Chilli Up North Blog

This mint and chilli tea was kindly sent to me buy the guys over at Mr Scruff I was quite excited to try it after drinking a rather large amount of the teapigs chilli tea and chilli chai.

The first thing that strikes you about this tea is the packaging, it’s lovely and clean with a great little character and loads of great bits of info.
According to the info on the box tea is:

Organic mint and chilli, a winning combinationfor a proper cheeky brew. Really refreshing and very popular!

A blend of peppermint & spearmint, was combined with a pinch of chilli to give it a cheeky twist, without going over the top. The peppermint & spearmint are refreshing, especially with or after a meal. The chilli gives it an extra mini tickle factor. You will be pleased to know that this tea is a lot tastier than a red curry with toothpaste in it, and is also caffeine free. Can’t be bad! The chilli takes a little longer to infuse than the mint, so the longer you leave the bag in, the more chilli you will taste.

I’ve not drank most of the box of it and I can tell you it’s blooming delicious, it took a couple of goes for me to get the brew time right, if you don’t leave it in long enough (as the info above says) you don’t get much chilli.

The mint is well balanced, not to sweet and sickly and pretty refreshing, the chilli adds an extra dimension by giving the brew a little background heat and a hint of heat.

It makes  a great pick me up, despite the lack of caffeine and it’s also really refreshing. I can also see it working as an iced tea so once things warm up again I will be giving that a go.

It’s not quite as spicy as the Tea pigs tea’s, nor are the bags quite so fancy but they don’t detract from an excellent product.

Chilli Up North Verdict: If you like your fruit/herbal tea’s then this is definitely worth a go, once you get the brew time right to find your preferred balance then you are on to a winner. 7/10 (heat 2/10)

Mint and chilli tea

I recently got my hands on some Tea Pigs Chilli Chai (after reviewing their lovely Chilli Tea), this time instead of not knowing what to expect i was expecting big flavours and a tasty tea.

To be honest, i wasn’t disappointed, from the moment i opened the packet and the strong smell of cardamon and cloves filled the kitchen, i knew i was in for a treat.

The actual packaging is very similar to the the Chilli Tea packaging although i noticed that this one said bio-degradable tea temples on the front, which is good as it means i can chuck these in my compost bin….although i couldn’t quite tell the difference between the two materials so maybe the others are bio-degradable too

Anyway i boiled the kettle and dropped a tea temple into mug favourite mug, left it for 3 minutes then had a taste, the first thing that hits you is how smooth the tea is, it has a lovely velvet feel in your mouth and is packed full of flavour, you can definitely taste the whole cardamon pods, cloves  and then you get a bit of chilli tingle, not as much as in the chilli tea, but you still know it’s there..

Chilli Chai is 27p per cup if you buy it in the tea temples which i think is quite a fair price, it’s not something you could drink all the time but is a world apart from the cheaper fruit/herbal teas you can buy.

I’m in two minds which of the two teas i prefer, the Chilli Tea has more of a kick with a lovely hint of orange, the chilli chai is a bit more complex and more about the cardamon.

Chilli Up North Verdict:  Lovely punchy tea with big cardamon and clove flavours – 8/10 (Heat 2/10)

If you would like to try teapigs for your self, check out their website @ www.teapigs.co.uk or follow them on twitter @ www.twitter.com/teapigs

A few weeks a go the lovely people over at teapigs.co.uk kindly sent me a pack of their chilli tea to try.

I was really excited to try it as I wasn’t sure how chilli in tea would work.

On opening the package a lovely fruity tea smell wafted through the air, it was definitely a great sign of things to come.

The actual tea packaging is clean and simple but still very attractive, the little fire extinguisher gives you a hint at whats to come.

The actual tea bags or temples as teapigs call them aren’t your usual cheap mass produced paper bags full of powder, they are lovely silky gauze pyramids full of huge strands of tea, chunks of dried orange and most excitingly chilli flakes and seeds.

The differences are stunning and definitely give the impression of a superior premium product that someone has put a lot of love and effort into.

The box says to try the chilli tea with or without milk, hot or cooler its up to you, so in the interests of testing the tea properly Ive tried it in each of the ways, Ive also tried it half way up a mountain whilst sat outside my tent.

First I decided to try it hot with no milk, so I could get the full flavour of the tea, I wasn’t disappointed it had a lovely orange taste at first followed by a nice mellow tea and then that lovely chilli heat as it slipped down my throat, From that moment I was hooked and since then Ive not been able to stop drinking it.

I gave it a try with milk, it was still nice but it took away some of the lovely flavours and made them a bit more subtle.

Next up was a slightly colder cup, this was a revelation, it still packed all the punch of the hot cup but was really refreshing. It also go me thinking about a few recipes that the tea could be used in.

The only downside to the tea I guess is the price, having said that at 15p per cup its not bad compared to tea in a tea shop and for something that’s more tasty than your average tea, I also have to say that in my opinion its worth it. Ill certainly be trying some more of their teas.

Chilli Up North Verdict:  Lovely zesty tea with a great chilli kick – 9/10 (Heat 3/10)

The lovely people at Tea Pigs sent me some tea to try, not just any tea it’s you’ve guessed it….chilli tea and not just any chilli tea, its proper posh cared for chilli tea.

I’ll post some proper pictures and a full review very soon but for now here is the info off their website

This chilli chai is a twist on our traditional chai, a recipe that has been the Indian drink of choice for centuries. Alongside the assam tea, cardamom pods, chunks of ginger, cinnamon and vanilla we have added flakes of chilli for an extra fiery kick. This chai is for those of you who don’t order korma and plain naan from your local curry house.

Compare the large leaf in our tea temples to the dust in your regular tea bag; whole leaf is best.