Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Creamy Eggnog is part of our holiday series that encompasses a number of holidays from different religions. Many people might not think of eggnog as their number one choice for a Christmas flavor but Eggnog is particularly important in my family’s tradition of celebrating Christmas. Eggnog always marked the beginning of the Christmas season and was the last thing we would drink before we would try to go to sleep Christmas Eve. As a child, getting any sleep Christmas Eve would have been a miracle. There was always so much excitement and anticipation building. Creamy Eggnog pairs our buttery Organic Huangshan Mao Feng with a rich creamy eggnog flavor. The tea and flavor work well with each other and neither overshadows the other. This tea is sweet with a heavy cream and eggy quality. Add a little brown crystal sugar and the tea becomes extremely creamy, rich, and very much like eggnog. Some vanilla notes become pronounced and so do the egg notes. We added safflower for a touch of red for a festive Christmas colored tea.
Ingredients: Organic Chinese Tea, Safflower, Organic Natural Flavoring
Recommended Brew Time: 4 minutes
Recommended Amount: 2 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 180 FLearn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Creamy Eggnog from Butiki Teas is a tea that I could drink anytime of day, all year long. I don’t need a holiday to sip on this creamy wonder!
There is such a sweet and subtle spice in this tea but the vanilla cuts it so that it does not come off on the palate as a spiced tea at all. I get just a hint of a note of nutmeg in the cup. The tea sits somewhat heavily on the palate and the mouthful is very creamy indeed. So unexpected from such a light colored tea, which is a clear, and pale, sunny yellow.
The base tea, Huangshan Mao Feng has a nutty, buttery flavor that truly compliments this blend.
Completely organic, and vegan this tea is sure to please anyone and everyone who tastes it.
An excellent flavor for the holidays or to satisfy that sweet tooth! Yes you can add rock sugar, or your favorite sweetener to it and it becomes even more decedent but if you are watching your sugar intake you really do not need it as this tea is stands on its own perfectly.
I tell you, this tea is screaming to be created into a latte with some frothed milk or milk substitute sitting on top! Add a little nutmeg or cinnamon – sinful … I’m going to go do that right now!
Nina’s Paris from Nina’s Paris
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Nina’s Paris
Tea Description:
Blood orange, peach, strawberry, cherry,
This tasty blend will fill you with its exquisite fruity flavour. Orange, peach, strawberry and cherry brightened with sunflowers to please all tastes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Nina’s Paris from Nina’s Paris tea company is their signature tea.
Upon steeping Nina’s Paris provides a lovely colored cup of an amber burnt orange hue.
The aroma is delightfully fruity with orange essence being most prominent.
The initial sip evokes the cherry flavors in such a pleasant way. Nothing like a medicinal cheery or artificial cherry flavor. As a matter of fact the flavors in this tea are delicious and quite natural with no residual “oily” look or texture floating on top of the cup. In fact the tea is so clear that I am highly pleased as I anticipated some type of oils from all the varied flavorings.
The best way to describe the flavor of this tea is sunny. It will bring a smile to your face. With all the different flavors one may think it is very powerful or strong on the palate but it truly is not. Its flavorful without being overwhelming and has a graceful subtlety.
It is wonderful how lovely the flavors meld, I can distinctly pick up all flavors of peach, strawberry, and cherry, and they blend in harmony.
I do believe this would make a scrumptious iced tea although you would want to use plenty of extra leaf to get it strong enough. It is a cheery, bright, sunny, yummy cup of fruity goodness!
Bao Zhong from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pouchong, Oolong
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
The Bao Zhong tea’s hand-picked, long, twisted pouchong tea leaves are slightly oxidized, brewing a fresh, jade-colored infusion with delicate notes of lilac and pear.
IngredientsOrganic Oolong Loose-Leaf Tea, Bao Zhong Tea, Pouchong Tea
CharacteristicsRefreshing, Organic, Unblended
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love a good pouchong and Bao Zhong from The Persimmon Tree fits this craving I am having! Its even better because it is organic!
The Persimmon Tree is dedicated to providing fair trade, organic, loose leaf teas. See more information about that here.
When I was young we had white lilac bushes growing between my home and my neighbor’s home. They were so beautiful and oh so fragrant. This tea takes me back to those years.
The floral after taste is lovely, light, and lingering. It makes me feel as though I have a vase full of flowers right next to me. The pear note is really quite light and I am not sure that I detect it as well as I could but it does have a very naturally sweet note with the littlest bit of a tang from the pear note.
What I love is that there is nothing like a good pouchong. It has such a wonderfully distinct flavor and aroma. Its something between coconut, vanilla, and floral scent that just captivates me, pulls me in, and won’t let me go, leaving me craving it for days after days until finally it allows my mind to release it long enough so that I can go back to other teas and rediscover this again, at a later time, each time fully being enraptured just as I was the last time I sipped it. Every time I have this pouchong its like a totally new experience all over again.
Wuyi Oolong Organic Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Description:
Origin: Wuyi Mountans, Fujian, China
Flavor Profile: Deep and complex…with a rich body, a roasted aroma, and sweet finish of raisin sugar, honeysuckle, and roasted barley. Warm and earthy notes of bittersweet chocolate and peat moss. Expertly dark roasted, the Wuyi oolong has very little floral notes. If you are a coffee lover, this tea will steal your heart away.
Tea Story: This long rolled oolong tea harks from the remote and ancient cliffs Wu Yi Mountains in Northern Fujian province. Produced in China since the 18th century, our dark-roasted Wuyi is also know as Wuyi Qi Lan, Wuyi’s Profound Orchid.
Our Wuyi’s nutty, dark-roasted flavor profile has won over many a coffee-drinker. If you’re someone who’s trying to wean themselves from coffee, this Wuyi is the perfect step into the world of tea. Trust us, we’ve seen many stave off coffee-withdrawal with a smile, sipping the Wuyi.
Samovarian Poetry: A climactic eruption of tea intoxication. Hauntingly ambrosial, with an evolving complexity of carmelized raisins, roasted barley, smoked bittersweet chocolate, & aged peat moss.
Food Pairing: This is the best oolong for pairing with deserts. The roasted, nutty flavors pair excellently with dark and milk chocolate, sweet creams, and the dense sweetness of baked figs or juicy dates stuffed with chevre.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wuyi Oolong Organic Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge is a good starter Wuyi but at the price for this specific tea may not be worth it to those just starting out. This is a good tea, with notes of honey, cocoa, rock mineral, peat, salt, and lingering floral after notes, but with that said there are many other Wuyi Oolong out there at a much more affordable price tag, that are just as good, if not better.
Please don’t take this wrong, as I do enjoy this tea quite a bit but there is a slight bitter note left behind when I recall what I paid for this tea, which leaves me a bit disenchanted with Samovar.
On the good side of this Wuyi Oolong Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge, there is a hardy, robust, flavor that would be excellent to serve to your coffee drinking pals. There is absolutely depth to this cup and some really wonderful flavors to explore. I also can detect some nuttiness and a creamy mouthfeel within the sip.
I feel this is an excellent tea to introduce your non tea drinking friends to as well as a great place to begin a tea journey. While there may be less expensive options out there to explore, this tea does provide one with a great starting place and a baseline to compare all others to. It has the elements one should expect and require of a good Wuyi however perhaps lacking in some elements it has all of the base notes one would need to start their knowledge from.
I do not regret this purchase, it was one of my first purchases back when I got into loose leaf tea and I do absolutely feel it set the parameter for what to expect from a good Wuyi.
Medium Roast Dong Ding from The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
The slow roasting of this tea gradually caramelizes its natural sugars and sweetens it, imparting notes of caramel, sweet roasted barley, and brown sugar.
Many of the names related to Taiwanese teas are tea-producing regions, tea-making styles, or both. Dong Ding is a tea gardening region in Nantou, Taiwan whose area name has become eponymous with its style of tea manufacturing. Dong Ding teas have a longer oxidization period and are also slowly baked at a high temperatures, with careful attention to how the flavors and aromas are changing throughout the baking process. The result is caramelized sweetness with a depth and complexity that literally makes your mouth water—it’s a phenomenon the Chinese call “Hui Gan.”
Other names: Tung Ting, 炭焙凍頂
Water: 95°C
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Medium Roast Dong Ding from The Mountain Tea Company is Mmmmmmm delightful! Dong Ding Oolong is my all time favorite tea. This tea brings me back to everything I first loved about loose leaf tea.
The mixture of sweetness with savory notes, the highlight of caramel infused with barley. The roasted flavors that remind me of being in the woods, in nature. The caramelized sugar notes, or brown sugar perhaps. I don’t really even care to dissect it as it is just one of those teas that makes me go “Ahhhhhh” and all I want to do is sit back, more like slink back, into the sofa and enjoy.
Now I was a child of the 70’s and Dong Ding has always reminded me of a very specific aroma, an aroma from a very specific plant species. Dong Ding to me has a lofting aroma of a product from this plant. Was that too vague? Either way, I find myself drawn to this aroma in a strange way. Again, child of the 70’s with a hippie father, perhaps it reminds me of my youth. Regardless, it tastes fabulous.
I really love the lingering floral taste the tea leaves behind. Yes, even beneath all the roasting, the caramel notes, brown sugar notes, sweet barley, and woods, this lovely little spring of floral note comes out just barely gracing your palate. Its lovely!
This is not THE sweetest Dong Ding I have ever tasted, and I do tend to enjoy the sweeter Dong Ding Oolongs, however this is one of the more refreshing Dong Ding Oolongs I have tasted. It leaves your month ready and wanting for more without leaving a drying sensation in the back of the throat or mouth. It makes the mouth water in anticipation of the next sip.