Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: White Two Tea
Tea Description:
The Barb’s breakfast black is an homage to my mother, who despite years of being baited with high-end Puer teas, still prefers to start her day with a heavily brewed pot of black tea in the morning. This Yunnan black tea blend is built to survive British style steeping as well as gongfu style brewing techniques. Well balanced daily drinking black tea with a classic style, versatile enough to enjoy with breakfast on the go or in a slow and quiet tea session.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about White Two Tea’s Tea Club Subscription here.
Taster’s Review:
A really lovely Yunnan!
This isn’t as robust as I expected it to be. Usually, I’m expecting a real wallop of flavor from a Yunnan tea, but this is more subdued. It’s like a mellow version of Yunnan – smooth, rich, flavorful, but without the gusto that I was expecting.
That’s not to say that this isn’t a really good tea – it is!
It’s just that with a Breakfast Blend moniker, I expected it to have the kind of kick that breakfast blends usually deliver. This is smoother and mellower, more like a gentle nudge awake rather than a swift kick in the pants.
I really love the smooth flavor of this. It’s nicely round. It has light notes of spice, like white pepper and hints of cinnamon. And I find that these gentle spice notes becoming more lovely with each sip. Not more intense, really, but more clearly defined.
I think that I’d be more likely to reach for this tea as a late morning tea or perhaps an early afternoon tea rather than my breakfast blend. For a breakfast blend, I prefer really strong teas with some edge, and this doesn’t have that kind of edgy flavor to it. This is more refined, like something you’d want after you’re already awake and alert, and now you want something to please the taste buds, because this tea certainly does that!
Rather than brewing this gongfu style as suggested in the above description, I brewed it in my Breville One-Touch. (I don’t like to brew black teas gongfu style, mostly because I don’t like to scorch the fingertips with the hot gaiwan.) I found it next to impossible to measure out a bamboo scoop of this tea because of the curly leaves, so instead, I poured the leaves into my hand and eyeballed a bamboo scoop measurement. I eyeballed two such measurements and put them both into the basket of the Breville, and then poured 500ml of water into the jug. The thermometer was set for 212°F and the timer for 2 1/2 minutes.
The result is a cup of perfection! Smooth with very little astringency. Flavorful with notes of earth, spice and leather. Hints of fruit in the background that continue to develop as I sip, and now that I’m more than halfway through my mug of tea, I taste a distinct plum-like note that is quite nice. I also taste distant notes of flower.
A really nice, complex cup of Yunnan!
French Lemon Creme Rooibos from Petali Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Tea Information:
Sometimes you just want a tea that’s bursting with fun flavour. We think it’s not too much to ask for that flavour punch to taste completely natural. Welcome French Lemon Creme with your luscious lemon and creamy vanilla sweetness. This is built on a green rooibos base, so the blend has extra health benefits from locking in the herb’s natural enzymes.
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I want to start this review by saying: the aroma of this tea smells just like what the name promises: It’s lemon and cream. And it’s lovely!
I was happy to see that this rooibos blend is a green rooibos blend which is my preference when it comes to rooibos teas. I like the fruity element of the green rooibos rather than the woody/nutty and sometimes gentle smoke note of the red rooibos (the red rooibos is oxidized to achieve it’s color, while the green rooibos is not oxidized.)
To steep this tea, I used my Kati Tumbler. I measured out 1 1/2 bamboo scoops of the tisane into the basket of my tumbler and added 12 ounces of water heated to 195°F. Then I let it steep for 10 minutes. Rooibos doesn’t get bitter because it isn’t tannic like camellia sinensis, so go ahead and let it steep – the flavors will just intensify. Do be sure to keep the temperature below boiling though, because you may get a ‘sour’ taste from rooibos if you steep it too hot.
Mmm! This is good. The aroma of the brewed tisane is still quite lemon-y and because of that, when I raise the tumbler to my lips and inhale deeply, I smell the lemon. My palate’s reaction to this is to prepare itself for something sour. But the sip doesn’t start out that way! Instead I get a sweet, creamy lemon taste, similar to lemon curd.
It isn’t until mid-sip that I start to pick up on the tart notes of the lemon. They aren’t a pucker-y tart, but just enough tart to let you know that hey, you’re tasting lemon! The creamy vanilla notes are strong right at first, and then they subside to let some of the bright lemon notes shine through.
I really like the way these two flavors have come together in this. It’s sweet but there’s enough tart to keep it interesting and to keep it from becoming too sickeningly sweet! And the rooibos base melds beautifully with these flavors, adding sweetness without taking away from the sunny lemon and the luscious cream flavor.
A really awesome rooibos blend. I don’t often say that about a rooibos blend, but this one has earned that praise!
Just a Little Reminder…
Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to post a little reminder to everyone who reads this blog that I – LiberTEAS – together with my oldest daughter, have launched a Kickstarter Campaign – please check out the campaign here!
As I mentioned in my previous post about this topic, Frank of Zoomdweebies – which is the ‘parent company’ of 52Teas and Southern Boy Teas – wants to narrow his focus on his iced tea business (aka Southern Boy Teas). As a result of this decision, he asked me if I wanted to take over the 52Teas brand.
Frank is also looking to expand Southern Boy Teas, please visit his Indiegogo campaign!
Success with these two campaigns will mean:
- Keeping 52Teas alive (Frank has said that he plans on closing 52Teas if we aren’t able to take it over!)
- Helping Southern Boy Teas grow into a nationally recognized brand.
I’m very excited about this opportunity! It’s a chance to get back into flavoring teas – something that I’ve missed quite a bit since closing LiberTEAS. I missed it more than I thought I would!
Please visit my Kickstarter campaign and help us reach our goal! We can’t do this without your help!
The People’s Tea from Tippy’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Oolong Teas
Where to Buy: Tippy’s Tea
Tea Description:
Tippy’s own interpretation of the Russian caravan tea. Strikes a delicious balance between the oolong and black teas. Infuse multiple times for a full tasting experience.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve had a couple of Russian Caravan teas, I think that this one might be the best that I’ve tried! I think it’s because the Oolong in this blend really comes through in a very pleasant way. It imparts an almost creamy texture to the cup which is a nice contrast to the smoky notes of the Lapsang Souchong.
To brew this, I lowered the temperature. When I come across a blend like this that blends two different types of tea (like green and black teas, or in this case, oolong and black teas), I generally yield to the tea that requires the lower temperature. I’d rather have a slightly weaker flavor from the black tea than the bitterness that would result from a scorched tea leaf.
So I went with 190°F. I measured a bamboo scoop of tea into the basket of my Kati and poured in the hot water and let it steep for 3 minutes. After I had started the process, I thought to myself: “Maybe I should have done a quick rinse on the leaves!” But by the time that I had come to that realization, more than a minute had passed and it was a little passed the time to do a rinse. Maybe next time!
But as it is, it’s not too smoky. I don’t know if the rinse would improve the flavor or not, because I’m enjoying it as it is.
It’s smoky, but as I said before, there’s a really nice contrast between the smoky element and the soft, buttery/creamy element of the Oolong. It’s quite pleasant. Smooth yet smoky. Forward notes of caramel. Middle notes of fruit and flower mingling with the smoke. Hints of molasses and earth in the distance. It’s a beautifully complex tea!
In the past, I would shy away from Russian Caravan teas because of the smokiness of them – I’ve never been a big fan of something heavily smoked and when I would smell a Russian Caravan, even though they’re not nearly as smoky as say a straight-up Lapsang Souchong, there is still a strong element of smoke to the aroma and in my earliest days as a tea enthusiast I found that smoky note to be very off-putting. Now I’ve come to embrace it and enjoy it, but Russian Caravan teas are still not my favorite blends. The few that I have tried seemed to focus heavily on their black teas and not so much on the Oolong aspect, I like that this tea – The People’s Tea from Tippy’s Tea – brought some balance to the two tea types so that the luscious texture and creamy flavor of the Oolong could be enjoyed with the smoky notes of the Lapsang Souchong and the fruity elements of the Keemun.
It’s a very well thought out blend! Bravo, Tippy’s Tea!
Cinnamon Chai Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
If you’ve never had an iced chai, you’re missing out. And this one, with it’s organic honeybush base, is exceptional. I think we found just the right balance of chai spice flavors to add to this one–some cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black pepper and a touch of clove.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
I personally prefer my chai hot, but, it’s really nice to drink an iced chai now and then. This is really refreshing and flavorful.
If you’ve read any of my other SBT reviews, you’re probably familiar with how I brew these teas. The tea comes in a big sachet which is really convenient for iced tea brewing. You can cold brew it or hot brew it and because it’s in a sachet, you can stash the brewed sachet in the fridge to resteep it for a second pitcher of tea if you’re so inclined.
I don’t usually resteep honeybush teas because I find that they lose flavor quicker than say, a white or green tea. But I highly recommend resteeping the white and green tea varieties of Southern Boy Teas!
I heated 1 quart of water to 195°F and then I added the sachet to the pitcher and let it steep for 9 minutes (because it’s a honeybush base, there are no tannins – this won’t become bitter if you ‘oversteep’ it – so keep it steeping for maximum flavor!) Then I poured the tea into my favorite tea pitcher and I repeated the process with a second quart of water, resteeping the sachet for 12 minutes. This produced a full 1/2 gallon pitcher of iced tea. (Well, you gotta let it cool first! I usually brew the tea at night and in the morning, I have a pitcher full of refreshing iced tea.)
I like the honeyed sweetness from the honeybush. It’s a light, nutty taste that melds well with the chai spices. The spices are zesty but not overly spicy. The name of this chai is “Cinnamon Chai” so I expected a big burst of cinnamon flavor but that didn’t happen. It’s got the cinnamon flavor there, to be sure, but it’s not super cinnamon-y. It’s a gentle warmth and I’m getting that not just from the cinnamon but also the ginger, cardamom, pepper, and cloves.
It’s warm and zesty, but not what I’d call ‘spicy.’ Just a pleasant, warmly spiced tea. I like this one – it’s one I wouldn’t mind having on hand to enjoy regularly. It’s tasty!
Please don’t forget about Southern Boy Teas’ Indiegogo Fundraiser! Help this small business grow! As little as $4 can help further their dream and you’ll get some really tasty tea in return!