Nectar & Leaf – Wild Violet
This tea was very kindly gifted to me by Nectar & Leaf. Being sent free tea is something I am very keen to encourage and if any teamongers reading this feel the urge to do so, you can contact me at em@teafancier.com or via my Instagram account @theteafancier.
Readers, rest assured that the freeness of any tea I review makes no difference to the star rating or the review itself, which will be as appropriately complimentary or condemnatory as I believe the tea in question deserves.
Look, I’m only human. So, if a teamonger offers me free tea in exchange for a review, I’m going to say yes. Even if – as in the case of Nectar & Leaf – they are actually a purveyor of non-tea fruity tisanes of the sort I’m usually quite dismissive about.
Nectar & Leaf are a new botanical tea company with five herbally blends, excellent environmentally-friendly credentials and beautiful packaging reminiscent of a fancy perfume brand. They also have a charming Botanical Glossary on their website which is worth a gander.
The two tisanes I selected to try were Wild Violet and Exotic Elixir. Exotic Elixir is a rooibos-based brew so I’m going to set that one aside for the moment as I suspect that one will get an easier ride. I’m very fond of rooibos. Sure, it’s not tea but it’s a cracking steepable, beverage-making plant nonetheless.
So, let’s crack on with Wild Violet. This blend contains elderberries, cardamom, hibiscus, lemon myrtle, mallow flowers, rose petals, freeze-dried blueberry and lavender. Bafflingly, violet flowers aren’t on the list despite being right there in the name.
Flavour-wise, this blend is not mucking about. It’s a full heady brew of fruits and flowers. One can spend a happy few minutes just sticking one’s nose into the tea packet and sniffing deeply. Unlike many of its herbally brethren, Nectar & Leaf’s Wild Violet doesn’t lose its aroma that moment you add hot water. It’s a full burst of florally flavour where all the berries and blooms are giving their best work.
But it was when I got a bit creative that Wild Violet really shone for me. ‘Oh yes, this is pleasant enough,’ I thought to myself. ‘But wouldn’t it be even better if there was some actual tea in it?’
I set about making a custom blend with one part Wild Violet to two parts large leaf, good quality black tea. And you know what? It was amazing. In fact, I can see myself purchasing more Wild Violet after my current stock runs out purely for blending purposes.
I hope Messrs Nectar & Leaf aren’t offended by me playing fast and loose with their caffeine-free herbal blend. But we’re very much a Camelia sinensis-focused operation here at Tea Fancier Towers. Rose petals, lavender flowers, berries and the like are so much better when they’re combined with the brown stuff.
In fact, anytime anyone gifts me anything – biscuits, bath salts, holidays to the Maldives, etc – my first thought is always, ‘Yeah, but can I put it in my tea’?
Today’s featured book is The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Ireland by Richard Fitter, Alastair Fitter and Marjorie Blarney.
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