Watermelon oolong has just the right name to pull me in while thinking of a hot summer day here in the South. I was a little skeptical about the watermelon part because I thought it might be super subtle or not very authentic.
Quite often my daughter joins me when I am I tasting teas for reviews. I like getting another person’s impressions and opinions to consider.
She took one sip, looked up, and said, “This is going to be a problem.”
“How so?” I asked. “Because this sample is all we have?”
“Because this sample is all we have and something has to be done about that.”
I sipped. Yes, it is that good. It is that watermelon-y. She likened it to Jolly Ranchers. I don’t think I have ever had those so I likened it to my homemade watermelon ice. Thank goodness for the sake of family harmony, our sample resteeped very, very well. Full on watermelon flavor like one of the best melons of summer, rich and sweet.
My order should be here next week. I expect I will be having this hot, iced, and maybe even as tea popsicles. Already some of my daughter’s friends are clamoring for a taste.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Fraser Tea
Description
A virtual summer picnic in your glass, Watermelon Oolong Organic Oolong Tea combines fresh berries and tropical fruit flavors together with lemongrass for a crisp and refreshing taste. This superior grade organic oolong tea offers numerous nutritional benefits including weight management, diabetes management, and mental health. Think wellness; embrace flavor.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Creme Brulee Grey Black Tea/Plum Deluxe
Earl Grey tea is black tea with bergamot flavor, and there is a huge difference in natural bergamot – a type of sour orange – and artificial. Some people think they don’t like Earl Grey because they tried either a tea made with a poor substitute for the real deal or a base that too lemony and astringent to take on sour orange. Others love the stuff, any old way.
Enter Creme Brulee black tea. Plum Deluxe has blended a strong black tea base with orange peel, jasmine flowers (<3), blue cornflower, bergamot oil, vanilla extract, and….here I quote the package…love and gratitude.
This tea is STRONG. I don’t mean strong, in-your-face bergamot. I mean they didn’t wimp out on us for the black tea base. It is quality stuff. The first cup has deep, dark, rich color. The bergamot flavor is strong enough to please an Earl Grey lover, and balanced enough with the other ingredients to please the reluctant. The addition of vanilla adds a nice creaminess, and jasmine sweetens it. The aftertaste leaves a brisk tingle on the tongue.
To stretch my sample, I made a second steep. It was good, and sufficiently strong! In future, I would blend the two steeps together at the outset and double my tea dollar. The price is reasonable for a blend of this quality, but more money equals more tea! I was smitten with their Reading Nook blend, so I want to get the most bang for my buck so I can get all the teas I love and share them, too.
I checked out their accessories page and saw quite a few items that would make great gifts…or treats for me! I was rather taken with the pewter dragonfly strainer, but the Victorian infuser was really nice as well. This is also one of the more reasonable subscription boxes. Take a look!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Description
Creme Brulee Earl Grey was the winner in our recent customer appreciation month vote – it won by a landslide, which tells you how good it is. The creamiest of cream earl greys, the brisk bergamot notes balance nicely wonderful rich cream notes. It makes a dandy London Fog (earl grey latte) or just enjoy it with your favorite tea cookie or biscuit.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Keemun Mao Feng Black Tea Grade One/AprTea Mall
Keemun is my absolute favorite tea for breakfast. Once upon a time long ago, if you asked for breakfast tea, Keemun was what you were given. These days, even specifically ordering English Breakfast can result in many different types of tea being delivered to you, with Assam or Kenyan tea being the most likely to show up at your table. There are many, many kinds!
But Keemun is gentler on my stomach and still has that “start the day” vibe. Although I rarely add anything to my tea, Keemun can take additions of milk and/or sugar and still shine. The taste is so great as is that I don’t want to dampen it.
This particular Keemun is the middle grade offered by AprTea Mall. I reserve the highest grades for afternoon tea or for drinking by themselves, and I don’t enjoy lower grade Keemun teas nearly as much, but I find a mid-grade to be just what I am looking for in a breakfast tea or to pair with a meal.
The leaves are very dark, long, and lightly twisted. These are whole leaves and not broken bits. The dry leaf aroma is fruity, and the wet leaf aroma is fruity and bright.
It has just enough heft and just enough cocoa or malt flavor to be paired with waffles and syrup and clear the palate without the pucker factor of most breakfast teas. This particular Keemun also has that hint of fruit that earns some of these the designation of a “winey” Keemun, although it is just a hint here and not terribly pronounced.
Overall, I deem this to be a good, serviceable Keemun that I can enjoy as a daily drinker.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: AprTea Mall
Description
Keemun Mao Feng (祁门毛峰): Keemun Mao Feng is a kind of Keemun Black Tea,has a more refined production process.using one bud and one leaf for full fermentation. the shape is cord tight knot small as eyebrow, the luster is Ukraine; tea aroma lasting fragrance, like fruit orchid fragrance, the aroma has this special name “Qimen fragrant” in the international tea market; tea soup color and leaf color is red and bright, the taste is fresh and thick, and even drink with milk and the sweet sugar, the aroma is not only reduced, but more fragrant.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mango Party/Wize Monkey
Well, technically this isn’t tea since “tea” means a beverage made from Camellia sinensis leaves, but it is a hot beverage derived from the leaves of a plant so here we go!
In my search for information about coffee leaf being used for beverages, I came across a documentary on the company website that was very informative. Many workers on coffee plantations must uproot their families as the coffee bean harvest ends. It makes it difficult for children to stay in school and to have consistency in their lives and causes interruptions to the family income. By learning to use the coffee leaves, the harvest is both increased and extended and the workers and the families have greater stability and higher income. It is worth a viewing when you have the time!
Now I am not a coffee drinker AT ALL so I am pleased to say that it does NOT taste like coffee.
Steeping the leaves has produced a beverage the same color as mango, and there is a natural mango aroma coming up in the steam from the cup. It is a nice, fruity smell without artificial candy scent. Note that other coffee leaf offerings may be darker as this company does many levels of oxidation just as can be done with tea.
The base does not taste like tea to me. It is pleasant, though. There is no bitterness to it and no drying of the tongue. It has medium body, creamy, with an aftertaste of wood and almost… smoke? I think of forest and find it to be mostly low notes.
The instructions say to resteep multiple times and that you don’t have to worry about oversteeping. I did keep to the suggestion of going two to three minutes for the first and five minutes for the second. The second steep has less mango flavor but now the coffee leaf flavor stands out much more, and it is just as full-bodied if not more so. I think of how Graham Kerr used to talk about mouth-roundness of flavor, and that is what I get from this.
If you enjoy trying new things, this is worth a shot! You may find a new flavor love.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Coffee Leaf
Where to Buy: Wize Monkey
Description
It’s like a mango party in your mouth!
- Our award-winning CLTea base blended with fruity and fragrant mango flavour
- Delivers antioxidants like mangiferin and chlorogenic acids
- Put your steeping on autopilot: can’t over-steep it, add hot water as needed for more cups
- Ingredients: Coffee Leaf Tea, dried mango chunks, calendula petals, natural mango flavour
- How to steep: 2.5g per 250mL/8 fl. oz cup, use freshly boiled water, steep for minimum 4 minutes
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Puerh/Numi
Sometimes I read up on a tea before trying it. Sometimes I just make a cup and start sipping. I figured “chocolate” and “puerh” were pretty self-explanatory so I boiled some water and got down to business.
I expected the earthy flavor of puerh tea and rich chocolate or cocoa taste. Before I even tasted it, I smelled something more akin to Mexican hot chocolate. What’s going on here?
The first sip offered a sweet spice that I wasn’t expecting. I knew I tasted cinnamon and something else…nutmeg! And cardamom! The puerh flavor is pretty light, the chocolate flavor is mild enough not to cover up the spices and thankfully doesn’t have that horrible mildew odor that some chocolate teas have. There is honeybush and rooibos in this, which must be part of the foundational symphony of flavors because they don’t stand out on their own to me. I actively dislike rooibos so for me to enjoy this means there isn’t much here, or it is adequately covered by the other flavors. I am not really picking up the orange flavor, and I am glad because orange + cinnamon has been done to death!
We don’t do tea bags much. Bags that are dirt cheap usually aren’t a quality that we enjoy. Bags that are not dirt cheap need to resteep for us or they just aren’t worth buying. I am on steep three for this one. I approve!
TLDR: light earthy puerh that tastes like cocoa with cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon, reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Numi Organic Tea
Description
This velvety infusion combines black Pu∙erh tea and organic cocoa. Accented by whole vanilla beans and sweet orange peel, this decadent blend is rounded off with nutmeg and cinnamon for a spicy finish.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!