Author: Michelle

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Harrods’s Earl Grey

Earl Grey by Harrods
Black Tea / Flavoured
£9.50 for 125g

First Impressions

I received Earl Grey as a gift from a family member, and I was pretty stoked. I love Earl Grey and the tin that Harrods sells their Earl Grey in is quite beautiful. It came shrink wrapped, and the lid screws on/off to provide a decent seal. The aroma of the leaves is bright citrus. The leaves themselves are dark brown and smell lovely and inviting – which is what I look for in an Earl Grey.

Earl Grey consists of black tea, natural bergamot flavouring, and other natural flavouring. I wish I could let you smell this tea through your screen – the bergamot is amazing.

Preparation

Harrods recommends steeping Earl Grey in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 3 to 5 minutes, and to serve in fine china and to add milk, sugar or honey to taste.

I opted to steep for 4 minutes and had it both plain and with evaporated milk and honey.

First Taste

Earl Grey steeps to a beautiful orange red colour. The aroma is mostly the bergamot, very inviting. There’s the boldness from the black tea base that almost seems like it has a bit of astringency, but falls short of providing a mouth puckering feel to it. There is a natural sweetness from the bergamot, which I appreciate and enjoy.

I did also make Earl Grey with a touch of evaporated milk and locally sourced honey, which helped temper that slight astringency and made the tea all that more creamy and enjoyable.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Earl Grey once, adding an additional 30 seconds to the steeping time. I found that the bergamot flavour was still present although weaker than the initial steep. Earl Grey did pretty okay, so I would recommend doing a resteep with these leaves.

My Overall Impression

I loved Harrods’s Earl Grey. From the presentation and dry leaf to the first taste and being able to resteep the leaves, I found that Earl Grey was very pleasant to drink. I’m a huge fan of Earl Grey (of course), so I’ve gotten to be a bit picking out Earl Grey teas to drink. I find that this Earl Grey does well both on its own and when mixed with milk and sugar – and I think it’d be a great candidate for a London Fog as well.

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Hawaiian Island Tea Company’s Coconut Macadamia Herbal

Coconut Macadamia Herbal by Hawaiian Islands Tea Company
Rooibos / Flavoured
$5.95USD for 36g (20 sachets)

First Impressions

Coconut Macadamia Herbal is a rooibos-based infusion that I received as a gift for cat-sitting. The packaging definitely screams tropical to me in the glossy cardstock box. Coconut Macadamia Herbal is portioned into individually packaged tea sachets, where the blend inside basically looks just like rooibos only.

The aroma of Coconut Macadamia Herbal smells like coconut and rooibos, I don’t really get a lot of the macadamia nut fragrance in there. Unfortunately, I do smell quite a bit of the rooibos – it has a strong medicinal fragrance to me. Coconut Macadamia Herbal consists of rooibos and natural flavouring.

Preparation

Hawaiian Islands Tea Company recommends steeping Coconut Macadamia Herbal in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 1 to 3 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Coconut Macadamia Herbal steeps to a dark reddish orange. The aroma of the steeped tea is very similar to the dry leaf – I can smell the rooibos base with its medicinal quality, along with the aroma of the coconut. The flavour is very much rooibos with hints of coconut and macadamia nuts in the background. There’s a light sweetness. I do wish that both the coconut and macadamia nut flavours were stronger to help balance against the strong medicinal flavours of the rooibos.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Coconut Macadamia Herbal once and found that all I got was the flavour of plain rooibos (so it’s great if you’re a rooibos fan!).

My Overall Impression

I didn’t like Hawaiian Islands Tea Company’s Coconut Macadamia Herbal. Unfortunately, I found the rooibos base to just be too strong in comparison to the coconut and macadamia flavouring. I wish both flavourings were stronger so that the flavours were better balanced against the medicinal, earthy nature of the rooibos base. If you’re a fan of rooibos, I think you’ll really enjoy this blend since it does have a strong rooibos base and its present throughout each steep..

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Oteas’s Organic Matcha with Mint

Organic Matcha with Mint by Oteas
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$8.99 for 12g (12 packets)

Oteas has provided me with Organic Matcha with Mint for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

I was quite excited to find Organic Matcha with Mint in the package that Oteas so kindly put together for me. I’ve gotten quite interested in matcha recently – as evidenced by the influx of matcha reviews. Organic Matcha with Mint comes portioned into 1g “serving sticks”, which is nice for those who want to drink matcha on-the-go.

The packaging for Organic Matcha with Mint is more blue-green compared the other packaging it the review I had done for Oteas’s Organic Pure Matcha. Organic Matcha with Mint consists of: organic Japanese green tea leaves, peppermint powder, licorice root powder. The colour of the powder is a dark spring green, although there’s little fibrous bits throughout that I believe to be from the licorice root. It smells quite strongly of the peppermint – although not too over-the-top that it reminds me of toothpaste.

Preparation

Oteas recommends whisking the contents of 1 serving stick of Organic Matcha with Mint in 80-90°C (176-194°F) water “until a smooth, creamy consistency”. I used 85°C (185°F) water and prepared it in my matcha bowl with whisk.

First Taste

Organic Matcha with Mint whisks to a dark green. Small flecks of the licorice root fibres float within the cup of matcha, which makes it a bit pretty to look at. There’s a strong minty aroma from the tea, which I can appreciate. On first taste, I notice the minty sweetness. The matcha base is slightly grassy, but I mostly taste the mint. I don’t really make out the licorice root too much, but I suspect it does attribute some sweetness as I often find it to be sweet.

A Second Cup?

As always, matcha cannot be resteeped as it is a suspension.

My Overall Impression

I liked Oteas’s Organic Matcha with Mint. I really enjoyed the minty flavour of the peppermint in the blend, and I do like the single serving style – it makes it easier to have some matcha at work since I can’t have my full tea set up there when I’m busy with the hustle and bustle of work. For travelers or people with equally restrictive work spaces, you may appreciate the single serving nature of the Oteas matcha “sticks”. I had wished that the flavour of the matcha would have been stronger and more prominent. I really enjoyed the flavour of the matcha in the Organic Pure Matcha and wish that more of that flavour came through. If you’re a fan of peppermint, I think you’ll enjoy this matcha blend – it’s not too strong that it reminds me of toothpaste, which I think we can all appreciate.

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