Betjeman and Barton

I’m having it right now and it is my first tea of the day (strangely as it is 4 PM)
I am still very impressed by this Betjeman & Barton’s blend. For sure one of my favourite Stawberry & Rhubarb tea.

I am trying to relax myself and not think about all the kind of problems waiting for me tomorrow at work. Sometimes when you are doing a job and have the feeling to ONLY try to solve problems all day long it is just so boring.

This Blue Mountain is a nice tea to spend the afternoon with while watching a TV documentary about General Custer.Not sure it would have been his kind of tea. I imagine more Custer drinking a strong Irish Breakfast.

This tea has a special place in my heart. It was one of the first loose leaf teas my mother have bought when I was a child and the name of this tea was really a dream to me…la montagne bleue…where is this magical blue Mountain ?

So I purchased 100g of this one and I’m not disapointed at all.
This is a “classical” strawberry and rhubarb tea with a very pleasant tea base. It’s not a sweet tea despite the presence of the strawberry.

It’s a very different way to play around rhubarb and strawberry vs Jardin Bleu (Dammann Frères, sweeter, tarter) and Thé du Hammam Black leaf (Palais des thés, on a keemun base, really more mellow).

This version is more serious on a way, darker.This si the serious side of the strawberry somehow.
I like it really much, there is absolutely no bitterness, just profoundness.

This is a profound tea with joyful accents to me.

I can’t believe I’m the first one to review it :)

Thank you Hallieod for sending me a sample of this.

OMG, this is pretty close to liquid perfection for me. I sometimes have issues with flavored black teas, not this one. It’s sweet, it’s nutty, just the right hint of maple to balance it out. I’m not getting the bitterness from the chestnuts that others mentioned. This reminds me of a fancy coffee shop hazelnut latte with a drop of maple syrup (as black tea rather than coffee). Definitely has a lot of things I like going for it.
Now how do I go about getting my hands on more of this……….

Edit: Steep two of this is less nutty and more maple, but still really good.

thank you Sil!
i remember liking it. i mean, hello, caramel! how could i not?!
but i suspect i’m getting green tea burn out.

i feel a strange amount of responsibility to review every single swap tea in as much detail as i can muster. but i’m realizing it’s just not going to be humanly possible. because even though i tell everyone how much more time i spend on here than on any other site and also that i love tea drinking so very much, i simply don’t have the time. i just don’t.
it’s a bummer. but i have limitations. pouty face.

Lovely sample-sized sachet sent to me by Ysaurella, who thought I’d like it. You were so right, Ysaurella! I have a somewhat uneasy relationship with Earl Greys, as I love the flavour of bergamot, but often find it so overpowering I can’t get enough of the base tea tea-ishness, so it’s more like licking a bottle of essential oil than it should be. This, however, is delicious! The other citrus flavours make a huge difference, as you get orange, lemon and bergamot flowing over your palate, but they’re all restrained enough to keep them from being too dominant. And the touch of smokiness is surprisingly right with the citrus – well, it surprised me. I could see vanilla with Earl Grey immediately, but wasn’t sure about smoky.

I’ll definitely be getting this when I order from B&B again – thank you so much for introducing me to this one, Ysaurella!

Have been so busy lately that I haven’t properly enjoyed tea for a while! I am now having a long weekend, and I decide that it will be perfect to start it with a tea sample that I received in a recent tea swap with the very generous Steepsterite Ysaurella. :)

One thing I really love about French teas is that they always have pretty, poetic names! This tea (“A day in the countryside”) is no exception. I was expecting a really floral tea (cos there should be lots of flowers in the countryside right?), but it’s nothing like that. Rather, the dry leaves have a tangy smell of cinnamon and dried fruits.

When brewed, this is a warming tea with dominant flavours of cinnamon and orange. Both flavours are very natural, which is good news as I am normally put off by artificial “Fanta”-like orange. But seriously I can’t detect any chestnut in the tea… a real pity. The black tea base is fairly astringent so I am happy that I have kept the brewing time short.

Overall, I am glad to have the chance to taste this tea, which is not available in Hong Kong. Thanks again, Ysaurella! Sharing tea with people around the world is such a beautiful thing. :)

I have requested a sample of this tea when I went to the Betjeman & Barton shop last week.
I wanted to buy this tea but as I was unsure if I would like it.
As you can see on the picture, the blend is really lovely with all these cornflowers and mixed colours.
The scent is very strong and perfumey. As many B&B teas, we shouldn’t steep it too long because otherwise tea becomes bitter, I may be due to a major use of essential oils in their blends.
Once steeped, the scent of the liquor was horrible to me, too strong, like a hot beverage with alcohol, pouah ! I was reticent to taste it but did, I am brave :)
And surprise, I like it ! the tea base is so mellow, incredible to see how it works with the flavours.
It is a very greedy tea, orange, chocolate and vanilla work perfectly together. A strong taste of rum remains here to my opinion, that’s quite funny.
A very well named tea, I almost can see rabbits and bells with this rum taste :D

This is a lovely tea! The only teas I can recall having before this with cherries were greens and they were always very tart and didn’t seem to blend well. This is wonderful. The tea base is nice and smooth and melds well with the cherries. A tiny bit of tartness but not nearly as much as with the green bases in other teas.

I would keep this in the cupboard. Thanks so much, Ysaurella, for sharing this!

This is a very beautiful tea leaf : a lot of yellow flowers (sunflowers) are mixed in, and it smells delicious.

Drinking it, I had difficulties to isolate the flavours : for sure there is orange but don’t get especially a blood orange.
Originally, I bought this one because it was with chestnuts- I cannot really say I get a huge chestnut taste. It is quite weird. It is here, but light and very very mixed with the other ingredients.

Having said that there is no reason to be picky : the taste is delicious, everything is very well balanced and the tea base (always the same with perfumed black teas with B&B) is nice and goes very well with these flavours.
The tea name is perfect and you are really in Autumn with this blend.
As it seems Autumn in coming back here in the middle of the Spring…this tea is perfect today.

I think this one could have been a very great tea but just stops before reaching the top. A little plus of je ne sais quoi would have permitted it to reach the top.

small cup of this for a sipdown! since the rest is going out in swaps heh

had this again this afternoon after i finally got tired of the two puerhs i spent the afternoon enjoying. I have a sneaking suspicion this may end up at kitenna’s house before too long as she seems to have enjoyed it more than us. there’s something about it that i just can’t get behind. It’s lovely, but not the tea for me anymore.

Guessing on the steeping parameters since i made this at work today. This isn’t bad but it’s a bit like the tea doesn’t really know what it wants to be. Lala’s right…it smells like a buttery, caramel green tea…and then when you drink it, it turns into a citrusy carmemlly tea. It’s not a bad tea, but it’s the kind of taste that i’d prefer in a dark bold black tea. Won’t be a repurchase but it’s nice enough that i’ll enjoy drinking the rest of it until it’s gone.

I had this in the afternoon. This tastes like a green caramel but slightly more citrusy. Problem is that I got distracted and so all I remember was that it was tasty. So ill be having this again to get a proper note on it. :)

I’m now sipping this tea iced since 3 days…like a mono-maniac person…
We have 32°c here and even had 38°c on Monday. I am unable to drink hot tea(or whatever else hot !)with these kind of temperature.

I prepared 5 liters (yes 5 liters, just for me, no one else as my daughter is with her grand parents during holidays) and I normally drink 1 liter in 2 hours. My stomach just looks like an enormous balloon but I still have the impression to be alive…yes you have guessed I hate when the weather is too hot.
Weather in Scandinavia is just the perfection for me.

So believe me and trust me : I tasted this tea iced in so enoooooormooooooous volumes that I can say : YEAH it’s nice and even more than nice.
This meh tea as hot beverage turned paradisiacal when iced.

The Betjeman & Barton ’s rapsberry gives the very best of its aroma iced.

You know I am searching for the perfect raspberry tea…I think I need to search again.
This one is not bad but still not my perfect framboise : the dry leaf scent is very very strong, almost like opening a perfume bottle.
This is a tea using only natural essential oils – I consider this is a pity not using real fruits as well.
The liquor is nice but just ok to me because I am expecting a lot from a raspberry tea…pleasant but not my hero.

1.5 tablespoons for 375 ml

A little astringency. Authentic plum aroma. Marshmallow aftertaste. Sencha base flavour comes through. Odd sharp metallic/pungent/slightly swampy note that has a zinging sensation on the tongue.

Thanks to Sil for sharing!

This is a joyful flavoured tea . It has a black tea base , basic but correct, which welcomes and accommodate burlat cherry, black scrumptious .

Normally the dry leaf is mixed with pretty pink flowers but for today they decided to remain in the bottom of my box.

Just by opening the tea box , waoooh what an heady scent of beautiful ripe and sweet cherry … .I want to prepare a full teapot , let’s go.

The cut sheet swells a bit , not so much.

The liquor is of a black / dark red, deep .

For once the cherry keeps its promises in a tea : a real cherry, natural , fleshy, voluptuous , generous . A cherry “forbidden fruit” , not a cherry blossom with just a little cherry fruit.

And for once it is a black tea base and not a green one… Frankly thank you Betjeman & Barton. And congrats.

You can see pics of my session with this tea here : http://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/cerise-noire-betjeman-barton/

J’adoooooooooooooooooooooore les cerises !!!! I love cherries but less than raspberries.
While in Betjeman & Barton shop, I decided to go for fruity teas, Cerise Noire and Framboise.
No suspense around…I love this cherry tea so much, it’s exactly like drinking a liquid cherry. The aromas are so natural and the aftertaste is divine.More on cherry rather than on cherry blossom (but there is cherry blossom for sure).
The dry leaf was amazing but the liquor is even better – I am really enthusiastic about this tea especially because I wasn’t expecting very much from it.
Prefer it very hot rather than warm,the aromas are really better hot, with a light fruity tartness.
Yummy …

Second backlog of yesterday while Steepster was down.
My second B&B of the day.
I prefered this one to Polka. While opening the tin,I get an incredible scent of alcohol, like a fruit liqueur.I had the same sensation in shop and asked if it was due to the grape presence, the saleswoman said it was due to the fig presence.
The scent is sooooo strong, incredibly strong on fruits and liqueur.
The taste is really more subtile, for the best.
There is quince in this tea, I got it. Hazelnuts as well but was unable to detect the flavour.
It’s clearly an Autumn blend, absolutely perfect for the weather we have actually in France.
A beautiful tea.
Betjeman & Barton may consider to change their tea base with the flavours they are using. I suspect they are using more than often the same for any flavoured tea. It makes teas less interesting to my opinion.
I love character teas :)

Backlog of yesterday while Steepster was down.
Polka was my afternoon tea. It’s an absolute fruity tea, opulent, greedy.
The orange used is not a classic orange but a blood orange, very present in the mix of fruits.
It is difficult to distinguish the difference fruits except for the blood Orange but it is a nice cup of tea.
The main difference of B&B teas with Mariage Frères ones to me is the heavy use of essential oils. They are not blending their teas as MF does. However I suspect they use the same black tea base for every flavour tea, which is not the case for MF blends.
That’s the reason why I think B&B remains a challenger only to MF and not a too much dangerous challenger.
Saying that, don’t get me wrong: B&B teas are using only natural ingredients and natural flowers and essential oils, nothing artificial in their teas. Polka is a very decent tea, pleasant.
But I won’t wake up in the middle of the night craving for a cup of this tea.

Taking a break from organizing my tea cupboard to have a cup of tea. Today i’m getting organized – took a picture of my entire stash minus 10 teas or so and posted it on FB for a friend. Now i’m adding in the teas that my friend has me house sitting and try to make sure my cupboard is 100% up to date. I’m also setting aside the 1-2 cup samples so that I can hit those first. :)

Thanks to ysaurella for a swap of this one. This tea is supposed to be a mix of maple syrup and chestnuts. The aroma however is one that is slightly perfumey. It’s not quite floral but it has that perfume kind of tastes. I know it’s not cross contamination since i split out my samples into tins to keep them from mixing with everything around them.

After brewing this…It’s a fairly average tea in my opinion. It has a nice taste, though the aroma apparently set my allergies off a bit since i’ve been sneezing a bit while drinking this haha. Other teas do both maple and chestnuts better than this one but it’s not a bad tea. The black base isn’t overly bitter or strong, but it does add depth to the blend. overall, not a bad little tea.

Received this in a swap from Sil.

The dry tea smells like a buttery green tea. The brewed tea smells buttery and nutty. As it cools off more, there is more of a fruity smell to it.

There is definitely a caramel taste to the tea. A fruity type caramel flavour. The aftertaste is more nutty, buttery green tea.

Overall a good tea. I am not too fond of the fruity flavour, but it goes well with the caramel.

SIPDOWN! Thank you again ysaurella for this one. I think the contrast between this and the smokey taste i’m also drinking makes this tea tastes even lovelier this morning. The sweetness in this one makes the spiciness pop just a little more this morning and blends into a delicious cup for this morning.