Tea Time | Taylor's of Harrogate Rose Lemonade

Company: Taylor's of Harrogate

Tea: Fruit

Brew Time: 3 - 5 Minutes

Water Temp: 100'c

Teabags / Loose: Teabags

Rose Lemonade is our love letter to sunshine and summer. We’ve blended tangy lemon peel and zingy lemongrass with fragrant, organic rose petals and a posy of English country garden ingredients – like sweet blackberry leaves, rosehip, apple and hibiscus. It’s a seriously refreshing infusion with elegant floral notes.

I hate Rose. I'm just going to throw that out there right at the beginning of this review. So why the hell did I pick this tea up I hear you ask? Honestly... I have no idea why! I'm a sucker for pretty packaging and was craving some ice tea. I assumed it would make a nice pink lemonade kinda thing. 

I first of all made this tea hot because I really wanted to give it a try. When the tea is hot the flavour you get is a hot lemon tea with a subtle undertone. I really really loved the tea at this beautifully piping hot temperature. I should imagine it'll be a nice hot drink in the summery weather. Yes I drink tea when it's hot outside. But the issues evolved when it started to cool down, the rose flavour really started to take hold, even after I'd taken the tea bag out. I really don't like rose stuff and when it got quite tepid it had become too much for me. I much preferred the stronger lemon and subtle rose. Than an overpowering rose and hint of lemon. 

I then brewed 3 teabags in one cup of water and a half teaspoon of agave syrup. Left to cool and tried over ice. It was pleasantly quite nice, maybe it was the agave! This was lush and will definitely be a staple for me in summer. The packaging is super cute don't you agree? 

So pretty. 10/10 Taylors for packaging!

The last thing I wanted to mention about this tea was the aroma. The smell of this tea really was very pleasant, it didn't smell like your grans old perfume like I expected. It smelt kinda sweet from the rose and tart from the lemon. Very inviting. It brews to a lovely pink colour. I brew it for 4 minute, getting the best from the lemon. I'd suggest if you prefer the stronger lemon taste add a slice of lemon with the tea and then add hot water. 

Source: tailors of Harrogate website. I had to include, it's such a gorgeous picture!

All in all I really enjoyed this tea at it's hottest and over ice with a little sweetener. I would buy it again definitely! You get 20 enveloped teabag in a box for £2. 

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Tea Time | Kensington Super Berry Green Tea

Company: Kensington Tea Company

Tea: Green

Brew Time: 3 - 5 Minutes

Water Temp: 80'c

Teabags / Loose: Loose Leaf

A delicious blend of our Sencha Green Tea with Hibiscus, Rosehip, Apple Pieces and Orange Peel. The liquor is bright with a beautiful bouquet and superb fruity flavour. It is extremely refreshing and full of super berry goodness!

This tea was absolutely delicious! The lovely Laura from Love Tea, Love Blogging was the person who introduced me to Kensington Tea and got me on the flavoured green tea wagon! I was dubious going into this tea, I'm not going to lie. I am a very hesitant green tea drinker. It's not my favourite. 

The tea smells really delightful, a light fragrant undertone of green tea leaves with a more prominent fruity smell. You can really smell the hibiscus and apple! Flavour wise? It's gorgeous! It's hands down the nicest green tea i have ever tried. Green tea wise, the flavour is quite delicate and subtle, but you can notice it there. If you don't like green eta I'd still try it because that bitterness isn't there. It's just clean and crisp kind of flavour. The fruity side is obviously my favourite bit. The tangy hibiscus settles perfectly with the crisp green tea leaves and the sweet apple pieces. It's definitely perfectly blended. I would add a tsp of natural honey if I was to ice it though. 

This tea is a whole leaf loose leaf tea. It's super chunky and thats why this tea packs a fruity punch of flavour.

Source: Kensington Tea Website

All in all I really enjoyed drinking this tea, and I did actually re-purchase it! Kensington is quite mildly priced for a specialised loose leaf tea company. 

50g - £.350

125g - £7.74

250g - £13.50

500g - £23.70

I would to be honest re-purchase but in the 125g bags. I love it, but it's not nice when it goes stale! I have too much tea to drink to justify buying in bigger bags. But I definitely would do if I didn't have as much tea as I do!

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Tea Review | Ayurveda Ginger Fresh Tea - Kent and Sussex Tea & Coffee Co.*

Company: The Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Company

Tea: Herbal

Brew Time: 5 - 10 Minutes

Water Temp: 100'c

Teabags / Loose: Loose Leaf

Our Ginger Fresh Tea is a fresh and fruity herbal blend combining ginger lemongrass and liquorice root. This tea combines some Ayurvedic principles and European ideas of wellness tisanes. Ingredients: lemon grass liquorice root ginger pieces peppermint lemon peel and black pepper. Brew using boiling water and infuse for 5 to 10 minutes. Makes and excellent iced tea!

First of all can I say a massive thank you to Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. for this wonderful sample for me to review. I was really excited to try this tea when I saw some of the ingredients on the packet. Ginger, liquorice and peppermint. It was definitely right up my street. On smelling this tea the predominant smell is the peppermint, so I was assuming this would be the over powering flavour, the smell also has undertones of sweetness which comes from the liquorice and a spicy note form the ginger. 

The tea brews to a light golden colour. Almost like a well brewed green tea. I did brew it for around 7 minutes, right in the middle of the ideal brew time. Purely because I didn't want the ginger too harsh or the liquorice too strong. I wanted to be able to pull through the peppermint flavours too. The brew time was perfect for me,  the ginger and peppermint are the flavours you taste first and the liquorice follows nicely afterwards with a gentle sweetness. The sweetness of the liquorice pairs nicely and subtly with the sharpness of the ginger and the cooling of the peppermint. 

I really did love this tea, the sachet that I got has 20g in it and I used up half of the sachet in a 4 cup pot of tea. I used 1 tsp per cup and an extra tsp for the pot. So around 10 cups in the sachet. I don\t like teas with ginger or liquorice too strong. So I didn't use a 'perfect teaspoon' you can buy from tea companies. I used a bog standard teaspoon so possibly a little less. 

All in all I loved this tea and I would buy it again. I'd really recommend picking this tea up if you like any of the three prominent ingredients in the tea and just brew to how you like it. This tea has a range of health benefits which include Anti Oxidants, Detox, Hydration, Refreshing, Relaxing and Weight Loss.

If you're wondering about price Ginger Fresh retails at -

50g - £3.00

125g - £5.84

250g - £10.51

500g - £19.12

1kg - 35.95

I would give Ginger Fresh 4/5 Teacups! 

Ayurveda Ginger Fresh

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Millionaires Sticky Golden Flapjack

Servings: 12 Squares 

You Will Need:

Flapjack

250g Porridge Oats

125g Butter (Vegan butter would work too!)

125g of Brown Sugar (light)

2-3tbps of Golden Syrup 

Topping

250g of Chocolate (Dark, Milk, White any will work)

A tin of Caramel

Hundreds and Thousands

Method: 

- Pre-heat oven to 180c.

- Using a ceramic pan (any pan will do a but a ceramic one will be less likely to stick!) heat together the butter, sugar and golden syrup until it has all melted together. Try not to bio it, slow and steady with this!

- In a separate heat proof bowl weigh out 250g of your Porridge Oats. At this stage add any extra ingredients you want to add such as chocolate chips (if adding chocolate remember it WILL melt!), any spices such as cinnamon or ginger, coconut would work nicely too. Mix together to ensure they're all combined.

- When your butter, sugar and syrup mixture is fully melted pour half of the mixture into the oats and mix well. Then add the second half. This will need a really good mix to make sure the oats soak u the liquids.

- Line a square baking tin and pour in the flapjack mixture. Pressing it down as you go to make a firm flapjack which wont fall apart once it's cooked.

- Bake until golden brown, this will take around 20 minutes.

- Take the flapjack out of the oven and leave to cool. Do not remove the flapjack before it is fully cooled. It'll just fall apart.

- Pour the tin of caramel into a small sauce pan and heat gently until runny and smooth. Once this has become thinner pour on top of the flapjack  and spread to the edged ensuring the flapjack is fully covered and pop in the fridge for 10 minutes.

- Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of slightly simmering water. Once the chocolate is fully melted. Pour of top of the caramel layer, throw some hundreds and thousands at it because it looks pretty and leave to set at room temperature. If you put it in the fridge you'll get a grey mottled effect on your chocolate.

- When the chocolate it half set score out your pieces. This will just make it easier to slice later on. Once fully set and hard, slice into 12 even squares. Then eat! Again sharing is always optional ;)

Baking // Lime and Coconut Cake

Servings:   6-8

Ingredients:

CAKE 

3 eggs

175g Self Raising Flour (for a gluten free option use coconut or any nut flour)

175g Butter

175g Caster Sugar

2-3tbsp Lime Juice

1/2 cup of desiccate coconut 

FROSTING

250g Cream Cheese

10 fl oz Elmlea (Or double cream)

1/2 cup Icing Sugar

OPTIONAL 

Toasted Coconut Flakes

- Pre Heat the oven to 160 c

- Beat together butter and sugar until light and creamy. I always do this with a wooden spoon! I just think it creates a nicer, lighter and fluffier cake.

- Add in the eggs and flour (add the baking powder to the flour). 1 egg then a spoonful of flour, once all eggs are beaten in add the rest of the flour. This just stops the mixture curdling but if it does is seriously doesn't matter!

- Finally fold in the lime juice and desiccated coconut.

- Using two sandwich tins, line the bottom with greaseproof paper, and free the edges with butter.

- Place half the mixture in to each tine and place on the same shelf on the middle shelf of the oven.

- Bake for around 10 - 15 minutes, the lower temperature will ensure the cakes rise flat without a domed middle.

Leave to cool for around an hour, depending how cold your kitchen is.

FROSTING 

- Using an electric whisk (unless you want solid biceps I strongly recommend an electric one!) whisk together the cream cheese and icing sugar.

- In a separate bowl whip up the cream until very stiff, I over whip slightly.

- Fold a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture into the cream to loosen the mixture. Then add the cream into the cream cheese mixture. If you fold the cream cheese mixture straight into the whipped cream, you'll just knock the air out of it.

- For a zesty twist, add a little lime zest or lime juice to the frosting mixture. I didn't the sweetness cut through the sharpness of the cake!

- Finally, using one cake slather 1.3 of the mixture on to the cake and spread out leaving around 2cm around the edge, place the second cake on top and lightly press down this'll fill out that 2cm gap ;). Using the other 2/3 spread evenly on to the top of the cake.

- Optional - Toast some coconut flakes in a dry frying pan until golden and sprinkle on top of the cake for a little nutty crunch!

LASTLY EAT THE ENTIRE THING! Sharing is optional ;)