A Berry nice twist on a Great British drink. (Tetley Summer Berry Merry)

Member Name: nereesa85

Product:	Tetley Summer Berry Merry
Date:	03/02/06 (203 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No Caffine and No additives

Disadvantages: A little more expensive than regular tea

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A Little about my Friend Tetley
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Tetley have been selling us tea for over 150 years now. They have become a very successful company which prides itself on being a responsible business group.

The company helped to found and are proud members of the ETP (Ethical Tea Partnership). This ensures that the tea which they sell is produced in a responsible and fair manner.
The Tetley Group has a "Support for Others" programme which is there to help the communities their business is linked to.
For example in Malawi, (where they get most of their tea from), Tetley are working closely with Concern Universal to find a solution to poverty. Tetley are a part of many other projects in many counties. For more info see http://www.tetley.com.

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Tetley - Fruit and Herbal
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Today, Tetley manufacture over 20 different kinds of tea and tea bags, including a 12 different fruit and herbal teas. I have bought flavoured teas before and enjoyed them so I was happy to give the new Tetley's version a try. Especially when they cost 79p for 20 bags. Twining's, my usual brand costs 92p for 20 bags!
Tetley's Fruit and Herbal range contains a wide variety of flavours to suit your mood. You can choose between
Assam
Earl Grey
Earl Grey and Vanilla
English Breakfast
Camomile Smile
Orange and Peach
Peppermint Punch
Summer Berry Merry
Sweet Cranberry
Green Tea Decaf
Or Green Tea with Lemon

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What Am I Looking For?
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The tea bags come in a cardboard tube. It's is not unlike the small sized Pringles tubes. It's the same shape and size really. The lid is made of a well fitting blue plastic which gives you the air tightness to keep the tea fresh. This means that you won't have to transfer the tea bags into a tea caddy and the tubes stack on top of one another nicely in a cupboard to save space.

The colour and pictures on the packaging depends entirely on the flavour of tea. My Summer Berry Merry is mainly pink with a Royal Blue rectangle on the front. The rectangle contains the Tetley logo at the top. Underneath this is a gold strip with Fruit & Herbal printed in blue and then, in larger text, is the flavour of the tea. In this case, written in pink coloured text and "Naturally caffeine free" written in gold italics under that. All this is surrounded by a few luscious looking berries as a border. The rest of the tube is a magenta pink colour with the usual contact details, nutritional info etc printed in small blue print.

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What's it made from?
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The ingredients are basically dried fruits and fruit flavourings. There are no E numbers or preservatives. The flavours used are not exclusively summer berries. It also contains vanilla, cinnamon, apple pieces, hibiscus and rosehips. This is obviously to improve on the flavour.
As it is all natural ingredients, the tea is suitable for just about everyone. No additives and no caffeine so it's great for those of us who are trying to avoid those sins as a part of a healthy lifestyle.

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How You May Use Them.
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I find these teas fantastic for my brother, Jack. He's recently begun making use of "grown-up" cups so of course he is asking for what he sees as grown up drinks. Not good when grown up drinks are full of caffeine and he wants about 4 sugars in them! Not good for any 4 year old and certainly not this little terror! Enter big sis the hero! Nowadays Jack thoroughly enjoys a cup of "Weesow tea" as he calls it !!! I didn't put any sugar in his first cup and he still enjoyed it so that's a major bonus.
I'm sure there are many of you struggling to keep little hyperactive monsters away from fizzy drinks, sugar and E numbers. Give this a try. Kids are always trying to do things that grown-ups do and it's much easier to build their enthusiasm for something healthy when it actually tastes nice.

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Consumption
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To make this just stick a bag in a mug and add hot water. Leave it to stew for a minute or two according to your taste. If you like it strong then leave it stewing for longer. Squeeze it out and if it needs to be cooled add cold water, not milk. (If you really have a sweet tooth add a teaspoon of honey, honey is nicer than sugar.)
You end up with a dark pink coloured liquid. It tastes fruity and zesty but not bitter. That's probably because of the cinnamon and vanilla. I find this great to refresh me when I've been at work and I'm getting a bit worn out. Also great on those bad hangover days! There's no after taste and no manky film on my teeth which I have experienced from other fruit flavoured teas.

In short it's healthy, refreshing and good value for money. It's cheaper and nicer than my usual brand. It's more expensive per cup than normal tea but who wants normal tea? BORING!!!

Summary: healthy, refreshing and good value for money. It's cheaper and nicer than my usual brand.