Flavour: Spinning Wheel

Ingredients: Rooibos, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, orange and natural vanilla flavours

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £7.99 for 50g

Review: From their Fairytale collection, this is essentially a Christmassy chai blend. The aroma is very strong – especially on the orange. It’s like cleaning products – Harpic, specifically. (Someone in our office said it smelled like ‘unhappiness’. Tulsi’s husband described it as ‘treacle’.) The flavour was better than we expected, although the cloves are intense, so your mouth is numb almost immediately. Maybe it’s meant to mimic the experience of touching the spinning wheel and falling unconscious?? It’s quite sweet, too. We really couldn’t taste anything but cloves and citrus. But it wasn’t bad, and it would certainly be good after a painful trip to the dentist. We can definitely see people liking it. Just…don’t brew it for the 7-10 minutes recommended on the bag…because wow.

Best time of year to drink this: Autumn / winter

Best time of day to drink this: Evening

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Flavour: Fresh Inspiration (formerly Pure Freshness)

Ingredients: Spearmint, peppermint, ginger, anise, cinnamon, lime, black pepper, cardamom, lemongrass, fennel, cocoa shells, liquorice, peppermint oil, dried lemon juice, cloves, spearmint oil, ginger oil

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: It quite literally smells like toothpaste. The flavour is initially very startling (no one expects to drink toothpaste!)…but then it gets better. It’s just so minty fresh…then bitter…then spicy (the black pepper KICKS at the back of the throat)…with a lingering feeling of coolness. It’s a highly confusing drinking experience. It’s definitely wakeful, and it would clear your breath after a meal out. The oils are just so strong that we wouldn’t personally drink this casually.

Best time of year to drink this: Whenever

Best time of day to drink this: After a meal

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Flavour: Throat Comfort

Ingredients: Liquorice root (32%), fennel seed (23%), cinnamon bark, orange peel, thyme, cardamom, ginger root, mullein leaf, cloves, black pepper, turmeric, citrus extract, orange extract

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: This is a great one if you have a cold. It’s chock full of herbs traditionally used to sooth a sore throat, and if you drink this alongside their Breathe Deep blend, you’re sorted.

That said, we wouldn’t touch it if we weren’t ill. It smells medicinal and antiseptic, and the flavour is so sweet. We also don’t find it as effective or as pleasant as Tisane dal Mondo’s Respiro infusion. That one temporarily relieves a cough after just one cup, while Throat Comfort soothes but leaves you hacking away. So if you’re happy to order imported tea online, we recommend that blend over this. If you’re looking for something you’ll find in mainstream UK shops, Throat Comfort is a good one to keep in the cupboard for when you need it.

Best time of year to drink this: Anytime – more likely winter

Best time of day to drink this: Most times of day, but especially later, after meals, because it’s just so sweet

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Flavour: Bengal Spice

Ingredients: Cinnamon, roasted chicory, roasted carob, natural spice and vanilla flavours with other natural flavours, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, cloves and nutmeg

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: The smell of this one is amazing – sweet and spicy, but subtle, with clear notes of vanilla and cinnamon.

The taste is much stronger than the aroma, however – particularly the vanilla and the ‘flavours’. Although described as ‘natural’, they linger and leave an artificial taste in the back of the throat.

It’s not one to have with food, either. It’s almost a spiced cake in a cup, and it’s strangely filling. It might be perfect if you’re not feeling too well and need a kick to get you through a time of low appetite. The cloves also make it a good one for any mouth issues, like sore gums.

Overall, it’s warming but a bit sweet – probably great to have if you’re craving sugar but want to be healthy, but it might be a bit too sweet for some. Ginger liked it but Tulsi wasn’t a fan. Definitely don’t overbrew this one, or the spice and sweetness could become overwhelming.

Best time of year to drink this: Winter

Best time of day to drink this: Afternoons (after lunch)

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Flavour: Jasmine Pearls

Ingredients: Green tea infused in jasmine flowers

Caffeine Factor: Caffeinated

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £4-5

Bags Per Box: 15

Our Review: We’ve had jasmine-infused green tea before, from many different brands.  We’ve never come across one that smelled quite this floral.  The taste, too, was soapy – like you’d expect from lavender, not jasmine.  And underneath all that soap, all you can taste is bitterness.

This one doesn’t taste as much like jasmine-infused green tea as green tea with a strange floral hit.  The two flavours don’t really blend like they should – and for that price tag, you’re better off buying a cheaper brand like Pukka.  Their Serene Jasmine Green is lovely, and somehow tastes much more natural than the Teapigs offering.  Alternatively, just find yourself a nice, simple green tea – because this one doesn’t add much.

Best time of year to drink this: Anytime

Best time of day to drink this: Morning

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Flavour: Sweet Chili

Ingredients: Liquorice, Cocoa Shells, Spearmint, Fennel, Anise, Ginger, Peppermint, Nettle, Chili pepper, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves, Black Pepper

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: The smell is like chilis and earth (possibly from the nettle), mixed with cocoa shells. The combination is very, very odd indeed.

The taste, as you would hope from a tea of this name, is very fiery, particularly from the ginger. Happily, the inclusion of spearmint keeps the fire from overwhelming your mouth.

The flavour is also initially quite sweet (fennel and anise), but it’s toned down by the other flavours. It’s an unusual blend that grows on you with each sip. If you can allow the taste to settle in your mouth and make sense, it turns out to be a lovely wintry evening drink to have after a meal.

We also expect it would be a good one to drink if you had a cold (the fire would clear your sinuses) or a toothache (because of the cloves).

Best time of year to drink this: Winter

Best time of day to drink this: Evening

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Flavour: Lemon, Ginger & Manuka Honey

Description: A welcoming cup of spicy sweet organic bliss

Ingredients: Ginger root (32%), licorice root, elderflower, fennel seed, lemon verbena leaf, turmeric root, lemon essential oil, lemon myrtle leaf, whole lemon (4%), manuka honey flavour (2%)

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: When you first brew this infusion, it smells just like Pukka Three Ginger.  The taste, however, is different.  It’s like Three Ginger, but with a lingering artificial aftertaste, a bit like soursop (probably because of the manuka honey flavouring).  It doesn’t help that it’s chock full of all those lemony plants that are 100% real, yet taste like they were cooked up in a laboratory.

That said, this is probably a good one if you have a cold, to act as an antiseptic and a throat soother; so this blend has its place, even if we don’t fancy it as a casual treat.

Best time of year to drink this: Colder months, when you feel a bit poorly

Best time of day to drink this: Anytime, really – it works as a morning wake-up drink (because of the lemon), but it’s also soothing in the evening

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Flavour: Revitalise

Description: ‘A burst of warming organic cinnamon, cardamom and ginger.’

Ingredients: Cinnamon bark (26%), orange peel, elderflower, cardamom pod (10%), licorice root, ginger root (7%), sencha green tea, spearmint leaf, clove bud, black peppercorn

Caffeine Factor: Caffeinated

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Our Review: This is an intensely sweet-smelling blend with a citrus undercurrent.  Thankfully, the taste is milder.  There’s a hint of green tea, but not enough to overpower the other ingredients.  The inclusion of orange peel and spearmint make it refreshing and cooling in the mouth – and there’s a nice, fresh after-kick, too; the ginger really comes out of this one.

If you ever find yourself in any mouth pain, give this one a try, because the cloves will instantly soothe the hurt; the mint is a great digestive aid; and the green tea base makes this a good one to wake up with, in the morning.

Overall, this is a pleasant post-meal drink (not too sweet, not too bitter) that we will definitely be buying again.

Best time of year to drink this: All year round

Best time of day to drink this: After meals, throughout the day (but not too late at night, or the green tea will keep you up!)

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Flavour: Liquorice & Oriental Spices

Description: To Warm and Uplift Naturally

Ingredients: Liquorice Root (37%), Cinnamon (25%), Ginger (17%), Blackberry Leaves (7.5%), Apple Pomace (5.5%), Aniseed (2%), Nutmeg (1.5%), Clove Buds (1.5%), Pepper (1%), Orange Peel (1%), Cardamom (1%)

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £1-2

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: As you may have noticed, we’re not huge liquorice fans.  It’s nice in small doses, but too much makes a drink sickly sweet.  So, we approached this blend with caution.

The smell is spicy, due to the nutmeg and cinnamon, and makes you think of winter or Christmas.  Happily, the liquorice is actually quite mild, balanced perfectly against the spices to create an ideal combination of flavours.

Drinking it makes you want to curl up by the fireplace, bundled in blankets, and just relax.  It’s so warming.  Better still, the ingredients are traditionally used for everything from healing wounds and soothing the stomach, to taking the edge off mouth pain and easing menstrual pain.  And kids like this one, too – it’s Three Tulsi’s son’s all-time favourite.

For all these reasons, we have marked this a must-have tea we keep in the cupboard at all times.

Best time of year to drink this: Winter

Best time of day to drink this: Afternoon, evening, night

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Flavour: Honey Green Almond

Ingredients: Green honeybush, cinnamon pieces, almond pieces, osmanthus petals, safflower and flower

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: The aroma of honey and spice that wafts up at you when you first brew this drink is so intense that it verges on medicinal – like cough syrup or Honey Lockets.  It hits you so strongly that you can’t help but make faces as you bring the cup closer to your face; and long after you’ve finished drinking it, the scent lingers in your nose.  Onlookers will laugh.

So imagine our surprise at the non-flavour when you finally take a sip.  It’s not a bit sweet, and leaves only the faintest after-taste – an unpleasant floral one that leaves a greasy, tacky, oily film on the tongue and makes you want something else to drink.

In short, this is not recommended for the hefty price of £7.50 a box.

Best time of year to drink this: There’s no real flavour, but some of the ingredients suggest it might be good to drink if you have a cold (you can’t taste anything when you’re congested anyway, right?), so we’re going to say drink this when it’s cold out – autumn / winter.

Best time of day to drink this: Again, this is a hard one.  Maybe the morning, only because it would encourage you to drink lots of cold water afterwards.  But also, you could try it in the evening, as some of the ingredients are good for relaxation.

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