Reviewing Malay Taste - Nasi Goreng paste

I got chatting on Facebook the other day to the very lovely Jack from Hungry Communic-ations, about Nem Viet and their range of Vietnamese food products.  During the conversation he mentioned that Nem Viet has two sister product ranges, being Malay Taste and Thai Taste and I have to admit, that I dropped huge hints about maybe reviewing some of the products on the blog.

Well, this is the first of said reviews.  *chuckle*  With many thanks to Jack for taking me up on my ever-so-slightly embarrassingly overkeen offer.

As soon as I saw a Nasi Goreng paste was in the box, I knew what we'd be sampling first.  My dedication to a good Nasi Goreng is well documented on this blog and in the spirit of same, let me just direct you to my own home-made version which you'll find here.

Even though there is a perfectly reasonable Nasi Goreng recipe on the side of the jar, I am so keen on the stuff that I couldn't bear it not to carry some of the flavours that I know it should.  Hence, I followed my own recipe, but instead of using red Thai chilli paste, I used the Malay Taste Nasi Goreng paste.

Now, ordinarily, I don't use either oyster sauce or tomato paste in my Nasi Goreng but they are in the Malay Taste paste so I was interested to see how it would shape up with these two new flavours.

I added dark soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and fish sauce to the Nasi Goreng paste which helped to ensure that the flavours that I remembered so well were there.  However, I wasn't keen on the addition of tomato paste to the Malay Taste Nasi Goreng paste.  I felt that it was something of a Westernised copout.  I definitely missed the Thai lemongrass flavours and to add that in and either no tomato paste or just a little, would have improved the product no end.

Still, for all that, I liked it.  No, I really did!  If I was to give my own home-made Nasi Goreng marks out of 10, it would be a 10 (naturally).  The Malay Taste Nasi Goreng would come in at a good 8.5 by comparison.  Just lost a couple of points for the tomato paste and no lemongrass.

The chilli flavour is really good.  It doesn't knock your head off, just builds to a nice heat and keeps on a steady course instead of constantly increasing until you can't stand it any more, as lots of them do.  I like the oyster sauce addition, it gives it a deeper flavour profile than just fish sauce would have.

If I had have gone to someone's house for dinner and they'd have served Malay Taste Nasi Goreng, I wouldn't be disappointed.  It's different to mine, but it's still Nasi Goreng and that definitely floats my boat.

You can find out where to buy Malay Taste products from their website, on the "Where to buy" page.  One of the outlets is Amazon UK, so you've no excuse not to try them!  Currently there is just the Nasi Goreng kit available at around £2.50 for the one (you have to buy 6 in one go, so maybe get some for all the family or add the neighbours in!).

I'm very much looking forward to trying the other products now!

"Pressels" - a new contender in the pretzel market!

Look what turned up today!  A giant, over 2ft long, box containing this black and white box, which in turn contained these three 175g bags of "Pressels" a new, tiny, thin and intriguing alternative to your standard pretzel.

Originating in New York - although produced in Israel - they are now being imported by a company in Essex.  I originally made a comment about air miles, but have been kindly corrected in that they float over to Essex by boat!  So we're talking nautical miles, instead. 

Well, how do they taste?  I've only tested the "Original" (blue bag), so far and I can quite categorically say that they are flipping moreish.  In fact, it is difficult to stop eating them and get on with writing this piece!

Note the size comparison!

Now their selling point is that they contain 75% less fat than ordinary crisps.  However, what they do contain (and they don't shout about this) is palm oil (the farming of which is a leading cause of acreage loss in the habitat of the orangutan, not to mention that it is a significant saturated fat which as you know, we're supposed to be steering clear of).  Tut tut and a black mark.  Purely on these two points, I would have to simply be unable to live without them, to purchase them - and as they're only a pretzel snack, I'm afraid I can live without them only too easily.

However and on the other hand, they contain no artificial flavours, no preservatives, no MSG and no added food colours.

So, while a 25g serving (see the photograph below for what that looks like) amounts to 98 calories with just 1.4g of fat, when you look at carbohydrates, they have a relatively high figure of 17.8g of carbs with 1.3g of that being sugars.  

Just as an interesting point and for those of you to whom this applies, they also carry the "Pareve" sign, which indicates that they are produced relating to a foodstuff made without milk, meat, or their derivatives, and therefore permissible to be eaten with both meat and dairy dishes according to dietary laws - and specifically Jewish law, as they are made in Israel.  Well, that's something new I learned today.

So, it's fair to say that a "healthy" option they are not.  However, as a "I can't put this bag down, these are so nice" snack with drinks, they're the business.  If you're interested in having a better look at them, go to the website at Pressels.com.

I guess it's very much up to you, your conscience and your waistline as to whether you try them if you find them, but be warned - once you start ...... ~rustle rustle~

Delamere Dairies' goats milk products : a heartfelt review!

I really like goats.  I like their silly characters, their lust for life and adorable faces.  I even liked old Harvey, a billy goat I used to know who once got free from his pen and ambushed a 3* Hotel in Surrey by getting into the dining room, then refusing to be lured out of the front door by the chef bearing bread rolls, ultimately requiring frog marching down the driveway and back to his pen by myself and a friend.  (Harvey, that is, not the chef).  Yes, I even liked smelly old Harvey.

Somewhere around 35 years ago, I had my first taste of goat's milk and approved.  However, because it wasn't easily available i.e. in the local supermarket, I didn't take it any further.  I wish I had, now that I discover how sensitive I have become to cow's milk.  I could have saved myself all that bother!

Harvey - a legend in his own lifetime

So, fast forward to now and we were in our local supermarket when I noticed a 2 litre carton of goat's milk and decided to invest in it.  I had read how much easier to digest goat's milk is from cow's and how skin troubles such as psoriasis (which I get occasionally) are helped by it.  Well, I had no idea quite how much of a difference it would make.

Immediately, almost all my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) symptoms upped and disappeared.  I noticed that immediately of course, but was leery of putting it down to the goat's milk until a few days had passed.  Yes, things like beetroot and spring onions can still bring on a full IBS attack, but now I can go for weeks without suffering it.  However, the effect of drinking cow's milk - in a latte or chai, for instance - is startling and something that, no doubt you're comforted to know, I won't go into here.

Goat's milk does still contain lactose - but in much less quantity than with cow's milk.  So if your problem is lactose intolerance as opposed to an allergy, you may find you can do very well using Goat's milk.  Interestingly, Goat's milk is non-mucous forming and can even help to neutralise mucus production.  People with perpetual runny noses and hay fever have been known to experience almost instant relief on Goat's milk.

With me, one other thing that has been affected - and it can only be the change in milk, because nothing else has ever changed it - is the venous eczema that I have on the front of my shins.  This is basically like any other kind of eczema, involving dry skin and itchiness.  Well, since changing to goat's milk, the eczema has improved hand over fist.  It hasn't gone - well, it's been there for so long, I suspect it would take a while and the loss of a significant amount of weight for it to go - but the improvement in it is quite radical - and ongoing.

Spreadable goat's cheese with ham and with cherry tomatoes

So I thought I'd find out more about goat's milk products, which led me to Delamere Dairies and their Facebook page.  Being so enthused about goat's milk products, I offered to sample some of theirs - and give them a review here on Rhubarb & Ginger.  So here we are.

The very next thing to happen, was the arrival of a large polystyrene box.  I opened it carefully, keen to see what was inside - and as I removed the lid, out popped a goat!  Well I wasn't expecting THAT!  Nerys (for that is her name), is however, a plushie goat so should hopefully be cheap to keep as she won't be eating the furniture, curtains or our shoes.

Look out!  Nerys is on the loose!

Once we'd wrestled Nerys into submission, we unpacked the remainder of the box.  Well, what a gorgeous lot of goodies!  A raspberry (for me) and strawberry (for hubby) goat's milk yoghurt - both probiotic - disappeared down the hatch straight away and my goodness but they're tasty.  Absolutely no hint of goat until the very last trace of fruity flavour has disappeared from your tongue - and then it is no more than you would detect in the goat's milk or a soft goat's cheese.

Now I could go through and just tell you how everything tasted, but that'd be dull and not my style.  So I immediately got to work on "doing something with" everything in the box.

First up, was the fantastic probiotic goat's yoghurt with honey.  Oh my word, but this stuff is to die for.  Goat's yoghurt is very like Greek yoghurt, except it is a little bit whiter - as it contains no carotene - and has a much silkier texture.  If you've ever had a "Pearl de lait" yoghurt, that's the closest I can come by way of comparison.  I'm going to run out of superlatives during this review, I can tell.

I made a breakfast fruit plate, involving three types of melon and some passion fruit - all of which would go so very well with honey.  Mmmmmn, starting the day with gorgeous sweet melon, set off with tangy sharp passion fruit and the smooth, silky yoghurt - well you can't ask for better.  It would make a lovely light dessert, too!

Then there were the ubiquitous goat's cheeses, that received my lunchtime attention.  Even here they had a little edge of difference.  There is the silky, mildly flavoured spreadable goat's cheese that is a lighter daughter of ricotta & mascarpone - except goat instead of cow.  This one would be a perfect candidate for making cheesecake, although I haven't tried to yet.  Note the "yet".

L-R The herby, the spreadable, the medium matured and the one with honey.

Then there are the two "logs" of goat's cheese - one with herbs and one with honey.  I seriously can't choose between the two to name a favourite.  The herb goat's cheese goes so well with cucumber, the one with honey is fabulous with a squeeze of lemon juice.  They are both so cleanly flavoured, with a little tang yet so creamy too.

Goat's cheese with honey

Lastly for the cheese, there is a block of medium matured hard goat's cheese.  I just love this one.  I love how the cheese is so white and crumbly - very like Feta - with an intriguing, complex flavour that just lasts and lasts on the tongue.  From being crumbled into a salad, through being toasted for a sandwich, to just appearing on a cracker, there's no job this fantastic cheese isn't capable of doing.

Oh and let's not forget the goat's butter!  Made from the cream of the milk, goat's butter ordinarily comes up less yellow than cow's would do because of the lack of carotene.  It's the flavour that counts though - and goat's butter is so much lighter in texture than cow's.  It doesn't feel so heavy, or claggy - and is just divine on some hot toast.

The herby one.  Mmmmn, good!

I put the butter to use in making a couple of open sandwiches - both with the spreadable goat's cheese but one with honey roast ham (fantastic combination) and the other with some sliced cherry tomatoes with a dash of salt & pepper.  Now the ham one was good - but the creamy, delicious goat's cheese paired up with the sweet tomato, on goat's butter, on some fabulous sourdough bread - now that was a thing of beauty.

I seriously think that I will never drink cow's milk again (which I feel a bit bad about, knowing the trouble the milk producers are having keeping going at the moment), but looking at the health benefits, quite apart from the gorgeous flavour, it just has to be worth it, for me.

Medium matured- crumbly!

As for the goat's yoghurt, goat's butter and goat's cheese - well, they all get a serious "thumbs up!" from not just me, but the entire Eatwell family.  I've even got my Mum over onto the goat's milk!

Even my son has swapped from cow's milk to goat's for his bedtime glass of milk.  Nerys, of course, has a cookie with hers.



Thank you, Delamere Dairies, for being such good sports and also your remarkable generosity.  More power to your goaty elbows - and give the goaty girls a pat from me, the very next time you see them!

Proof - if proof were required.  ;)

Exclusive chocolates from Cocoa Boutique - a review

Now in case anyone sees this review and thinks "OMG!  She ate the entire box?".  No, I didn't.  Well, not in one sitting anyway.  *wink*

No, I truly didn't.  I had help from the chocolate connoisseur that is son & heir.  Regrettably, hubby was unable to take part in this review as the sugar would have sent his head all floaty light and we might have lost him as a result.  He opted to suck on an occasional 70% Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate Button as a consolation prize.

Cocoa Boutique bills itself as "The Luxury Artisan Chocolate Club" and profess to "scour the globe" to find the best Chocolatiers who produce the best chocolates.  I have to confess that (other than the berry flavoured ones, but then that's my "funny about strawberry" thing coming into play) these are indeed extremely good chocolates.  However, do they truly represent in excess of £30-worth of chocolate?  I can see how it could be so, but my heart recoils that something so - I hesitate to say it - but, ordinary as chocolate can be worth so much money.  I'm afraid it's another case of "the world has gone mad".

However, as a package, the Tasting Box is a lovely thing.  I can just imagine that to receive one in the post as a present would be something very special.  The box is postbox friendly (although our postman wasn't convinced and rang the doorbell - but that was probably just as well, as I'm sure our three dogs would have had an interesting few moments with the box, otherwise) and is well packaged.

The initial cardboard outer layer hides a neat black and white box, under which are the hallmarks of expensive chocolates - layers of delicately overlapping tissue paper which make the unwrapping of the box akin to discovering treasure.  The aromas that issue forth from the chocolates within are lovely and do a very good job of tantalising your taste buds!

Two of the chocolates had suffered a little in transit, which was a shame, but the majority were looking as good as they did when they went into the box.  One of the White Strawberry Creams had split, but the damage did no harm to the flavour.  The Rum Cafe Creams had unfortunately both suffered a squashed top - perhaps making them a teensy bit smaller in height would help?

Aside from that, the box of chocolates were all intact and looking mouthwatering.

Here's what we thought of them, individually, together with marks out of 10 :

Pink Champagne Truffle ..  4/10

The truffle inner to this chocolate was slightly on the greasy side, I felt.  It didn't leave a feeling of greasiness, it was just as it melted it was more akin to a slippery, greasy feeling than not.  The flavour is good, although the champagne element soon disperses, to be followed by the white chocolate of the casing and the tartness of the raspberry pieces that decorate it. 

White Strawberry Cream .. 1/10

I loved the glittery pink sugar that coated the white chocolate shell of this one.  It really is very pretty, but unfortunately that is where it stops.  Again, the inner is just so greasy feeling.  It is rather like eating your way through a chocolate filled with bland butter.  Very little strawberry flavour and just GACK! ~shudder~ I was very glad I only had to eat one of these little babies!


Raspberry with a hint of orange .. 7/10

The milk chocolate in this one is really lovely and goes so well with the raspberry and, literally, a hint of orange.  If you like fruity, creamy milk chocolates, you'll love it!


Milk chocolate almond praline .. 11/10

Notice that score?  Eleven out of ten - that's how good this chocolate is.  It is a big mouthful of creamy milk chocolate that is good enough on its own, but then when you add in a roasted whole almond that has been rolled in a touch of salt and the accompanying praline, oh, heaven.  Sheer, complete and utter heaven.  By far and away my favourite chocolate of the lot.


White Chocolate Buttons .. 5/10

At one time, white chocolate was my favourite.  These days it takes a back seat to a good milk and sometimes even a high percentage cocoa dark chocolate.  These white chocolate buttons are what they say they are.  Albeit a tad too sweet for my taste these days, they do - which is unusual - taste of chocolate, at least.

Milk Chocolate Buttons .. 7/10

If only all chocolate buttons tasted as good as these do!  The flavour is rich, rounded and gorgeously chocolatey with a lovely hint of caramel in there somewhere.  Perfect for a quick chocolate fix!

Pamela .. 4/10

These little lovelies caught my eye as soon as the box was opened, with their lovely freckled tops looking all Jackson Pollock in shades of raspberry, lemon and white.  They are supposed to be flavoured with Cassis and Pear, although I couldn't really find any pear in the one I tried.  The dark chocolate casing seems to overpower the flavour, leaving them quite disappointing in that they didn't live up to their appearance. 

Cocoa Dusted Dark Chocolate Salted Caramels .. 10/10

It is only a shame that these share the same box as the Almond Praline, as without that they'd have got the high score of eleven out of ten.  However, as my second best - but second only by a hair - they will have to score a full ten out of ten.  What's not to like?  A casing of dark chocolate that has been dusted in cocoa and filled with rich smooth caramel and that mouthwatering hint of salt.  I'm only glad that there's three of them!


Milk Chocolate Truffle .. 7/10

Now don't get me wrong, these chocolate truffles are by anyone's measure good chocolate truffles.  However, in company with the great chocolates that are in this box, they tend to sit back into the shade of their companions.  They also suffer from the same greasiness as the two berry chocolates but to a much lesser degree.

Rum Cafe Cream .. 8/10

Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, coffee flavouring and rum - four of my favourite things.  For me, the only thing that stops this chocolate becoming one of the greats is its tendency to be a little too sweet.  However, that's nitpicking.  The coffee flavour is fabulous and the mix of the two types of chocolate give this little fellow a depth that others would do well to emulate.


Dark Chocolate Brandy Truffle .. 8/10

Initially a texture more than a flavour, the dryness of the cocoa rolled onto the dark chocolate shell dries the tongue out where it touches.  The flavour of brandy then emerges from the background as an aroma that wafts up the back of your nose prior to gently warming the tongue.  All wrapped up with the glorious richness of dark chocolate, this is a little bit of chocolate mastery.

Vanilla Irish Cream .. 6/10

This one doesn't score so well basically because it lacks the flavour of Irish Cream.  The chocolate is creamy and delicious, but you are left wondering what that faint flavour was and did I miss the Irish Cream somewhere?

70% Ecuador Dark Chocolate Buttons .. 9/10

If there are any left of these by the time this review is done, I am SO going to put them into some muffins.  Yes, it might be a terrible thing to do to expensive chocolate, but then, they'd be superlative muffins.  Oh yes.

Milk Chocolate Honeycomb .. 6/10

I can't help but think that these little knobs of chocolate covered honeycomb were included so that you adults can have something to give to the kids when they spot you're munching your way through a box of fancy chocs.  Yes, they're tasty little morsels, but there's nothing really earthshattering about them.

Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean .. 10/10

I give thanks to whoever decided to include a handful of these coffee flavoured bombs in the Tasting Box.  They are whole crispy coffee beans that have been encased in dark chocolate and as such, are just totally out of this world - so long as you love coffee, which I do.  I like these so much, in fact, that I have taken three and hidden them in a little baggie in my underwear drawer, for those chocolate emergencies or alternatively where I hope I'll forget about them and - one day - find them.  Lucky, lucky me.

Cocoa Boutique is a new company, and they run a membership scheme.  Membership entitles you to receive a monthly box of their chocolates, or alternatively 3-monthly or 6-monthly.  As they go along they will be engaging different Chocolatiers, so the selections will be quite different each time. 

You can find out more about Cocoa Boutique and the chocolates on their website, their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cocoaboutique or follow them on Twitter at @cocoa-boutique where there's even a link to sign up as a chocolate taster - and you wouldn't want to be one of those, now would you?  *wink*

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Cumberland Sausages & juicy Burgers from Westin Gourmet - reviewed

A short while ago, Westin Gourmet - you may recall - sent us a pack of meat products to try.  Amongst the goodies were some of their Cumberland sausages and some very juicy looking 100% beef burgers.

The first of these that we put to the test were the Cumberland sausages.

Now I've got a pet peeve with sausages at the moment.  Very often it seems that flavour is forfeited for being "healthy".  Now the only thing I can deduce from this is that the majority of the flavour in a sausage, i.e. the "porky" flavour, comes from the fat.  It has to be.  So-called "healthy" sausages have the majority of their fat removed - and they are dry, tasteless and boring as all heck.  They also have a nasty hardness to them, quite unlike the soft, yielding, juicily porky mouthful of sausages of yore.

However, because (well, I assume this is the reason) of the public's predilection for "healthy" food (which is admirable, of course), even the good old sausage of yore has had its fat content reduced.  I hate this!  It has become almost impossible to find a sausage that tastes like a sausage should, or that even has the texture of a good old fashioned sausage.  A sausage, when bitten into, should burst in your mouth with a sudden rush of porky flavour carried on a small tide of meat juices, not be dry and chewy, or even worse taste like hot sawdust.

In my opinion, it is far better to have a good old unhealthy flavoursome sausage that you don't eat as often, than have one of these nasty dry old things and try eating them twice a week.  In fact, because of the parlous state of sausages these days, we've actually stopped eating them completely.

That is, until these Cumberlands hove into view from Westin Gourmet.  Hallelujah - a sausage that tastes like I remember sausages tasting when my Mum used to serve them up with a rich gravy, mashed potato and mixed vegetables, way back in the seventies.  They are soft, flavoursome and porky with that lovely "crack" of a crispy skin and the mouthwatering onrush of peppery flavour.

At £7.23 for 24 sausages - which equates to around £2.41 for a pack of 8, they aren't devastatingly expensive either.  Long may it continue, Westin Gourmet - you're onto a winner!

Thanks to the success of the sausages, we were by now fairly hopeful about the burgers.

The price made our eyes water a little at £36.53 for 10 x 4oz burgers, which equates to around £3.65 per burger.  I reckoned that at that price, they had to be good.   Because of the way in which they are packaged, however, they start off life not looking so good at all.  They appear grey and unappealing - that is until you tear back the covering and let some air into them.  Very quickly they plump up and return back to the very appealing lush red that a good burger should be.

Cheered by that, we placed them on the grill (it was raining again - so we ate them indoors) and set to with the cooking.  Each burger was very definitely a good size, so we were watching closely to see if they shrank significantly during the cooking process.  Never has a humble burger been more observed.

Because of the beef content, we were happy to leave the burgers a little pink (not bloody, just a little blush of pink) in the middle, for added flavour and juiciness.  My goodness, but these burgers are great!

I'm not sure I'd be able to afford to buy enough to supply a whole barbecue for friends, but as a special barbecue for the family they are just perfect.

The flavour is just wonderful, as the beef is 100% steak mince that caramelises beautifully and gives that genuine burger flavour.  There are no great hunks of onion to otherwise spoil the flavour and the seasoning is harmonious and unobtrusive.  The shrinkage is minimal and for all that they reduced in circumference, they seemed to gain in depth!  Put into a normal sized burger bun, they did the job beautifully.

We treated the burgers absolutely classically, with a small amount of lettuce, some tomato and a good helping of cheese, along with some French's hotdog mustard and a great tomato relish.  Oh boy, but they were good.

As a "special" burger for a special occasion, I'd very definitely come back for more.

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Lovely, lovely White Line Pure Fresh Tea!

Recently, Pure Fresh Tea were kind enough to send me three of their White Line tea bags - Bombay Chai, Golden Chamomile and Black Lavender - to try.

These little tea bags are packaged in the cutest little pyramidical boxes, which are so very smart with their clean presentation.

Inside was a single tea bag - but no paper bags here, oh no.  These tea bags are made from biodegradable organza.  Impressed?  You should be!  Although there is one aspect of the construction and presentation of the bag that puzzled me.  You undo the box and remove the teabag, which has a little thread with a paper tag attached, as one has come to expect.  The only thing is, the little paper tag is glued - yes, glued - to the organza of the teabag.  I really hope that the glue is some kind of inert substance, as it leaves an impression upon the fabric of the bag.

That aside, where the Golden Chamomile and Black Lavender are concerned, I can safely say that I can't remember the last time I had such a nice cup of tea - especially the chamomile.

However, the Bombay Chai (with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and black tea) left a little bit to be desired.  You see, I was measuring it against our favourite blend of Chai teabag - which is (believe it or not) Asda's.  Pure Fresh Tea's area of difference to all other teas is that their quality is so good.  However, where Chai is concerned, I've come to the conclusion that a little bit of rough is exactly what is required.  Pure Fresh Tea's Chai is so well behaved.  Yes, it is beautifully rounded and soft on the tongue - but then I prefer my Chai to let me know it is there.  I want to taste the spices, experience the tea and feel it doing me good.  I'm really not sure that Pure Fresh Tea's Chai could ever have done the first two - but you could definitely feel it doing you good!

I was actually a bit scared of their Black Lavender blend.  Not because it had big teeth or growled a lot, but because I could read from the packaging that it contained Tian Hu Shan black tea (mmmn, nice!), French lavender leaves (ooh no, it might be like furniture polish - and I HATE lavender furniture polish!) and bergamot oil (quelle horreur! The last time I tried anything with bergamot in it, it gave me a blinding headache).  So can you understand my reticence about this one?

Well.  That tea was lovely.  No - honestly!  It was very subtle, very refined (not in a processed way, but in a polite, well behaved, sort of way) with just a hint of lavender and the merest smidgen of bergamot.  I'd have been happy to have drunk Black Lavender on a regular basis, but for ....ah, but I run on ahead of myself.

What about the Golden Chamomile?  Now this one was my favourite of the bunch.  I was very sad to think that I wouldn't ever drink another Pure Fresh Tea Golden Chamomile when I am in my nightie and slippers, with a warm Jack Russell terrier snuggled up against my back and a good book on the Kindle in my other hand - just before bed.

Now, fair reader, I've drunk a lot of chamomile teas.  No, really - a LOT.  It used to be one of the few things that kept my head from exploding when I worked in Marketing.  It used to lull me to sleep when I lay nervously hugging Gyp my lurcher dog, in my bed behind a firmly locked door in a shared house in New Malden, whilst one of the other tenants slit his wrists regularly each night.  It would carry me off to dreamland on a wave of daisies, after a busy day spent showing my ponies at a blisteringly hot (what happened to those, eh?) County Showground. 

So, as you can see, I've a bit of history with chamomile tea - and this, Golden Chamomile, is by far and away the best camomile tea I've had to date.  It has such a cleanliness to it.  An unadulterated flavour of camomile - which is all that there is in the teabag.  You can actually see the whole flowers through the organza of the bag - so cute!

Now you might be wondering why I'd reject ever having Pure Fresh Tea's products again, if they're so good.   Well, don't let me stand in your way if you want to buy them - by all means go ahead.  However, for me, I just cannot justify the price.

Let's take the Golden Chamomile, as an example.  We did a little research and discovered that pure dried chamomile flowers - no dust, no rubbish - can be bought for the equivalent of 4p per teabag (minus production costs and materials).  Pure Fresh Tea are charging ~wince~ in the range of 36p per teabag (inclusive of production costs & materials), which is a vast markup of some 900% and can only lead me to believe that the packaging could quite possibly be worth more (particularly in invested cash) than the contents.  Now that'd be okay if the price went down once the design and production costs on the packaging had been recouped - but I suspect we all know that's not going to happen.

I know - I loved the tea.  Even in the knowledge that each teabag can be used more than once, it still doesn't justify the price, for me.  Even loving the tea as I did, I have to admit that each teabag did for just the one cup.  I couldn't face re-using an already used bag.

It just makes me so sad.  I perked up momentarily when I discovered that there is range - the Black Line - that is (and I quote) "more competitively priced than the White Line due to mechanized packing.  This range has been designed to bring you Pure Tea to drink every day".  The tea bags come in boxes of 40 individually foil wrapped envelopes and the Golden Chamomile costs £9.90 per box - which equates to 25p per cup.

Now, I suppose 25p once a day isn't too terrible - until you discover Asda's chamomile tea, which is £1 for 40 tea bags, equating to 2.5p per cup - and although it isn't quite as smooth and rounded a flavour, is still the second best cup of camomile tea I've ever had!

What more can I say?  On their website, Pure Fresh Tea have a FAQ page, on which is the following :

Q. What is the difference between your tea and the tea in the supermarket?

A. Our tea is premium, loose-leaf tea, supplied in an organza pyramid bag and all of our ingredients are 100% organic. It is processed using traditional methods and is extremely fresh and delicious. With tea, you get exactly what you pay for. Cheaper teas really aren't comparable to the tea we supply and generally taste bitter. Tea supplied in a standard tea bag generally contains a lot of dust, stalks and other parts of the leaf, so you won't get the same great taste or health benefits as with high grade tea.

So I suppose there you have it.  I loved Pure Fresh Tea's products that I tried.  Try them yourself if you can justify the price and I'll bet you'll love them too.

Maybe I've lived on a budget for too long, or maybe I just have a sneaking suspicion that in the price of the tea bags is a huge percentage for smart liveried packaging, a great website, sheets upon sheet of organza and organic ingredients.   ~shrug~  I'll leave the final judgement up to you.

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