Basilur Tea Legends : Tower of London product reviews

The Tea Legends tower of london tin really appealed to me resembling a book with a nostalgic london imagary on the front it gave the illusion of being an old fashioned tea tin you might of seen at your grandparents house as a child. Certainly something you could display on a shelf in the kitchen for that vintage look.

My son however had different ideas for the tin with a current obsession with spies he declared that the tin was too good for keeping tea bags as it was a secret compartment for hiding things in and placing with the books on the bookshelf. As the tin looks like a book it certainly can blend in amongst the other books giving him a great hiding spot.

Tea is one of my little pleasures in life, nothing beats a good cup of tea with breakfast in the morning or a cup of tea in the evening when the kids have finally been tucked up in ned especially on a cold winter day. I am a bit particular when it comes to tea I like it strong and hot with a splash of milk and no sugar so I can really taste the tea itself. Luxury tea bags are a real treat and though not something I purchase often I do love the offerings of teas like these.

Inside the tin you get five tea bags. The tea bags are great quality with a triangular shaped pod style bag made from a beautiful soft outing to encase the tea leaves. They almost look too pretty to want to use them. When putting the bag in the hot water I found I needed to leave the tea a couple of minutes to brew in really hot water before adding a bit of milk to get a strong tea. If you take the tea bag out or add the milk too quickly you get a very weak tea so I found it best to brew for awhile and found better results in a teapot before adding to a cup.

This collective tin would make a great addition to a gift basket and would be something I would buy as a gift for someone special. The price for a luxury tea like this in the reusable styled tin is reasonable and reflects the quality.

Being an ex-pat Brit, it is safe to say that Iā ™ve drunk a few cups of tea in my time. I do have a confession however, that I tend to enjoy it without milk. Because of this, I tend to taste the flavour of the actual tea really keenly, without too much adulteration. This gorgeous packet of Tea Legends from Basilur really appealed to me due to a strong sense of nostalgia. I loved going in to London to some of the big department sores when I was younger and looking at tins like this full of teas, coffees and sweet treats. For this reason, I was really excited to see it, and even more excited do delve into its contents.

When I first received the tin I was very excited. It was exactly like the tins I remember from my childhood- with gorgeous detailing and a really luxury feel. It opens and closes well (many are a one time use only, so this is a huge bonus), and is compact, yet large enough to have a number of storage uses beyond tea. Like others, upon studying the packet a little more closely, I was a little surprised to see that the tin only contained five tea bags, but was really glad to see this clearly marked on the packet so that you would know this before purchasing. The way that the tin has been designed and presented, it definitely feels like it would be a great option as a gift, especially for those hard-to-buy-for people.

The tea bags themselves are very luxurious-feeling. Made from a fabric as opposed to the more normal papery feel, they certainly seem to fit with the luxury gift genre of the tin. I would be interested to know what they are made from. I also noted that the tea bags were packed well, so there would be no risk of deterioration, even if the tea were kept for a while before drinking.

Once I had followed the instructions of making the tea (boiling water as opposed to warm as is sometimes suggested), I was really pleased with the taste. It was delicate and light with very little bitterness. It had an almost floral quality, and was certainly very easy to drink.

Overall, what a fabulous gift this would make. With the price point and portion size being what they are, this is certainly not an everyday purchase, but for a book lover, ex-pat Pom with a longing for a little nostalgia, or just anyone who drinks tea in need of a little pick-me-up, this would be a perfect little treat.

I have phases of enjoying cups of tea, recently I changed to drinking more fruity flavoured teas for a difference. A decent cup of tea is a good way to relieve stress and help to relax. I decided to request the Basilur 100% Pure Ceylon black leaf tea, just to see what it would be like, I put the request in and waited to see if I would be chosen.

Opening my box I was surprised to see a highly eye catching tin box, I was mesmerized by it and instantly admired it. After a while I finally clicked that it was the tea (it had been a long day.) The gold on the front and the spine, contrasting with the red colour works well at drawing attention, I opened up the container and must admit I was flummoxed that such nice packaging was used for 5 teabags.
The aroma that came out was strong but pleasant, and I wasted no time putting my jug on to boil. I am not sure what the teabags are made of in regards to the material, but it did make me think this is high quality.

On the back of the packaging it is mainly written in another language, but there are symbols showing how long to have the teabag in the water for, I chose to do 4 minutes. The string was a suitable length, so no pesky teabag string to try fish out, once my tea had cooled slightly I took a sip, the flavour was very strong and a bit overpowering for me personally. There was an aftertaste for quite a while.

This tea would be ideal for tea lovers who like a high quality product, and don't mind paying for it. I loved the uniqueness of the tin book which the teabags came in, however I find $17 for 5 teabags a tad crazy.
I personally do not think that this Basilur Pure Ceylon black leaf tea is my 'cup of tea' - pardon the bad pun, it had to be done!

I remember trying Basilur tea for the first time about 20 months ago when I was given the opportunity to review some of their other teas. Specifically, these were the "Christmas Tree" and "Merry Christmas" variety. I was hesitant to try them purely because the name of the variety gave me no indication at all towards what the flavour would be. That being said, when I tried them I was more than impressed, and would potentially rank them as the best teas I have ever had. So when I saw another variety available to try, it goes without saying that I was very eager to give it a go.

The packaging that this "Tower of London" comes in is truly opulent. It involves a gold-coloured, book-shaped metal tin. Solidly built, the tin opens like a book, and has some nice embossing work on the title, logo, and borders. Inside the tin, the teabags come in a resealable foil pouch to keep that freshness to a maximum. The effort that has gone into the pure aesthetics of the product is impressive.

Checking out the information on the back it was interesting to see that it specifies "2 g/r x 5 = 10 g/r / 0.35 oz". One would assume that g/r refers to grams, and a quick Google confirms that 10 grams are equal to 0.35 oz, which means the back of this packet is telling me that the product includes only five 2 gram teabags. At the bottom of the back of the pack, it does confirm this as well stating "leaf tea in 5 pyramid tea bags". It was a bit of a shock. $17 for 5 cups of tea? That's $3.40 per cup! Quite pricey for a cup of tea at home.

I opened the resealable pouch and counted the teabags to be sure, and yes there are only 5 in the pack. In hindsight, it feels like a lot of packaging for such little product, but with the pyramid shape of the teabags, you really can't fit much more in the pouch. You could fit more if it was just the teabags directly in the tin, but that would not have the same level of freshness.

So making a tea, the directions on the back of the packaging specifies 100-degree water for 3-5 minutes, so fresh boiling water is needed here. It's good that it actually specifies the temperature as there are some teas that are recommended to be steeped at a lower temperature to prevent bitterness, so it's nice to know that it wants boiling water, and exactly how long to steep to get the best results. The pyramid shape of the tea bag is designed to allow the tea leafs the space to expand and brew properly. What I'm not too sure of, is what material the teabags are made from; they feel very smooth and silken, but I don't know whether it is made from gossamer filter, plastic or nylon.

The big question though, is how does it taste? This is a Ceylon black leaf tea, and I found that the flavour felt more on the bitter side due to the high level of tannins. A very bold flavour, but it doesn't come across as a very full flavour, with a citrus edge undercutting the flavour profile and lingering on the tongue long after the tea has been drunk. As the tea is high in tannins, I would definitely recommend the addition of sugar or honey to sweeten the flavour (or lemon if you were drinking it cold).

I'm not a huge fan of the bitterness, so the price is definitely on the high side considering I only get five portions. I'll stick to my loose-leaf "Christmas" varieties, thanks.

I love tea and usually have heaps of flavours in black, green and fruit flavours. This product looked like it could be really interesting.

I loved the tin, lots of interesting information about how to brew the perfect cup of tea to who imports the tea and the inside is filled with other interesting information. I really liked how the tea bags were enclosed into a resealable bag to keep it fresh. The tin and packaging were really cute. I had a look at the price and started thinking that this had better be the best tea I have ever tasted as it would not be value for money otherwise.

I brewed up a cup and had it hot, not sure what I was expecting but found that it tasted like most the other teas available, nothing made it stand out. I can buy other brands and get more tea bags for less making this tea really bad value for money.

Since I already have the tin I would not consider buying this brand again, the tea is really expensive but I suppose that the tin would be expensive to produce. The taste wasn't anything that stood out as something I would want to be buying again as it tasted like almost every other tea I have ever drunk.

I took one look at the Tower of London container and was amazed at the amount of thought that had gone into marketing this product. No doubt the Tower was chosen as the theme because it is so quintessentially British, and everyone knows how much the English love their tea. The tin is a true work of art - not only beautiful to look at, but painstakingly crafted so that it can still be used as a storage container after the tea has all been drunk. I can imagine that many people will buy it for its artistic merit rather than the beverage it contains!

The inside of the tin is equally beautiful. The lining is just as intricate as the outside, with information about the tea and the history of the Tower of London. There is a sealed package inside which has identical information on both sides about the tea and its origins - this is almost exactly the same as the information printed inside the container. The tea itself is inside this inner sealed package; it consists of see-through, highly attractive little teabags in the shape of pyramids. These pyramids are biodegradable so the used ones will be going straight into the compost!

I was disappointed that there was little indication on the outside of the packaging as to how many teabags the tin might actually contain. When I looked at it closely, I saw that there was a reference to 2 g/r x 5 = 10 g/r which I can only assume referred to the number of teabags and their weight. I thought, from the size of the tin, that there might be ten teabags; I was surprised, therefore, to find that there were only five. Despite the beauty of the container, and the fact that its workmanship is undoubtedly very attractive, it seems that $17 is rather a lot to pay for five teabags. At least, if the number were more clearly indicated on the outside, this would be an alert for the purchaser to decide whether or not to buy it. I think I would probably get this product as a present for a friend rather than for myself, but I would still like to know what I was paying for.

There is a whole section of the container which cannot be read because the importer has stuck a label over it. It would be better if the sticker were placed on the inner packaging (which has identical information on both sides) so as not to obscure the information panel. I realise that this section is not in English, but I am able to read Cyrillic script and I am sure there are many other New Zealanders who can read it too. The other area where this label could be placed is on the top of the tin where there is no other writing.

The tea itself is delicious. I don't often drink Indian tea, but when I do, I like it weak without milk or sugar, and I did enjoy this one. It has a refined flavour with none of the harshness present in mass produced teas. In that respect, it is certainly worth trying. My son-in-law, who tried a cup with me, was not so keen. He found it lacking in body - what I took to be a delicate flavour, he described as insipid. I suppose everyone has different tastes in tea, however. Personally I loved it and might even consider buying it again as a special treat. If I had it often enough I could even become a regular tea drinker.