Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Hampstead Teas
Product Description:
Our saffron infused black tea is a unique brew full of youthful capriciousness. In ancient India Saffron was used as a medicine sent from the gods to heal the body.
Ingredients: Fairtrade black tea, saffron
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the more temperamental teas that I’ve encountered, but it is well worth the effort to find the “sweet spot” with this tea, because once you brew it right – it is so good.
The first couple of times I steeped this, I steeped it the same as I would most tea bags, that is, I used two teabags in my large tea mug (which holds about 14 ounces of liquid). Using boiling water, I steeped for 3 minutes. For most black teas, this would have produced a perfect brew. However, when I did that with this tea, I ended up with a very strong black tea flavor that was extraordinarily bitter – and that was really all of the saffron I could taste was the bitterness of it.
So, I went “back to the drawing board” and decided to change how I brew it. This time around, I used a smaller teacup, just one tea bag, and just 6 ounces of nearly boiling (but not quite boiling) water, and steeped for just 2 1/2 minutes. PERFECTION!
The black tea is brisk with a very strong character, but it is not bitter when I steeped with these parameters. It has a solid quality to it, though. This is a seriously bold black tea!
But what makes this tea stand out is the saffron! Although the black tea is not bitter, I do taste the distinctive savory bitter notes from the saffron, but here they are much more subdued than they were in the first couple of infusions that I had of this tea. There are honey-esque sweet tones to the saffron as well as the faintest earthy quality. This really is unlike any other teas that I’ve tasted and because of that, it really is worth the extra effort to brew it properly.
Another great tea from Hampstead!
Peppermint Herbal Infusion from Hampstead Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Hampstead Tea
Product Description:
We’ve enhanced peppermint’s traditionally renowned digestive properties by pairing it with spearmint. Cool, refreshing and soothing.
Naturally caffeine free.
Ingredients: Fairtrade peppermint and spearmint leaves
Taster’s Review:
In the evening, I like to reduce my caffeine intake so that I’m not bouncing off the walls when I should be sleeping. That’s when I turn to refreshing herbal tisanes such as this Peppermint Herbal Infusion from Hampstead Tea.
This tisane is a blend of organic peppermint and organic spearmint. It tastes crisp and clean. It’s a pretty simple blend, and it tastes pretty much like I’d expect it to, it tastes minty! I also appreciate that this is completely organic and it’s fair trade too. I like that I can not only enjoy this tisane, but feel good about drinking it.
Even though it’s a simple pairing of two types of mint leaves, sometimes the simplest tisanes are the most pleasurable. I like this for its simplicity. It is tasty hot or iced … and it’s even tasty if I happen to forget my teacup on the kitchen counter, get busy doing something else, and then come back to a lukewarm cup. It still tastes great!
Earl Grey from Hampstead Tea
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Hampstead Tea
Product Description:
Aromatic, smooth and sophisticated but never overpowering. We use only the true fine oil from the bergamot fruit to flavour our blend.
INGREDIENTS:
Fairtrade black tea, natural oil of bergamot
Taster’s Review:
I have often declared my love for Earl Grey tea, so I am sure it’s no big secret by now. But it never ceases to amaze me at how different one Earl Grey tea can be from another.
Take this organic, fair trade Earl Grey from Hampstead Tea for example. The black tea is brisk and strong (not unlike many other Earl Grey teas I’ve tried), and there is a smooth, malty note to this tea (again, not unlike some Earl Grey teas). But something that does make this unlike other Earl Grey teas is that that malty note melds so well with the bergamot flavoring that it presents a somewhat creamy note. Not like an Earl Grey creme type of creamy, but, more of a smooth, comforting creamy taste that makes it taste as though I added a splash of milk to the cup (but I didn’t!)
Hints of malt, notes of smooth, creamy texture and taste. This is an invigorating Earl Grey that is also rather soothing. The bergamot flavor is much juicier than a typical Earl Grey bergamot – this has not so much of the sharp floral notes (although there are some). This Earl Grey tastes much more like an orange than an exotic fruit, although there is enough of that exotic-esque quality to this bergamot to make it an Earl Grey rather than an orange flavored black tea.
So, you’re probably thinking by now: Just what is LiberTEAS going on about? I seem to be talking in circles. Basically, what it comes down to is that this is a high quality black tea blend that has been flavored with an exceptionally high quality bergamot flavoring – it doesn’t taste artificial, it doesn’t taste like perfume. It doesn’t taste like aunt Martha’s soap.
So then, what does it taste like? It tastes like a little bit of perfection right here in my teacup! Hampstead Tea got this Earl Grey spot-on!