Quote of the Day- "Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea".

Picture- Teas on sale in Istanbul, (c) Jo Rooke, 2010-2011, all rights reserved. Reproduced here with permission.

Hi. Welcome to The Tea Fiend. I haven't written any tea reviews for a few days, but I'm working on one. In the meantime, please take a look around while you are here- if you scroll down, there's a review of black teas and another of warming winter teas and gifts.

Quote of the day today is-

"Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea." -Author Unknown

Many thanks to the tea garden for today's quote and Jo Rooke for the picture.

A Nice Tea Book and a Sit Down

There is probably nothing as quintessentially British as having "A nice cup of tea and a Sit Down", it's one of life's great pleasures- a thing of beauty, even. So it's perhaps not surprising that someone has now written a book on the subject-
Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down

That "someone" is, in fact, two people- a husband and wife team credited as "nicey" and "wifey" in the book and there book is- frankly-awesome: quirkily brilliant. It is a light and entertaining read, you can dip into it at any point...the problem is putting it down again.

There's an odd and skilful blend of informative content, gentle good humour and wit and a strangely infectious enthusiasm for the book's subject- cups of tea and the biscuits that go with them. Biscuits from an impressively international selection, too.

Check out the softback version on amazon uk here-
Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down

or the hardback here-
Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down

Best Fruit and SpiceTeas for Winter

There's nothing nicer than a hot cup of tea to keep the Winter chills at bay and there are some really great fruit teas on the market at the moment- here's a selection of some of the best-

1) Spicer Winter Red Tea* by Teapigs is a mixture of orange, cloves and cinnamon on a red tea base. You can buy it for £3.49 online
here- Spicer Winter Red Tea by Teapigs 15 Tea Temples

2) I was somewhat surprised to learn that the only nation to drink more tea than the British is the Turkish.... (you can find a table of tea-consumption by nation on wikipedia)- that said, it is not hard to see the appeal of teas like Hazer Baba's Turkish Pomegranite tea*, which is recommended for both hot and cold drinking-
take a look-
here - Hazer Baba Turkish Pomegranate Tea Box 250g

3) Yogi Tea is a brand somewhat known for its yellow and ginger tea*- (on sale online here-
Yogi Tea Ginger Lemon Herbal 15 Bags (Pack of 8))

4) But Yogi Tea also do an interesting "Sweet Chilli" tea*- an infusion of chocolate, spices and chilli pepper which is described as an "Ayurvedic spice blend" (with no black tea). You can 8 boxes (of 15 bags each) for around £15 here-
Yogi Tea Sweet Chilli 15 Bags (Pack of 8)

5) A fairly obscure brand- Celestial Seasonings- do a sample pack of 20 mixed fruit "teas*" (tissanes*) for £4.30, although The TeaFiend has not yet had time to review it- in any case, you can check it out for yourself here- Celestial Seasonings Celest Fruit Tea Sampler-Package Of 20

6) Finally, London Tea make several appealing teas- there's their
"Blackcurrent, Raspberry and Cinamon" "tea*" (tissane*), which comes in a neat cylindrical tin- take a look here-
London Tea Blackcurrent Raspberry & Cinnamon - 30g Tin

and their "Roobos, Nutmeg and Vanilla" "tea*", which you can see here-London Tea Rooibos Nutmeg Vanilla - 30g Tin

* Please note that these products do not contain "tea" (i.e. leaves of the tea plant, Camelia sinensis)- they could be described as "tissanes", rather than true "teas". If you like your fruit teas with true "tea", you should probably take a look at something like
Sencha Kyoto Cherry Rose loose leaf tea (green tea with cherry)here- Sencha Kyoto Cherry Rose Luxury Loose Leaf Tea 100g

or Simpli Special Tea's "Mulled Spice Winter Warmer" "Mulled Spice Winter Warmer" (loose leaf black tea with Cinnamon pieces, Natural dried Jasmine buds, Cloves and Natural flavourings.)here- Mulled Spice Winter Warmer Loose Leaf Tea 100g