Fancy a cuppa?
With more teashops in the UK than ever before, it can be hard to know where to begin to find the perfect brew. Even worse – have you ever reached into the cupboard to make your morning cuppa to find you’ve just ran out of teabags? There’s no worse feeling, so when I stumbled across BRUU’s gourmet subscription tea club, I knew it was worth a go! (Recipient No.1: Gabriella Wieland)
When my personalised box came, I wasn’t disappointed. Not only does it come in the cutest little package, but the flavours were incomparable to shop bought herbals! Each loose-tea packet smelt as divine as it tasted, and with its sealable bag, you can reuse each one several times without losing its flavour.
All in all, not only did BRUU‘s subscription put an end to scrambling around for the last teabag in the cupboard – it made brew time all that more enjoyable, tasty and delicious.
Recipient No. 2: Chloe Bayliss
After being sent a box of a few of Bruu’s unique teas I was excited to dip in and try them! Delivered efficiently, in bright and colourful packaging, the box was instantly appealing to me. The illustrations on the box are particularly attention grabbing, with some beautiful designs of flowers, herbs and a teapot, the vibes this brought fitted my expectations exactly.
Inside, beneath a neat layer of tissue, was a selection of four teas. One particular note was the Discover bag. After reading the information card, I learnt that each month Bruu visits different tea plantations around the world, learning about their tea and some history about the local area. This month was Darjeeling Gielle, India, a district of West Bengal. I loved being able to learn more about what I am 
drinking and some history of the place it came from! Another added bonus was that the tea tasted amazing!
A healthier alternative to coffee, the ‘Rise and Shine’ tea was both refreshing and awakening. It has a thick lemon and cinnamon aroma, a smell that leads into a fruity aftertaste.
The next day I tried ‘Biscottea’. What I instantly liked about this tea was the creative name. This tea is very strongly scented, thick with a combination of cinnamon, gingerbread and apples. All this I associated with Christmas. This tea was cosy, autumnal and made my heart happy.
The final tea I tried was Grandma’s Garden. Personally not a fan of overly fruity teas, this tea exceeded my expectations. It smelled like a fruit garden, reminding me of warm blackcurrant juice. A little sickening by the end of my cup due to the overpowering fruit however.
The cardboard labels for each tea are quintessential. The overall product is a perfect tea subscriptions service for tea lovers.
Recipient No. 3: Sarah Canning
I love getting surprise packages in the post so when the chance arose to review a new tea subscription box, I couldn’t be happier.
I don’t drink caffeine which can sometimes make tea drinking tricky – but since I discovered rooibos (redbush) a South African caffeine-free leaf, I have been hooked. With Bruu, you can choose the type of subscription so the rooibos one was right up my street.
The box is beautifully illustrated and packaged with a focus on global teas particularly supporting under-developed regions. In my box, I received three different flavoured rooibos teas in resealable pouches with a little card explaining what each one is, where it came from and how to brew it. There was also a discovery card about Mozambique with a sample packet of black tea from there and even a bonus cereal bar (they send out surprise extras every month).
I settle down each evening with a pot of tea made with loose leaves so I was excitedly anticipating trying the strawberry milkshake flavour first. The accompanying card instructed me to brew it for 8 – 10 minutes which I set a timer for so not to get distracted! After 8 minutes I poured the first cup which smelt amazing. The flavour was very subtle, I couldn’t put my finger on any specific flavours but it was very thirst-quenching and pleasant all the same. I found the next cup was more infused
and I started to get the subtle strawberry taste coming through.
The next evening, I tried gingerbread rooibos which smelt even better, I actually smelt it as I came down the stairs! It is more subtle than other spiced teas I have tried which was a nice change and actually more appealing to drink. I was disappointed when reading the final packet – crème brule that it contains dairy – I am intolerant to dairy and so it was lucky I checked as you wouldn’t expect tea leaves to contain milk. So I have continued to enjoy the other two instead. Overall, I would say this is a fantastic gift for someone (or yourself) but you do need a proper teapot – you can get some on the Bruu website, so bear this in mind if gifting others.
