay for where tea ware is concerned. The more you pay the better quality you receive. The Alexander teaser feels sturdy, high quality and value for money which I think is the most important thing. The Alexander teaser also comes with a 100 day Guarantee so if anything does go wrong you'll get everything sorted. 

The teapot does get hot, which didn't bother me that much. The silicone grip around the Alexander Teapot does hold some of the heat and protect your hands, but take due care and attention when handling the pot. I also pre-warmed mine with hot water to ensure maximum heat for my tea.

Overall I'd definitely give this teaser a 5/5 for both style and usefulness.

Recipe | Mrs Claus' Banging Biscuits Custard

Happy Tuesday! And 'happy-becca-is-3-days-late-at-posting-again' woohoo! This post is in Collaboration with Kim @ Tea is a Wish - more info below.

But we got a rep package again and it contained all the new exciting Christmas blends from Leaves of the World, and I decided to go with a favourite and use Mrs Claus' Banging Biscuits in my recipe.

I absolutely love when LOTW bring out there Xmas blends and I was excited to see this return. I really miss something nice and full of flavour since going Vegan to go with my Christmas puds, so I thought I'd make my own. And Voilà CUSTARD!

What You'll Need:

- 3 tbsp Cornflour/Cornstarch

- 2 tbsp Maple Syrup

- 30g Mrs Claus' Banging Biscuits Tea (or any other Chai type tea, LOTW is the better option!)

- 500ml Alpro Coconut Milk (or any preferred milk)

Instructions:

- Gently heat 500ml of your desired milk, I used Alpro Coconut Milk (the one in a carton not a tin), and add the 30g of tea leaves to the milk.

- Gently heat for around 5-10 minutes until the milk has visibly changed colour and the flavour has started to infuse.

- Pour the milk and tea leaves into a jar and leave to cool for a couple of hours in the fridge

- Once cooled take the milk mixture from the fridge and sieve

- Add your Cornflour to a pan with 3 tbsp of the tea infused milk and whisk until all combined

- When it's all combined add the rest of your milk and whilst continually whisking add the 2 tbsp of maple syrup to the mixture

- Switch to a wooden spoon and continually mix until the mixture thickens. Add more cornflour if you prefer it thicker!

- Either use now or store in the fridge in an airtight jar

If you want to try out this recipe then don't forget you can get 20% off at Leaves of the World by using TEANOMADBECCA20 at checkout. You could also use any of their christmas teas in this recipe! If you try it definitely tag me so I can see!

Mrs Claus' Banging Biscuits is a stunning spicy chai inspired blend and was one of my favourite Christmas teas of 2018. It contains: black tea, ginger, cinnamon, aniseed, peppercorns, cloves and natural vanilla flavouring.

Kim @ Tea Is A Wish has made a beautiful crumble recipe that would air amazingly well with this custard.

Tea \ Chocolate Popcorn by Whittard Tea

Company: Whittard Tea 

Tea Type: Herbal Infusion

Acquired: Gifted for Review

Buy Online: Online

Loose/Bagged: Loose Leaf 

Description: 

Need something to keep the ghouls and goblins at bay? We’ve blended green tea with toasted rice, coating it in matcha and cocoa powder and adding a generous scattering of whole cocoa pieces and coconut. It’s the perfect companion in front of that extra scary horror film…

Ingredients:

Cocoa Husk 20%, Cocoa Beans 19%, Barley Malt, Roasted Chicory Root, 10% Genmaicha Matcha (roasted rice, green tea, green tea matcha) 9% Coconut, Carob fruit, Cocoa Powder 5%, Flavouring

Suitable for vegetarians and vegans

First of all thank you so much to Whittard for sending me this tea to review. I was whole hearted surprised when I was asked. I mean WHITTARD guys! I was super excited for this tea to arrive in the post. Even when the post left it, outside, in the rain. IN THE RAIN. It's ok, it survived! 

I love a flavoured tea. And I love anything that's holiday themed. Be it Halloween, Christmas anything! So these teas had my eye straight away. (Whittard also have an Orange Gingerbread tea as part of their Halloween range)

The cocoa husks had such a strong flavour in this tea, and I was quite impressed by how bold the chocolate notes were. As these are often a softer, more subtle flavour. Along with the addition of the cocoa beans which gave it that extra edge over the normal 'chocolate' teas. The genmaicha matcha wasn't as strong as I expected it to be, it was a slightly lower level of flavour in this tea and used to bind everything else together making a lovely coherent blend. The bits of coconut and carob fruit gave this blend a subtle sweetness and luxury feel to the tea when it's drank hot. 

I think this would make a nice latte, but that's not my thing. I am going to try this as an iced tea though, because doesn't matter if it feels like 0 degree's outside, I still love a cold brewed tea!

Will you be trying these Spooktacular Halloween blends? They also have a lush sounding Pumpkin Spice Coffee in their Halloween range too, which you can find here.