It's great to be guest posting here today. I'm going to be reviewing a flavoured black tea from an up-and-coming tea company based out of the Czech Republic, Oxalis (http://www.oxalis.eu). Leah encountered them on Twitter a while back and they very generously offered to send her (and, by proxy - me!) a haul of delicious tea samples, and even some coffee.
We received the parcel this morning and it was jam-packed with a multitude of tea, some we'd explicitly asked for (I asked for the Out of Africa tea and an aged Puerh) and some that was a complete (and very well received) surprise. We'd both like to thank Oxalis for their *ahem* generosi-tea. I'm aware that's a poor joke, that's why I don't have my own blog. But I digress...
The tea I'm reviewing for you today is called 'Out of Africa' (above), an apt name given that there's one very unusual ingredient in this blend. The packaging was nicely designed; including a picture of the beautifully blended tea on the front and the standard list of ingredients and steeping information on the back. This is definitely one of the more interesting teas I've tasted as I tend to stick to breakfast teas, Darjeeling and vanilla black tea. This tea is a blend of Ceylon, cocoa husks, mallow flowers (which add a pleasant burst of purple to this visually stunning tea), and here's the interesting part... Coffee beans!
That's right, this blend is a combination of tea (and, in smaller quantities) coffee beans and cocoa husks. It's effectively the whole enchilada of hot drinks in one cup, without being cloying or overwhelming. How does the flavour of the tea stand up to these unusual ingredients? Very well actually. There are pleasant notes of dark chocolate and a light earthy aftertaste from the coffee without overpowering the delicate flavour of the Ceylon, this is still tea as we know it. The steeping time recommended was two minutes, I think this is about right as I could properly taste the complex flavours without any astringency from the tea. The aroma was very wholesome with notes of malt and barley as well as sweet chocolate. I decided to add a small amount of sugar to bring out the flavour, and it did. The tea is soft and pleasant, surprisingly light on the palette with some depth from the coffee beans. I can already tell this would be a perfect dessert tea.
'Out of Africa' is a high quality and quirky tea that is similar enough to unflavoured blends to taste familiar, whilst exploring new flavours that complement and enhance the tea. Personally I'm very happy with this tea and will be having another cup soon! To close, I'd like to thank Oxalis again for their fantastic service, diverse range of tea and minimalistic, no-nonsense packaging. I give this tea a 4/5 rating. The combination of flavours may not be for everyone but this tea is light and delicious and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. Here's the tea while it was steeping:
Leah here again, I hope you enjoyed Ollie's guest post! Here's a bonus photo of the two of us in Bristol, England this summer:
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Leah
That was a pretty damn good post, my compliments to Ollie. The tea sounds incredible and the wording of the post made me salivate thinking about it. I shall definitely be giving that one a try...
ReplyDeleteLove this post. This tea sound awesome. Will definitely try it
ReplyDeleteInteresting tea! I don't like coffee, but I love the smell, I'd be tempted to try this tea.
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