Upon first glance, you might be thinking I’ve maybe misplaced my calendar. Or I’m a time-traveling, tea-drinking reviewer who has accidentally jumped from the winter holiday season to late spring without realizing it. I assure you– I am not. (Although HOW COOL would that be. If there’s a Time Lord out there reading this in need of a new companion: hit your girl up.) But I’m also not such a purist that a Hanukah-themed tea can’t occasionally find its way into my cup post-Daylight Savings Time, and spoiler alert: I’m glad it did!
This dry leaf, to start with, is adorable. Blue stars, glittery gold orbs, and tiny mini marshmallows round out a straightforward black tea, and it brews up quite nicely, if not a bit plainly. The brewed cup smells strongly of mini-marshmallows, and upon the addition of a tiny bit of coconut milk, it’s all I can taste. In the best way possible!
This tea is all marshmallow, all the time. I can’t get much of the caramel flavor that the description claims, but this is toasty, pillowy marshmallow goodness atop a nice robust-but-not-acidic black tea base. I’d highly recommend this tea with some sort of cream or sweet, but note that this really amps up the dessert-like quality, whether that’s what you’re gunning for or not. Overall, seasonally-appropriate or not, this is a great one to sip year round when you’re looking for a treat. Or when you’re trying to track down the nearest TARDIS to catch a ride through time and space. Either or.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Tea & Tins
Description
Loose leaf black tea, nicknamed Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel ! It has a spicy and warm taste (if you like “Star Dust”, you should definitely try this one!)
Ingredients: black tea with warming taste of caramel, marshmallow and Star of David sprinkles.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
How Do You Feel About Fig Newtons? #MissFiggy #TeaandTins
Do you like Fig Newtons?
The answer to that question will determine whether you will like this tea. It’s like a Buzzfeed quiz, but with just one question.
Because this tea is Fig Newtons in liquid form. 100%. The tea even has notes that I *swear* taste like the graham cracker.
Growing up, my dad loved Fig Newtons to the point where it was a family joke. They were pretty good, I guess, but I couldn’t understand how they’d be a thing a person would SNEAK when no one was looking. Or a treat that somehow trumped cookies.
In addition to thinking they were A DELISH DISH, my dad was also convinced they were hella-healthy. Which my mom would constantly tell him they were NOT. They were sugar and carbs. If he wanted to be healthy, he could eat an actual fruit. He was like “FIGS. COME. FROM. TREES! … NATURE!”
This tea hits the spot — without the health debate regarding processed food and empty calories.
Now that I’m an adult, I was kind of excited to hop aboard the Budin Family Nostalgia Express. We’re listening to 90s music for Throwback Thursday in our office, which is what I grew up with, and I’m drinking my dad’s favorite snack.
It’s a pretty ideal situation.
Next time I see Dad, I’m going to drink some with him.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Tea & Tins
Description
Loose leaf black tea, nicknamed Miss figgy!
Ingredients: black tea, fig taste with dried figs and pink pig sprinkles.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sparkles in My Cuppa! Spritz of Glitz from Tea & Tins. . . .
Sparkly tea!!! I love teas that sparkle. It’s not like the sparkles do anything flavorwise but I am a sucker for them anyways. They just bring a touch of fun to the whole experience. In fact, DAVIDsTEA’s Glitter & Gold, the first tea I tried with sparkles, happens to be the first tea that truly captured my heart (because I liked the flavor, though the glitter didn’t hurt).
This tea is a light, fruity delight. It’s like a liquid orchard with definite stone fruit flavors. Sweet and smooth. I think I get more peach than I do pear but the fruitiness of this tea is quite nice, and certainly summery in its vibe. The base is also contributing a slight vegetal note which is actually complimenting the fruity flavors.
I could see this being quite a nice tea pop actually. The soft stone fruit might really pop when carbonated. I could see it being reminiscent of a cider. Though the sparkles might be part of the reason I have this idea since they remind me of little carbonation bubbles.
Flavor wise this is subtle and if you are looking for a strong flavor, you won’t find it here. However, the flavor it does have is just the right amount of fruity. Plus, who could say no to more sparkle in their life?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Tea & Tins
Description
Loose leaf green tea, nicknamed Spritz of Glitz!
Ingredients: green tea, succulent peach and fresh pear with a glitzy spritz of sparkling sugars!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Almond Cookie from Tea & Tins. . . .
Lately I have had a serious obsession with pistachio ice cream. Like, I have eaten almost 3 quarts of it in the past 2 weeks. Well, pistachios themselves have a very mild flavor. Subsequently, the ice cream itself is actually flavored with almond. Have you ever noticed that pistachio ice cream kind of smells like biscottis? Well, that’s because of the almond flavoring.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen many pistachio ice cream teas circulating around in our little “tea-world” as of late. So, when I saw Almond Cookie by Tea & Tins I figured that it may help curb my craving for pistachio ice cream because of the almond flavor.
Upon opening the bag, the sweet smell of almond and coconut filled my nose. Yum! I could see coconut shreds and almond pieces scattered about the green tea. Once steeped the smell of cookie was much more prevalent, but the almond and coconut was still very much there. I steeped this tea with hot water for about 3 minutes. It was very smooth and light, with a prominent taste of green tea. I added agave to add some sweetness, but it was also sweet on it’s own. I could taste the coconut and almond flavor, but unfortunately the flavor of “cookie” did not translate from smell to taste.
Nonetheless, this tea was still very well done and tasty. I don’t think I could say that it will be replacing my love for pistachio ice cream, but it is something that I will continue to enjoy and would purchase again. Another “win” for Tea & Tins!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Tea & Tins
Description
Loose leaf green tea with almond and coconut.
Ingredients: green tea, almond coconut taste with grated coconut and almond flakes, and flavoring.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
PB&J from Tea and Tins. . . . . .
Today is a lazy Sunday. For breakfast I made homemade blueberry muffins and a side of bacon. I always appreciate the combination of salty and sweet. The two flavors are just a match made in heaven. The sweet blueberry muffins and the salty bacon made for a delectable breakfast, that even my guy enjoyed. Thinking about the combo of salty and sweet reminded me that I have a delicious tea just begging for me to try it, PB & J by Tea and Tins! Peanut butter is salty and jelly is sweet, so clearly this is right up my ally!
Upon opening the tin, I could see the whole blackberries and pieces of pineapple, strawberries, and apples. I could also smell the nuttiness and see the almond slices. I don’t think I would directly point the finger at peanut butter in regards to the smell, though. It was faintly peanut but, to me, mostly just nutty. I was okay with that because I really did not want this to taste like artificial, liquid peanut butter. So, we were off to a good start.
Once steeped, the smell turned to jelly! The berries were really starting to take over the aroma. The nuttiness and faint peanut buttery smell was in the background now. I steeped this tea for 3 minutes with hot water and added my usual teaspoon of agave. On first taste I could taste berry- strawberry, blackberry, and a little raspberry. It wasn’t tart, but more of a sweet berry flavor. Then nutty came into play. As I stated before, this nutty flavor wasn’t ridiculously peanut buttery. It was faint and not at all artificial tasting. This tea was really well done. I think that nutty flavors always will go well with green tea and this tea definitely confirmed that. The buttery and nuttiness of the green tea accented the berries and peanut butter/nut flavors really well. I think that Tea & Tins really did great with this one. I was thankful that it wasn’t heavily flavored and that it was light and refreshing. I could see myself drinking this in the summertime.
If you have an interest in trying a peanut butter and jelly flavored tea, I would recommend this one for sure.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Tea & Tins
Description
Loose leaf green tea, as good as your favorite Peanutbutter & Jelly sandwich!
Ingredients: green tea, apple pieces, pineapple cubes (pineapple, sugar), planed almonds and almond pieces, sweet blackberry leaves, flavoring, freeze-dried whole blackberries, freeze-dried strawberry and raspberry pieces.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!