Twinnings - Simply Sencha Green Tea

Sencha green tea, is one of my favourite varieties of green tea. I find it is slightly sweeter than your standard green tea, but is stronger in it’s flavour. It tastes soft.

This particular brand is called, “simply sencha” because it is just sencha leaf, nothing else! 

It is also Steamed not Pan Fried. Steaming used to be very common, but despite being used less in recent years, is starting to come back into fashion! There isn’t many differences in the health benefits produced by steaming and pan frying. Pan frying became preferable because it is quicker. It also means the shape of the tea leaves can be controlled and in China, it is seen as a very artful skill. 

The only disadvantage to pan frying is the leaves can become burned, and turn yellow, whereas steaming produces a more delicate taste and preserves the green colour. 

The tea is on the more expensive side, at £3.49 for only 12 bags. They are triangle bags, which always make me happy (so sad), on the downside they are bleached. I bought them because the plastic re-seal-able bag really appealed to me, so high marks for practicality of presentation, although I don’t love the colours.

I do really like this tea, but I wouldn’t say I love it! I would give it a 7/10. 

p.s. sorry about the weird fruit pictures. 

Peppermint Tea

Was slightly dubious trying supermarket own brand tea, but felt it was important to try products across a range of prices. 

In all fairness to Tesco they are beautiful teabags. Presented in an aesthetically pleasing box, the triangle shaped bags are super soft! 

Made with 100% Oregon Peppermint leaves, this is heaven for the digestive system! Increasing metabolism, suppressing appetite and reducing bloating and gas. It also balances hormones, which can clear up skin.

I never normally drink peppermint tea, I either drink Moroccan mint or three mint. But this peppermint tea was so good, I am a convert! 

I also think peppermint is better for digestion than other varieties of mint tea. Personally after drinking peppermint tea I bloat out, and my stomach feels worse temporarily but then within about half an hour it all subsides, so I think maybe it is just the tea working! 

This particular brand is a really lovely smooth flavour, it’s not overpowering and it is super easy to sip on! I am really enjoying it at the moment, I can almost feel the goodness as I drink it! 

If you have a Tesco near you, definitely grab a box!

Twinning’s Pomegranate White Tea

This tea is a complete god send! As I talked about in an earlier post white tea is super, super amazing for you, but doesn’t taste all that super! This pomegranate flavour allows you get all the goodness of white tea, and it tastes  pretty damn good too. It is sweet and light. 

You receive 20 bags for £2.49, making them reasonably expensive, however Twinning’s is  part of an ethical partnership, that support projects improving ease of life for millions of disabled children in China and India.. and what better excuse is charity for spending some extra pennies!  Just in case you cannot quite stretch your budget, Clipper also does a similar range of fruit flavoured white teas, including lemon and raspberry.

I am thinking about the direction the blog is going to go in. Over the summer, I am going to look at making tea cocktails, and iced teas! Also talking more about food, exercise, skin care and wellness in general, as there is no point in drinking healthy teas if you are still packing away pounds of processed food!

I also really want to discuss myths, and negative trends that young girls follow. The lengths girls go to, to improve their appearance could affect their long term health, and often just down to misunderstanding and lack of knowledge about what they are actually doing to their bodies.  

YogiTea Women’s Tea

Now this is an interesting one for me. I only discovered the brand a few months ago, but it was love at first sight! I’m a sucker for anything yogi! 

So far my favourite one is the Women’s Tea. It is a soothing blend of fennel, dandelion. ginger, orange and chamomile. Plus it is organic! It has a musky, warming flavour and is definitely a winter comfort! 

The tea aims to help women connect with their inner souls. As gooky as it may sound this tea does calm and focus my mind. It is a very serene drinking experience! 

I also love that each teabag comes with an inspirational, yogi quote! I have been keeping all mine, and they make for the perfect little pick me ups! Each time you have a cup of tea you end up taking a minute out of your day to think and reflect on the words. Some of my favourites so far have been:

“Wherever you are be in love”

“When you let go of what you think life should be, life gets clear”

“When you are far away from reality, fantasy won’t work!”

The Life Nerve Stretch diagram at the bottom of the box is also a nice touch. 

Plus the new packaging (not pictured here) is all pink! Girl heaven! 

Clippers White Tea & Dragonfly White Tea

White tea should really be the new green tea!

White tea has the same antioxidants but more of them, as well as having less caffeine (hello healthier!!).White tea is also thought to be extremely effective at preventing cancer.  It can also lower blood pressure, and cholesterol, increasing good cholesterol and decreasing the bad! All this means it also protects the heart. There is medical prove that drinking it can prevent heart attacks! It can also be good for the outside too, keeping teeth healthy, protecting the skin and giving it a radiant glow! White tea also increases metabolism.

The only downside to white tea, in my opinion is that it doesn’t taste as nice as green tea. Some people think it is sweeter, but it makes me squirm a little.

The Clippers organic brand I really struggle with, it is too earthy and just unpleasant. I think this might be due to it being organic. The Dragonfly Tea brand is also organic, but actually tastes a lot sweeter, and is drinkable! Most would probably want to add honey or lemon to white tea.

Let me know how you get on, or if you are already a white tea fan?!

YourTea TinyTea 14 Day TeaTox Review! 

I was beyond excited to try this out…

As I have gotten older I have noticed more of an issue with bloating and lower energy levels, so I decided to try the YourTea 14 day TinyTea teatox. 

The programme is a big commitment as it requires drinking a cup of tea thirty minutes before or after each meal, which if can be problematic to incorporate into a busy lifestyle. 

The first cup I had was absolutely disgusting, it tastes like dirt, but if you squeeze in as much fresh lemon as you humanely possibly can it becomes stomach-able. In fairness to YourTea a few days into the programme I was used to the taste and could drink it just fine. 

At the time I was not all that convinced that it had made any difference to me by bloating. In retrospect I think that maybe it did. I was so full of energy and happiness. My energy levels were consistent throughout the day, no slumps, and I didn’t overeat or crave any naughty foods, however I cannot rule out that this was not also connected to external factors in my life! 

Regardless of the health benefits I think the tea is beneficial for those looking to start a healthy lifestyle as it makes you mentally aware of what you are putting into your body and it is a great motivator to start a fresh detoxed chapter in life. Since doing the teatox (I completed it in early September) the thing I have been most impressed by is that I have maintained  bloat free and energetic, perhaps I was cleansed of my toxins!

The 14 day package is also reasonably priced. It’s not super cheap, but it’s not as expensive as some either. It normally comes within 2 weeks if you are from the UK.  I think If you are interested in doing a teatox definitely give this one ago, as I mentioned last week it is also laxative free which is a big plus!

If you do try it, I would love to know how you get on!

Pukka - Supreme Matcha Green

At the moment this is my go to tea! I just can’t get enough of it! It has a little bit of a sweeter taste than your standard green tea, which is why I think it is probably easier to drink by the bucket load!

It isn’t the prettiest box in the world, but 20p of each pack is donated to WWF, which is always a bonus! 

The composition of this tea is 34% Sencha Green Tea, 32% Oothu Green Tea, 32% Suoi Gang Green Tea and then only 2% Matcha powder! 

The lack of matcha in it isn’t all that surprising considering how expensive matcha powder is to buy. (a a teeny 30g box is around £25-27) It is however hailed as a goddess in the tea world! Being extremely extremely good for your health, it is relatively new to the western world. Just one serving of matcha is the equivalent to around ten cups of your standard green tea, so the investment might be worth it in the long run! 

Setting matcha aside, if you are a green tea fan, or would like a slightly sweeter alternative then I would definitely recommend you give this a try!  

For more information on the wonderful matcha visit this site: http://matchasource.com/health-benefits-of-matcha-tea/

Dr Stuarts - Liver Detox

There is something about Dr Stuart’s teas, that despite the fact I am yet to drink one I actually enjoy, still gets me excited! Maybe it is the pretty boxes or the implication that comes with the name, “Dr” that makes me so intrigued. After reading alot about how important our liver is to our overall health and skin quality, I decided I just could not go on without this tea. All the ingredients in it, are good for your liver, milk thistle especially. Dr Stuarts teas are very much aimed at your health (in case you hadn’t guessed!) and as a result before drinking I always read extensively into their ingredients. The Skin Purify box for example I have stayed clear of as it has red clover in it, which can lower the effectiveness of birth control like the pill, which just doesn’t seem worth the risk to me right now! So it is always important to me to be aware of what you are drinking. I live in a house with 3 soon-to-be doctors who laugh at me, and always warn that teas like this do more harm than good, and I am always torn as to whether or not I agree. 

This tea, I have to be honest does taste pretty disgusting…. but if you put a ton of lemon in it and drink it really really quickly you can probably get it down! It does make you feel a little sick at first (although this might just be the speed at which I was drinking it!). I don’t know if I think it was of any benefit, I guess I did maybe feel abit shinier and healthier, but that could have all been in my head, because I was expecting to feel that way. That said I cannot have felt that much better because after about a week or so of drinking this every other day etc in an attempt to detox my self, I haven’t continued, and don’t really want too. I feel just as good as I did then, and actually the thought of drinking this tea makes me want to gag! Perhaps if your liver is completely trashed, this might be of some help but really I think our livers are probably best left to cleanse themselves! 

Next week I am going to be telling you my thoughts on YourTea’s Tiny Tea Teatox! 

Chelsea Chelsea

Last week I was lucky enough to spend a few days in my spiritual home, Chelsea, London. I absolutely love it love it love it there. We stayed in the Orange pub and hotel. The Orange is sister hotels with the Grazing Goat which is in the Marylebone area, and is also one of my favourite London stays and I will post about soon! They are both great because they are largely a pub and restaurant which a few rooms upstairs. You always get a free little gift too, the Grazing Goat provides a little bag of sugared almonds, and the Orange a rich dark chocolate bar, with little ER Corgis printed on it! The food in both is gorgeous! This time around in the Orange I had a lovely spelt based pizza, and free cocktail (which you receive if you book with Mr and Mrs Smith online). For breakfasts I had lovely buttermilk pancakes one day (as a treat!) and the next I had steel cut oat porridge with a plum and ginger compote which was blooming gorgeous! 

Pimlico square is picturesque with a Daylesford cafe/deli (must visit, I love having a green tea in here!) and hundreds of beautiful houses.. we stumbled upon a Paddington bear-esque street so had to take a photo! The atmosphere in this area of London is just perfect in my eyes, and my dream location. There also have a massive anthropologie which I literally did not leave for an hour as I collected waaay to many things! 

As spring is trying to peak through, I wore some of my new blouses, which are just such good transition items, and still so easy and cool to wear in the summertime too. I am in love with the paisley one pictured above from this season Zara. The red tassles on the ties add a pop of colour and really finish it off. The other (not pictured) is a very old french connection tie up flowery number. It felt so good to be wearing them with my favourite grey skinny jeans (also zara) and high heeled mo hair boots, it felt so free to not be weighed down by big boots, coats and jumpers!