THE A/W TEA EDIT

When the nights draw in and the temperature outside takes a dip, there's nothing more comforting than coming home and making yourself a comforting hot drink. However, when you're trying to stick to a healthy diet, drinking mugs of creamy hot chocolate night after night can rack up a serious amount of empty calories. Since cutting down on my dairy intake due to it's seemingly havoc-wreaking effects on my skin, I have been slowly developing a serious herbal tea addiction (I can think of worse habits).

Whilst the likes of peppermint, fruity teas and green teas satisfy my needs in the summer time, I don't find many of them quite as comforting come the colder months. So here I give you my edit of the best winter warmers for the dairy-free/caffeine-free (mostly)/calorie-counting contingent...

1) Twining's Cherry & Cinnamon Infusion - sweet, subtly spicy, warming, comforting... If you have a sweet tooth, skip dessert and brew yourself one of these bad boys. You will not be disappointed. Caffeine-free.

2) Clipper Organic Apple & Elderflower Infusion - I have an apple tree in my garden at home that every autumn yields a bountiful crop of bright green cooking apples, which my mum deftly whips into delicious apple crumbles, pies, cakes & stewed apples. I love the warming, wholesome taste of this tea, which immediately reminds me of home. Caffeine-free.

3) Pukka Organic Vanilla Chai - A good one for tea/chai latte lovers, this one is about the closest you'll get to the comfort and pleasure of a sweet, seasonal, speciality latte without the calories. Caffeine-free.

4) Leaf Champagne Cassis Tea - This tea was a gift from two of my best buds. It's our favourite tea from our favourite tea shop in our home town of Liverpool. If you want to truly indulge yourself, this is the tea to go for. The only loose leaf offering of the bunch, this one is definitely worth the mess. Delicately balanced white tea with cornflower and sweet but punchy black and red currants, this tea is perfect to serve as an alcohol-free option at a celebratory event. If you can't make it to the wonderful Leaf in Liverpool (they also serve deeee-licious food, it is now available online here. Low caffiene.