Black tea

Recipe:

1 bag of black tea.

200ml hot boiling water.

30ml juice.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Bitter, weak apple juice. I would like to feel a stronger apple juice flavour.

 Smell:  Pleasant apple, very enjoyable (5/5 stars)

Colour: Golden, bright amber, cloudy, sort of orange, very beautiful.

Additional info: For a stronger apple juice flavour add more apple juice.

 Assam tea has been used as an example of black tea. You can use any black tea for your brew.

As longer black tea bag will be infused in the water as stronger bitter flavour gets.

02/12/23

Recipe:
1 bag of black tea.

230ml hot water.

10 big bay leaves.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste:  Bitter with extremely little sweetness and a light sour aftertaste. 

Smell: Lightly bitter & like a wet sauna.

Colour: Dark amber.

Additional notes: I added a lot of bay leaves because black tea has a strong flavour that tends to overlap with other flavours. Nevertheless, I kept the tea bag only for 3 minutes, it was almost impossible to detect the bay leaves flavour.

I would suggest using fresh bay leaves as I used dry ones.

 My conclusion was that bay leaves do not change flavour and they can be used as decoration only.

30/01/24

Recipe:

1 bag of black tea.

230ml boiling hot water.

3 teaspoons of mustard seeds.

6 bay leaves.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Bitter, mildly sweet and pleasant, gentle, however black tea makes dry tongue

Smell: Pleasantly sweet bay leaves, enjoyable. There was not strong traditional bitterness. I think it was because of added bay leaves.

Colour: Amber

Additional info: This is another surprising tea recipe for me as I did not expect such a good result.

A conclude that as more bay leaves will be added as sweeter tea will be. Do  not expect it to be as sweet as sugar.

Also, I enjoyed to eat mustard seeds at the end. They were soft and crunchy.

Assam tea has been used as an example of black tea. You can use any black tea for your brew.

As longer black tea bag will be infused in the water as stronger bitter flavour gets.

28/11/23

Recipe:

1 bag black tea.

225ml hot water

5ml Chinese vinegar

2g sugar

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Gently sour and sweet with no bitter flavour. The mouth goes dry after drinking it.

 Smell: Vinegar, a little bit unpleasant, like oyster sauce.

Colour: Dark amber:

 Additional notes: For me, the flavour seemed balanced and perfect. However, I found it quite unenjoyable because I could feel slightly unpleasant flavour streaming through other flavours.

It was a highly anticipated recipe as I had concluded that vinegar matches greatly with black tea if sugar or something else sweet is added. Nevertheless, I was let down this time.

It looks like the vinegar is a great ingredient if you want to remove bitter flavour from tea.

31/01/24 

Recipe:

1 bag of black tea.

140ml hot water.

90ml coconut water.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Tenderly sweet and sour leaving dryness in the mouth in aftertaste.

Smell: Gently bitter.

Colour: Dark amber.

Additional notes: This tea seemed a little bit too unpleasant to enjoy and also it was hard to detect the coconut water flavour.

 But the interesting fact is. If you want to enjoy black tea without bitter flavour then add 30ml coconut, and 200 ml hot water.  It seemed interesting to me that coconut water could almost neutralise bitterness and make the brew almost tasteless.

 Just to be aware - this tea contains coconut water. So check whether you do not have a nut allergy as this tea might cause it.

03/02/24

Recipe:
1 bag of black tea

195ml hot water

35ml cola

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Bitterly sweet, with a gentle sweet aftertaste.

Smell: Bitterly sweetish.

Colour: Dark amber.

Additional info:  If you want the tea to be sweeter, add more cola.

 Stir before drinking to get a thorough even taste.

I would not change this recipe to keep a gentle cola flavour.

 You do not have to use exactly Pepsi cola, but choose your favourite cola as it is just a guideline for your recipe.

 28/01/24

Recipe: 

1 bag Early Grey tea

200ml hot water

30ml Freshly Squeezed Limeade

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Lightly sour and bitter, gentle and enjoyable flavour with long-lasting bitter aftertaste.

Smell: Light citrus with gentle bitterness.

Colour: Bright amber, cloudy, orange, golden.

Additional notes: I would not change anything in this recipe to keep the lovely lime flavour in balance.

29/01/24

Recipe:

1 bag of black tea.

225ml boiling water

4 teaspoons of oregano.

5ml lemon juice concentrate.

 Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

5 ml lemon juice concentrate.

Taste:  It is sour with an obvious oregano and bitter flavour. Face pinching. 

Smell:  Strong oregano and lemon.

Colour: Amber

 Additional info:  The tongue might go numb for a short period of time. 

Assam tea has been used as an example of black tea. You can use any black tea for your brew.

As longer black tea bag will be infused in the water as stronger bitter flavour gets.

24/11/23

Recipe:
I bag of black tea.

230ml boiling water.

4 teaspoons of oregano.

 Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Strong oregano, black tea, it is possible to taste the vivid iron flavour, seemingly mildly sweet with a weird aftertaste.

 Smell: Strong oregano

Colour: Amber.

Comments: I did not like this tea at all. This tea made me pinch my face.

 Additional info: The tongue might go numb for a short period of time. 

Assam tea has been used as an example of black tea. You can use any black tea for your brew.

As longer black tea bag will be infused in the water as stronger bitter flavour gets.

24/11/23

Recipe:

1 bag of black tea.

230ml hot boiling water.

5g parsley.
Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.
Taste: It is possible to feel tender parsley flavour as well as bitterness. There is nothing remarkable about this tea having an absolutely simple taste.

Smell: Fresh grass, parsley
Colour: Amber
Additional info:  Assam tea has been used as an example of black tea. You can use any black tea for your brew.

As longer black tea bag will be infused in the water as stronger bitter flavour gets.

29/11/23

Recipe:

1 bag of black tea.

200ml hot water.

30ml pickled gherkin marinade.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Pickled gherkin marinade and gentle bitterness, leaving long-lasting sourness and dryness in the mouth.

Smell: Strong pickled gherkin marinade.

Colour: Dark amber.

Additional notes: Flavours seemed to be balanced greatly and I would not change anything in this recipe.

04/02/24

Recipe:
1 bag of black tea.

200ml hot water.

30ml pineapple juice.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Lightly bitter and sour leaving the mouth dry in aftertaste. 

Smell: wonderful pineapple.

Colour: Cloudy light amber.

Additional notes: The flavours were greatly balanced and in my opinion to make the taste more enjoyable we can add 2g of sugar.

02/02/24

Recipe:
1 bag of black tea.

190ml hot water.

40ml pineapple juice.

1g sugar.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Tenderly sour and sweet with long-lasting dryness in aftertaste.

Smell: Lovely pineapple, sweetish.

Colour: Light cloudy amber.

Additional notes: If you want it to be more sour or sweeter add more pineapple juice or sugar.

 I believe this is a perfect match of ingredients and I would not change anything.

 Interestingly, my stomach felt upset after drinking this tea causing an unpleasant feeling and making me feel sick for a short time. To stop it, I had a snack that helped me feel better.

05/02/24

Recipe:
1 bag of black tea.

225ml hot water.

5ml sesame oil.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Bitter and oily with roasted aftertaste.

Smell: Roasted, it smells amazing.

Colour: Dark amber with oil patches.

Additional notes: The bad thing about this tea is, that it is oily. Also, I would not consider increasing the oil dosage so as not to make the brew too oily and unenjoyable.

 Additionally, I would recommend stirring the brew before drinking to get a better roast flavour and reduce bitterness.

I would like to nominate this tea for the number 1 choice of the year if it would not have been oily.

01/02/24

Recipe:

1 bag of black tea.

227ml hot water.

3ml superior light soy sauce.

3g sugar.

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: Tenderly sweet with soy sauce and bitterness.

 Smell: Light soy sauce and bitter.

Colour: Dark amber.

Additional notes: I suspected that soy sauce alone would not be a good ingredient with black tea. That is why I added sugar to make it taste better. 

The flavours were nicely balanced. Nothing seemed too little or too much, but I could still feel a light unpleasant flavour 

If you want it to be sweet or sweeter, add more sugar.

 I would not recommend reducing the sugar dosage as you might get really unpleasant bitter and soy sauce flavours. This is from my experience. In the beginning I put in only 2g of sugar and got an awful taste, that is why I increased the sugar to 3g.

01/02/24

Recipe:

 bag Early Grey tea

225ml hot water

5ml Vimto real fruit squash

Brewer's advice: Let the tea brew for 3 - 5 minutes.

Taste: It is gently bitter with a sweet aftertaste. 

Smell: Sweet and bitter, seemingly cherry aroma.
Colour: Dark amber

 Additional notes: I would not increase Vimto's real fruit squash dosage as I learned that the tea flavour is too sweet overlapping black tea's flavour causing an imbalance in flavours.

 Stir before you drink to even the flavour through drinking tea.

 You do not have to choose exactly this fruit squash as long as it has grapes, raspberries, blackcurrants and Vitamins C and D, it will be fine

29/01/24