My second tea opinion in one day. Yes, I drink a lot of the stuff, and I've been experimenting lately with some things I'd not normally drink. I think I must have got this from my mother, who has been known to carry her own tea bags around with her in her handbag when she visits people.
Well this time I chose Tetley Melon Tea. I hadn't realised that Tetley did this kind of tea, but considering they have been "selecting and blending" the finest teas for over 160 years, though it worth a try. Strange thing is, I don't even like melons, well I'd eat one if there was nothing else, but I'd eat a live hamster too. Enough of this, let's look at the evidence.
The Box ******** Melons. Plenty of big juicy yellow melons on the front and reverse of this blue/yellow cardboard box. It's good that the same is on the front and back as the shelf stackers don't need to think too much. Add the Tetley logo, the words MELON TEA and the fact that there are 20 bags in the box is all you'll see on the front, so plain and simple, but easily recognisable. The bottom contains the best before, some 2 years after purchase, company address and other boring things. This is a 40g box, each bag being 2g, seems pretty standard these days.
The Bags ********* Again pretty standard, each bag is individually wrapped in a paper sachet, light green in colour, with some nice pictures of melons again, but they are grey, not yellow. The reverse actually gives you opening instructions, "Open Here", just in case you got confused. So I open the sachet, and remove the bag. I'm slightly puzzled as to why there are no melons on the tag, attached to the usual string, still the Tetley logo is there so I know it's still Tetley. Other than that, the bag looks just like a tea bag should and seems pretty robust, no danger of it splitting either.
The Smell ********** As I said earlier, I'm not a big melon fan, but the smell isn't too bad. Smelling the actual inside of the box combines the usual cardboard with the melon, so one must take them out of the box and pop them into a cup of freshly boiled water first. Once this is done, you can start to smell the melon, but you have to really put your nose almost in the cup. It's certainly not as interesting or nice smelling as forest fruits for instance.
The Colour *********** Hoping to get a nice melon yellow colour, but no, just the standard black tea colour, very dark brown and uninteresting, although the bag works well as it lets loads of colour out, unlike some tea bags I could mention.
The Taste - Hot **************** There's no indication of how long this should brew for on the packet, so I'm guessing the standard 3 minutes or so in the cup. After letting it cool a little, so as not to burn my little tongue, I begin to sip slowly, being careful not to make slurping noises. I must admit that I'm not too taken aback by the flavour, which is very, very subtle. Well there is only 4% melon flavouring per bag, so it's not going to be huge I know. Sipping a bit more, the flavour starts to come through a bit more, and it stays for a while but feels like I've just eaten some potatoes or something. Weird I know. It also gives me the inclination to burp a bit. Sorry about that. Once the cup is almost drunk, you'll notice a little sediment, but it's only small and ok to drink. Ten minutes after finishing the cup, I could still taste the tea on my teeth. On the whole though, not hugely impressed, there are other flavours I'd rather drink.
The Taste - Cold ***************** Having not been overly impressed with the taste hot, I decided to try it cold, ice cold to be precise. For iced tea, it's best to boil the kettle as usual, and pour over the tea bag(s). Leave it for an hour or so, then remove the bag(s), and transfer to the fridge, leaving for several hours. Once chilled, pour into a glass, and add ice. So preparation is longer, but how does it taste? Well I took a little break from this op to sit on the balcony in the warm evening and sip it slowly. It certainly tastes a bit different, quite refreshing, and I prefer it cold to hot that's for sure. Strange it now reminds me of weak whiskey.
The Price ********** Being in Sweden, we pay about 15kr, roughly £1. I've looked at Tesco and Sainsburys websites and can't actually find this product, so I can't give an exact price, but assume you can buy it somewhere, and the price shouldn't vary too much.
The Tetley fruit range also includes Lemon, Strawberry, Peach & Vanilla, Apple & Pear, Blackberry and Exotic. More information about Tetley products, and tea in general can be found at www.tetley.co.uk
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