Lapacho Orange and Vanilla Tea from Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. . . . .

It’s been a while since my last Lapacho so I’m long overdue for a good one! I’m so happy the one I tried recently was Lapacho Orange and Vanilla Tea from Kent Sussex Tea & Coffee Co.

Lapacho, Orange Peel, Orange Slices, Vanilla Flavoring are the ingredients in this decaff offering and boy-oh-boy was it a flavorful one! It was citrusy, sweet, creamy, and even had a slight woodsy-spice towards the end of the cup as it cooled. It was reminiscent of a creamiscle with a bit of a twist.

Lapacho is one of the herbals that you infuse the longest…usually 15 to 20 minutes! It’s worth the wait!

According to Kent & Sussex…Lapacho Orange and Vanilla is a delicious new herbal tea blend of Lapacho bark orange pieces and natural vanilla flavour. Their Lapacho Tea is from South America and is the inner of the Tecoma-Lapacho tree. Lapacho is a herbal tea that has been used for over a 1,000 years by indigenous tribes to treat an array of ailments and many consider it to be a medicinal gem! This is a caffeine free tea with a mellow aroma and bright taste of orange and vanilla.

This loose leaf option may be something for those who are interested in Detox, Hydration, Refreshing, Relaxing teas and tisanes.

If you have the time to infuse – this tisane just might be the one to amuse! Try Lapacho Orange and Vanilla Tea from Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee! I found it to be lovely!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Lapacho (Herbal)
Where to Buy:  Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co
Description

Lapacho Orange and Vanilla is a delicious new herbal tea blend of Lapacho bark orange pieces and natural vanilla flavour. Our Lapacho Tea is from South America and is the inner of the Tecoma-Lapacho tree. Lapacho is a herbal tea that has been used for over a 1 000 years by indigenous tribes to treat an array of ailments a medicinal gem! This is a caffeine free tea with a mellow aroma and bright taste of orange and vanilla.

Brewing Instructions: The classic way to make this tea is to place the Lapacho (10g per ltr) into cold water and bring to the boil simmer for 5 minutes remove from heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. Quite a ritual! But worth the effort.

Ingredients: Lapacho orange peel orange slices flavouring.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Kenya Marula Black Tea from McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants

McQuarriesLogoTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy: McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants

Tea Description:

Flavourful African black tea from Kaimosi, an exotic combination of sweet banana with the tart, fresh taste of the yellow-gold African Marula fruit.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

McQuarrie’s is a local loose leaf tea and coffee store; the kind I feel like most larger cities have at least one of – usually privately owned, and not part of a chain of any kind. They source their teas from other companies, such as the Metropolitan Tea Company and are an interesting middle ground between more commercial/branded loose leaf companies such as Teavana or DAVIDsTEA which can act as ‘gateway’ loose leaf shops and less commercial, higher quality stores for more seasoned tea drinkers. If that makes sense at all. This tea in particular is sourced from a larger manufacturer called Wollenhaupt tea, however it doesn’t appear to be currently listed on their website.

According to my Aunt, McQuarrie’s has ‘probably been around longer than she has’. It’s, of course, right in the heart of my cities’ more ‘hipster’ area with all of the other stores that specialize in more obscure hobbies/interests and fancier, offbeat cafes and such. My roommate, coincidentally, happens to work at one of those restaurants!

I picked this one up in person; it’s always kind of nice shopping in person because you don’t have to blindly purchase something just based on the description or other people’s reviews. I got to see and smell this before hand! The smell was definitely very banana and that certainly made me excited because it’s been a while since I’ve had a good banana tea with a black base – right now 52Tea’s Butterscotch Banana is sticking out in memory but it’s been an awfully long time since having it. The marula was very interesting too; other than knowing it’s an exotic fruit I have no experience or familiarity with it so that absolutely caught my attention.

It seemed, overall, like a very interesting find from my local store!

I cold brewed my sample – someone recently called me the ‘Queen of Cold Brew’ and that may be pretty accurate. I will cold brew just about anything, especially at this time of the year.

This had a very interesting flavour! The banana was the dominant note; it was almost sickly sweet and tread a thin  line between realistic, overripe banana and banana candy. It struck up fairly vivid recollections of two things. The first was the banana liquer that I currently have in my fridge, which is very sugary and sweet. The second thing was Khao Tom Mad which is a Thai dessert made of banana, sticky rice and coconut milk served in either a banana or coconut leaf. I’ve only had it once, but it was pretty amazing – maybe even life changing. I definitely think some of the sweetness of the banana comes from the blackberry leaves; my experience with them has been that they tend to made fruit flavours really, really pop.

I don’t have a familiarity with marula, but I’m told by my roommate that it’s supposed to taste a little bit like guava. I don’t know if I necessarily got that with this blend – though I did get a little bit of tartness which the roomie says is probably from the marula. It was quite mild though and didn’t play much into the overall dynamic of the tea. I am a little bit sad the marula didn’t have more of an impact on the taste – I love when I get the chance to experience new flavours in tea.

The rest of the tea was supporting notes for the banana; both mild cinnamon and a bit of drier wood notes were present. The finish was the biggest let down for the tea though; there was a light sudsy/soapy flavour than was unpleasant and slightly lingering. I first thought that the wood was a little weird to have been coming from the rooibos in the blend, which was my initial assumption – but then I remembered that one of the listed ingredients is lapacho. Aha! I’ve had bad experiences with lapacho, including soapy notes and very dry hardly palatable wood notes. I definitely do NOT see the appeal of lapacho. Fortunately, it was quite mild here. It would certainly explain both the soapy notes and the off wood notes, though.

Overall this tea was pretty interesting, and a bit of a rollercoaster. It had an incredible beginning with some of the tastiest banana notes I’ve had in a very, very long time and the middle was pretty solid too but the weird lack of anything Marula, of which the tea is named after, and unfortunate presence of Lapacho made for a bit of a disappointing finish.

Still a worthwhile try though given how unique it is, and something I’ll continue to personally fiddle around with. I’m determined to taste some marula!

Mátejuana Tisane from Townshend’s Tea Company

MatejuanaTisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Yerba Mate & Lapacho

Where to Buy:  Townshend’s Tea Company

Tisane Description:

Drink a whole pot of this máte, lapacho and kava root concoction and it may leave you feeling slightly altered.

Learn more about this blend here.

Taster’s Review:

OK, OK, I admit it … the name of this Mátejuana Tisane from Townshend’s Tea Company is what lured me to order it.  My curiosity got the better of me.

Fortunately, the dry leaf nor the brewed tisane smell like what the name of the tisane suggests it might smell like.  The dry leaf has an earthy scent, with a hint of mint which kind of surprised me.  The brewed tisane smells earthy and slightly vegetative.

This is actually really tasty.  I taste the earthiness of the Yerba Mate, but I like that it’s not overly earthy.  There is a sweetness to this and a warm spice note that is vaguely reminiscent of a cross between ginger and cinnamon.  It has the peppery quality of ginger and a hint of warm, sweet cinnamon.  It’s not an overpowering spice note; instead it’s quite subtle and it’s a flavor that keeps the taste buds intrigued by what they’re experiencing.

I’m not particularly fond of Kava root, but, I’m finding the flavor not quite so discernible here.  I do taste that slight … grassiness from it, but it melds well with the spices to give it more of a herbaceous taste rather than a bitter grass tone.

Overall, I found this tisane to be rather enjoyable.  It tastes better served hot/warm rather than iced … although I didn’t mind the iced tisane either.  I don’t know if it “altered” me or not … but, I liked what I drank, anyway!

Herbal Immune Booster from Teas & Botanicals

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Functional Tea/Herbal Tisane

Where to Buy:  Teas and Botanicals

Tisane Description:

A great herbal tea blend boosting the body’s immune system. Its natural antibiotic and virucidal properties eases symptoms and discomforts associated with colds and mild fever. A good detox for the entire body, a great herbal drink for people with diabetes, ulcers, bronchitis, and various sickness and disease. Rich in vitamin C and has the ability to reduce high blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels.

Learn more about this functional tisane here.

Taster’s Review:

OK, I’m not a huge fan of functional teas … I mean, flavor wise, they leave a little to be desired, you know what I’m saying?  But as far as the function they serve, I’m all for turning to herbal remedies in the form of tea if it helps promote health.  So it is with this Herbal Immune Booster from Teas & Botanicals – it isn’t the tastiest thing I’ve had recently, but, it isn’t horrible either.  And if it boosts the immune system, well, I’m all for that.

The ingredient list is short:  just three ingredients:

Ingredients: Pau D’Arco, Astralagus, Hibiscus.

Pau D’Arco is a bark, and it looks like bark.  It actually looks a bit like lapacho and so I did a quick check and found out that Pau D’Arco actually IS lapacho.  You learn something new everyday.  Although I doubt that my intake of lapacho will ever be such that I would ever need to know this again, but, hey … who am I to knock knowledge?  Lapacho is supposed to help infections, fever, and stomach issues.  Astragalus is supposed to help the immune system, and hibiscus is a diuretic and is rich in vitamin C as well and some minerals.

As far as taste … what I taste primarily is the hibiscus.  I’m glad that the hibiscus does not have a syrupy or thick consistency, and it doesn’t taste too tart here.  Perhaps the other ingredients thin the hibiscus enough to allow it to just give off an agreeable berry-tarty kind of taste without coming off as TOO hibiscus-y.

This tastes medicinal … as many functional teas do.  I’m not about to sit here and try to convince you that this is the best tasting herbal tea I’ve ever tried because it isn’t.  However, as far as functional teas that help promote health and boost the immune system … this ain’t bad.  I think this does taste better as it cools, so if you’re going to drink it … I’d recommend trying it iced.