The Tea Centre

This is an old favourite of mine. I’m not overly fond of rose petals but I gladly make an exception here (even if I find it overwhelming at times). The orange blossom and vanilla are very soft, and meld well with the white tea base. It’s a perfect tea for any time of the day, although I prefer to drink it around mid afternoon, and makes for a gorgeous iced tea in the summer!

I really enjoyed this tea, although it’s something I would only find myself drinking in winter. The cinnamon, orange, and rooibos ended up generating quite a smooth combination of sweet and spicy. I think the consistency was my favourite aspect of the brew – it was quite creamy, but never cloying because the strong flavours cut through some of the creaminess.

Absolutely delicious! I am extremely partial to minty teas, and this one had me at ‘spearmint’. (I used to enjoy Tic Tac’s and after a disappointing reformatting this tea has become my safe haven.) The spearmint is surprisingly present amongst other pungent flavours, although I’m happy to note that there isn’t a violent clash between them. It’s heady without being overpowering, and the cool spearmint coasts gently within the warmth of the tea. I highly recommend it!

The thing with flavoured teas which have different bits and pieces inside, is that the taste of each brew sometimes depends on how many vanilla pieces/dried apricot/orange zest/flowers you scoop up in each spoonful.
Yesterday, I made a point of picking out some of the fruit bits when I made my pot of Stockholm and by god, was it amazing. Light and flavourful, true happiness with each sip. Would make an excellent iced tea or even a lovely tea popsicle in hot weather.
Today, I just scooped it up without looking and the tea seemed a tad heavy on the safflower and calendula, which I’m not a huge fan of.
Overall, it’s still gorgeous and I can see why this is one of the Tea Centre’s most popular blends.

This does taste as good as it smells. And how it smells is really quite lovely.
As been mentioned by other reviewers, it lacks body but I find adding milk does help in bringing out the tea base. Nothing that stands out too much about this one, but it is definetely a worthwhile blend to try if you ever walk past a Tea Centre

Not too happy with this one. The tea base is quite bland and the peach flavour is there but hardly. It just was not a delicious drink. Also, some green teas tend to give me a headache and this was one of them.

Gorgeous tea. The caramel and vanilla blend to taste more like honey than cream, so it does become quite a sweet beverage. A little too sweet if I drink too much of it straight, so when that happens, I just add a dash of milk and finish off the whole pot. I’m loving the strength of the tea base as well. Go and enjoy it guys!

Smells and tastes calming…but that might be a placebo thing going on. Not much of a strong flavour to it at all – I mainly notice cinnamon. The orange peel would have provided more body but it doesn’t come across very much. I like how the fennel adds a nice bit of sweetness to the mix but I don’t think I would repurchase this as there are tastier herbals around. Still, it’s a nice caffeine-free option for a hot and healthy drink at night

Sipdown!

I’ve only really achieved like, four sipdowns since I started Steepster, but in that time I’ve managed to amass about 120 different teas and not including samples. It’s hard coz I like to make my rounds amongst all my tea so that they all receive relatively equal amounts of affection from me.

This was the first tea to be finished from my The Tea Centre haul at the beginning of the year. It was compulsively likable, and though I initially complained a bit at how I wished the bergamot was stronger, I have grown to like this blend exactly for what it is; a balanced and deliciously fruity tea with a hint of bergamot, sweet and uplifting.

Lovely floral aroma and slight sweet mango. Would like more bergamot but still delicious. Second time brewing, I used 1.5 teaspoons for a large cup and steeped 8 minutes but that’s because I like it strong. Dash of milk also nice

Edit: I don’t know what kind of weird day I was having when I decided to steep it 8 minutes. Third time brewing, I used a heaped teaspoon for the recommended four minutes and it was the perfect level of strength.

A refreshing black tea with a lovely subtle hint of orange.

I poured one cup of this which had been steeped for 4 minutes. I agree with another reviewer – that it lacked body. The second cup had been steeped longer (about 6 minutes) and had more body. However I think it was the orange peel in the blend which I didn’t like – it had a tangy aftertaste.

Someone reviewed this tea and said if mulled wine was a tea, it would be this tea – and I feel like that’s a really apt description.

This tea is quite warm and spicy, with cinnamon, orange peel, almond, ginger, cloves and cardamom. If you like chai teas, this might be a really nice transition to black teas. I love to drink it in winter with milk and honey.

The only problem I have with it is that once it’s brewed, you need to be careful because you can quite easily over-steep it. Some of the flavours in it become really strong and a bit astringent, so that’s a downside.

It’s not my favourite tea, but I would recommend it to others.

Welcome to Day 10 of little terri’s Sipdown Extravaganza!
Last night before I went to bed I took a little time to look through my teas & target those that could be polished off. I’ve decided my goal for this ‘extravaganza’ is to get to 100 sipdowns, hopefully by the end of this week. With this being sipdown #63, I’m over half-way there, so I think that is a very manageable goal! Then I can start enjoying all the cool trades I’ve received recently, & all of my other awesome teas!

This was my first cup of the day, sent to me by Sil, & shared with Sil by Alice. Thanks girls! In my morning stupor, I accidentally OVER steeped this, but guess what? It was actually still very drinkable! A little on the tart grapy side of things, but otherwise acceptable & even good! :)

Sipdown #53 is this Keemun, sent to me from Sil, & sent to her from Alice. Thanks girls!
This is a more refined & mild keemun, not particularly earthy, but pleasantly sweet.

This was just ok for me. It was cherry ish, but not much chocolate or coconut. If you are going to put extra stuff in a tea then commit to it and let me taste it. This seemed like they couldn’t commit, didn’t quite know what they wanted it to be, so they just tossed a bunch of stuff in and hoped for the best. I of course added more cherry (this is why I can’t live without cherry tisane in my house), but I could have added chocolate chips and turned this into a chocolate tea.
Thanks Sil for this sample.

Thanks Sil for this sample.

Drinking this at work today. It’s really light, both in color and flavor. Doesn’t look like a black tea to me, it’s the color of apple juice. Not sure if the color is influencing the taste, but I think it tastes light and fruity too.
It’s not so much that I dislike this, it’s more that it’s not what I expect out of a black tea.

I tried this tea for the first time and found it really nice, as long as it isn’t too strong. But that all comes down to personal taste.

I’m not a huge fan of vanilla in tea, it doesn’t suit me, but it seemed to work well in this tea. The caramel and apricot base was really rich, and smooth, and it was quite a warm, winter sort of tea. (I thought.) I think some people could find the apricot a little overpowering, but I found it to be a really velvety tea.

When I have this tea again, I think I’ll have it with milk, it seems to suit it really well. My only point would be I prefer tea with a little more spice, but it’s an enjoyable tea.

Thanks Sil for sending me this sample.

It’s just ok for me. It’s caramel, it’s apple – not sure it’s apple pie. It’s a bit finicky. Little bit bitter. Happy to have tried it, bot rushing out to add it as a staple.

I got this as my intro to the Tea Centre and I have to say, I’m very impressed! It’s very smooth and one flavour never really overpowers another. It was also sweet without being sickly and the sweetness complements the black tea. It could have been a bit stronger, but that’s just my personal preference (and I could try adding another minute to the steep). Plus both the leaves and the brew itself smell really good.

mmm! this is the second flush from Alice that i drank to compare against the first flush darjeeling that she sent my way. This one has a darker taste to it. The muscatel taste isn’t overly strong in this one, but there is a nice balance of astringency mixed in with the taste here. There’s no floral notes in this, which makes this slightly more enjoyable to me than the other, but not by much :)
Thanks Alice! these are both delightful.

I’ve been waiting to try this one and the other darjeeling that Alice sent me because one is first flush and the other is second. I haven’t had an opportunity to try darjeelings like that side by side. they’re not the same darjeeling but i figured it was better than nothing :)

This has a lightly floral aroma as well as taste. It’s not overly floral but it’s there. I quite like this one – i think it helps that i’ve figured out how to brew darjeelings from the darjeeling day i had a while back :)

This is also a really fresh sort of tea. no astringency…a delight!