Please check out my Kickstarter Campaign to Take Over 52Teas!
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Following the popularity of our other marshmallow treat genmaicha blends, we’ve created a special one for Valentine’s Day, with real freeze-dried cherries, marshmallow root and organic marshmallow and maraschino cherry flavors. This is a treat for your sweet tooth.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
After tasting a couple of cherry flavored teas lately that tasted more of cough syrup than tea, I cringed just a little (just a little!) when I read the announcement for the tea of the week of February 9th. But I was hopeful that this Cherry Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas wouldn’t go the same route as some of the other cherry teas I’ve tasted consumed in the past weeks. I hoped that this would taste as wonderful as it sounded, because the idea of having a cherry flavored marshmallow treat sounds delightful!
In fact, it sounds so delightful that before I brewed the tea, I asked my youngest daughter if she might be interested in trying the tea with me. She apparently thought it sounded yummy too, because she said yes. So, I brewed the whole 1/2 ounce package in my Breville One-Touch, using 1000ml of water. I set the temperature for 175°F and the timer for 2 1/2 minutes. These smaller 1/2 ounce pouches are just the right size for a teapot to share with a friend (or daughter!)
After allowing the tea to cool for a few minutes, I took my first sip. Mmm! I’m happy to say that while I taste cherry, I don’t taste cough syrup. This cherry flavor seems to have just the right balance between sweet and tart cherry flavors, because I’m getting a little bit of sweet and a little bit of tart. The tart tickles my taste buds in the aftertaste.
The genmaicha has a light, slightly grassy taste and adds a nice, toasty flavor and the rice notes add a rice cereal kind of flavor. The marshmallow adds a little bit of fluffy, creamy taste but I find myself wanting just a tad more marshmallow in this.
Overall, this is really tasty. My daughter enjoyed it too. I still favor the “Original” Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha – which I’ll be reblending when I take over 52Teas! Please take a moment to stop over at my campaign and support my efforts to save this small business while creating fantastic teas!
Kenyan Gold Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Description:
Kenyan Gold 80’s is a luxury, top quality tea from the “Extra Fresh” family of teas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried a couple of different teas from Rington’s Premium English Teas now, and I think that this Kenyan Gold Tea might be the best one that I’ve tried thus far.
Yes, it’s a bagged tea. Yes, I know that I’ve been ‘bagging’ on bagged teas a lot lately. I guess after spending the last six plus years tasting teas and writing about what I’m tasting has shaped my opinions about bagged teas because as I’ve said before (and am likely to say again) – loose leaf tea is superior.
But this bagged tea is actually quite pleasant. The flavor of the Kenyan tea is rich and flavorful. It’s nice and smooth. There’s very little astringency to this and no bitterness. Just smooth, rich flavor that is bold and invigorating.
To achieve this flavor, I brought my kettle to a boil and put one bag into my mug and poured 8 ounces of boiling water over the bag. I let this steep for 2 1/2 minutes.
It’s a little sweet with a flavor that is somewhere between molasses and caramel. It has some fruit notes – reminiscent of raisin and plum. Hints of earth. Notes of leather. It has a pleasant, round flavor. Nice.
Unwind Tisane from NudiTea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: NudiTea
Tea Description:
Lost your chill? You can rest assured our UNWIND blend is the tea for you. Chamomile blossoms complimented with spearmint leaves work harmoniously together to strip away stress and anxieties, leaving you calm and relaxed. These delectable tea leaves are sourced from lush fields in Egypt, so now you can sleep like an Egyptian.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Before I get into this – the final review of NudiTea’s teas – I want to tell you a little bit about the packaging! The teas are packaged in mylar lined, kraft pouches that are handsomely stamped with the name of the tea. There isn’t really anything that stands out so much about the pouches, but what did stand out to me is the way these pouches were packaged in the box.
The teas were wrapped up in Kraft paper and then tied with twine cord and there was a little tag tied onto the cord, like a gift! I’ve mentioned before that I love it when there is some special attention paid to details like this. It was such a joy to receive this package!
But the packaging wouldn’t mean a whole lot if I didn’t enjoy the teas. Fortunately, I found their Body tea to be tasty and I also enjoyed their Focus blend. And I’m actually quite enjoying this Unwind blend too!
As I’ve said (many times) – I’m just not all that excited when it comes to chamomile. However, chamomile is certainly a useful herb when it comes to unwinding and sometimes, I need to do just that so I turn to chamomile when I need to relax and destress.
Today is a day like that – I’ve had a very busy day and now it’s time to calm down and get ready to rest. So, I brewed a cup of Unwind Tisane from NudiTea. This is a blend of Egyptian chamomile and spearmint.
And while chamomile isn’t my favorite herb, I have to admit that I’m finding this blend to be rather tasty. The sweet, apple-y, honeyed notes of the chamomile meld really nicely with the minty notes of the spearmint. Normally, I prefer peppermint over spearmint because I like the zestier flavor of the peppermint, but for a calming, relaxing herbal tea such as this, spearmint is the perfect choice. It’s a little softer and the chamomile helps to soften it even more so that I’m just getting a smooth, even minty note without the sense of invigoration that I often experience with mint teas.
If you want your tisane a little sweeter, add a dollop of honey. I found it to be quite enjoyable straight. Very soothing, very relaxing and a really nice way to “unwind”!
We’re Going To Try It Again!
Please visit our Kickstarter campaign!
Our first Kickstarter campaign was not funded successfully because we didn’t reach our goal of $10,000. When we reached a point that we realized that we may have been reaching just beyond our grasp, we sat down and reanalyzed our budget and reconsidered our list of needs.
We decided that while a few pieces of the equipment would be really nice and definitely put to good use, they were not absolutely necessary to the function of the business. We could get by without a couple of those items for the first few months of operations until we got up and running and then we could reinvest in our business and get those items we needed.
The same is true for the inventory order that we were looking to place. We were looking to get a bit more than was needed for a modest start because it was my initial hope that we could get enough inventory to keep us going for at least two or three months so that I wouldn’t have to place a lot of orders. We’ll have a lot to do in those first couple of months and I figured the fewer things on the to-do list, the better.
But I realize that anything worth doing and anything worth having is worth the extra work to get it. So, we cut back on the extras and we streamlined our budget and reduced our goal. And we’ve launched a new Kickstarter with this fresh, new frame of mind!
Our new ‘start up’ date for our first tea of the week would be June 1st!
Please support our Kickstarter Campaign by clicking here. Remember, every little bit helps! And we aren’t asking for a hand-out here! For contributions as little as $5, you’ll receive a pouch of tea! We are asking for your support and in return, we’ll gladly send you some tea!
Thank you!
Halpewatte Ceylon Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
The basis of Earl Grey tea! Ceylon tea is a sweet, brightly orange colored (once-brewed) black tea harvested in the lush hills of the island of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon). This is a fantastic introductory tea, a great tea for the black tea lover, and an extraordinary tea for blending purposes. Ceylon tea is just brisk enough to be uplifting, but light enough to not be bitter or off-putting. It truly is a remarkable black tea that belongs in every tea-lover’s collection.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Halpewatte Ceylon Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company is a really nice Ceylon. It’s very much what I expect from a Ceylon tea – a mild, even-toned, medium-bodied black tea.
But what it doesn’t have that other Ceylon teas often do: It’s not overly astringent nor am I picking up on any indication of bitterness. This Ceylon has a really pleasant, smooth delivery.
To brew it, I used my Breville One Touch and measured 2 bamboo scoops into the basket. Then I poured 500ml of water into the kettle of the tea maker and set the thermometer for 212°F (boiling!) and the steep time for 2 1/2 minutes.
The tea brews up coppery and has a pleasant fragrance. I pick up on light floral notes in the aroma. Nice.
The flavor, as I said, is smooth. It’s brisk and invigorating without being aggressive. Notes of flower in the distance and a touch of citrus at the finish. It’s really quite enjoyable and much of what I’d expect from a Ceylon.
It’s flavorful – it tastes like tea. It tastes like a good black tea. It’s the kind of tea that I think every tea drinker can appreciate.
I personally prefer this tea straight up. I think that it would take the addition of honey or sugar well, if you like to add those to your tea. It would probably even take the addition of milk or cream well, although I think that this tea could be easily overwhelmed so add it with a light hand.
Delightful hot, really nice iced too. Add a thin slice of lemon or a sprig of mint and enjoy!