Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  The Rabbit Hole

Tea Description:

Chilli and chocolate, such strange bedfellows. Throw a black tea in the mix and you’ve got one mind-blowing brew. Perfect for when you need to spice up your life.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

When I shop for snacks and treats, one thing I find myself looking for is flavor contrasts.  My favorites are salty and sweet  – like chocolate and bacon, or salted caramel – and spicy and sweet – like chocolate and chili … as in THIS tea!  I find the palate is much more satiated when I appeal to different taste receptors, and right now, this tea is satisfying a certain “hunger” for flavor by appealing to the spicy and the sweet taste receptors on my tongue.

With the first couple of sips, I didn’t notice much of the chili or the chocolate flavors.  But by the time I was taking my third or fourth sip, I began to notice the spicy-hot sensation on the back of my throat.  This quickly spread to my tongue, and now I am feeling the full effect of the chili pepper in this tea.

The same is true of the chocolate … it wasn’t until about the third or fourth sip that I began to pick up on the cocoa flavors which are more like a dark chocolate-y flavor than a milk chocolate.  It is rich and bittersweet and delicious, and helps to balance the spicy hot chili thing going on in my mouth!  A fantastic contrast, indeed!

Despite the explosion of heat and sweet in my mouth, the flavor of the black tea is not going unnoticed.  It is smooth and richly flavored.  It has a solid kind of flavor that this tea needs for a back drop, something even-tempered and mellow to allow the bold flavors of chili and chocolate to express themselves fully.

Another awesome offering from The Rabbit Hole!

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  TeaSpree

Tea Description:

A beautiful gift to body and soul.  Drink up!

Ingredients:  Organic Green Tea

Taster’s Review:

This is a very pleasant green tea, perfect for those occasions when you don’t want anything too complicated:  you just want a simple yet tasty green tea.

The flavor is light, nutty and a little grassy.  It is sweet with hints of a floral tone in the background, and a raw nut flavor (reminding me a bit of raw almonds) is in the foreground.

It has a very “spring-like” quality to it, like the fresh, new leaves that appear on the trees as spring arrives, and the clean, crisp air that is lightly kissed with the sweetness of spring’s flowers.  The aftertaste is sweet, with a hint of nutty flavor that lingers.

While I can’t say that this was my favorite from TeaSpree (my favorite was, surprisingly, the Vanilla Rooibos), I certainly did enjoy this organic offering from TeaSpree.  I found it to be a very peaceful, relaxing cuppa, and I would be very happy to drink this one again!

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Old Wilmington Tea Co.

Tea Description:

Ancient Polynesians used passion fruit as a tasty part of their rituals. We have made it easy to have a tasty ritual of your own! Passion fruit is artistically blended with premium Chinese oolong. It offers a mellow character, with hints of natural sweetness.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Yummy!

This is a really good flavored Oolong.  The passion fruit flavor is distinct, but it does not overpower the flavor of the Oolong.  These two flavors mesh very well together.

The Oolong is a greener Oolong, and it has that sweet, creamy taste and texture to it.  Almost buttery but not quite.  That creaminess marries very nicely with the flavor of the passion fruit.

The result is a soft, silky tea that is sweet with a tropical fruit flair to it.  A little different from the usual Oolong, but, that’s what I’m liking about it:  it has that familiar Oolong flavor but with just enough passion fruit flavor and sweetness to make it just a little bit unusual.

As it is winter and I prefer my teas served hot in this weather, that’s how I enjoyed this tea, but I suspect it would make a really fantastic iced tea as well, so I think I shall save the rest that I have for the warmer weather that will be here soon (time does fly!)  It is also pleasantly sweet (some might find it a bit too sweet, but I’ve a sweet tooth!) so it doesn’t need additions.  Great just the way it is!

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Praise Tea

Tea Description:

Organic and Fair Trade China Green tea infused with the taste of ripe pears. A smooth, full-bodied yet highly aromatic and healthy blend that’s delicious.

Origin: China

Ingredients: Chun Mee Green Tea, Pear

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I tend to find myself a bit skeptical when it comes to pear flavored teas, especially pear flavored green teas.  That’s because back in my tea flavoring/blending days, I created what I felt was the very best pear flavored green tea, and I still have yet to find one that is as good.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m not enjoying this pear flavored green tea.  Quite the opposite, actually.  It’s really tasty!

The Chun Mee base is an interesting choice but it works surprisingly well with the delicate flavor of the pear.  I say surprising because its been my experience that Chun Mee (also known as “Precious Eyebrow”) tends to have a strong “green tea” flavor – that is to say it tends to be a bit on the grassy side.  With this stronger flavor, could the delicate sweetness of the pear shine through?

The answer is yes.  I can taste the sweet, delicious flavor of pear, as well as the full-flavored Chun Mee.  The Chun Mee is sweet, grassy with hints of seaweed.  There are lovely hints of plum in there too, and these are very complementary to the notes of pear.  The Chun Mee is more assertive than the pear flavor here, but, it doesn’t overwhelm it entirely.

A delicious pear flavored green with a very enticing composition of flavors.

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Yogic Chai

Tea Description:

Organic Assam Tea, Organic Green Cardamom, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Cloves & Organic Ginger.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I’m quite sure I’ve said this (or something like this) before, but it bears repeating:  When it’s cold outside, there’s nothing quite as comforting as a cup of chai.  The heat of the masala spices warms you from the inside out.

And Yogic Chai makes some of my favorite chai blends.  And this blend is where it all started!  The blend is a perfectly balanced combination of just four spices:  cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and ginger.  These are the four “usual suspects” when it comes to chai blends, and there are some tea companies that add some other spices, while others may omit one or two of the usual suspects, sometimes in favor of other spices, sometimes not. But really, when it comes to chai, the combination of spices that Yogic Chai uses is classic, but they have blended them masterfully as to create one of a very memorable chai.

Smooth, rich Assam tea makes up the base of this chai.  It is strong enough to offer a distinct flavor contribution, even though it is immersed in some rather spicy surroundings.  It has a malty character and does not taste bitter (although, as with all teas, I recommend not over-steeping as this may produce a bitter taste).

This is my second tea from my Janauary Steepster Select box, and it is a good one.  I’ve tried many teas from Yogic Chai, but this is the first time I’ve tried the Original!  Delicious served straight and it makes an awesome latte too, although I think its best served without the milk, adding just a little turbinado sugar to accent the spices.  This way I get more impact from the spices, as I think that the addition of milk seems to mute the spices just a bit.  This one is yummy any way you choose to serve it!

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  White

Where to Buy:  Téanzo 1856

Tea Description:

The delicate white tea in White Montage infuses gently with a splendid mélange of fruits and flowers. This gorgeous, highly aromatic white tea makes an impressive gift. Contains nuts. 

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This has to be one of the busiest teas I’ve tasted in a very long time.  But, even though there is a lot going on, it somehow all works out and ends up tasting really great!  With so much going on, it is difficult to pick out the different flavors, but, I’ll do my best so that I can describe what I taste for you.

The floral note is the easiest for me to discern.  I taste rose.  There are some other floral notes in there that are not rose, but, they kind of all assimilate into a flowery-rose taste, where the rose is the main component and the other flowers just seem to highlight the rose.

I also taste the nutty flavor in there … it tastes like almond to me.  I think that the almond complements the flavor of the white tea here, which, despite being the base of a very busy tea, can still be tasted amongst the many other flavors. The nutty flavor is not particularly a strong note, instead, it sort of weaves its way in and out of the sip just often enough to remind you that it’s there, but not so often as to be a well-defined flavor.

The fruit notes were a little more difficult for me to discern.  It definitely tastes tropical.  At first I thought it might be mango, but, now, I am thinking it is probably papaya that I taste.  There is also a whisper of apple flavor in the distance.  The fruit tastes sweet and I love the way it melds with the floral notes.

I also taste a distinct spice tone, it was really quite soft at the beginning, but now that I am nearly finished with the cup the spice tone is much more apparent, especially toward the finish.  This spice note lingers in the aftertaste.

Overall, I found this tea to be extraordinarily enjoyable, despite being so difficult to nail down.  It is one of those teas that I suspect will taste different every time you brew it … offering an exciting adventure with every cup!

Product Description:

Ready to Drink Tisane from Argo Tea.

Ingredients:  fresh brewed green tea (water, green tea), pure cane sugar, ginger root, lemon juice concentrate, natural vanilla flavor. 

Learn more about this product here.

Taster’s Review:

After not being completely disappointed with my sampling of Mojitea, I decided to give another Ready-to-Drink tea beverage from Argo Tea a try.  This time, though, I made sure that there was actual Camellia Sinensis in the blend!

And I have to say that I like this quite a bit better than the aforementioned Mojitea.  There is a lot of ginger in this one though, so if you’re not keen on ginger, this is not the tea for you.

I can also taste the lemon in this, it isn’t an abundant flavor, but, it adds a nice touch of acidic taste to offset the peppery taste of the ginger.  The green tea seems a little lost in the blend, but, I can taste it back there … somewhere!   It would be nice to have a little more green tea flavor, but on the plus side, I like that this isn’t overwhelmingly sweet.  In fact, I find that the sweetness is balanced nicely with the spicy note from the ginger and the bit of lemon flavor.

There is also just a hint of vanilla to this, and I notice that particularly in the aftertaste which is a little sweet and creamy tasting.

Quite nice for a RTD.  I would definitely be happy to drink this one again.

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Tea Chai Té

Tea Description:

GREAT NEWS! This tea was a 1st Place Winner – Oregon’s First State Tea Competition – Sept. 2, 2011

Called a Taiwanese milk oolong, our Velvet Oolong has a wonderful aroma that is rich and buttery with subtle floral notes. Light and smooth brew.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This is a lovely milk Oolong, so creamy and rich!

When I first opened the pouch, before reading anything about this tea, I knew it was a milk Oolong.  It has that lovely, buttery scent to the dry leaf.  I was excited when I realized it was a milk Oolong as I do enjoy them, and I don’t drink them often enough … at least, not often enough for my liking!

The flavor is sublime.  It is sweet and even just a little tangy, tasting a bit like fresh cream with a drop or two of buttermilk added to it.  It even has a thick, creamy texture (although it is certainly not as thick as fresh cream!)

The taste also presents hints of flower in the distance … orchid, maybe?  Perhaps even a whisper of honeysuckle.  With the subsequent infusions, I noticed that the cream and buttermilk combination became smoother and mellower while the floral tones emerged.  It is still sweet and creamy, but I notice more distinct floral notes now.

A very interesting and complex cup of tea.  I can see why this tea won the Oregon State Tea Competition in 2011.  It is certainly worthy.

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

Tea Description:

The Thirsty Elf Blend is a custom blend of black teas. Melt snow until boiling and add leaves. Strain after four minutes and serve piping hot.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I have enjoyed just about every tea offered from Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea, and this one is no exception.  I do find it to be quite similar to the Damn Fine Holiday Blend of 2010, but I think I may actually like this one better (and at the time of its release, I proclaimed the Damn Fine Holiday Blend to be my favorite from Andrews & Dunham!) and interestingly enough, one of the things I like better about this blend is that it is a tad smokier than the Damn Fine Holiday Blend … and I generally do not like smoky teas!

I noticed a creaminess to the Damn Fine Holiday Blend that I don’t notice as much here, but both blends are remarkably smooth with lovely sweet tones that weave their way in and out of the sip.  There are still some creamy tones to this which are more apparent as I make my way to mid-cup.  These creamy tones meld with the sweet flavors to create a somewhat caramel-y note.

This blend has a bit more astringency than the Damn Fine Holiday Blend, I think, and the finish tends to be a bit more dry.  The aftertaste is somewhat smoky with the aforementioned caramel-y undertone.  Very pleasant.

This has a lightness to it – it isn’t a really heavy or “hefty” cup of tea, but, at the same time, I find it to be remarkably energizing, and I can see why it would be an elf’s choice to “restore elf vigor.”

A great afternoon pick-me-up, and would even make a good breakfast tea, even though it is not a heavy cup of tea, it is still strong and is sure to bring a smile to the faces of even those who find mornings unbearable (I’m one of them!)

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  White (Blooming Tea)

Where to Buy:  Alice’s Fine Teas

Tea Description:

Our Jasmine Fairy starts out as a ‘mushroom’ shape ball. White jasmine and beautiful lily hide inside the silver needle tea. Pouring boiled water causes the red lily petals to rise up trying to follow the white jasmine dancing light-footed like a fairy flying in the sky. This fragrant tea tastes smooth and sweet. Ingredients: Jasmine (sweet fragrance, said to moisten the skin, ease anxiety and anti-inflammatory), Lily (said to enhance energy and to have a cooling effect), Silver Needle Tea

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

It’s been a while since I’ve had a blooming tea, so I decided that now was the time.  I have really enjoyed the blooming teas that Alice’s Fine Teas offers, so I was pretty confident I’d enjoy this one too.

After steeping for six minutes in 175°F water, the bloom was open, but, I fear that my glass cup was not quite tall enough to see the full effect of the white floral extension (as shown in the photo above).  To the right, you’ll see what the bloom appeared like with a slightly shorter glass.  Still beautiful, even though the extension was not fully visible.

But even more important (at least to me) is the flavor of the tea, and I am not at all disappointed with the flavor of this blooming tea.  It is light, sweet, and even a little creamy!  The floral notes are present but in keeping with the overall lightness of the tea, and they do not overwhelm the flavor of the silver needle tea.

The floral is not entirely jasmine here, as I can taste the lily flavor too.  I like that even though it is a combination of flowery flavors, it doesn’t taste like perfume or soap.  It tastes more like … spring.  Like the freshness of spring:  crisp air, full of life as the flowers begin to bloom after winter’s frosty chill.

A very fun and delicious tea!