Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
The material we chose is grade one leaf picked in 2006 and ripened in 2007. The raw material is from the most remote area in Lincang and is far from cities, roads. This makes for a very pure tea with no worries about pollution from cities.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Confession time: I have been putting off trying this 2011 Phatty Cake Pu-erh from Mandala Tea for a long time. Why? Because it’s pu-erh. It’s all about that seemingly ingrained attitude toward pu-erh.
Fortunately, since it IS pu-erh, a little aging isn’t going to hurt it and may actually prove to be beneficial.
Since it’s a rainy night and I wanted something mellow and contemplative to sip on a night like tonight, I figured it was the right time to finally try some of this Phatty Cake! I pried some of the material off of the cake – just enough to be about a bamboo scoop of tea leaves – and put it into the bowl of my gaiwan. Then I heated my kettle to 190°F and did a 15 second rinse before infusing the leaves for 30 seconds.
I didn’t take this for the usual 45 second infusion because by the time we reached 30 seconds, the tea was quite dark.
This first infusion is quite nice. Mellow. Deep and smooth. No astringency. A sweet, caramel-y flavor with notes of earth. The earthiness reminds me of mushroom and tobacco. Now, I’v never actually tasted tobacco, but my father had a pipe at one time and the taste of this tea evokes thoughts of the aroma I remember from the pipe tobacco. As I continue to sip, I pick up on a raisin-y quality and the sugary sweetness that goes along with the dried fruit.
My second infusion (30 second infusion) tastes a bit earthier than the first. Definitely a stronger tobacco note. Toward the finish, I’m picking up on a slight mineral-y note. I am still getting that deep sweetness – but it’s more of a dry fruit sweetness than a caramel-y note this time. I’m not getting much caramel this time around, and I miss it.
Later infusions mellowed out a little bit on the earthiness – and I was grateful for that. I found the second cup to be a little too earthy for my liking and without the lovely caramel-y notes to accompany those earthy tones, it was a bit of a disappointment. But my third infusion (another 30 second infusion!) had a lighter earthy note and it was sweeter with notes of molasses. Quite nice!
I found that I liked this tea better with each infusion after the third infusion. As I’ve already said, the second was a bit too earthy for me, but after that, I was experiencing some really delightful sweetness from this tea. I also noticed that as those earthy flavors lightened up a little, I was able to explore some wonderful flavors, including a hint of mint! That was a pleasant surprise!
Mandala Tea doesn’t have their Phatty Cake in Cake form, but it is currently available as a loose tea. Mandala is a top-notch company, I recommend them highly!
Organic Teatox Tea from Fit Life Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Fit Life Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Say goodbye to weight gain, bloating and digestive stress. Two daily cups of Organic Teatox can help burn fat, stimulate weight loss, boost your immune system and cleanse your digestive system.
Our pyramid tea bag extracts maximum flavor to infuse more essential oils and flavor into your cup. Steeping releases purifying dynamic ingredients that can ease bloating and, together with proper diet and exercise, help promote weight loss.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve never been one to go for the whole ‘detox’ or weight loss tea fads that are going around because I basically don’t buy it. I’ve been drinking tea for years and I simply do not believe that simply drinking tea (or a specially crafted tea blend) will cause significant weight loss. If you want to lose weight, you need to change your overall diet and you need to exercise. Drinking tea isn’t going to be your miracle weight loss cure. If it was, after drinking all the tea I’ve consumed over the last ten years, I’d have a body like Jennifer Aniston. I don’t.
But, that doesn’t mean that drinking tea doesn’t offer you some great health benefits because I believe that there are health benefits to tea. I just don’t think it’s the cure-all that some tea companies try to suggest in an effort to sell their product. But as long as you find a tea that also tastes great, there’s nothing wrong with adding tea to your diet to enjoy some health benefits.
But you’re not going to know if it tastes great until you try it – .so I decided that I’d give this Organic Teatox Tea from Fit Life Tea Company a try
To steep this tea, I placed 1 sachet in an 8 ounce teacup and heated freshly filtered water to 195°F. Then I poured the heated water over the sachet and let it steep for 6 minutes. Then I let it cool completely before I poured it into the Fit Life BPA-Free Plastic Bottle (I’ll review that in a few days!) and refrigerated it to get it nice and cold.
Before I let it cool, I did take a sip of the hot tea to determine if I liked it better hot or cold. (Since they did send me the bottle, I decided that I needed to try it iced!) And so I’ll start by saying that this tisane is definitely better iced. The hibiscus loses some of its biting tartness. Oh, it’s still tart, but, it’s not quite as tart as what I experienced from the hot tea.
Fortunately, the apple in this softens the tartness of the hibiscus just a bit. And the allspice gives it a nice little hint of spice. I think hibiscus is much better when it’s in the midst of some spice like it is here. The contrast between the warm spice and the tart hibiscus works nicely.
Overall, this is actually quite tasty. The combination of the tart hibiscus, the sweet apple and the warmth of the allspice creates a very palatable taste. I would recommend to not oversteep this, at 6 minutes, there is a pleasant texture to the drink, but I think if I had steeped it longer, it might have been a tad too syrupy. If you like that kind of texture from your hibiscus beverages – then go for it!
It surprises me to say this, but I’d drink this again. That’s not something I’d say often about a tea with hibiscus as the main ingredient, so kudos to Fit Life Tea!
Fit Life Tea Company has this Teatox in two different sizes, a 14 day detox and a 28 day detox.
Goomtee China Classic First Flush Black Tea from Udyan Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Udyan Tea
Tea Description:
Goomtee is a very well known Darjeeling heritage garden planted with pure china bushes almost a century ago. Picked from special section of the garden called Ghani between 3000-4000 sq.ft. height, this tea is for the strong hearted first flush lovers as it has a strong body with a very slight tinge of muscatel (grape flavour usually associated with second flush Darjeelings). It is a well balanced cup that leaves a stong after taste as well. With repeated steepings, the liquor becomes sweeter and midler. Perfect tea for long winding day with a good book in hand to read.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a treat! I love it when I get to try the new teas of the season! This Goomtee China Classic First Flush Black Tea from Udyan Tea is wonderful.
As I’ve confessed before, when it comes to Darjeeling teas, I generally prefer a 2nd flush to a 1st flush because I do love those grape-y, muscatel notes of the 2nd flush. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t find things to love about the first flush Darjeeling teas.
This has a slightly stronger taste than I would normally associate with a Darjeeling. I still tastes very crisp and Darjeeling-esque to me, but it’s a little bit more forward than the “usual” light flavors of a Darjeeling.
And there is a muscatel note too! It’s not as dominate as in a second flush Darjeeling, but it’s there – a delicate, muscat grape note that lingers in the background at the beginning of the sip and comes forward a little bit as the sip progresses. Lovely!
Floral notes weave their way throughout the sip. A sweet note that almost tastes as though someone drizzled a drop or two of honey in my cup. Notes of wood, hints of fruit that complement the muscat grape notes, and a slightly dry, wine-like finish.
Another fantastic tea from Udyan Tea – if you haven’t yet tried teas from them, I highly recommend checking them out!
Limited Edition AliShan High Mountain Black Tea from Oollo Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Oollo Tea
Tea Description:
Alishan Mountain is known for its amazing mountain oolong teas however it also produces small limited batches of black teas. This particular 2014 harvest brews a prominent cacao chocolate flavour with wooden musky aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Ohhh … lovely! This Limited Edition AliShan High Mountain Black Tea from Oollo Tea is absolutely wonderful – just exactly the tea that I needed this afternoon!
This isn’t as robust a black tea as an Assam or even a Ceylon might be. Instead, imagine an AliShan Oolong meets a top-quality Fujian black tea. That’s what this tastes like to me – like the love child of a marriage between an AliShan Oolong and a Fujian Black.
I get those sweet notes of cacao that I’d taste in a Fujian Black but I get the soft, almost creamy body of an AliShan Oolong. It’s rich and full-flavored but not as robust and aggressive as a typical black tea.
And it’s smooth! Oh so smooth. I am getting very little astringency and no bitterness. I taste notes of a woodsy flavor and the aforementioned cacao. Hints of sweet, buttery caramel. Notes of flower and peach.
A truly remarkable tea. This is the kind of black tea that I’d recommend for afternoon tea drinking – it isn’t as robust as I would want from a breakfast tea. But don’t let that dissuade you from trying this tea – because you really should try this tea. It’s so good!
Lemon-Lime Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Here’s our sweet, hay-like organic shou mei white tea fannings paired with the delicious tartness of organic lemon and lime flavors. It might not be as complicated as some of our other tea blends, but it will definitely put a smile on your face.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Lemon-Lime Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas … not the most innovative flavor combination out there, but, I do like the combination of lemon and lime.
There is a delicate, creamy, lightly sweet flavor to the Shou Mei tea that gives the tart, tangy notes of the citrus some contrast. The lemon and lime flavors are strong enough to be tasted, but delicate enough to allow the white tea to shine through.
It’s crisp and refreshing. It’s tart and a little bit sweet, too. Is it my favorite iced tea flavor from SBT? No, I can’t say that it is. But, it is tasty. It has a really light, refreshing taste that I enjoy and I think that this would be a real crowd pleaser – perfect to serve at your next family BBQ!