Brand:

Flavour: Christmas Tea

Ingredients: Rooibos, cinnamon (13%), liquorice, coriander, honeybush (6%), orange peel, cloves, black pepper, anise, dried lemon juice, star anise (3%), cardamom, roasted chicory, lime, orange oil, cinnamon oil

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: This is gorgeous. We wish we could find it all year round! It smells like herbal chai, but milder, and with a slight fruity sweetness from the orange. The flavour is soothing and warming. It’s lightly sweet but with a warm spicy after-kicky-thing…and some refreshing orange. It’s a perfect, well-balanced blend that we would have every day, if we could. We hope it comes back next winter!

Best time of year to drink this: All year round (but obviously it’s marketed for the winter)

Best time of day to drink this: Evenings – perfect for unwinding after a long day

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Brand:

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: 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: Himalaya

Ingredients: Ginger, fennel, cinnamon, anise, coriander, cinnamon oil, ginger oil, licorice

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: The smell is very spicy and somewhat unpleasant. You can definitely pick up the cardamom, the ginger, the licorice…and something else. Something you might cook with, rather than drink – coriander seed, perhaps. We’re not sure where that scent comes from – the ginger oil, maybe? Whatever it is, it smells a bit like someone put a vegetable biriyani in a liquidiser and served it out as tea.

It tastes a bit like curry, too, but with a hint of sweetness. It makes for a highly confusing first sip – sweet and savoury – but then…it sort of grows on you. It’s spicy and warming. If you came in from the evening rain on a cold winter’s day, drinking this would be a bit like a warm hug. If you want it sweeter, we also found it goes quite well with a drop of agave syrup. It’s also bound to be good if you have a cold.

Best time of year to drink this:  Winter

Best time of day to drink this: Evening

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Flavour: Choco Mint

Ingredients: Cocoa shells, liquorice, peppermint, anise, fat-reduced cocoa powder, cinnamon, black pepper, carob, cardamom, ginger, peppermint oil, vanilla extract, barley malt, cloves, vanilla beans

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3 (worth the money!)

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: This is one of our absolute favourite blends, especially from a standard off-the-shelf brand.  As soon as you brew it, you can smell the cocoa, dark and inviting.  A moment later, you’re hit with the refreshing smell of peppermint, sure to pick you up no matter what sort of day you’re having.

And the taste…!  It’s just amazing.  You can’t actually pick out all the individual ingredients (black pepper!?), but the combination is divine.  It’s fresh, with just the right hint of sweetness; the liquorice doesn’t overpower the rest of the blend.  It makes for a satisfying post-meal drink, in place of puddings – like After-8 mints, but subtler and with nothing artificial.

It’s the perfect morning wake-up drink, a delicious digestive aid in the afternoon or after dinner, and a relaxing moment of happiness just before bed – like Hotel Chocolat’s Peppermint Cocoa, but way cheaper.  But be warned: we each bought several boxes and they disappeared before we knew it.  Family and friends kept drinking it behind our backs!

This is definitely a must-have tea.

Best time of year to drink this:  A definite all-year-rounder.

Best time of day to drink this: Any time of day.  There’s a strong risk of chain-drinking, with this one.

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Brand:

Flavour: Sweet Chai

Ingredients: Anise, fennel, liquorice, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cloves

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: In taste, this is very similar to Pukka Vanilla Chai, but much sweeter.  We think this infusion fills the market gap of fennel / liquorice / aniseed teas for people who aren’t huge fans of fennel, liquorice or aniseed – because the ingredients list suggests you will be bombarded with those flavours, yet the added spices temper what would otherwise be overwhelming sweetness.

On the other hand, this could be a good one for people who want chai, but don’t like it too strong and might be tempted to add sugar.  Indeed, the aroma of this blend is strongly earthy, rather than spicy; it’s quite gentle from all angles.

In summary, it’s not necessarily our favourite, but we can see others enjoying it.

Best time of year to drink this:  Autumn / winter

Best time of day to drink this: Morning, or after meals as a digestive aid

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Flavour: Choco Chili

Ingredients: Cocoa shells, cinnamon, licorice, ginger, black pepper, carob, anise, chili pepper, barley malt, cloves, cardomom, ginger oil, vanilla extract, vanilla beans

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: This is simply divine – definitely one of our top teas.  As soon as you brew it, you can smell the cocoa shells.  Drinking it is even better.  It’s so dark-chocolatey, but without the calories or caffeine, and with that gorgeous wintry spice mixture thrown in.  The combination is instantly warming and soothing, with a mild chili and ginger kick at the back of the throat.  Although be warned: that kick gets hotter as the water cools down, so we recommend not letting your cup sit too long.

There is just enough licorice to keep the blend from being too bitter, but not so much that the sweetness becomes overpowering and sickly.  The inclusion of vanilla softens the drink, as well – one of the rare instances when we have really liked vanilla in a tea.  And it can’t be scientifically proven, but drinking this right at the end of Three Tulsi’s second pregnancy seemed to bring on labour contractions – you can’t go wrong with this tea!

Best time of year to drink this: Autumn / winter, when you need a bit of inner warming

Best time of day to drink this: Afternoon / evening, when you’re settling down to relax

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Flavour: Ginger Orange with Vanilla

Ingredients: Ginger (44%), Liquorice, Lemongrass, Orange Peel (4%), Black Pepper, Vanilla Extract (3%), Orange Oil, Peppermint, Anise

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: This smells strongly of citrus, due to the inclusion of orange oil and lemongrass.  In fact, the scent is a bit like a cleaning product – or one of those ice cream bars you have as a child, with fake vanilla encased in sugar orange candy coating.

Thankfully, it doesn’t taste like that!  It’s more subtle, like a mellower, sweeter ginger tea.  The orange hits your taste buds first, followed by sweet vanilla, and then a strong hit of ginger as it goes down the throat and a punchy after-taste.  We really like this one – a rarity for a tea containing vanilla.  Three Tulsi often has it in the afternoon, around 3pm, to stop her from going for the chocolate.  It’s a warming drink for those colder months.

Best time of year to drink this: Autumn / winter.

Best time of day to drink this: Afternoon / evening.

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Flavour: Detox

Ingredients: Liquorice (26%), Cinnamon (17%), Burdock Root, Ginger, Dandelion (7%), Fennel, Anise (3%), Juniper Berries, Coriander, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Parsley, Sage, Clove, Turmeric Root

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: When first brewed, this tea has a lovely caramel colour in the cup.  It has quite a sweet, almost vanilla scent, though when you taste it, the sweetness is subtle, because it’s cut with bitter dandelion.  It tastes strongly of cinnamon and liquorice, which makes it warming and wintery.  The black pepper and ginger also leave a peppery taste in the back of the throat, which lends a bit of heat.  This makes it a bit fiery.  When compared with, say, Pukka’s Detox tea, this one is less sweet, punchier and more flavoursome, with less of that aniseed taste (which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea!).  There is a filling, round, full-bodied quality to this – but the inclusion of cloves means your taste buds grow a bit numb, after a while, so definitely drink this after meals.  The cloves also make this a great one to drink if you have a sore throat or mouth ulcers.

Best time of year to drink this: Autumn / winter.

Best time of day to drink this: After meals, and in the evening.

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