I’ve been on a kick lately of sampling different flavored chais. Vanilla is one of them that has been in my top stash as of late. When I was sent Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company I was hoping I would find something tasty in my tea sipping experience and boy did I!
Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company has a Assam Black Tea base with Cardamom Seeds and natural Vanilla. It offers a sweet and delicious blend to any day but often served at traditional Indian Weddings. There’s a little bit of tea trivia tidbits for you to get you thru the day, eh?
The fact that there are only three ingredients in this loose leaf mix tucked inside a silken and see-thru bag blew my mind! The Assam base was a medium strength black tea. The Cardamom Seeds played an important part but weren’t a ‘ball hog’ either. The Vanilla flavor seemed to round everything out and made it both sweet and creamy at the same time. I really like that Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company offered sweet, spicy, creamy, and slightly malty notes, too!
Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company certainly warmed my heart and tummy while putting a smile on my face! Vanilla Chai from The Tea Can Company…I raise my tea cup to you!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: The Tea Can Company
Description
Assam Black Tea with Cardamom Seeds, and natural Vanilla. A sweet and simply delicious blend often served at traditional Indian Weddings. Serve hot. Best with milk and sugar or honey.
Ingredients: Black Tea, Cardamon Seeds and Natural Vanilla, Contains Caffeine
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Darjeeling The Second Flush from Lupicia. . . . .
Darjeeling – The Second Flush certainly grabbed my attention as I was trying to decide which black tea to start my day off with recently. It was then I noticed Darjeeling The Second Flush was one of the Lupicia teas I still had yet to try!
When it comes to a Darjeeling – what can you really say that hasn’t already been said? Many of us know that Darjeeling is considered to be or often called the Champagne of Teas. This specific Darjeeling was Lupicia special blend using summer-plucked Darjeeling. It was fresh and fruity and crisp. Just what I was looking for in a Darjeeling and in a morning tea not too long ago!
Another thing that is notable here with this tea is that it is ONLY available in Lupicia’s online store and Hawaii store.
So if you’re a Darjeeling fan you are going to want to look into this tasty tea! It’s Lupicia’s Darjeeling The Second Flush. Is it calling YOU like it was calling ME? It just might be!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Description
A special blend only using summer-plucked Darjeeling, often called “the Champagne of teas.” Fruity and fresh, yet the mouthfeel is crisp and concentrated.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Product Review: Red Hair Girl Walking a Dog on Orange Damask Tea Tin from Tea & Tins
Here at Sororitea Sisters we are trying to do more and more product reviews. That is reviews of tea-themed or tea-related products and/or items that tea fans might be interested that aren’t just tea to sip on. Today I’m sharing with you…a Product Review: Red Hair Girl Walking a Dog on Orange Damask Tea Tin.
This is a fun and youthful tea tin with a French twist that is perfect for storing your loose leaf tea and/or just displaying in your kitchen, craft room, workplace, or to take with you on the go!
This tin can hold about 2 oz (60g) of a typical green tea, a little bit more of black tea and less for white tea. The Tea Tin Measurements are Height: 4” (102 mm). Diameter: 2.5” (62 mm).
As you can see the design is a light yellow-orange color Damask pattern with a Anime character walking her dog on the face of the tin. Whether the character is walking, jogging, running, skipping, or shuffling thru the Autumn Leaves that is up to you and your imagination.
I LOVED this tin and the design on it because I enjoy throw back trendy Anime characters similar to Sailor Moon. I also chose this as one of my favorite designs because of the reddish hair the girl has here. It reminds me of a shade of red I dyed my hair years ago! That – and you can’t go wrong with cute little puppies, eh!?
I will cherish this tea tins for years to come but will also show it off on my desk at work, too!
Here’s the scoop!
Where to Buy: Tea & Tins
Description
Tea tin with a French twist! Perfect for storing your loose leaf tea.
This tin can hold about 2 oz (60g) of a typical green tea, a little bit more of black tea and less for white tea.
Height: 4” (102 mm). Diameter: 2.5” (62 mm)
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sugar Plum Tea from The Tea Can Company. . . . .
Sugar Plum Tea from The Tea Can Company smells AMAZING! Sugar and plums – folks! Sugar and plums! I could see a nice sized square chunk of fruit in the see-thru silken bag. Impressive!
Ceylon Black Tea, Stevia Leaves, Dried Strawberry, Mango, and Hibiscus are the ingredients to Sugar Plum Tea from The Tea Can Company. I must have located the mango when I was looking! I didn’t see much of the hibiscus which was totally fine by me!
As for the flavor once infused – I do have to say the Stevia was hepped-up! If you are sensitive to Stevia see if a friend could drink the first cup for you! Remember…tea between friends is ALWAYS a nice idea!
So…me being up front about the high level of Stevia flavor isn’t a slam just an observation. I’m not overly fond of Stevia but but I’m not against it either. I know of people who have ups and downs about the natural sweetener tho. Having said that…the 2nd infusion knocked down that intensity of Stevia quiet a bit and that may be more your speed. Either way – what I am saying is – that you have options, here! Sugar Plum Tea from The Tea Can Company is a diverse cuppa!
Other than the Stevia – the mango, strawberry, and hibiscus all seem to blend together to create a newly discovered flavor combo of its own! I’m VERY thankful it wasn’t all about the hibiscus here! Kudos for that! This trio of ingredients that make it’s own flavor and swim underneath the Stevia flavor makes for a super sweet, sugary, fruity cuppa!
had a hot cup and thought this was pretty good with the first infusion. The 2nd infusion was even better! And the cold version of this is even better than that! So after much contemplation I have decided this is a ‘good-better-best’ sipping situation and I’m VERY pleased I was able to sample Sugar Plum Tea from The Tea Can Company! It was certainly ‘sugar plum-esque’!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: The Tea Can Company
Description
Description: A holiday blend of fruity tea that is sure to be enjoyed all year long.
Ingredients: Ceylon Black Tea, Stevia Leaves with Dried Strawberry, Mango and Hibiscus, Contains Caffeine
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cider Spices Wassail Kit from Oliver Pluff & Company. . . . .
Today we have a little bit of a different review of sorts to share with you! Cider Spices Wassail Kit from Oliver Pluff & Company is what’s on tap!
One random weekend in the not-so distant past I grabbed 2 half gallons of local cider and stopped to visit my parents with Cider Spices Wassail Kit from Oliver Pluff and Company in the other hand. My mother and I were like the Swedish Chef and Beaker in the kitchen having FUN with this nifty tin of wholesome ingredients!
This Cider Spices Wassail Kit includes their 3 Muslin Spice Bags with Drawstrings, Cinnamon Sticks, Cut Ginger, Ground Nutmeg. It’s an Old English Recipe with Spice Bags and 3 ounces of Spices Brews 3 Gallons of spicy-cidery-goodness!
The directions on the tin for this Cider Spices Wassail Kit say – For a Gallon Brew: Fill a pot with 1 gallon of fresh apple cider, or ale, or mead. Fill spice bag with ⅓ cup of wassail spices. Add spices and ½ cup sugar, and simmer at low heat for 1-2 hours. Serve hot or chilled.
I’m a rebel. I don’t follow instructions well. So this is how I did it…I used 3/4 of a gallon of Cider and filled one of those little bags with 1/3 C of wassail spices. I did NOT add any sugar or sweetener. I brought to a boil and then simmered for 1 hour. I didn’t have as much time nor did I feel it needed to simmer any longer as I was sampling the flavor as I went along. My own personal opinion is that this was sweet enough and didn’t need the additional sugar or other sweetener of your choice but if you would like to add it I certainly won’t stop you! I started off with HOT mugs full and LOVE LOVE LOVED it!
Later in the day I drank a couple of these ICED and it was just as NICE! I also did a taste test of the cider straight-up prior to the aftermath of using the kit. You could certainly tell a difference! I have used other cider kits in the past where you can’t even taste a difference but THIS Cider Kit was AWESOME! The flavor was INTENSELY WONDERFUL!
The ginger was the ingredient that was upfront – for sure! Then you could taste the cinnamon. The nutmeg was a more mellow afterthought but still part of the mix of flavors that made it all tie-in nicely!
I’ve had teas and tisanes that used these 3 ingredients mixed in or stand alone and I think it would make a fantastic herbal infusion by itself, too! I know Nichole-aka CuppaGeek – a fellow Sororitea Sister – has been infusing teas and tisanes with her favorite adult beverages lately and I bet this would work well, too!
I can’t help but make another tea/tisane connection with this Wassail Kit to something memorable in my life. Years ago my husband and I went to a dinner theatre called The Canterbury Feast – a Station Dinner Theatre in Cambridge Springs, PA, and then a few years later when it moved to Erie, PA. It’s a Musical Comedy Stage Show that has been taking place for over 36 years! It’s a FUN time! Why this Wassail Kit made me think of it is because the show encourages audience participation! There are phrases you shout out, songs you sing along with, and sometimes they drag members of the audience up on stage! (One year – I was the ‘Keeper of the Salt’). The MOST memorable thing was a cast member would yell “Drink Hail” and you would yell back “Wassail!” So this was a fun experience for me on many levels…reliving fun times in the past while making new lasting memories with my mom this year while simmering the Cider Spices Wassail Kit from Oliver Pluff & Company.
I LOVE everything about this kit! It comes with everything you need and when you hit bottom and are all out of the spices you are able to keep the stylish tin (which I think my father has called dibs on!)
In closing…do I think this is a great product? Of course I do! How will I pay tribute to my LOVE of this kit? Well…I have one thing to YELL…DRINK HAIL…WASSAIL!!!!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: Oliver Pluff & Company
Description
History: Wassail (Middle English ‘wæs hæl’ – ‘be you healthy’) refers both to the salute ‘Waes Hail’ and to the drink of wassail, a hot mulled cider drunk as part of wassailing, an English ritual intended to ensure a good apple harvest the following year. Historically, the drink is a mulled cider, mulled beer, or mead, made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and topped with toast. A group then sings: “Old Apple tree, old apple tree, we’ve come to wassail thee, To bear and to bow apples enow, Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full, Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs.”
Hand Blended and Packaged by Oliver Pluff & Co. in Charleston, South Carolina
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!