i've never been a 'tea person'. not until moving to the uk. and only because when my options are tea or instant coffee, well, i'll take tea; when i started my job just under three years ago, i was spending £3 plus a day on coffee - sometimes more... i do love a proper coffee. but, at work, we get free tea. so now, i drink tea. and, apparently - according to boyfriend, i make a cracking tea; i wouldn't know. i don't know what a cracking tea tastes like. but, he would know. i guess.
i've realised recently that i really like iced tea - especially flavoured iced tea. in australia, i remember trying nestle peach iced tea, and hating it. it was sweet, and too flavour-y. i've never bothered trying again. then, on the weekend, i made iced tea for the girls out of the white elderflower loose tea i was gifted recently by the lovely sarah at tea geeks, and you know what? it was bloody lovely. i'm not even just saying that because it was a gift. i'm saying that, because it bloody was.
i brewed two heaped tea spoons of the loose tea in a measuring cup of two cups of water for about an hour. we were parched, but i could have brewed it a little longer if i had more patience. after the hour, when the water had cooled, i poured the tea over ice and added lemonade. yum! it was refreshing and not too sweet, but tasty enough to satisfy the sugar cravings. mind you, i find anything with elderflower is a winner.
later in the night, i brewed the palais royale in the same way, but this time put it in the blender with some ice and lemonade - turning it into more of an 'iced' tea than the first. it gave the illusion of a fruity tea, without overpowering the taste buds with the hit of actual fruit. it was as refreshing served this way - over ice, as the elderflower, but with a sweet, fruity edge. hailed as the 'queen of the fruit teas', the palais royal gave off subtle hints of berries and summer fruits, and was truly delicious.
thank you to sarah at tea geeks for sorting out the refreshments for our slumber party - after the hot day we had in london, these iced teas were more than welcome, and widely loved. to prove just how delicious these teas were, sarah has kindly offered a hefty discount on all loose leaf teas for you guys, so just head over to www.teageeks.com and pop in the voucher code F&Fdiscount30 for a 30% discount on your first purchase.
after the amazing service sarah and the team showed me recently, i couldn't recommend them enough. if you purchase either of those teas, you won't be disappointed.
*written in collaboration with brand*
