Cafédirect Fairtrade Hand-picked tea

So, time to poop or get off the pot so to speak. Here then is the Dead Tea Scrolls inaugural tea review.

Cafédirect Fairtrade Hand-picked Tea falls under the Everyday tea category. The blurb says that it is a Tanzanian/Ugandan/Kenyan blend the former two for colour and the latter for its delicate flavour and that seems, on the face of it, to pan out.

The colour on first pour is a rich, rusty red which deepens dramatically when brewed. The initial aroma offers light, bright tannins with a citrus edge developing into back-notes of copper. So far so good...

When tasted hot, the tea is light with a tannin released metallic zing that lingers on the front of the tongue but, that noted, there seems to be a lack of any mid-ground flavour - this is to be expected in a light tea. Additionally the bags themselves seem to add too much flavour to the tea - this isn't necessarily a bad thing with everyday teas but the result in this case detracts slightly from the overall brightness.

As the tea cools no appreciable differences occur but I would have expected the teabag flavour to dissipate slightly. I would say that, given the Good Housekeeping award emblazoned on the front of the packaging, this was a little disappointing. I certainly wouldn't refuse a cup of this tea but it's aware of it's own limits and, as you can see from the packing, it knows that it is bright and refreshing rather than deep and complex. I wouldn't necessarily take this as an everyday tea as I like something a little more challenging on the palette. I could see this as a popular afternoon tea but it doesn't have the depth required as an accompaniment to a mid-morning snack and, during tasting, was nearly washed out entirely when up against a malted milk biscuit.

My initial thought was that this is very similar to the 'Gold' blend offered by Dublin stalwarts Bewleys - I think a side-by-side comparison will be required to determine which is the 'stronger' tea.

The specifics:

Location: Home

Method: Pot-brewed

Brewed for: 4 minutes precisely (3-5 advised by Cafédirect)

The score:

For a light tea it certainly has it's moments so, taking the style of tea into consideration, I have rated it 2:i

I know that this is actually quite a popular brand with cafes so I'm sure to encounter it again and I will be interested to find out how it goes down in the wild.

Edit: I have tried this again under exactly the same conditions and still can't find any robustness. I have docked some points bringing the score down to 2:ii - sorry Cafédirect, it's just not working for me.