Teas 1 -4 With a Bit About the English Tea Plantation (in Cornwall)
As those of you following me on Twitter will know I've now sampled four of the teas I had. I'm having to take it slow as I can't actually drink too much caffeine without getting ill - which as a mega tea drinker is driving me mad!
So far we've had:
1886 by Whittard of Chelsea: Medium/String black tea blend. Leaf.
By far their nicest strong tea blend. Malty, sweet and lightly metallic in flavour with a rich dark brown colour and a mellow malty, earthy aroma. Yummy! I did wonder aloud why we don't drink it more often.
A Moment of Calm by Twinings: Caffeine Free. Camomile, honey and vanilla. Bag.
Delicate with a sweet honey scent (though only the barest hint of vanilla), bright yellow colour and a flavour that builds from lightly floral and camomile to a sweet and soothing honey with a suggestion of vanilla. A bit disappointing to find the vanilla so faint. This was a sample tea bag we had so having tried it it's now gone. Not sure I'll buy it again as if I want honey in my camomile I can add it myself. Pleasant enough.
Afternoon by Fortnum and Mason: Bergamot flavoured light black tea blend. Leaf.
Scent is largely malty with the barest hint of bergamot. Flavour is sweet with an almost toasted edge to it and the mild notes of bergamot are actually pleasing and complimentary. I don't tend to like bergamot, I find it too floral and cloying for my tastes so it was really nice to find it could be used in a way that my palette enjoyed.
Afternoon by Tregothnan: Light black tea. Bag.
Smells a bit like freshly mown grass, slightly earthy and sweet and has a sweet almost creamy flavour. The colour was an incedibly dark, almost chocolatey brown but that could have been because it was brewed for too long, Despite the possible over brewing (neither of us are very good with teabags) it didn't have the brassy, heavily tannin taste and was certainly still recognisable as a light tea. I found it a bit too light for my tastes though David declared it to be very tasty. It's good, don't get me wrong but I do tend to prefer the maltier China blacks.
The last tea there, the Tregothnan, was awesome because it came from an English Tea Estate, I THINK the only one there is, in Cornwall. In the Afternoon the house grown teas are blended with imported Darjeeling to make something that has a naturally darker liquor (though probably not meant to be as dark as ours ended up) and has the earthiness of the english tea to balance pretty perfectly with the sweetness of Darjeeling.
I very much approve of home grown tea. It's exciting to think that tea CAN be grown here when you think of how different the climate is from India, China, Taiwan etc. I would absolutletly love to go and have a look around the place and if I could afford to do one of their tutored tea tasting days I would be the happiest bunny alive!
The Afternoon blend is currently the only tea I have from there but I shall most definitely be purchasing tea from them in the future!
