Flavour: Apricot Jam Tart

Ingredients: Apple, apricot (20%), carob, rosehip peels, white hibiscus, rooibos, natural flavouring, sweet blackberry leaves, mullein flowers

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £7.50

Cups Per Box: 40 (approx.)

Review: You can probably guess what we thought of this one, but we’ll write up the review anyway. For whatever reason, while it’s hot, the aroma of this blend can only be described as ‘apricot feet’. If you let it go cold, though, it transforms into something sweet and pleasant. The flavour is also sweet…and, sadly, really artificial, despite the ingredients list claiming the flavouring is ‘natural’. And although we should be tasting fruit and herbs, there’s almost no flavour other than flavouring…which isn’t even really apricot. It’s really yuck…especially when drunk hot. The fakeness lingers. We have no idea where all the other ingredients are in the mix. We could almost get the carob, but that was about it. And when we let it settle and cool, it was just bland. We have no idea why anyone would want this one, especially such a large box. It takes ages to get through these T2 cubes, so if you don’t like the blend…well, you really won’t like it by the time you hit the bottom of the box. This is an AVOID.

Best time of year to drink this: Please, just don’t

Best time of day to drink this: Never

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Flavour: Coconut Cream

Ingredients: Apple, cocoa husk, carob fruit, white hibiscus, sweet blackberry leaves, coconut (6%), caramel pieces, flavouring

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £8 for 100g

Review: We went into this expecting to hate it…and we weren’t disappointed. They’ve taken the generic fruit tea mix of apple, hibiscus and sweet blackberry leaves…and thrown in caramel, coconut and artificial flavouring…as if any of that goes together. It sounds disgusting, and it is disgusting. Tulsi described the smell as ‘a teenage boy’s unwashed socks’. The flavour wasn’t much better. Perhaps impressively, it manages to be worse than Sainsbury’s similar variety…which we recently declared the worst blend we’d ever tried. It’s just so sweet and overpoweringly artificial, with a strong aftertaste reminiscent of the filling in a Bounty bar…but so much grosser. We just can’t understand why anyone would pay £8 to drink this for weeks on end. For us, this was a definite AVOID.

Best time of year to drink this: NEVER

Best time of day to drink this: NEVER

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Flavour: Choco Mint Rooibos

Ingredients: Rooibos, peppermint leaves, carob and cacao bean pieces, calendula and safflower petals, and natural flavours

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £10

Tin Size: 125g

Our Review: We sooooo wanted to love this…but they’ve spoiled a great idea by throwing in those flowers. It smells a lot like T2’s Red Choc Mint (one of our absolute favourites), but with quite a chocolatey after-whiff! Strangely, you can’t really taste that. The flavour is bitter (probably from the calendula) and heavy on the mint (as if they’ve used the essential oil)…with some chocolate as an afterthought. They tried too hard to be different by throwing in extras that we don’t think need to be there. They ruin the delicate balance of the main ingredients, and at that price tag, we wouldn’t bother with this one. It’s not bad…but there are better variations on this idea.

Best time of year to drink this: Summer?

Best time of day to drink this: Morning or afternoon

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Flavour: White Tea with Elderflower and Pear

Ingredients: White tea (59%), green tea (20%), carob, natural flavouring, elderflower (1%), pear pieces (1%), marigold flowers

Caffeine Factor: Caffeinated

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £3

Bags Per Box: 15

Review: We loved this. Despite the name, there isn’t much elderflower or pear in it, and that keeps it from becoming sickly. The flavour is subtle. The floral and carob combination undercuts the white tea, keeping it from getting bitter, while the tea keeps the other ingredients from being too sweet. It’s strikes just the right balance – gorgeous, light, delicate and refreshing. It was an instant favourite that we can’t recommend enough.

Best time of year to drink this: Summer

Best time of day to drink this: Morning or afternoon

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Flavour: Choco

Ingredients: Cocoa shells (65%), liquorice, cinnamon, carob, barley malt, cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon extract (natural flavour), vanilla extract (natural flavour), black pepper, ginger oil, vanilla beans

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: 100%

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 17

Review: This is very similar to their Choco Chili blend, but without the chili. It smells of chocolate and spice. It’s subtle but warming and very wintry. Tasting it, it’s not as chocolatey as you’d expect. Despite 65% cocoa shells, the flavour is more like sticky gingerbread cake – probably due to all the spice, and the liquorice adding that hint of sweetness. This is one blend where they got the liquorice balance just right.

It’s a delicious after-meal treat that we highly recommend.

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, after food

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Flavour: Roastaroma

Ingredients: Roasted barley, roasted chicory, roasted carob, cinnamon, allspice and Chinese star anise

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: This blend boasts of being a caffeine-free substitute for your morning coffee. As with many coffee alternatives, it’s based on chicory – and barley, which you can really smell. It’s a bit like Ovaltine. Interestingly, once it cools down enough to drink, it suddenly smells like instant coffee.

This is a substantial drink, round, full and savoury. The taste is quite bitter, like coffee (that’s likely the chicory root). It’s also heavy and hits you in the face like coffee. But unlike coffee, it’s a bit fruity, with a hint of sweetness from the star anise and cinnamon, and even the suggestion of chocolate (probably due to the carob). The flavour passes through several different phases with each sip, making you pause and think, working out what you’re tasting.

This was a bit of a surprising one that we really enjoyed. It’s a good one to help you slow down and experience the moment, making it an ideal accompaniment to breakfast, or even a nice one to soothe and ease you off to bed at night.

Best time of year to drink this: All year round

Best time of day to drink this: Breakfast, or in that last hour before bed

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Flavour: Cinnamon Apple Spice

Ingredients: Cinnamon, hibiscus, chamomile, natural cinnamon and apple flavours with other natural flavours, roasted chicory, orange peel and roasted carob

Caffeine Factor: Caffeine-free

Organic Ingredients: Unknown

Price Range: £2-3

Bags Per Box: 20

Review: This is a bit of a strange one. Celestial Seasonings are an American company currently based on Colorado. We’re based in the UK, although Tulsi lived in Arizona, once upon a time. As soon as Tulsi smelled it, she identified this brew as Red Hots in a cup. It tastes like them, too. In other words: sweeties / candies (depending on your form of English).

We investigated this and discovered there are two different plants that get referred to as cinnamon: cassia and ceylon, both species of the same plant family. Cassia is a reddish-brown colour and the most common form of cinnamon sold in the US, while ceylon is brown and more commonly used in Europe. (Fun fact: ceylon is the form chefs regard as ‘real’ cinnamon.) We believe this tea must use cassia rather than ceylon. The result is a much stronger, sweeter flavour than we’re used to from other cinnamon blends. Just like Red Hots (if you’ve ever had them), it’s fiery in the throat – and not particularly pleasant, if you’re no longer used to it (as Tulsi discovered).

We brewed this for different times, to see if perhaps we had just left the bag in too long. We found that if you under-brew, there is no flavour at all, but if you brew longer, the flavour is overwhelming (and, for us, unbearable). You can’t taste anything else in the ingredients list. It’s named Cinnamon Apple Spice, yet there’s no apple at all. It’s strangely medicinal, as well – and really sweet – and the flavouring, although quoted as ‘natural’, makes it taste rather artificial. Worst of all, when you finish the cup, you feel dehydrated.

In our opinion, this is an avoid – but we recognise that Americans, more used to cassia, might disagree. Still, if you’re looking for apple, look elsewhere.

Best time of year to drink this: Winter, if it’s your thing

Best time of day to drink this: After a meal, in place of dessert – it’s just sooooo 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: 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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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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