Almond Papaya/Dollar Tea Club -Just Tea-Zen

Photo Credit: Dollar Tea Club

This tea smells so delicious when you open the package! Even though I associate papaya with summer weather and tropical vibes, this tea has such a warm aroma. It’s totally acceptable as a Fall tea!

This tea reminds me of trail mix. The aroma and flavor have that nutty-fruity flavor combo that you find in a good quality trail mix with the big chunks of dried fruit. I do love a good trail mix!

Not every flavor blends will with rooibos, but this one is perfectly balanced. Rooibos has a mild sweetness and a slight nutty flavor with just a hint of vanilla; all perfect flavors to blend with almond and papaya.

If you haven’t checked out Dollar Tea Club, give them a try. It’s a convenient and inexpensive way to explore the world of tea and try new tea types and flavors. Watch for upcoming reviews on a couple of their other blends!


Want to Know More About This Tea?

Leaf Type:  Herbal

Where to Buy:  Dollar Tea Club

Description

Almond Papaya, What a tea! Premium Moroccan almonds give the German inspired marzipan a magnificent boost. Rooibos and marzipan were meant for each other.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Grandma’s Apple Strudel from The NecessiTeas . . . .

My grandmother was more of an apple crumble lady herself. My dad’s grandmother, however, could apparently make a mean apple strudel. Now I never met his grandmother but I have gone to a Hungarian restaurant, Old Country Inn, with my Dad who has told me that the strudel there taste’s just like she used to make so that’s my basis of comparison here.

In order to recreate Grandma NecessiTea’s strudel, this tisane is a blend of apples, raisins, cinnamon, chicory, almonds, vanilla, and natural flavoring. I brewed this hot, steeping about 3 teaspoons of tea in 16 ounces of 200F water for 5 minutes.

The first thing this tea brought to mind was the Forever Nuts blend by DAVIDsTEA. Both teas have that warming and sweet nutty flavor to them that takes over. At first when I tried Forever Nuts, I loved the flavor but it is strong and I was quickly turned off of it to the point that even the smell was off-putting. However, whether it be the long time I went without a tea like this or the subtle differences between this and the DAVIDsTEA version, I don’t mind this so much.

The apple is definitely the foundation flavor of this blend, coating your tongue with its sweet and fresh cinnamon-apple note. At first it is a bit of light vanilla that sits atop the apple but that quickly is taken over by the heavier and nutty almond and chicory flavors. There is a baked good vibe here and though the different components all together sound like an apple strudel, I find in actuality this tea doesn’t come together quite how it should so instead it is a jumble of flavors. In fairness, that could be due to my negative experience of Forever Nuts and the similarity to that but as I sip, I just can’t help but think that this is not the Apple Strudel tea for me.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy:  The NecessiTeas
Description

This tea does not appear to be available but click below for teas that are.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

St Nick’s Tea from Simpson and Vail. . . .

This is one of my new acquisitions that I bought in a turkey stupor over Black Friday weekend. I bought a LOT of tea on Cyber Monday. Like, I’d be embarrassed if it, if I still had the capacity for that. But blowing money on my tea collection is part of my REPUTATION at this point. Gotta maintain my street cred.

I picked this one specifically because Christmas is coming. I have been assiduously avoiding “Santa Baby” like the plague, but I imagine it’s only a matter of time until I hear it. I’m having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year, so I thought maybe this would help.

RESULT: Nope, I’m still not bothering with a Christmas tree.

HOWEVER: this is a very tasty blend. It has a nice nut-chocolate vibe. It tastes like hot chocolate mixed with an oatmeal nut cookie. Its caffeine content content keeps him zingin’ along as he halts time and gives out —

ATTENTION: THIS IS THE INTERSTELLAR TIME-SPACE CONSORTIUM. YOU DID NOT HEAR THAT. SANTA IS DEFINITELY FICTIONAL AND DEFINITELY NOT A REAL LIVING TIME-TRAVELER WITH THE ABILITY TO STOP TIME. YOUR PARENTS MADE HIM UP. ALL GIFTS ARE BOUGHT FOR YOU BY YOUR PARENTS. LOOK INTO THIS LIGHT.

— Where was I?

This tea is very sweet in a healthy homemade cookie way. If you’re not sure if you can get the Christmas spirit going, try this. Even if you don’t wind up getting the tree, at least you had a tasty tea.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black
Where to Buy:  Simpson and Vail
Description

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there….”

Add St. Nick’s Tea to your holiday wish list because this blend is Nutty & Nice! Black teas are enhanced with the flavors of chocolate and roasted nuts with a hint of maple. The tea brews to an amber cup with a smooth, nutty, slightly sweet taste. It’s the perfect blend to enjoy on winter nights while you’re sitting by the fire. A definite crowd pleaser!

Ingredients: Black teas, almonds, organic cacao nibs, vanilla beans, flavoring and orange blossoms. Contains Tree Nuts.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Honeyed Apricots and Almonds Chun Mee from A Quarter To Tea. . ..

Honeyed Apricots and Almonds Chun Mee, this green tea came as a sample in the March teabox. It is part of A Quarter to Tea’s Spring Teas and I don’t know why it has taken me this long to try it out.

The dry leaf is quite lovely with the sliced almonds and variety of flowers. The honeysuckle actually seems to bloom when the hot water hits it. Once steeped, the leaf leaves behind an apricot-scented brew.

That apricot scent carries over to the taste. Sweet and clearly reflective of the stone-fruit. However, this tea is so much more than that. As promised by the name, there is a distinct honey flavor drizzled throughout whereas the almond sits on the tip of your tongue. I personally am not picking up any of the jasmine though I prefer it that way.

This tea is an accurately named delight. It’s bright and fresh, sweet and juicy. A daytime snack or nighttime dessert all in one.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Green
Where to Buy:  A Quarter To Tea
Description

This blend is fruity and sweet with almond, honey, apricot and a touch of jasmine.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Maple Almond Dragon Pearls from A Quarter To Tea. . . .

Sometimes when you do tea swaps with other tea lovers, you find yourself surprised by added teas you did not expect nor ask for. And by sometimes, I mean basically every time. Gotta love the generosity of tea friends!

Well, this particular tea is one of those surprises and I was super excited to try it out. If I am being honest, it was the fact that these were black dragon pearls that appealed to me the most. I just love being able to pop a couple of balls of tea into the mug and watch them blossom. It is calming as the tea opens up and releases all its flavor into the brew. I will say though that I probably should have put these in a filter as opposed to directly in the mug because as fun as it was to watch, the pearl completely disintegrated and I had to strain out the leaves before drinking.

As I sip the tea now, the first thing I notice is the taste of the yunnan base. Smooth and malty which transitions nicely into a light note of vanilla. The almond is also present and adds depth to the tea. Unfortunately, I am not sure how much maple is coming through. As a Canadian, maple is a flavor that I get easily excited about but I have noticed it is a flavor that often isn’t done how I would want it to be. This is no exception because I find myself searching for it but to no avail.

This was a little bit of a miss for me given the lack of maple. That is not to say it was bad since I enjoyed the tea and had no trouble finishing the mug of it. However, I was disappointed that this didn’t exactly deliver on what the name promised.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy:  A Quarter To Tea
Description

Rich and malty handrolled tea from Yunnan, China with natural maple, vanilla and almond flavor.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!