I’ve been in a green tea mood lately, tasting all the flavors and mix-ins that go best with those lighter tea leaves. It was the perfect day to try Orange and Papaya from Tea Shirt Teas.
I was immediately impressed by the delicious scent of the tea in the dry leaf. It was amazingly fruity, and hard to resist smelling the dry leaves in my mug while I waited for the water to boil. The leaves themselves are all dressed up for the occasion, with big chunks of dried papaya and orange slices mixed in among the green tea.
Along with the papaya is a hefty dose of lemongrass, but despite all the lemongrass in the dry leaf, the brewed blend tastes most strongly of orange and papaya. A hint of mango comes out at the back of each sip. It all makes for a vibrant cup of citrus and green that can’t help but jazz up your afternoon.
This blend is sweet and fruity enough to love it hot or iced, and either way the luscious fruit flavors were super satisfying and thirst-quenching. Though I tried the blend both hot and iced, with all these tropical flavors, this blend is absolutely calling out to be the next pitcher of iced tea in your fridge. Drinking it cold, the fruit makes the tea almost candy-sweet, like a more mature fruit punch.
This is a great blend for when you need to brighten your day and imagine yourself in a sunny grove of tropical fruit.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Description:
Ingredients: green tea (60%), lemon grass, apple pieces, freeze-dried apple pieces, orange slices, mango flakes, papaya flakes, flavouring.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Guangxi Golden Pearls from Tea Shirt. . . Rolled Tea Pearls!
So far the teas I have had from Tea Shirt have been tasty and I am eager to try more so today I am reviewing Guangxi Golden Pearls from Tea Shirt. I have really liked other Golden Pearl teas I have had from other companies and this one is just as good.
Guangxi Golden Pearls from Tea Shirt is made up of black tea leaves that is hand rolled into little ‘balls’ or ‘pearls’ as the product description says on their website. Dry – Guangxi Golden Pearls from Tea Shirt – smells a bit like chocolate and fruit. Once infused – Guangxi Golden Pearls from Tea Shirt has a stand-alone fruity aroma, naturally!
The flavor on the tongue is a medium to medium-strong black tea with natural fruity notes. What kind of fruit? One sip I lean more towards a berry flavor and another sip I think it’s more like a stone fruit flavor…like a plum. I can’t quite put my finger on it (or should I say my tongue?) Guangxi Golden Pearls from Tea Shirt has a subtle chocolaty pop to it in the middle of the sip as well. This is pretty tasty, indeed! Guangxi Golden Pearls from Tea Shirt is a winner in my book!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Description
Premium black tea from Guangxi Province, China. – Handmade pearls of about 1cm in diameter with distinctive golden tips. Fruity and characteristic aroma.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry & Lychee from Tea Shirt
This is my first tea from Tea Shirt and I’m pretty excited that it’s Strawberry & Lychee from Tea Shirt. But first let me tell you my first encounter with FRESH Lychee Fruit…
I used to work at a grocery store 20-some years ago and I always liked trying the exotic fruits that come in. One day we received some Lychee and I was super excited to try it! I peeled off the reddish spiky skin/shell and sucked out the fruit that was a slimy white. It almost looked like a small white onion. It smelled and tasted like paint thinner! I’m NOT joking! I must have gotten a BAD lychee because everything lychee I have had since hasn’t been like that THANK GOD!
Now I’m NOT saying that THIS Strawberry & Lychee from Tea Shirt tasted like paint thinner! It’s just that silly story is something in the back of my mind each time I try something with Lychee in it now! I’m giggling as I write this but I wasn’t laughing at the time!
Anyhow…Strawberry & Lychee from Tea Shirt…is a nicely flavored green tea. The strawberry cuts the lychee and the lychee cuts the strawberry! They work well together and play nicely with the green tea base! This Strawberry & Lychee from Tea Shirt receives a THUMBS UP from me because it’s pleasant, fruity, tart, and does NOT taste like paint thinner! haha.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Description:
Flavoured Green Tea
Ingredients: green tea (94 %), flavouring, freeze-dried strawberry pieces, freeze-dried lychee pieces, Jasmine blossoms, rose petals
Preparation: Use one teaspoon of loose leaf tea per person.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Caramel Carrot from Tea Shirt
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Tea Description:
Flavoured fruit & vegetable tea blend
Ingredients: carrot flakes, apple pieces, pineapple cubes (contains sugar), cocoa peel, cream-caramel pieces (sweetened, skimmed, condensed milk, sugar, glucose, molasses, butter fat, wetting agent, emulsifying agent), flavouring, safflower.
Preparation: Put one heaped teaspoon of loose leaf tea per person into 100°C water for 8-10 minutes.
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Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Caramel Carrot from Tea Shirt has the same feel to it as one of 52Teas’ amazing concoctions! The tea blend immediately called to me. I love the odd teas that are out there and love checking them out. This is one odd tea, that is for sure!
First off, Caramel Carrot has a very unique look. I swear the tea looks like trail mix. Huge chunks of carrots, apple pieces, and what looks to be a caramel cube. Looking at the ingredient list it really makes me wonder what the wetting agent and emulsifying agent are. Two words I can’t say I’ve ever seen in a tea before!
After looking over the package and not really being sure how to steep the tea, I went with what the packaged recommended. 100C and 10 minute steeping time. The dry leaf itself had an unusual sugary like smell to it. One that I wasn’t too keen on but I was going to see this tea thru to the end!
First sip in and I have to say this to is something else. I can’t say I like nor can I say I dislike the tea. There is an unusual sugary caramel flavor that flows thru the sip mixed with a bright carrot flavor. It seems odd to be sipping on a liquid and getting a true carrot flavor, but that is exactly what is happening. I don’t really get any of the apple or pineapple notes. They could just be contributing to the sugary finish.
So all in all, a fun tea to try. Just can’t say that I would enjoy cup after cup of Caramel Carrot from Tea Shirt. It was a fun cuppa while it lasted tho!
On to my next tea adventure!
Orange and Papaya from Tea Shirt
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Tea Description:
Orange and Papaya from Tea Shirt
Flavoured Green Tea
Ingredients: green tea (60%), lemon grass, apple pieces, freeze-dried apple pieces, orange slices, mango flakes, papaya flakes, flavouring.
Preparation: Use one teaspoon of loose leaf tea per person.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Orange and Papaya flavored green tea from Tea Shirt had my interest right away. I mean orange, papaya, and green tea? How could this blend be anything but amazing?
When I received the tea, I was surprised by how big the fruit chunks are in it.The picture is exactly what you get. Huge chunks of mango, papaya, and orange peel along with apple pieces. Really lovely to look at and amazing to smell. Very rich in citrus and tropical notes.
I scooped a few heap fulls into my infuser and cold brewed this tea. With how muggy the summer has been lately, I wanted this tea to be a nice iced cold brew.
I let the tea cold brew overnight and tried it in the morning. I was hoping that those gorgeous chunks of fruit and lovely green tea leaves would produce an amazing treat for my taste buds. And it did just that!
The green tea gives a lovely buttery base that the orange and papaya flavors compliment nicely. Each flavor takes its time in the spotlight and there isn’t one flavor that overwhelms. Simple yet lovely. Lush Orange notes mingling with the tropical hints from the mango and papaya. A really nice refreshing take on a citrus tropical iced tea for the summer or really for anytime!
Well done Tea Shirt!