Huckleberry Zen from Perkse Tea . . . .

At first I thought this tea was named after Huckleberry Finn, and it was some kind of literary blend. But it turns out the huckleberry is an actual plant (the state fruit of Idaho) that’s kind of blueberry-like. So I’m ignorant. (Surprise!)

This blend tastes like tart berries and sweet rose petals. Rose isn’t always my favorite, but I think that it works here to balance out the berries.

The blend is described by Perkse as “country chic,” which feels meaningless to me, but I suppose I could imagine drinking it in the morning on a rocking chair on a porch. Blanket over lap. Old dog at feet. Waving at neighbors as they amble about their morning walks to the post office and nickel-and-dime store.

Like huckleberries, I don’t know much about country life, obviously.

But if you’d like to try the combination of berries and roses, this might be the one for you!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black
Where to Buy: Perkse Tea
Description

A deliciously smooth and suckle black tea with notes of fruity huckleberries. Our huckleberries are sourced from Europe and blended to make a wonderful black tea.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Strawberry Blonde from Perkse Tea. . . .

I ordered these samples such a long time ago that I’ve been ripping them open without quite remembering their contents. This morning I ripped open “strawberry blonde” hoping it’d be some kind of strawberry-vanilla black tea, but it’s a strawberry green. Even though I prefer black tea in the morning, I was committed.

This is an adorable number! What a light, sweet blend! The green is a tingling non-vegetal one, which allows the sweet strawberry to hop into the limelight. This flavor is so rich that it tastes like this tea should have calories.

(Speaking of which, why does anyone drink apple or orange juice when they could just drink flavored tea? Or herbal tea? Don’t they know how easy tea is on calories? Straight tea without sugar/honey/whatever is ZERO WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS, guys.)

This is supposed to taste like a strawberry crumble, but I’m not getting anything that tastes like a graham cracker or granola. That said, I don’t particularly care about it being a crumble. I think this stands on its own as just a nice strawberry experience. I suspect that it’d be pretty good iced, too.

I’m a brunette, but I feel pretty included in this blend!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy:  Perkse Tea
Description

❤ A deliciously light green tea with smooth traces of strawberry delight! We source our strawberries from Niagara Region in the province of Ontario.

Our luxury loose leaf teas are carefully blended & packaged by hand within 24 hours prior to shipping. We source directly from farmers/cultivators/tea merchants. Our teas are packaged in an air tight resealable pouch to ensure freshness.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

The Cleanse from Harlow Tea Company. . . .

I am generally skeptical of any tea that claims a detoxifying effect or special health benefit, other than ginger for its actually proven anti-inflammatory properties. However, I like that the description for this tea doesn’t promise any magic results. I also like that it has dandelion root; I just enjoy the roasty, robust flavor of dandelion root. So I was willing to give this tea a try when I received a sample.

The dry leaf smells like hibiscus, dandelion, mint, and houjicha. The scent of the dry leaf is actually the most complex thing about this tea. Made according to package instructions, the immediate scent of the peach-colored brew is sweet hibiscus with a roasty undertone. The hibiscus flavor is not sickly-sweet strong but it is strong enough to mostly overwhelm the other flavors.

The only other flavors I can discern are some underlying roastiness and a lingering minty coolness after the sip. There’s no change in the flavor profile when the tea cools.

A second steep yields the same results. It’s actually remarkable to me how consistent the flavor is; typically a tea will change at least somewhat as it cools and with multiple steeps.

My guess is that the issue here is the hibiscus drowning out everything else. If you choose teas for their purported health benefits, this one seems as good as any other.

At least it has ginger in it and I didn’t personally experience any negative side effects from drinking two cups of it. But if you choose teas for flavor or complexity and are not a huge fan of hibiscus, I would look elsewhere.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:
Where to Buy:  Harlow Tea Company
Description

We all have seen those “get skinny now” teas available. I so wish such a thing worked for all of us, but it sadly does not. What does help an individual in the weight lose process is detoxing your body with the proper ingredients, combined with diet and exercise.

This tea offers some amazing ingredients on top of green tea which helps boost metabolism.

Ginger, turmeric, peppermint, and dandelion are all natural ingredients to rid your body of toxins, i.e. detox

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes from Bumble Tea. . . .

My doctor told me to drastically decrease my caffeine intake, which means less tea. I got until 3:30 pm (right now) before making myself my one daily cup. I’d been hoping to cold turkey it and try talking about decaf teas for a while, but I crashed.

Today’s feature: Chocolate Chip Pancakes! YUM!

When you open this up, the chocolate powder puffs out. The majority of the mix is solid (tea parts, etc), but the powder is exciting. It smells REALLY amazing.

This is a malty, dark chocolate flavor. Like the pancakes have been a little bit crisped. The shimmering perky chocolate is a great contrast to the deep assam. Neither overpowers the other. It’s yin. It’s yang. It’s… CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES, GUYS. And oh god, thank goodness, it has caffeine.

I think if you put a splash of milk in this, it’d be GOLD, but we ran out of milk in the office, and it’s my turn to buy it. It’s not a finance issue; it’s a “can’t be bothered to go to a STORE” issue.

I probably can’t be bothered because I have literally no energy in my veins. Caffeine, I miss you.

All of my reviews from here on out will have a certain joy in them because they’re the only times in my day when I am allowed to have my previous zip-juice.


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Black
Where to Buy:   Bumble Tea
Description

Wake up with a decadent blend of black assam tea leaves, with carob & real dark chocolate. Best enjoyed with cream & sugar!

 

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Dragonberry from Paper Box Goodies. . . .

When I think of dragonberry, I think of something sweet and berry flavored. Maybe a mix of raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry…or perhaps a blueberry, mango, and papaya blend with a little coconut thrown in. At least that’s what I would do if I was to create a “dragonberry” tea. Upon opening my little sample baggie I noticed that this tea was in a tea bag (ie: not loose leaf) so I inspected the leaves through the bag and they looked and smelled very herbal-y. On scent, I didn’t detect much berry scent. Interesting.

I steeped the tea for 2-3 minutes as suggested on the tea bag’s tag. I smelled the steeped liquid and again, detected no berry but instead there was that herbal scent again. It was herbal and had just the slightest hint of lemon. When it comes to the taste, I would say that the scent translated over very accurately. Its initially very herbal tasting and then some slight mint flavor comes into play followed by a hint of lemon. The first thought that came to mind for me was that it was quite refreshing. I bet it would taste yummy iced. Although this isn’t what I think of when I hear the word “dragonberry”- it was still a good tea that was a definite thirst-quencher!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Green
Where to Buy:  Paper Box Goodies
Description

his high-antioxidant blend is both tasty and good for you! Goji berries, Dragonwell green tea, and lemongrass make this a zesty, vegetal, and slightly sweet green tea

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!