OK, if you’re a regular visitor to this blog, then you probably are already aware of the fact that I have a Kickstarter Campaign going. I’m trying to raise funds to be able to buy 52Teas from Frank Horbelt (the chief Zoomdweebie!) and also purchase the equipment, inventory and supplies that I’ll need to get the business ‘kickstarted’ under new management.
My daughter, Amethyst, will be the one running the business. She’s a very smart and business savvy person. She’s detail oriented and she’ll be just the right balance for me. I’m the artist. I’ll be creating the tea blends. And if you’re interested in some of the ideas that I have for future tea blends, check out this update where I listed April’s teas – should we happen to get this Kickstarter campaign funded!
But those amazing teas can’t happen unless this Kickstarter Campaign gets funded! Every little bit helps! If you only have $5 or $10 to contribute, that’s alright, that will help me get that much closer to my goal – and remember, I’m not asking you to just give me your money here. You choose an incentive – you’re actually buying tea in advance from me:
- $5 will buy you your choice of one of the April Teas or one of the top five reblends (as voted on by Steepster) -or- one of the reblends that wins the ‘vote’ throughout the course of the campaign in the “taster” (1/2 ounce) size.
- A $10 contribution will buy you your choice of the top five reblends -or- one of the reblends that are voted on throughout the course of the Kickstarter campaign.
There are many different incentives to choose from. Some allow you to choose a reblend! Some allow you to create your own tea of the week -or- you can become an ambassador to 52Teas and create your very own VIT (Very Important Tea) which will be named after you (or perhaps after a special occasion – what a great gift for that tea lover on your shopping list!)
Please help us save 52Teas! Please help me get back into the art of blending teas and help my daughter and I become business partners in the process! Please help make our dream come true!
Key Lime Flavored Black Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Tea Description:
What do you think of when you taste a Key Lime? Waves breaking along the coastline of southern Florida? Lazy summer days? Bright sunshine? The limes grown in the Florida Keys are one of the world’s best loved, and sweetest citrus fruits. When used as a garnish the juice of the Key Lime will brighten any dish or dessert. It goes without saying that this is a truly great dessert tea. Brew a pot, sit back and think sunshine. Or, brew a pitcher for iced tea and be in the sunshine!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a really delightful tea to be drinking on a day like this. The weather is cold and drizzly outside but inside, I’m sitting here, curled up with a hot cup of this Key Lime Tea from Culinary Teas and it’s like a taste of summertime in my teacup. The flavor of the lime is bright and refreshing.
The black tea base is a Ceylon tea. It’s very much what I’d expect from a good quality Ceylon tea: smooth, mild tasting, even tempered. It isn’t an overly aggressive tasting tea and it isn’t too astringent. It’s pleasant and medium-bodied.
It’s a good base for the tart flavor of lime. I like that the lime is strong here without being overwhelming. And I also appreciate that it’s not abundantly tart. It’s tart enough to tell you that this is a lime flavored tea, but not so tart that I’m puckering as I sip.
Served hot, this tea makes a really nice afternoon tea. But this tea really shines as it cools, I found that the Key Lime notes really popped once it cooled. This would make a stunning iced tea!
Tropical Green Tea from Octavia Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Tea Description:
This tea is so much more than what “tropical” might conjure in your mind. There’s sweet tropical flavours for sure, but there’s also an amazing floral character that envelopes the entire tea, a fun citrus finish that blends well with the vegetal notes of the green tea. So hard to describe, you should probably just try it.
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It seems to me that most tea companies out there that offer flavored tea selections offer a ‘tropical’ flavored tea. Some might offer a tropical flavored black tea, some might offer a tropical flavored white tea, and some might offer a tropical flavored green tea. But it seems to be a very popular flavor profile.
And these tropical flavored teas may be a little different from one another. They might have any flavor combination of coconut, pineapple, mango, papaya, banana or passion fruit – or other ‘tropical’ fruit. The name ‘tropical’ leaves the door open very wide for interpretation.
But even though the base might be different and the fruit combination different, it seems to me that most of the tropical flavored teas that I’ve tried in the past (and I’ve sampled quite a few in my years as a tea reviewer!) … well, most of them blend together into a very abstract sort of painting that represents the many different tropical fruit flavored teas that I’ve tasted. Not many of them really stand out as a memorable tropical fruit flavored tea, not many of them really step forward in my memory as one that is uniquely different from the crowd.
Until now.
This. This Tropical Green tea from Octavia is deliciously different. Uniquely different. Memorably different!
It’s the grapefruit! The grapefruit adds a really lovely note to this tea that is quite unlike any other tropical fruit flavored tea that I can remember.
The passion fruit and mango are two sweet fruit flavors and they are beautifully contrasted by the tart and slightly bitter notes of grapefruit. The grapefruit adds a bright element to the cup that really perks up the flavors and keeps the tea from tasting like your average, every day tropical tea offering that you’ll find from other tea companies.
Not to say that those tropical teas are not tasty – I enjoyed most of what I tried. But this one is on another level. And the grapefruit has made all the difference.
I don’t taste much of a floral note from the rose, but that’s alright. The rose can be there just to beautify the blend and make it visually interesting. I’m alright with that. Because the grapefruit makes this tea a delightful tasting tea that it doesn’t need anything else. There is a tantalizing sweetness from the passion fruit and mango and there is appealing contrast from the grapefruit. Perfection!
I’ve enjoyed the other teas that I’ve tried from January’s box from Amoda, but this tea elevated the box from really good to GREAT! Have you subscribed to Amoda yet? If not, why not? What are you waiting for?
Superfine Keemun Mao Feng Black Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Keemum Mao Feng, one special variety of Keemun black tea origins from Qi Men County in Anhui province of China, has famous reputation for its peculiar aroma and shape. It has also been made widely familiar as one of the four world’s best black tea. It is carefully processed so that the shape of the tea leaves resemble that of the Mao Feng Green Tea. This is why it got the name “Keemum Mao Feng“.
With the thin and twisted strips of tea leaves and peculiar aroma (fruity mixed with orchid-like), those russet interwoven tea leaves look neat and taste wonderful.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried a couple of different Keemun black teas from Teavivre and enjoyed the ones that I’ve tasted – so it’s no surprise to me that I’m also enjoying this Keemun Mao Feng from Teavivre. What can I say? Teavivre has never failed me yet!
When I opened the pouch of this tea, I could smell the fruity notes immediately. Hints of flower just beneath the delightful fruit notes with hints of earth in the background.
To brew this, I used my Breville One-Touch. Two bamboo scoops were measured into the basket of the tea maker and 500ml of water was poured into the jug. Then I set the parameters for 212°F (boiling) and 2 1/2 minutes. A few minutes later, I had a delightfully fragrant pot of tea. The fruit and flower notes are still there, tempting me to take a sip.
I’m not one to resist temptation, so after allowing the tea to cool to a drinkable temperature, I gave in to the temptation and began to enjoy this wonderful tea.
The fruit and floral aromas translate to the flavor. It tastes fruity, reminiscent of stone fruit (I taste plum) and notes of orchid. I also taste a raisin-y sweetness to this. It has some wine-like notes to it too, I taste notes of black currant toward the finish and the slightly dry astringency toward the tail play to that wine-like character.
Quite often with a Keemun tea, I experience a smoky note, but I’m not getting a strong smokiness from this one. Perhaps hints of smoke in the distance. This one is more fruity and wine-like than it is smoky.
It’s a satisfying tea, I think I’d want this one as an afternoon pick-me-up rather than a morning tea. It doesn’t have the really strong, malty flavors that I like a morning tea to have (and generally, Keemun teas don’t!) but it does have that beautiful fruity flavor that I like in an afternoon tea.
A really nice Keemun. Then again, you can’t go wrong with Teavivre. If you haven’t yet tried a tea from Teavivre, you really should! They are one of the finest tea companies from which I’ve had the great honor to review teas.
Gingerbread House Genmaicha Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
With marshmallow root, orange peel and a touch of peppermint blended into our Japanese Genmaicha, we tried to infuse a whole gingerbread house (gingerbread, orange gumdrops and spice drops, creamy frosting and all) into one tea. I think we did pretty well, but you’ll just have to find out for yourself.
Learn more about this blend here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Please check out my campaign to take over 52Teas here! Please help me keep 52Teas alive and kicking out those teas every week!
Taster’s Review:
I really liked that when I opened the pouch – I could smell GINGER! I like my gingerbread to be heavy on the ginger flavor, I like that punch of ginger flavor, but all too often when it comes to gingerbread, I’m of the opinion that there just isn’t enough ginger to call it gingerbread.
So I was happy that I could smell ginger here. The brewed tea smells a bit less like ginger (or gingerbread) and a bit more like brewed genmaicha with it’s nutty, toasty essence. There are some warm notes of ginger, the fragrance of the ginger is just not as strong as it was with the dry leaf. I’m also picking up on some sweet, cakey notes in the scent too. It smells quite yummy.
Even though I like to let the tea cool a bit before I start writing a lot about it, I couldn’t stop myself from taking a little sip while it was still quite hot. Mmm! I have a really good feeling about this tea. It’s going to be a cupful of yum!
And it is! I like that the ginger is dominate, but it isn’t overpowering the other flavors. This tastes the way I want my gingerbread to taste – with a strong ginger note. I can also taste notes of creamy, marshmallow-y icing and notes of orange.
These flavors don’t overwhelm the genmaicha tea which is sweet and nutty with a really nice pleasant roasty-toasty flavor. I like the way these flavor of the genmaicha taste with the gingerbread house flavors. It’s sweet but not too sweet because the nutty flavors add some dimension to it to make it not so candy or cake-y that it ends up tasting cloying.
It’s a really fun flavor.
This one resteeps well too. The flavors are less distinctly “Gingerbread House” and more like a gently spiced cookie. It’s still quite tasty though and definitely worth the effort to resteep it, so hang on to those leaves!
I see that this tea has sold out, so I am hoping that other customers have enjoyed this tea as much as I did so that when it comes time to vote for reblends – this one will eventually get reblended!