If you’re looking for some tea to go with your post-holiday fruitcake, or just some tea that tastes a bit like holiday fruitcake, brew up a cup of Ginger Spiced Pear Cake from A Quarter to Tea.
This black tea smells sweet in the dry left and in the brew. The taste of the blend is not too sweet, mainly driven by the appropriately clean and tart breakfast black tea base. There is a hint of juicy pear with each sip, and a touch of ginger heat behind the pear. The ginger is not too spicy, mainly adding a little herbal flavor and sweetness to make the tea feel festive. I don’t taste any buttery cake or pastry flavors, just pear and ginger.
It’s possible that my small sample wasn’t at peak freshness or maybe I just needed a bigger serving of tea leaves to get the flavor intensity I was looking for. I’ll have to keep an eye out for this blend in the future and give it another try.
This is a gently flavored blend, but very drinkable. There are not many pear teas on my shelf, so this was a nice brew to have in my mug.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White/Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Description:
Sweet pastry with pear, spicy ginger, and cinnamon and clove accents.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blood Orange Punch from A Quarter To Tea. . . .
I’ll be honest, friends– green tea and I have a storied history. And the story mostly goes like this: Mary brews green tea, with visions of health and wellness floating in her head. Timer beeps, tea strains, Mary takes a sip and then makes an ‘ick’ face, forgets about tea, lets it get cold, dumps out. THE END.
Needless to say, traditional grassy, herbaceous green teas haven’t been my jam in years past. Now, as the years have gone, I’ve grown my palette for teas a bit wider, and I’ll eagerly at least try greens with something interesting or fun about them (to varying success). Combine that with a post-holiday need to lay off the jittery caffeine and let my body reset itself, I’ve been looking towards teas with lighter caffeine, like some of my oft-overlooked greens and whites.
When this tea showed up in my monthly box from AQTT, I was psyched. Fruity greens in particular are almost always a hit in my book, and Blood Orange Punch (besides just sounding super punk-y and cool) just sounded so delightfully refreshing.
Steeped at below-boiling water for two and a half minutes, this tea brews up beautifully peachy-red-orange, just the colors of blood oranges. The scent is to die for– crisp, citrusy, but still light and smooth. I don’t get too much of the “brandy, rum and cream” that the descriptions heralded, but regardless, I find myself sipping cup after cup of this one. Hot, of course, as it’s been negative eleven billion degrees outside– but with it’s strong, fruity notes, I bet this one would be absolutely to die for as an iced tea come warmer months. A Quarter to Tea, you’ll make a green tea drinker of me yet!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
A deep orange flavor with hints of brandy, rum, and cream.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Buddha’s Best – A Quarter to Tea . . . .
Hello, readers, I am here again to talk about yet another rose blended tea. Which if you are new to my reviews I will fill you in quickly, I adore rose in just about everything. So it is not surprising that I was ecstatic to try out this new blend.
First and foremost, this tea is a simply made of a blend of black teas, rose petals, and tulsi leaf. Now I have had all three before in numerous cups but this cup was a bit different. First off, the smell is the rose tea smell I have become accustomed to, sweet and floral with a bit of boldness from the black tea. But the taste is where it is a bit different. Even though this tea is a blend of different black teas it almost has the flavor of a jasmine green tea. For it is not as heavy as the other blends I have tried that are both black tea and rose. That being said it is very refreshing, mentally and physically. The only negative that I can find with this tea is that the rose flavor is very light. But I guess that will be a plus to people who are indifferent to rose for it is an odd flavor.
Now to the economics, it comes in a variety of three sizes 1 oz for $5.50, 2 oz for $10.70, and 4 oz for $21.10. And I am happy to announce that they do offer a sample of 2-3 cups with the asking price of $1.50! So I will say that this is well worth the price so I would say go for it. Also, I was perusing the site and they also have tea subscription boxes so if you like this company and/or you are unsure of just what to buy maybe the subscription boxes would be something you are after.
I will finish off by saying that I will absolutely purchase this and/or other teas from A Quater to Tea in the near future. The asking price is right and the quality of my brewed beverage left me satisfied.
See you for the next cuppa!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Description
A showcase blend featuring teas from the birthplace of the Buddha. Light with lots of character with the staple muscatel notes of the region. Definitely a blend to try and find out why it’s simply the best!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Peach Crostata from a Quarter to Tea
What is a crostata? Apparently, it is a type of tart or pie, or it might even include a crumble-like dessert. Either way, imagine buttery crust, sugar and spice, and plenty of fruit. This tea blend looks to capture the the essence of a peach crostata, with sweet stone fruit and warm pastry.
The tea leaves are yunnan black tea, but they were so tightly rolled I almost mistook them for oolong leaves. Brewing this blend, the tea is dark and rich and brews up quickly. Both the dry leaves and the hot tea are very fragrant with natural peach flavor.
When taking my first sip, my nose is full of fruity peach, but the brew is much more robust. The taste of the tea has more roasty, caramel notes than it does fruit, and its boldness overshadows the peach. The tea is smooth at first, finishing with a tart, mineral dryness in the aftertaste. It’s possible the boldness of the tea has to do with my brewing techniques, so I would brew this a little cooler and shorter next time. I found that adding milk helped make the brew more gentle, which brought out the best of the peach notes.
Even if this wasn’t my favorite tea lately, I’ve had other blend from a Quarter to Tea that I absolutely loved, like their Carrot Cake or Peeps Krispies genmai cha teas. Give any of their flavors a try for a quality brew.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Description:
A take on a late medieval version of a peach crostata, with warming spices and a rich peach flavor.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cucumber Berry Lemonade from A Quarter To Tea. . . .
I can pretty much always count on A Quarter to Tea for incredible blends. For real– I belong to another tea of the month club that I just adore, but AQTT’s is the one that I pick up when I REALLY want to treat myself and have some super quirky and fun blends that I wouldn’t normally try out– enter this Cucumber Berry Lemonade white tea blend!
First things first: this blend came with REAL, DRIED CUCUMBER in it. You guys. I just can’t get over how cool it was to see a legit slice of cuke in my tea. The freeze-dried berries were slightly less plentiful, but the lemongrass was abundant. And was it ever noticeable in this blend! Of course I iced this one, and it was absolutely delightful. The brew was reminiscent of that ubiquitous “spa water”– you know, served in fancy glass dispensers with slices of lemon and cucumber floating around like they own the place– that stuff. It’s crisp and clean and fresh, from the cucumber. It’s lemony and bright, from the lemongrass. It’s tart and fruity, from the berries. It’s everything I dreamed it’d be by name alone, and more! It’s delicious enough cold-brewed with nothing added, but a tiny splash of lemonade to finish takes it over the top.
Again, AQTT knocks it out of the park!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Tart lemonade with sweet berries and cooling cucumber. Definitely one to try iced!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!