Even though I am a huge tea drinker, I do love my coffee as well. I actually start each day with coffee. Being not a morning person, I’ve bumbled tea steepings one too many times and it seems like coffee is just an easier choice for me- plus coffee is just an alluring smell for thing in the morning.
Recently I tried a coffee tea blend where there was actual coffee in the tea blend itself (not coffee flavorings) and I fell in love with this unique blend. Around the same time, Rave Coffee reached out to the SororiTea Sisters to see if we would be interested in checking out their coffee and it was like it was meant to be. When the coffee arrived- I was floored. The coffee smelled amazing, fresh, and vibrant. Along with the coffee was this really lovely education pack. I’ve never seen such a cool education guide to help you learn and explore your coffee. There is so much info on how to brew your coffee, how to taste it, they even included a coffee tea tasting log. Very very cool and slick in style.
Before I started experimenting with the tea and coffee blend, I decided I wanted to try the coffee on its own and it was amazing. My particular palette I feel is more set up to tastes the unique properties of tea more than coffee but what I can say is that this tea was divine. Rich, smooth, without any bitterness and addicting! I found myself eagerly drinking cup after cup as regular coffee, lattes, cold brews, you name it- I tried it- and always with success. Just plain delicious and highly recommended.
When it was time to start brewing the coffee up with tea- I decided to go with an blend of Assam to get that right taste. I also added a few cocoa nibs just to give the coffee and tea a bit more flavor to play off of. Brewed up the tea with 212F prepped water for right around 2 minutes. The result- Delicious mix of the two worlds that I adore- coffee and tea. Each flavor is allowed its own time in the spotlight- you can literally tell the familiar notes of coffee with the familiar notes of tea. I was assuming there might be a mixing of flavors but there really isn’t. Which sounds a bit odd, but I’m actually enjoying this and my own little experiment tastes a lot like the coffee tea blend I had not too long ago. I’m excited to really explore this idea more with different coffee and tea blends.
I’ve had several different coffee subscriptions from a lot of different places but Rave is one I’m really excited to get going to really take a deeper dive into all things coffee and possibly even blend up a puerh coffee blend on my own. Rave Coffee has so much to learn on their website just in general but it will be fun to really take the time to enjoy their coffee like I do some of my favorite teas and to take the time to really learn about that cup of joe I enjoy so much in the mornings.
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Where to Buy: Rave
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Peach & Apricot Green Tea/Joseph’s Tea -CuppaGeek-
These are incredibly busy days for me and my family. Besides a family situations we have going on, my 9-5 job is in the political arena so I’m pretty much working from the minute I wake up until the minute I’m heading to bed with emails still coming in. I do very much love my job but because of the craziness. . . .my tea drinking has fallen to the way side a bit and I’m missing my tea time so very much.
So after lunch the other day, I made it a priority to enjoy tea time (with snacks even) and grabbed a tea we recently relieved from Joseph’s Tea- Peach & Apricot Green Tea. This particular tea was in a tea bag so I knew that even if I had to quickly start working again, I would be able to easily keep drinking this delight.
Brewed with water at 170F and allowed to steep right around 3 minutes, this tea was a delightful surprise. Really sweet peachy notes with a subtle smoky flavor. I don’t get the apricot notes as much as I get the peachy notes, but I’ll be honest, I’m ok with that because of how lovely the peach flavor was.
This tea was really simple yet really lovely tea to enjoy and enjoy I did. This tea was my companion all afternoon. I found myself really digging the contrast of the sweet peach notes with the gunpowder green tea.
I did try for a few more resteeps and I was again pleasantly surprised. I can see this tea being a dynamite iced tea and something I will be trying in the future.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Joseph’s Tea
Description
Temple of heaven Gunpowder green tea with peach and Apricot flavoring. One of our best sellers!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
**gifted for review**
Yame Ceremonial Blend Matcha/Naoki Matcha -CuppaGeek-
Matcha, oh I love thee but how I have been disappointed in thee. Matcha is one of those teas that you really get what you pay for. If you pick up a cheaper priced matcha on say Amazon or in the grocery store, chances are you are going to get a matcha that you are not going to enjoy. I know. because I’ve done it. Those matchas aren’t bad in a pinch but once you’ve had the good stuff, you really crave that matcha from that moment on.
That is exactly what happened when I first enjoyed Yame Ceremonial Matcha from Naoki Matcha. I knew that I would only have the matcha for a short amount of time since I was sending the delight off to another one of the SororiTea Sisters to check out. So I took out my lovely whisk, my favorite bowl to whisk up some matcha in and went to work whisking and frothing up almond milk to add in at a later time.
I was in for a treat! This matcha is delicious and on point. Lovely notes of sweetness mingle beautifully with a hint of floral here or there along with a richness that I devoured. I really can’t say that I’ve ever picked up on floral notes in matchas I’ve enjoyed in the past so that was a unique experience. Beyond the floral notes, the smoothness that this matcha offers is just so alluring along with a touch of a buttery finish.
All in all, just lovely. Once I added in a dollop of frothed almond milk, I had myself a treat that almost seemed to good to be true for a matcha I whipped up at home that was unflavored without any additions beyond the dab of milk. Spot on, one of my favorite matchas that I’ve had in some time and I plan on picking up more once my current matcha supply runs low.
What is even better is that the matcha seemed to be a finer powder than I usually use and whisking up the matcha took no time. Highly recommend this one and a great matcha that is worth the price.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Matcha
Where to Buy: Naoki Matcha
Description
his blend won a Silver Award in a National Tea Competition. It has a naturally sweet taste with floral notes.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Hope Rekindled/Thesaurus Tea – CuppaGeek-
While checking over my email, I noticed an email about brain boosting tea and I was intrigued. More or less, because I’ve seen brain boosting teas more and more on Amazon and the like. One of the companies listed as having a brain boosting tea was Thesaurus Tea. Since I hadn’t ever heard of this particular company before and there was a picture of T-Rex drinking tea as their logo. . . I had to learn more. So a few minutes on the site and I had already set myself up with a tea of the month club and an order.
This particular tea blend caught my eye right away. I’ve been finding myself diving deeper into white teas lately and with this blend pairing the white tea with green tea, jasmine petals and bamboo leave- I was super intrigued.
Using the brewing parameters on the back of the sample package- this tea hit the spot on soooo many levels. I loved how the white and green mingled so beautifully. Typically with tea blends that use a white tea and a green tea, you can easily identify each of the teas while you enjoy the tea. But not so much with this blend. All of the flavors combine to give you a buttery rich floral slightly vegetal with a hint of honey cookie. Yes. Cookie. I’m getting cookie/dessert vibes from this tea blend and I’m 100% loving it. Each steep is just as good as the last and I’m just so in love with the vibes this blend is giving me.
Sadly, I used all of the tea I had for this first brew and I’m wishing I would have had a bit more to cold brew properly. But on the other hand, I couldn’t be happier with the results. I can imagine this tea would give off lovely light spring/summer notes as a cold brew. This wold be a lovely blend to share with others at a tea party.
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Leaf Type: White/Green
Where to Buy: Thesaurus Tea
Description
White tea, green tea, jasmine petals, bamboo leaves.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jin Jun Mei/Tealyra -CuppaGeek-
I’ve recently found that I’m getting more and more into straight teas. I’ve tried a few flavored teas to recently but I just felt that pull to pull out my gaiwan and experiment. I’ve found myself eager to sit down and spend the time to enjoy the tea sip by sip in smaller quantities and this tea is a beautiful example of why.
Not too long ago, I brewed this tea up in the traditional western fashion- teapot, few scoops of tea with water prepped at a bit below boiling, steeped for a few minutes, poured into my tea cup and enjoyed. While the tea was tasty with soft chocolate notes , I wanted to see how the flavor would change if brewed with gong fu style.
Now when I do gong fu, I do a modified version that works with not only my crazy busy job but my house in a whole. I don’t get too deep into measuring and making sure everything is on point. I 100% should because I’ve over leafed and under leafed on more occasions than I would like to admit, but in the same- I have a very go go go 8-5 and after work so I have just decided to pour and go. Eventually I’ll get to the point where I measure out the night before so I’m all prepared for the next day. Please forgive me that I don’t have all of the measurements to how exactly I steeped up this ditty.
Using my gaiwan, I popped in some leaf and water at 200F. Gave the leaves a quick rinse and quickly added in more water to go about my first infusion.
-First infusion: Delicious toffee notes with a small hint of chocolate and no astringency and a hint of malt. At this point, we are talking dessert tea here. Really lovely and nice. Can not get enough and the brew was gone in no time.
-Second infusion: Still those same delicious toffee notes but the chocolate touches are becoming a bit stronger.
-Third Infusion: Toffee notes are pretty distant now and the chocolate notes have also subsided a bit with the malt touches and a new astringency coming in.
-Fourth Infusion: The astringency is really the power player at this point and I’m thinking about taking the leaves to make a cold brew. Not a huge fan of super astringent teas and the brew is taking a turn in that direction.
Now, I was working the whole time I enjoyed this tea so probably if I would have timed the steeps, etc- the tea would have probably lasted for more infusions to my liking. All in all, love the adventure this tea took me on. I’m a big fan of this black tea anyway so I was excited to try a more intimidate way to enjoy the tea.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tealyra
Description
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Jin Jun Mei (Beautiful Golden Eyebrow in Mandarin) is a famous Chinese tea known for its deep auburn golden hue and delicate slender leaves, like a beautiful women’s eyebrow. It is one of the most beloved Chinese teas, grown and produced in Fujian province. In the springtime, the two small leaves are plucked from the stem and allowed to fully oxidize; this full oxidation gives Jin Jun Mei its deep and malty aromatic profile. Jin Jun Mei is made of slim black and gold tips, covered in a delicate golden fuzz. Once steeped, it has a smooth body and well rounded mouth-feel; its taste is sweet, honey-like, malty, velvety smooth and has hints of vanilla. Jin Jun Mei is best enjoyed straight, and try multiple steeping it multiple times! |