I steeped this tea with 2 heaping teaspoons of leaf in 1 cup of 200 degree water for about four minutes.
I was a little concerned that the jasmine flowers wouldn’t have much fragrance left because I couldn’t detect much smell in the dry flowers, but when I started steeping the tea it started giving off its perfume right away, so I guess hot water is the magic ingredient to bring that out!
There are tons of jasmine flowers in this tea, too. Like, actual jasmine buds. And they smell like a combination of candy and perfume once they’ve started steeping. The green tea fragrance isn’t really coming through at this point, but I’m not surprised at all given how flowery the smell is.
I let it go to four minutes because I didn’t want to waste any of the jasmine fragrance.
Once the tea is steeped, I noticed that some leaf has escaped the ball; the tea is orange-yellow in color and, as mentioned before, highly fragrant.
First sip: Apparently Jasmine tastes sweet as well as smelling sweet. There’s an edge of bitterness to the green tea, though; there’s also some umami and maybe a little seaweediness to it, rounding the flavor out. I blame myself for the bitterness, because I used 200 degree water instead of 195 degree water like recommended (because hey, my electric kettle only has so many settings. Next time though I’d go with the cooler option, which I think would be 185 on my kettle).
A little sugar helps with any bitterness; or you could just steep at the recommended temperature, unlike me, and do a less intense steeping as well (three minutes instead of four). It’s really great as is, though, and tastes like drinking flowers!! Jasmine is so magical it kind of blows my mind every time I try a good jasmine tea (the reason I don’t try them more often is probably because I’m kind of scared of getting a not-so-good one).
I’m also really impressed by this tea company’s mission and activism; they don’t just say that they support charitable causes, they also give 25% of their proceeds (that’s a quarter of everything they get!) to mental health causes, according to their website.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
Jasmine tea is one of the most pleasant fragrances to all people. To the nose, the dry tea has a floral bouquet, which causes your senses to come alive with pleasant thoughts. This tea is filled to the brim with an abundance of beautiful jasmine blossoms which gives the tea an amazing presentation value. In China, they declare this jasmine tea as ‘Jasmine #1’.
This high quality green tea – produced between the middle of March and the middle of May – has jasmine flowers that bloom between the 1st of May and the end of May (the time of the most intense aroma). This tea yields a cup with all the concentrated heady bouquet of a garden in bloom, even if its your neighbor’s jasmine bush.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry Rush from The Love Tea Company. . . .
Welcome to summer this tea screams as it tumbles down your throat. . .
The hot weather sensations begin with the liquid. Clear rose in color with hints of a sunset orange.
This tea has hibiscus in it so one must be mindful of the steeping time. In order to full appreciate the summery strawberry flavors steep 2 – 2.5 minutes.
Sensations of fresh strawberries intertwine nicely with the crisp grassy green tea notes.
Once you hit the three minute mark the hibiscus takes over like Japanese beetles on a bean plant. . . . .so this tea is for those who love a tart strawberry tea with a grassy note. Definitely one that needs to be enjoyed in the summer or to brighten up ones palate since winter time is typically a heavy spiced tea season.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
It’s hard to keep this one in stock, teens and tweens love it, and it’s so much better than soda. It’s a Brilliant Blend of herbal and fruit that evokes strawberry fields. It is an organic green tea that is a simple pleasure with complex ingredients – green tea, with papaya, apple, orange and strawberry pieces, rosehip, calendula petals and natural strawberry flavors. This blend is great hot or cold, but our preference is cold. Blend several pots, keep it refridgerated and serve over ice with a fresh strawberry on the side. The kids can take part in the mission on this one. Make sure they #sharethelove with their friends.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Lemon Chiffon from The Love Tea Company. . . .
I am not a fan of plain rooibos, but I have found a few flavored tisanes that use it as the base that are quite good. (I am speaking of red rooibos when I say the cherry flavor is too medicinal for me most of the time. Green rooibos is another animal entirely.)
This blend is really tasty! It smells great and the dominant flavors I get up front are lemon myrtle, lemon, and honeybush. The rooibos really comes as an aftertaste and is not unpleasant. The lavender and marigold are a nice side note, and if I am tasting pomegranate I must be honest and say I wouldn’t recognize it but it isn’t a flavor I am terribly familiar with.
This reminds me a bit of those lemon drops that come in a little tin. Thumbs up for me and I can’t wait to try it iced because it is going to ROCK as an iced tea!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
There’s a reason why we call this a brilliant blend. Remember that Lemon Chiffon cake that Grandma made? It’s like that, without the cleanup or pinches to your cheek. A rooibos blend that smells like you could eat it straight out of the jar. Since it has no caffeine, it’s the perfect compliment to any after dinner treat.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Mint by The Love Tea Company. . . .
Today we have a wonderfully minty black tea up for review!
This company’s website states that they donate 25% of their net profits to the Flagg Foundation for Mental Wellness, so buying this tea supports a great cause!
Another great thing about this company (in addition to offering great tea) is that their tea comes in cute little plastic canisters that you can either reuse or recycle. This is great if, like me, you’re getting tired of having to throw all those loose leaf tea bags in the trash because they’re made of paper (or plastic) fused with foil so you can’t recycle them or wash them out–or even if they’re just simple plastic bags, your city won’t accept them and you have to somehow recycle them separately (biggest inconvenience ever!). So this company is socially responsible and their tea packaging is eco-friendly (or at least convenient to be eco-friendly with . . . )!
For this tea session, I steeped 1.5 teaspoons of this chocolate mint tea in about 8oz of water (at just under boiling) for about 4 minutes. It smells nice and minty even before steeping, with a smooth creamy undertone from the chocolate.
While steeping, a reddish-brown cloud settles to the bottom of the cup. It starts to smell warmer and chocolatier. By the end of the steeping process, it’s reddish cedar-y in color, darkish but still see-through.
First sip: Very minty–like actual mint tea. There’s a distinct difference between a mint flavor from mint extract/flavoring and the actual flavor of actual mint leaves (mint leaves have some vegetal undertones and the possibility of bitterness if you oversteep, which the “extracts” don’t have). And sure enough, the ingredients list specifies that there are mint leaves in this, so kudos for that–we have actual mint here. And because the tea comes with bits of chocolate in it, this is a very naturally flavored chocolate mint tea.
With milk: it’s creamy, no surprises here. I use whole milk, which tames the mint quite a bit. It doesn’t bring out the chocolate as much as I was hoping, but it’s still quite yummy. I think next time I’ll need to be more careful to actually include chocolate bits in my spoonful of tea leaves.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this tea and we’re basically friends now. And I really appreciate the Love Tea Company’s social efforts and recyclable tea packaging, not to mention that their branding is really cute–I love the colors!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
Did you know that February 19th is chocolate mint day? The combination of chocolate and mint is one of the most delectable pairings known to human kind. Its origins are unknown, but surely it was created a long, long, long time ago. This scrumptious Black Tea Blend is a real treat, just don’t steal all of the chocolate pieces before steeping! Brew up a nice hot pot and add a splash of milk and a dash of sugar and enjoy all of that chocolaty, minty goodness. Surely February 19th must be the tastiest day of the year!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
White Thunder from The Love Tea Company. . . .
White Thunder by The Love Tea Company, a mint white tea that also happens to be the last of the three teas sent to me by CuppaGeek as part of the Tea It Forward program. I have mentioned it before and will mention it again because Tea It Forward is a great program that allows you to let someone know they’re loved and in doing so, a $1 donation to The Flagg Foundation for Mental Wellness is made in your name.
The tea utilizes a Bai Mu Dan base with peppermint and spearmint on top. This makes for a more full and floral tea thanks to the base. It is sweet and mild and despite the strong mint ingredients, the flavoring remains gentle and smooth. Overall it is very fresh and clean while also being very natural tasting. The Love Tea Company says the White Thunder name is drawn from the Boom and Crack sounds of your taste buds loving this blend but to me the natural and fresh taste of the tea is more comforting and reminiscent of the feeling one might get while sipping on tea and listening to the cracks of thunder outside (as a storm lover, this is a very calming scenario for me).
Since The Love Tea Company was so generous with their samples, I was also able to try this iced and see how it compares to the hot cup. My first impression of the iced tea is that the bai mu dan is far more floral iced than hot. I think for me, it is too floral here as the mint is more of an after thought as opposed to a partner. It is not bad, but it is more like drinking just a plain bai mu dan than a flavored one and given white teas are not my favorite, I am finding that I prefer the hot cup of this more.
This tea definitely has some high quality ingredients and the flavors are nicely balanced in the hot cup. It is a delightful tea that is flavorful enough to be interesting while also remaining mild enough that it is easy to drink and drink and drink. As someone who doesn’t love white teas, especially bai mu dans, I was surprised I enjoyed this like I did. Thank you CuppaGeek for sending this one to me to try and even better, I am glad in doing so that you also helped a great cause!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
Bai Mudan, also known as White Peony is a type of white tea made from pluckings of one leaf shoot and two immediate young leaves. Bai Mudan is sometimes preferred by white tea drinkers for its fuller flavor and greater potency than other major types of white tea. For an extra kick, peppermint and spearmint are added to this blend. Boom, crack, that’s the sound of your taste buds loving this blend.
Caffeine: Medium
Steep 2 teaspoons @ 195° for 3 – 5 minutes
Ingredients: White tea, bai mu dan, peppermint, spearmint
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
