Today is the second official day of the tea advent calendar season but to avoid spoilers- I’m going to review the lovely Adagio Teas Advent Calendar a day behind so without further ado. . . . .
Day #1- Spiced Apple Chai
Spiced Apple Chai is a tea blend from Adagio Teas that I know very well. I have enjoyed this one quite often. This lovely black tea based flavored chai is pretty much like fall in a cup but I like to enjoy this one with a twist. A shot of rum or a dollop of cream just adds a nice next level feel to this brew.
Brewed with fresh prepped water at boiling and steeped for right around 2-3 minutes this blends yields a distinctive distinctive apple flavor along with what I would consider the traditional chai spices-ginger, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon . Flavors that you would expect to go well together and a chai you want to enjoy on a cool day where wrapping your hands around a mug brings your tea loving soul so much love.
Adding the additional extras of course are optional to enjoy this lovely cuppa and what is great about this particular blend, there are so many different ways you can enjoy- western brewed, as a latte, adult like with a shot of this or that, cold brewed with or without a touch of maple syrup, truly the possibilities are endless which makes this one of my favorite Adagio blends.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Gojiberry Infusion/Tea Barr Company -Ashmanra-
A box of samples from the Sisters is a lot like Christmas! It is so exciting to paw through the teas and see new blends to try and companies you have never heard of. What a surprise to look up this company and find that they are fairly close to me, just a couple of hours away.
We are having a little cold spell so I tried this hot first while sitting by a warm fire. The sencha base is not too grassy, and while you definitely taste the green tea the overall impression from this tea is a light and lovely fruitiness. I don’t know that I have ever had gojiberry by itself, but what this reminds me most of are pomegranate blends I have tried. There ARE pomegranate seeds in this, so I may be tasting those plus some natural flavoring or it could be that gojiberry tastes a lot like pomegranate.
This is SO light and fruity that I could almost feel a spring breeze caressing my face and I knew I needed to make a pitcher of iced tea with it as well. Here in the South we drink iced sweet tea all year. The golden tea is so pretty as is, but in summer I would serve this with a few frozen berries swirling in each glass. This would be a wonderful picnic tea, or refreshment for an afternoon tea party!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Barr Company
Description
This is a fine, pure combination of fresh Sencha tea, masterfully infused with juicy goji berries, and decorated with bright cornflowers. This tasty combination creates a unique and healthy treat.
Ingredients: green tea, goji berries, lemongrass, pomegranate seeds, cornflower blossoms, and natural flavoring.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mediterranean Blend Sumac Tea/Staghorn Tea Company -Just Tea-Zen-
I remember when I was younger, visiting New Jersey, the giant sumac trees with the beautiful dark red clusters were all over the place where my family lives. I was terrified of them because my cousins had me convinced that they were poison sumac. It was years later that I found out that they are two completely different trees. It’s a good thing…because I’m about to drink some sumac!
Staghorn Tea Company plucks those beautiful bundles from the sumac tree and blends them into a very interesting and delicious tea. They say “It’s remarkably tangy and wicked good!” and that is completely true! The tartness reminds me a little of hibiscus blended with a citrusy flavor. There’s something else in the flavor that I can’t quite associate with anything, but I can tell you it is amazingly delicious. This particular blend had orange and lavender which gave it a smooth and relaxing flavor. It is quite tangy, which is great just the way it is, but when I sweetened just a little with some agave syrup, OH MY! This REALLY enhanced the flavor! It’s like no other tea I’ve experienced before and if you haven’t tried it, you are definitely missing out.
Their tea bags have enough in them for a 12oz cup which, is a healthy sized cup of tea. I sipped a little less than half and then I put the rest in the refrigerator…I just have to try this over ice!
Health fact: sumac is at the top of the herb list for antioxidant power. BONUS!
I wish I could come up with a better explanation on the flavor of this tea. I guess you’re gonna have to find out for yourself! It’s just SO amazing!
Pop on over to their website and learn about this tea. Order plenty of sumac tea because once you try it, you’re gonna be hooked!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Staghorn Tea Company
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Mellow Black Tea/Kaley Tea- CuppaGeek
This year has been something. Might I even say this might be the worse year I’ve ever experienced at least for my family. . . but I try to always look at the brighter side. Between all of the nation wide situations going on like COVID 19 and the current political climate here in the States, my family has been hit with a lot of health related hardships that has left a void in our hearts. But through all of these hardships and what felt like a never ending cycle of bad news and stressful situations, I found solace and peace each and every day within a cuppa tea that was constantly by my side during those hard weeks of September through the present day. Each day, no matter what else was going on or how I felt- I made sure that I had a cuppa tea at the ready to help soothe my soul and keep me going. One of those cuppas that I enjoyed was Kaley Teas’s black tea.
The title for this tea really says it all. No fuss, no complex this or that- this is a lovely black tea that is mellow on flavor but still quite delightful. Brewed with freshly prepped boiling water and allowed to steep for right around 3 minutes- this tea has a bright note of crisp maltiness with a touch of astringency that really keeps you going sip after sip. Every once in a while I noted a bread like flavor or a potentially raisin finish. This black tea stood up to a few steepings and I even think I oversteeped for a moment or two and still enjoyed the cuppa and wanted more. From the description I found on the tea (after doing some searching on the site), there was some comments about floral and bergamot orange flavors, I’m not so sure my palette picked up on those but I’ll be curious to see if my other SororiTea Sisters do.
Kaley Tea is a company that I’m not 100% familiar with and their website looks like they are still working on bring their story to market. I’m quite excited to check out their other teas and I just adore how they label each tea with a reassuring title like a mellow black tea or a graceful green tea. For someone like me who has been finding themseleves looking more for straight tea blends instead of flavored ones, this one is a keeper.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Kaley Teas
Description
Black twiggy twisted tea leaves turn into a light shimmering copper golden liquor with every steep. Floral notes mixed with rice paddy hay provides a distinct base. A finale of bergamot orange and chocolate gives way to bee’s honey, making up a colorful bouquet of delicate & sublimely refined flavours. Bright coppery infused leaves emanate floral perfumes, enmeshed with sugary, citrusy notes.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Rave Coffee and Tea! -CuppaGeek-
Even though I am a huge tea drinker, I do love my coffee as well. I actually start each day with coffee. Being not a morning person, I’ve bumbled tea steepings one too many times and it seems like coffee is just an easier choice for me- plus coffee is just an alluring smell for thing in the morning.
Recently I tried a coffee tea blend where there was actual coffee in the tea blend itself (not coffee flavorings) and I fell in love with this unique blend. Around the same time, Rave Coffee reached out to the SororiTea Sisters to see if we would be interested in checking out their coffee and it was like it was meant to be. When the coffee arrived- I was floored. The coffee smelled amazing, fresh, and vibrant. Along with the coffee was this really lovely education pack. I’ve never seen such a cool education guide to help you learn and explore your coffee. There is so much info on how to brew your coffee, how to taste it, they even included a coffee tea tasting log. Very very cool and slick in style.
Before I started experimenting with the tea and coffee blend, I decided I wanted to try the coffee on its own and it was amazing. My particular palette I feel is more set up to tastes the unique properties of tea more than coffee but what I can say is that this tea was divine. Rich, smooth, without any bitterness and addicting! I found myself eagerly drinking cup after cup as regular coffee, lattes, cold brews, you name it- I tried it- and always with success. Just plain delicious and highly recommended.
When it was time to start brewing the coffee up with tea- I decided to go with an blend of Assam to get that right taste. I also added a few cocoa nibs just to give the coffee and tea a bit more flavor to play off of. Brewed up the tea with 212F prepped water for right around 2 minutes. The result- Delicious mix of the two worlds that I adore- coffee and tea. Each flavor is allowed its own time in the spotlight- you can literally tell the familiar notes of coffee with the familiar notes of tea. I was assuming there might be a mixing of flavors but there really isn’t. Which sounds a bit odd, but I’m actually enjoying this and my own little experiment tastes a lot like the coffee tea blend I had not too long ago. I’m excited to really explore this idea more with different coffee and tea blends.
I’ve had several different coffee subscriptions from a lot of different places but Rave is one I’m really excited to get going to really take a deeper dive into all things coffee and possibly even blend up a puerh coffee blend on my own. Rave Coffee has so much to learn on their website just in general but it will be fun to really take the time to enjoy their coffee like I do some of my favorite teas and to take the time to really learn about that cup of joe I enjoy so much in the mornings.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Where to Buy: Rave
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!