Drink sampling with the family

Sampling is so much fun, and it's interesting to see the difference in people tastes. I tend to like anything with elderflower, ginger, raspberry or apple, whereas my grandma prefers citrus flavours, and my mum prefers beetroot and tomato juices.

carrot and apple, beetroot juice, pear, cherry and apple, elderflower, cox's apple, lemon , summer berries, raspberry

I personally liked the pear ! It was refreshing yet still had a lovely sweetness to it. The carrot and apple was really not to my taste! I think that was batting for the healthier side, rather than flavour! The apples and elderflowers were good, and the tomato juice had a spicy kick to it. There were a few other flavours not listed here, like tomato juice, orange, ginger beer etc. The tasting panel consists of my mum, dad, grandma, Scott and I, which is a good balance of old and young, male and female and we came to a decision of our favourite 5 flavours!

I can't wait for the tearoom to open, it's been so exciting helping making all sorts of decisions from interiors and props to food and drinks. We've all put so much time and effort into making sure the little attention to details are just right.

I think the jewel tone colours are beautiful, and I feel inspired to mix a couple of my own drinks after tasting these! What are your favourite flavours to drink?

Shortbread samples

Over the last few weeks I've been lucky enough to help test some samples for the new tearoom my parents are opening in the near future. Ive tried everything from fruit presses, scones, brownies, shortbread etc, and it's been wonderful! I particularly like the fruit cordials and presses, as I have a bit of a love affair with anything made with elderflower, and I found the brand that makes the perfect bottle! I will post more about this once everything has been finalised, but until then I will leave you with a few images from this week's samples....

Here are some delicious shortbread I had for lunch yesterday. They were crumbly and delicious, but after consuming too many I decided to 'jazz' them up a bit and added clotted cream, raspberries and a sprig of mint. The combination is so yummy, and really transforms them into a delicious treat or even a small dessert!

I had them with a glass of cold full fat milk, because let's face it, life's too short to bother with skimmed milk, especially to drink on it's own.

I have a bit of a t'hing' for paper straws, especially the red and white kind, and when they came in the post the other day I was so excited! They make whatever your drinking feel that bit more interesting and special!

Here is Scott sampling a lightly sparkling plum presse. The colour was so pretty, but we both agrees it needed a bit more 'oomf' as it wasn't as plum-y as we had hoped.