Sometimes I make something for the first time and I wonder why it’s taken me so long to get round to it. Iced tea is one of my favourite drinks, especially lemon iced tea, but other than a passion fruit and jasmine version I concocted a few years ago I’ve not made my own since. I wanted to make some to take on a recent picnic as I thought it would be nice and refreshing in the late summer sun. Considering this only uses three ingredients, I used the very best ones I could: all organic and the tea I used had the wonderfully, British, charming name ‘Georgian Old Gentleman’.
Earl Grey Gin Cocktail
I like tea and I like gin. I particularly like earl grey and gin based cocktails so I thought it was about time that I got creative with my cocktail shaker and tried these two tastes together. Not for my own benefit of course, all in the name of experimenting. Whenever I make a cocktail I am always amazed at how the slight slip of a hand can affect the end taste of the drink; too sweet, too acidic, too much alcohol. Then again, you can add a bit more of this and a bit less of that depending on your tastes.
Review: Higher Living Tea
I liked the look of the tea bags; I’m a sucker for teabags with the dangly things and you could smell both of them just when you opened the box. The Sweet Chai was an interesting mix of spices; predominantly aniseed flavour. I reckon this would perk you up if you had a cold. The Ginger Kick made a surprisingly dark cup of tea considering the colour of the contents in the bag. The ginger one wasn’t for me so much as I’m not a fan of ginger but it actually wasn’t too harshly gingery.
I like that they are organic and I am enjoying taking them to work (sharing the ginger one around!) as it’s nice to drink something a bit different.
Thank you to Higher Living for the samples. All opinions and words expressed are my own.
Review: Tea from Taiwan
There were five teas to try (I almost didn’t have enough appropriate chinaware) and below are the notes I made about what I thought they tasted like. In case you are wondering the little piles of stuff next to each cup are what the tea leaves look like before they are made into tea.
Ali Shan Oolong Tea – grassy and acidic flavour with lovely long tea leaves, this one was really fresh.
High Mountain Oolong Tea – clean and fresh flavour with a slight sweetness, I liked the little curly leaves.
Dong Ding Oolong Tea (moderately roasted) – toast and chocolate flavour, again with nice long leaves.
Qing Xiang Dong Ding Oolong Tea – floral, citrus and liquorice flavours with long leaves, this one was my favourite.
Osmanthus Oolong Tea – pomegranate and fruity taste and slightly toasty.
Passion Fruit and Jasmine Iced Tea
Ingredients
You will need (for around 1 litre):
Tea and Me: A long term love affair and a review of Teavivre
First of all I tried the Yun Nan Dian Hong which is a golden tipped black tea. The colours of the leaves are wonderful; they look like autumn. I was really surprised at how dark the colour of the tea was considering the lightness of the leaves. It was really full bodied but refreshing at the same time and not at all bitter.
The next tea I tried was the Bi Luo Chun which is a green tea. It smelled so fresh, almost lemony and the leaves looked extremely dainty. It tasted like I would expect for a green tea but slightly more rounded and complex than some of the others I have tried.