‘Green tea, natural flavouring, natural vanilla flavouring with other natural flavouring.’

That’s a lot of flavouring! Why list ‘natural flavouring’ as a separate, different ingredient from ‘natural vanilla flavouring…with other natural flavouring’? Just what does that mean?

One of the worst offenders in the arena of vague ingredients lists is Twinings. That’s why we decided to email them to get the answer, and to confirm why some ingredients are listed with percentages, while others are not. Their initial response was:

Thank you for contacting us.

It is a legal requirement within the Food Standards Agency that the main ingredients reflected in the product’s name has the exact percentage disclosed. For example, our Lemon & Ginger infusion contains Ginger Root* (37%), Natural Lemon Flavouring With Other Natural Flavourings (25%), Lemongrass*, Blackberry Leaves*, Lemon Peel, Sweet Fennel*, Natural Ginger Flavouring With Other Natural Flavourings (3.5%).

Furthermore, ‘Natural Flavourings’ included in our blends are direct extracts of fruit, herbs, spices or other plant material.   These extracts are manufactured starting with the raw materials which undergo various heating, extraction and separation processes to concentrate the flavour compounds within those raw materials.

I hope this helps, but if you have any further queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me again.

We replied and pointed out that this response didn’t explain why, in their example, they listed ‘lemon natural flavouring with other natural flavouring’ – or why that will frequently be paired with ‘natural flavouring’ as a separate ingredient. Just how many times do they need to say it contains natural flavouring? And how are those things different? They said:

Thanks for your reply.

The safety and permissibility of a particular flavouring is governed by specific European legislation and likewise the way flavourings should be declared in a list of ingredients is mandated under European legislation.  We monitor existing and developing legislation very closely to ensure that our products are produced and labelled in accordance with current European and UK legislation so the way in which our flavourings are printed on the pack, is done so in line with strict regulations.  A flavour can still be natural without having to reference the ‘natural’ in the UK but we try to include natural where we can, so if it has been omitted then it is likely it is artificial.

As their very name suggests and as defined in European legislation, ‘flavourings’ are added to foods to impart odour and or taste.  Within an ingredients list, the main ingredients reflected in the product name or highest percentage ingredient must be listed, along with any other ingredients that give the product name it’s taste characteristics or allergens. 

Take for example our Mango & Strawberry infusion (https://www.twinings.co.uk/tea/fruit-herbal/mango-strawberry-20-tea-bags).  Within the ingredients list it states ‘Natural Strawberry Flavouring with Other Natural Flavourings (10%).’  This part of the ingredients makes reference to the main strawberry element of the infusion as indicated by the product name and is listed as ‘Natural Strawberry Flavouring’; however to achieve a stronger strawberry flavour we mix ‘Other Natural Flavourings’ which is then added to the overall infusion as a separate component.

Within this infusion we also have listed ‘Natural Flavourings (10%)’ which does not directly relate to product name, however, as there is no ‘Natural Mango Flavouring’, with mango being referenced in the product name, the ‘Natural Flavourings (10%)’ are a combination of ingredients to help produce a mango-like taste character.

I hope this information helps, but if you require anything further, please don’t hesitate to contact me again.

So, there you have it – convoluted as it is. We love this customer services agent for putting so much effort and thought into trying to explain this to us…though it does beg the question: what will happen to the ingredients lists on UK tea bags following Brexit?

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Nine months ago, I gave birth to the most beautiful little boy – our second.  He was so fragile and helpless, so tiny and vulnerable.  Now, as I write this, he’s crawling around the living room floor, trying to knock absolutely everything over and stuff it in his aching toothless mouth.

It’s been quite the journey getting to this point – and part of that journey was ‘tea’.  When I became pregnant, I discovered a whole world of tea, herbal and fruit infusions was now off limits.  For instance, I tried drinking a fennel blend to deal with terrible bloating pains in the first trimester.  It worked – but I wound up in hospital that evening for bleeding.  It thankfully turned out to be a false alarm.  However, I learned that fennel is in the parsley family and, as such, has a centuries-old history of being used as a natural abortive.  It’s entirely possible that the fennel was not responsible for my bleeding, but it left me paranoid and I wound up avoiding both parsley and fennel for the duration of my pregnancy.

A further complication was that almost every herbal blend on the market contains liquorice.  That’s okay in small doses, but too much liquorice can lead to hypertension, something common and dangerous in pregnancy.  I never had to worry about this before, as I naturally have low blood pressure; but suddenly my eight cups a day of such infusions no longer sounded like a good idea.

The question, then, was: what could I drink?  And: what infusions would actually be good for my pregnancy?

Ginger Tea – The Cure for Acid Reflux

An absolute must turned out to be ginger tea.  I struggled with relentless acid reflux.  Antacids tasted like glue and made me feel sick.  It’s also not good for the body to have too much of these medicines; it can even cause further acid reflux!  So I learned to avoid eating foods that triggered the acid (almost everything I love to eat, sadly – I later celebrated the birth by binging on berries, after seven months without them) – but I also read that ginger could help keep that acid at bay.

Unfortunately, most of the ginger teas on the market are full of other ingredients like liquorice (I’ve already covered why that was a bad idea) or lemon juice (which would make the acid worse).  I found myself thinking, Why doesn’t anyone do a tea that’s just ginger?  I then thought, Hang on…that sounds familiar…didn’t we review something like that?  Indeed, we had: T2 Just Ginger!  It was a lifesaver during my pregnancy.  It’s nothing but chopped up dried ginger pieces, pure and simple.  True, I could have chopped up real ginger myself and brewed that, but that is a task I didn’t have the time or energy for while working all day in an office, heavily pregnant – especially not with the quantities I had to drink to combat that burning feeling in my throat.

T2 Just Ginger is a little pricy, at £7.99 per box, but I found that one teaspoon could be re-brewed three or four times throughout the day.  Drunk prior to snacks and meals did the trick for me all day, in combination with avoiding those high-trigger foods.  I cannot recommend this tea enough, for those of you suffering from the same symptom – though admittedly I was sick to death of ginger by the end of my pregnancy!  Now that the baby is born, I may never drink this tea again, but that’s not T2’s fault.

Drinking Tea to Bring on Labour

I went into irregular contractions on a Sunday evening.  They stopped by Monday morning, but my waters broke shortly after.  A midwife did a home visit and told me if I didn’t go into labour within the next 24 hours, I would likely need to be induced, to avoid infection to the baby.  This made me anxious, as I had hoped for a home birth – something not possible with induction.

I considered raspberry leaf tea, as is the age-old tradition.  I had in mind Heath & Heather’s Raspberry Leaf variety.  However, we had none in the house.  My husband considered going out and buying some, but decided instead to give me Yogi Tea’s Choco Chili, on the basis that I had been drinking it shortly before the initial contractions on Sunday evening.  This tea contains cocoa shells (caffeine-free and therefore safe in pregnancy), cinnamon, liquorice (okay if I was just having one cup for the day), ginger (fabulous), black pepper, carob, anise, barley malt (watch for this, if you’re on a gluten-free diet), cloves, cardamom, ginger oil (again, brilliant), vanilla extract, vanilla beans – and chili pepper.

Tradition tells us eating something spicy will help bring on labour.  I can’t vouch for the truth in this – but I can say that contractions restarted shortly after I had this tea again on Monday evening, and our son was born Tuesday morning – at home, as planned.

The Best Tea for Post-Delivery Contractions

Something no one tells you is that you continue to have contractions after delivery – first, to deliver the placenta, and then each time you breastfeed.  This is nature’s way of contracting the uterus back down to its original size (and making you slim again!).  Unfortunately, it’s incredibly painful in the first few days after the birth, and your options for pain relief are limited, as any drugs you take are fed to the baby through breast milk.

My solution?  Tesco’s Finest Pure Peppermint Leaf pyramid bags.  This tea loosened and relaxed my stomach muscles, and aided digestion through my recovery, acting as a natural pain killer each time I had one of those spasms.

Surviving Those Sleepless Nights…and Days

The challenge with breastfeeding is that no one can help you with it.  Newborns feed 9-12 times a day, for up to an hour at a time, which means you’re feeding almost nonstop (or, in my case, literally nonstop for anywhere up to 8 hours at a stretch).  With a schedule like that, when do you find time to sleep?  Plus, I don’t know about you, but I was in a constant state of anticipation – listening out for cries, even if my husband was looking after our son in another room – expecting to be woken for feeds.  The result was that even when I miraculously got time for a nap, I found it difficult to shut down.

I combatted that problem with Pukka’s Love infusion, made with chamomile, limeflower, elderflower, marigold petals, liquorice root, rose flower and lavender.  It is instantly calming, especially sipped slowly while hot.  I had mine while the baby fed (just be careful to hold it well away from your baby, so you don’t spill hot water on him/her!), which meant that by the time he finished feeding, the tea had worked its way into my system and I was much more relaxed.  Then I could climb into bed and snatch an hour or two of rest before our son woke again.

Nine Months On…

Now that our beautiful little boy is eight months old, there seems to be a competition between him and his eleven-year-old brother for who can make the most noise and commotion.  There’s no fighting it; I’m going to lose.  But as long as they’re not destroying things, a good hot drink instantly dissipates the stress.  And I have no idea why, but the baby always opens his mouth wide with delight when he sees me pick up my mug and drink – perfect for when I’m trying to get him to accept a spoonful of mashed-up vegetables and rice.  That’s right: drinking tea is helping me wean the baby.

What makes me happiest is that I’m done breastfeeding, and I’m getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, so I can drink whatever I want – at last!  This means Ginger Tea and I can get back to trying new things and writing more reviews for this site, and I can grab a bag at random from the tea cupboard in our kitchen and just see where it takes me.

Better still, I finally got to use that Tea Lovers Masterclass gift voucher my husband gave me for Valentine’s Day!  Watch this space for a write-up of that incredible day.

I couldn’t have made it through the last 17 months without my tea.  If you, too, found tea indispensable to your pregnancy / childbirth / baby journey, we’d love to hear your stories in the comments box below.  And be sure to subscribe to this blog to read more stories and reviews!

Until next time….

• You are unlimited.
• I am beautiful, I am bountiful, I am blissful.
• Let your heart guide you.
• When ego is lost, then universality exists.
• Live light, travel light, spread the light, be the light.
• The purpose of life is to enjoy every moment.
• Silence is a source of great strength.
• Life is a gift.  Experience is the beauty.
• Live to share.
• Love has no fear and no vengeance.
• Uplift everybody and uplift yourself.
• Let your heart guide you.
• Live in your strength.
• Your greatest strength is love.
• Love is a source of bliss and infinity.
• Joy is the essence of success.
• May this day bring you peace, tranquillity and harmony.
• Life is a flow of love; your participation is requested.
• Our head bows and our heart is filled with love and joy.
• Self-reliance is the greatest art.
• Love, compassion and kindness are the anchors of life.
• There is nothing more precious than self-trust.
• To be calm is the highest achievement of the self.
• Be proud of who you are.
• Empty yourself and let the universe fill you.
• Every smile is a direct achievement.
• Recognise that you are the truth.
• Experience will give you wisdom.
• Say it straight, simple and with a smile.
• Let your heart speak to others’ hearts.
• Love has no boundary.
• Love is where compassion prevails and kindness rules.
• Recognise that the other person is you.
• May the peace of inner self bring us joy.
• Love is an infinite victory.
• Compassion has no limit.  Kindness has no enemy.
• Love is an infinite power.
• Love without trust is a river without water.
• Live with reference for yourself and others.
• Sing from your heart.
• Act, don’t react.
• Give forgiveness; that is your greatness.
• Truth is everlasting.
• Life without love is a ship without sails.
• An attitude of gratitude brings opportunities.
• You are unlimited.
• Live to share.
• The art of happiness is to serve all.
• Life is a chance.  Love is infinity.  Grace is reality.
• Where there is love, there is no question.
• Open up to infinity and become infinity.
• Appreciate yourself and honour your soul.
• You will always live happy if you live with heart.
• Be great, feel great, act great.
• Love is an elevated self.
• Man is a star on the stage of the universe.
• Have wisdom in your actions and faith in your merits.

We also put together a photo collage of some of the affirmations that seemed to flow and create ‘deeper messages’:

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In preparation for our new blog, we ordered 19 boxes of tea in a sale at the Eco Green Store!  19 delectable flavours to sample – expect reviews over the coming weeks!  Be sure to SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss anything.

Mostly Pukka brand, for now, with two Yogi Teas.  Next order will be other brands.  If you have any requests, be sure to leave a comment below.  We love to hear from fellow tea-drinkers!