T2 TEA • MASTERCLASS EXPERIENCE

Autumn is finally here & the leaves have started to fall, I love it! Pumpkin spice flavoured everything is around now, but how about some tea to calm you down a little? Not just your usual tea but many different speciality teas! In today's post I will be telling you about my masterclass experience with T2 Tea, and the great thing's they have to offer!

I came across this company whilst wondering around Victoria Gate in Leeds, and the bright coloured boxes from outside really caught my eyes! I was booked in for a masterclass the following week by the wonderful Marie. Her colleague Elise was ever so friendly and helpful at explaining the different processes plus, helping me make sure everything looked picture perfect to go up on to my blogpost! In the picture's below, you will see how amazing the store look's, as well as the different coloured labels on the boxes of tea, which all represent a different flavour. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a picture of them all or I would have been there for day's! They have lot's of different flavour's (over 200)! Some of their top tea's can be viewed here. 

A little bit of background information?  This company started out in 1996 by a woman called Mary Anne Shearar in Melbourne, Australia. Soon enough, it became a major highstreet brand in Australia and then, made it's way here to Europe plus many other continent's too. As you can probably tell by the many wonderful photo's I took, this company loves to have originality and stand out! The different flavours you can buy of loose tea (tea bags too), ranging from fruit to chocolate is absolutely immense. They are a forward thinking company who are suited to all different cultures. Below is a picture of a book they also have on their company. Yes, Tea definitely does make everything better right?

During my masterclass with Elise, she taught me how to make two different teas.

The first was a Chai Latte, using their very own brand of Tea Maker, which can be purchased in store, and online too just here. For this recipe you will need:

T2 Organic Chai

T2 Tea Maker

Soya Milk

Honey (Optional)

Water

Firstly, boil the water then add the loose tea, in to the tea maker. Let is sit for at least 3 minute's.

After that, using a frother, grab the jug of soya milk and make sure to air the milk well. Another good tip is to make sure that the milk is not cold, so that the overall finish sit's nicely on top of the Chai and doesn't curdle, making it look like a perfect Chai Latte! You could also add in a few drop's of honey to make it sweeter. To make this drink vegan friendly however, you could add some Agave Nectar instead as well! The T2 Tea maker has a stainless steel strainer plate at the bottom, which activates once put on top of a cup, in order to let the tea out in to the cup. 

You can have it as normal Chai, as seen on the left or as a Chai Latte with the frothy soya milk on top, as seen on the right! I could really taste the strong Chai flavour coming through on it's own, however with the frothy soya milk top, it tasted slightly different as it was more sweeter and Latte like, as the name does suggest... haha.

I was then taught how to make Matcha Tea, a lovely Japanese traditional tea. This tea can be bought loose, known as Gyokuro Loose Leaf Tea or powdered Matcha Tea.

Matcha is a tea plant that has been ground dug which give's it that amazing leafy flavour. It has ten time's more the amount of antioxidants and caffeine, that your regular tea would have. Basically, the same pay off as coffee. It is absorbed plus metabolised differently however, as the whole tea plant is consumed which make's it beneficial for a good metabolism, skin and health too!

A little historical background on Matcha is that it has a great ceremonial aspect to and is always made in a bowl. T2 Tea have this gift set in store and online, which includes a bamboo whisk, a traditional bowl, stirring tool and a beautiful tray too. This could be a perfect Christmas Gift for any Matcha Tea lover's out there! 

To make this Matcha Tea you will need:

Powdered Matcha Tea
Water
Honey (Optional)
Bamboo Whisk
Bowl

Firstly, grab the bowl and add in some boiling water. However, you have got to make sure that the water is not too boiling hot as this can release a chemical which is inside the Matcha, making it taste bitter!

You will then need to add the powdered Matcha in to the bowl of water.

Next, grab the bamboo whisk (or any other mixing tool you have at home, however this is the Japanese tradition), and stir well until it is looking nice and foamy.

 It is usually drank straight from the bowl by tradition, however I just had a little sample of it as a little taster. It had a very grassy and plant like taste to it, but was a wonderful sensation!

As I left the store, they kindly gifted me with  a box of 'All Sorts', which included various different tea's for me to try out myself at home. I gave some to my friends and family to try for themselves too!

Below are some more pictures I took of what they have to offer in store, including their very own flasks, tea jugs and more!

So, what are you waiting for? Feel free to pop in to your local T2 Tea store and sample the different teas they have to offer! Below you can see me admiring the tea hehe.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this post as it is something completely new and different for me. I can not thank the lovely Marie & Elise at T2 Tea Victoria Gate enough for letting me experience this and write about it! I am ever so grateful for this opportunity!

Best wishes with your tea hunting!

-ROSEYGOLDBOX-
♡