Asda Rhubarb Crumble Tea

Asda have got some really interesting new teas in dessert flavours like rhubarb and custard and chocolate orange and this interesting sounding apple crumble. At just 74p these are so cheap compared to other flavoured teas so I figured even if they were terrible, they wouldn't cost much. I've also been let down my flavoured teas so many times in the past I went in with quite low expectations.

Opening the box it smelled quite good with a distinct fruity apple smell with a slight hint of vanilla. As the teabag met the boiling water and steeped, the aroma becomes even stronger with a sweet apple smell. Is it crumble? I'm not quite sure but it's certainly not your generic fruity apple tea smell with a more caramelly, sweeter, puddingy feel.

I left it to steep for a good five minutes to really let the flavour come out. Would it be weak and insipid or a flavour explosion. Well for once this is a flavoured tea with a lot of flavour. It's a really sweet apple flavour that tastes slightly creamy. It doesn't have the buttery shortbread flavour to it that you get in a crumble topping but it does taste like the sweetened apple puree in the bottom of a crumble.

It's really good for satisfying a sweet craving and overall I think it tastes like the apple filling in apple pop tarts or apple turnovers. I'm definitely interested in trying the rhubarb and custard tea too

Price: £0.74
Bought at: Asda

Score: 7.5/10

Aldi Mulled Wine Teabags

From Christmas coffee yesterday to Christmas tea today. I have been searching desperately for these mulled wine teabags from Aldi ever since I first saw posted on social media. I've made a number of trips to Aldi, desperately looking for them but returned each time empty handed. However, my local store finally got them 5 days before Christmas - a mini Christmas miracle.

I love mulled wine but I love all Christmas food and it's to do with all the spices - nutmug, cloves, cinnamon, ginger...stollen, mince pies, spiced red cabbage, Christmas pudding - I find you either love all Christmas food like this or you hate it all. Well I'm definitely in the former camp.

Priced at £1.89 these are reasonable for 15 pyramid 'luxury' tea bags and part of Aldi's Specially Selected range. The packaging is maybe a little cheap versus genuine high end teabags and the bags themselves are a little flimsy but hopefully the taste would be great. Fruit teas can be disappointing at the best of the times - promising the taste of cherry bakewell or whatever and then tasting like a weak, insipid water with a hint of fruitiness.

Now these certainly smelt amazing when I added hot water. Genuinely with my nose over the mug, it was genuinely mulled wine. The bag said brew for 3-4 minutes but I left the bag in for longer and left it in whilst I was drinking. Initially I thought it was a little watery tasting and not delivering on the mulled wine front and was particularly lacking the mouthfeel of mulled wine - which you have to expect as it's a tea.

However, the longer I left the bag in, the more the flavours came out. Syrupy, slightly sweet with warming spices and a genuine red wine fruitiness, it really did taste like mulled wine. Aldi, you have surpassed yourself here, this is the perfect drink for a cold evening after a day out Christmas shopping. Just add a mini mince pie and this is the taste of Christmas without the alcohol

Price: £1.89
Bought at: Aldi

Score: 8/10

Charbrew Pineapple and Vanilla Tea

Since I received a Holland and Barrett gift card and they currently have one of their buy one get one half price on everything events, I decided to splash out on a few pricier items that I wouldn't usually get - one of which is the pineapple and vanilla tea. I don't really drink your standard builder's brew but have a vast collection of green teas, coconut teas, herbal teas and fruit teas with lots of different brands. I love having the variety of flavours depending on my mood and the time of day.

Usually I wouldn't really pay about £2.50 for tea and at £3.49 for just 15 bags, I did initially think they were pricey. However, the promise of the 'perfect balance of fresh zingy pineapple and smooth vanilla, fresh and fruity without being too sweet' sounded really intriguing and I hadn't ever seen a tea like this before. Plus Charbrew's tea pyramids are made from a fine biodegradable mesh, delivering a superior infusion and the ingredients list is really high quality ingredients rather than flavouring. 

Apple, rosehip shells, Pinapple cubes, orange peel, vanilla flavouring , vanilla pieces 

So there's actual pineapple cubes in the bag and real vanilla pieces! As soon as I opened the box, the smell completely blew me away. It is so appetising - geninely tropical, really vanilla and actually reminds of me of pineapple flavoured fudge or pineapple sweets!

I could also see the pieces in the bag were great big chunks of real ingredients rather than dust and as I let it brew, the smell was just incredible. I let it steep for a full five minutes and left the bag in as I drank from it and I can say this is one of those fruit teas where the taste actually delivers in relation to the smell.

Super creamy and sweet from the vanilla but also fresh and fruity from the pineapple, it's a delicious combination that genuinely feels a bit treaty. I've been using these to curb sweet cravings and these do the job really nicely. I'm a big fan of these now and actually would pay the £3.49 for them. They also have a chocolate and orange one, which I'm interested in trying

Price: £3.49
Bought at: Holland and Barrett

Score: 8/10

Twinings Intensely Blackcurrent and Rhubarb

I found a free sample of this tea in a regular pack of Twinings Strawberry and Mango (which I also recommend). I'm not sure exactly how this infusion range is any different to the regular Twinings fruit teas but they cost £2.49 for 20 teabags, compared to the other fruit teas at around 1.50.

Opening the pack, I instantly got the aroma of rhubarb, which was really intriguing. It's a fruit I love, especially in a crumble, so it's interesting to see it in a tea.

This is also blackcurrent and vanilla flavoured so a real powerhouse of flavours. The blackcurrent comes through much more strongly when hot water is added and is the dominant flavour when drinking. The vanilla is very subtle in taste and although initially the rhubarb flavour does get a bit lost, it does provide a sweet aftertaste that lingers.

The tea had flavour and wasn't weak or watery but I don't see how it would justify the higher price tag when Twinings make a vast range of equally nice flavours at a lower price.

Price: £2.49
Available: Major supermarkets

Pros: Unique, new flavour concept. Sweet and refreshing. Healthy.
Cons: Overpriced with no justification for it

Score: 7/10

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Twinings Mango & Strawberry

With the hot weather, regular tea just doesn't cut it - it feels too hot, too dark and too heavy. So a fruit tea from Twinings seemed a more refreshing and lighter drink especially in this strawberry and mango flavour. There are lots of warming fruit teas for winter with spices and cinnamon but this seems more appropriate for summer.

Like all Twinings fruit teas, this has a simple list of natural ingredients and the bags are an intriguing dark red with various bits of fruit clearly visible. As a fruit tea, it's also caffeine free, which is good for these hot days when you want to stay hydrated.

This tea was really fruity with a strong strawberry sweetness that wasn't synthetic and a mellow mango background that made this lovely and thirst quenching. This would also be great to have cold as well if you let it cool and refrigerated it. The flavour comes through well in this and isn't as weak or bland as some berry fruit teas I've tried so could hold it's own as a cool drink too.

Price: £1.40 (bought on a £1 promo at Morrison's)
Available: All major supermarkets

Pros: Sweet, refreshing, healthy and an interesting flavour for a fruit tea
Cons: Mango could come through more strongly.

Score: 7/10

Twinings Infusions: Cherry & Cinnamon Review

I'm increasingly drinking more and more fruit teas. Refreshing, caffeine free and with interesting and innovative flavours, they make a great guilt free snack and are great for unwinding at the end of the day.

Twinings are probably my favorite brand due to the sheer number of enticing sounding flavours they offer. I absolutely adore cherries and happily douse my morning porridge in cinnamon so this cherry and cinnamon fruit tea sounded perfect.

Opening the box, a lovely faint cherry smell hit my nose. A really sweet one that almost reminded me of the Haribo Cherry sour sweets! The tea bags also looked very clean and natural. The ingredients list is very pure and you can see all the little bits of herbs and spices mingled in the bag.

Upon adding to hot water, the spicy aroma of cinnamon also wafted up though the lovely cherry smell also persisted. The water turned a beautiful ruby red and holding the warm, fruity smell cup in your hands is a comforting experience.

Taste is what I always worry about with fruit teas. Often they sound great, they smell even better but then taste of nothing, only vaguely scented water (blueberry tea I'm looking at you!)

Thankfully, this delivered. That Haribo like cherry smell also gave a Haribo like taste - sweet and almost Christmas like - and the cinnamon delivered a warming tingle. Although like most fruit teas, the smell was stronger than the taste.

This makes a great sugar free drink and is perfect for any time of day.

Price: £1.39
Available: Twinings website or major supermarkets

Pros: Sweet, sugar free, warming and comforting, actually tastes of cherry
Cons: Taste could be a litter bit stronger to match the smell.

Score: 7/10