Sainsbury's Brussels Sprouts & Pigs In Blankets Tea Review

So recently I set myself the challenge of taking one for the team and doing a review of these new novelty Christmas teas from Sainsbury's. Both are available for £1 a box with 20 teabags in each. As well as these I saw some Chocolate Orange, Christmas Spice and Fizzy teas that sounded more appealing and hopefully I'll also review those at some point. I also bought some Teapigs Christmas Tea... but more on that later!

The Pigs In Blankets tea is described as "Lapsang souchong teabags with sage and rosemary", which made be shudder immediately. I absolutely loathe lapsang souchong tea, it's the one tea I could never drink more than a mouthful of, and even then I had to spit it out! If you've never tried Lapsang Souchong before it's basically smoked tea (click link for more info).

Now I presume they decided to use such a horrible tea because the smoky flavour is like smoky bacon? The only other ingredients in the tea are sage, rosemary, apple pieces and "flavouring".

I brewed the tea as directed and tentatively took a sip. Just as I expected...it tastes awful! The overpowering smoky flavour of the Lapsang Souchong was all I could really taste; but there was also a hint of artificial bacon flavour in there too. I didn't take a second sip to find out for sure - it was too horrible!

Overall, as expected this is undrinkable and unless you love lapsang souchong tea I can't imagine this will go down well. However as a novelty product I'm sure it might be fun giving to unsuspecting guests who pop over for a cuppa during the festive season!

The Brussels Sprouts tea terrified me the most out of the two, because I've never liked the vegetables and have nightmares about being fed them as a kid. Ugh. What's worse is this tea actually contains 4% granulated brussells sprouts in the ingredients! The tea used is green tea, which although I'm not a fan of is still a lot more acceptable than Lapsang Souchong.

I brewed it as directed, and it certainly had the grassy green tea aroma plus a hint of sulphur-y sprout mixed in. It almost smelled of the water left over after boiling veg for a sunday dinner.

I tried to ignore feeling slightly nauseous and took a sip. Ugh, yep there it was, the nasty sprout flavour! Somehow it fits well with green tea, so if you like sprouts or green tea you may just get a kick out of this. I took another sip - surprisingly drinking a little more of this than the Pigs in Blankets tea - and that was enough. I now know what Brussels Sprouts Tea tastes like...achievement!

Again, this is one to pass around during Christmas get-togethers and see what your friends reactions are - just for fun!

Overall, I don't know what to say other than WHY?!, but these are good for a laugh I suppose and at least make you appreciate a real, proper, traditional cuppa. I'm excited to sample more of the spiced varieties now the autumn season is here and am glad they're more available now. Stay tuned for my review of Teapigs Christmas Tea.

I wonder if we'll be getting Christmas Pudding and Mince Pie teas next...surely it's inevitable?!