EuroStar - Standard Premium food (@NLi10)

Trains are good fun, being able to get a train from near my house to Brussels is a little mind boggling (you do have to change trains once in London and it takes 4 hours). The website has a few tiers of pricing, one of which gives you nicer seats - more leg room - and some food!

And yes - my single serving friends - this does come on a plastic tray, but it’s actually pretty good. The green chicken was nice, the mixed grains were a great touch too. The Pudding was mysterious and fruity (a lot of people left that) and I got a real person size can of Sprite.

The EuroStar branded cutlery was reusable and metal. I did almost accidentally steal the teaspoon as it was still inside the napkin (and not pictured).

The tea was also good, and you could have free refills for the whole journey. Also - proper cup!

To amuse the children they have a VR experience for when you are under the sea, and complimentary movies as long as you brought your own screen.

And then suddenly you are in Belgium looking at cartoon art!

Blue Tea Box - Tea Selection Box (@BlueTeaBox) By @SpectreUK

This is my longest blog ever… Please bear with me ;-)

It's rare I'll quote from a website, however, as a bit of a tea fanatic and the fact that Blue Tea Box sent me three of their loose leaf tea blends to blog about, I feel obliged;

"Discover rare and single-origin loose-leaf teas from across the world. Selected for your personal preference, ethically sourced, freshly hand-packed, and delivered in a sleek, letterbox friendly box."

… besides, it does seem to sum up the brand perfectly. The three teas I picked were delivered in a very smart box photographed by Cinabar. I have "Oolong", which I haven't had a for a few years. I have "Duchess Earl Grey", which I'm looking forward too, been as though I used to hate Earl Grey when I was a child, and now I just can't drink enough of it. I'm intrigued to understand why it's called "Duchess". The last of the three teas is "Pu-erh", which sounds like a noise one may make when drinking something particularly unpleasant!

Duchess Earl Grey

I had to pick the "Duchess Earl Grey" first. I reckon it'll be my favourite, however, I'm trying not to pass judgement before tasting. I'm leaving the "Pu-erh" until last… just in case it kills me!

A useful cheatsheet (well; postcard) comes with each tea. I shan't bang on about that too much, although it does tell you the origin of the tea, how to brew it, and how good it is for you health-wise. I will also say it does rather helpfully tell me the difference between regular Earl Grey and "Duchess Earl Grey". There is no bergamot in the Duchess variety. Instead with the black tea the ingredients have orange pieces, cornflower, rose petals and lime leaves.

On opening the resealable 45g packet there was a strong smell of orange and zesty lime, with a little rose and black tea leaves. After brewing a cup with my trusty old stainless steel teapot shaped tea strainer and adding a spot of milk, I let the brew cool a little and took a tentative sip. On taste the orange pieces mix with the cornflower and rose to begin with producing a refreshing flavour, with the lime leaves entering towards the aftertaste. I was pleased that even though I completely filled my teapot strainer I still have a large amount of this "Duchess Earl Grey" to enjoy in the future.

Oolong Tea

I have had Oolong tea before, so I can't say in any way I'll dislike this one. However, on saying that I haven't drank Oolong tea for soo-long that I can't remember what it tastes like. I must be going a bit funny in my old age. I can remember what Keemun and Nilgiri taste like, just not Oolong… Anyway the cheat-card tells me what it tastes like, even though I tried not to read that bit and find out for myself. I was amused by the ingredients, which weren't such a list as the "Duchess Earl Grey", because it just states; Ingredients - Oolong tea.

On brewing this Oolong tea I noticed on the cheat-card it states "with or without milk", which was the same as the "Duchess Earl Grey". The "Duchess Earl Grey" was pretty dark and a spot of milk went really well with it, however, this Oolong looked far too light to have milk added, so I left it out. I can see what they mean on the cheat-card where they say "orchard like aroma". On taste I was right not to add any milk as in my opinion this Oolong tea was too delicate in flavour. There's a light leafiness in the taste with a smooth yet slightly sweet aftertaste. It's very a dainty drink and almost tastes a little like a green tea. It certainly went down well after my lunch.

Pu-erh Tea

'Ere we go! The one that's worrying me. The description of the flavour on the cheat-card is "mellow and deep earthy", which brings out thoughts of beetroot for some reason. I don't think it's going to taste of beetroot, well I hope not. I did have a particularly bad experience when I tried to drink beetroot juice for a blog some years ago!

Lemon pieces, cornflower blossoms, and vanilla flavouring has been added to this Pu-erh China tea and black tea blend. Presumably this is to try and dull down the beetroot flavour? I have no idea what "mellow and deep earthy" means. Perhaps I should be drinking this in a cave?

Unlike the Oolong, this Pu-erh brews as a darker tea, so I added milk to this drink. There was the sweet smooth smell of vanilla and a zesty lemon smell once I took my teapot shaped strainer out of my mug. On taste this is a pretty strong tea blend. The bitter citrus flavours from the lemon hit my tastebuds first followed closely behind by the sweetness from the vanilla, and then finally both teas that were used to make this tea blend.

I'm not sure about this blend personally. I think the lemon pieces are a little strong, and could possibly have been left out altogether, or at least be a little smaller, so I don't have to break bits off to put in my teapot tea strainer. The vanilla is a welcome addition and instead of unbalancing the beer like my blog the other day, this time it calmed down the lemon and brought out the tea flavours. I was just happy that this tea didn't taste like beetroot!

Coca-Cola Signature Mixers - Spicy Notes 02 (Asda) By @Cinabar

I suppose it is hard to gauge the demographic group that Coca-Cola is aimed at. With all the funky flavours we have been lucky enough to get over the last few years (think Mango, Strawberry etc) I would have thought that they focused on a fun market, but this new drink from them looks like a whole new more serious contender. The drink is under a new range and is called Coca-Cola Signature Mixers - Spicy. It even has tasting notes on the side of the bottle. The bottle too is very traditional in shape and packaging and even has a cap lid.
I know this is a mixer but I decide to try it straight. I popped the lid and poured it into a glass, which it only filled three quarters of, this is not a long drink. I gave it a sip and have to say I was very impressed. The base flavour is Coca Cola, but all the botanical flavours were a delight as they mixed in. They are such lovely warming tones in the flavour, chilli yes but mild and it enhances the taste. There is a little lime to bring out the zingy element of the cola, and then those lovely herbal flavours to finish. This is a fantastic drink, it deserves to be enjoyed on its own in my opinion, and it deserves a bigger bottle. There are other flavours in the Coca-Cola Signature Mixers range too, Spicy is just one of them. This drink was impressive, and I’ll be hinting out the others in the hope they are half as good as this. Apparently Coca-Cola can do posh.

Mexican Jalapeño Peanut M&Ms (Import Shop) By @Cinabar

The only thing that makes the lack of M&Ms variety in the UK tolerable for me is that we have a local Import Shop who hunts down interesting flavours from The States and keeps their stock levels topped up. Currently in America they are having a competition over there to find a new flavour based on traditional flavours from different countries. The first one I’m trying is Mexican Jalapeño Peanut M&Ms. Chilli from Mexico mixed with chocolate, this would never happen for the British version of the sweets.
The bag is dark green and the M&Ms are in three colours, red yellow and green but all are the same variety. They looked very pretty and were all quite large. I gave one a first try and initially I didn’t think they were that strong, the chocolate and peanut were the dominant flavours to start with. As I chewed the spice grew stronger and it got to a point where I thought it was a little too much. I know the origins of chocolate and chilli together come from ancient times and the idea of a little spice is quite nice, but these left my mouth buzzing more than was pleasant. They are by no means the hottest chilli, but I felt the addition was a little too tingly on the tongue to make me crave more. I felt I wanted a drink to wash it away. The heat wasn’t intolerable it was just not well placed. I think these are a a win for novelty and creativity at least, but I wouldn’t vote for them. However I’m looking forward to taking the bag to work and seeing how my colleagues there get on with them, it should be fun!

proper Chips - plain and sour (by @NLi10)

Proper Corn is one of those little products that has escaped into the mainstream and we couldn’t be happier. It’s good to see fun, interesting takes on snack staples.

When we saw these Proper Chips fro. The same people we had to give them a try.

Smiths had lots of flavours and they were on offer!

So we chose the most boring ones, mainly so that we could get the flavour of the chips too and enjoy the lentil goodness.

I chose sea salt, which was nice and very compulsive

The overhead shots always look less generous than they actually are - we shared these!

The chips are lentil based triangles, like tortilla but healthier. Not as rich in flavour as the lentil curls, but still very good.

My partner chose the sour cream which has a flavour that overpowers the chip a little, but is still nice and of a good quality. I look forwards to trying the rest in the name of snack science!