The Tea Centre

The Tea Centre is an Australian specialty tea distributor with several shops around the country, many with cafes where one can enjoy their fine teas with food. Whilst I have only visited the Sydney store, I can safely say that it is a terrific store. Despite their huge range of teas and accessories, the store is not cluttered and everything in on good display. The only qualm I have is that the teas themselves are out of reach of customers and one must ask before smelling. Whilst this is no real hassle, it may be intimidating if the shop keepers were in a bad mood. Thankfuly, this does not seem to be an issue, as everyone that I've seen in there has been cheerful, friendly and more than willing to help out any customer with anything in the shop. These things aside, one must look at the tea and the range because, naturally, the shop would be worthless were the teas not of high quality and in large range. These requirements are certainly fulfilled, as the shop boasts to have over 180 different kinds of tea. Black, Green, Oolong, White, Yellow, Herbal, Tisanes, Decaf, and Blended varieties of all kinds are present both online and in their Sydney store. The offer speciality teas from all around the world and get them all direct, so the prices are all very adequet. Furthermore, the teas are all of exceedingly high quality, and for the tea drinker with money to burn, they have some speciality Chinese Silver Needle White Tea, the result of a mere 2 good days picking a year costing a whopping $100 for 50 grams of this leaf which they describe as putting you in the company of past emperors whilst you enjoy it. Needless to say, this is a great shop for the discerning tea drinker. Unfortunately, the Tea Centre only ships to Australia, so those of you who are from overseas and hoping to sample some of their teas, you're out of luck for now.

Note: It is likely needless to say, but just in case you assumed otherwise, this was not a paid message and the Tea Centre have not endorsed anything I've said in anyway

Christmas Tea

Form: Loose Leaf
Company: The Tea Centre
Price: $10.70/100g
Rating: 9.5/10
Review: I first heard of this tea through my partner, who had it years ago, absolutely loved it and couldn't find it again. A few weeks ago, I came across the Tea Centre's website and noticed they had Christmas tea. A trip up to Sydney later, and we came back with 50 grams of this, 50 grams of Blood Orange Black Tea and a nice teapot with 4 matching cups to boot. We were both dying to try this tea to see if it was the same one she had tried those years ago. Turns out that yes, it is. It also turns out that it is one of the nicest teas I have ever tried. The sugar amount is the same as usual, or perhaps slightly more than usual and this tea goes best with a small amount of milk; much akin to Chai in both regards. The tea is a mix of long leaf black tea, almond pieces, orange peel, apple pieces, cornflowers, cinnamon and cloves. With the cinnamon and cloves, the tea has the subtle feel of Chai, yet the other ingedients truly make it a tea of it's own. The flavour can best be described as delicious Christmas pudding with cream, it's utterly divine. The flavour is full, strong and would not at all be overpowered by the addition of food to the experience. I would recommend this tea to anyone who enjoys Chai, Christmas pudding or simply anyone looking to try a new tea. This tea is worth every cent and I will certainly be buying more as soon as this batch runs out, which is likely very soon knowing how nice it is.

"Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company" -Author Unknown