Confession: I’m completely fine with drinking alone…. Tea, of course 😉 But drinking with friends offers some undeniable benefits – laughter and memories made, more importantly a spread of tastebuds that offers better insight than just one picky tongue.*
There are so so many beautiful ingredients in this custom Blueberry Custard from Blendbee, I needed all the help I could get to do it justice! First off, I highly recommend using a clear brewing system (gravity steeper or mason jar) to be able to fully enjoy the making of this majestic Purple infusion. (Fortunately I had just cleaned the hard-earned tea patina off mine with baking soda and vinegar, so it was even more beautiful than my usual cuppa!)
Between the three of us sipping, only one added sugar and it really took away from the innate sweetness of this mix, hmmm better off just trusting the blend maker on this one. Some of us were crazy about this tea, but others found the herbals to be unpalatable. So we looked into what exactly were imbibing…
With Blendbee, you can create your own mix weighing anywhere from 1 oz to ½ pound. You start with a choice from 15 tea bases, and here they chose the China Green tea.
Next there are over 90 categorized ingredients to choose from (though it’s recommended to stick below 8). Must be a tough decision from all those options! This blender chose 7:
Earthy and pungent category: yarrow flower;
Mild and fruity category: elder berries;
Herbaceous herb category: strawberry leaves;
Mild and nutty category: ashwaganda root;
Mild and herbal category: agrimony herb, and coriander seed;
And one uncategorized, marshmallow root.
Next the website offers additional extracts and flavors (up to 3 per blend). Here the blueberry and custard flavor extracts were used. (It was argued at one point that this put the ingredient count to 9, above the recommended 8, but that person is a stickler for semantics and didn’t like the tea anyway, so read that with a grain of salt).
Some of these herbs strike me as acquired tastes, beyond that, I would’ve preferred having actual blueberries instead of the extract, though I didn’t see it as an option (yet) and the extract probably consistently offers more flavor in a smaller space.
This organic blend featured so many different flavor profiles, it was a… memorable… experience for well-developed sippers, and newbies alike.
*The best part of sharing with friends is finding a loving home for leaves that aren’t your favorite (yet). Thanks H.R.!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: BlendBee
Description:
Create custom teas, with more than a hundred quality and organic ingredients to choose from.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Daily Support from Lipton Teas . . . . .
Lipton, yes that Lipton with the red tagged black tea bags. Lipton has a series of new wellness teas and the SororiTea Sisters are checking them out. This time, I’m tasting Daily Support blend. This blend features turmeric, echinacea, ginger, and green tea.
Turmeric seems to be everywhere when the new year rolls around and people make new resolutions about living healthier and cleaner for the new year. Turmeric comes up as one of those spices with lots of healthy properties like reducing inflammation and boosting antioxidants. I’m not a doctor, but I like trying new tea flavors so I took the plunge and brewed a cup.
Tumeric on its own can be a bit too strong and bitter. It is spicy, but more reminiscent of curry powder than chai spices. I find I like tumeric best when paired with ginger, like it is in this Daily Support blend. Their spiciness compliments each other, bringing out the sweet heat in the ginger and the earthier spice of the turmeric.
I’m a spice-lover when it comes to tea, so I would say that this blend could use more ginger and turmeric to suit my tastes. However, if you’re not into a hot-spiced blend, this might be a nice surprise. The ginger is at its sweetest, with gentle honey and lemon undertones, and just a hint of the more savory turmeric in the aftertaste. The green tea itself gets lost under these two powerhouses, but you don’t miss it.
I’ve had great success with tumeric ginger lattes at my local coffee shop. I’ll have to try this tea with some frothy milk next time for a cozy, creamy cup of spice. No matter how you brew it, this is a perfect warming cup for turning over a new leaf and giving your body and mind some Daily Support.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green tea
Where to Buy: Lipton Teas
Description:
Conquer the day with new Lipton Daily Support Herbal Supplement with Green Tea, which contains Turmeric, Echinacea, and Ginger. As an excellent source of Vitamin C, this herbal infusion helps support your body’s natural defenses*. Carefully selected botanicals are blended with green tea and orange essential oil that make every cup delicious. Enjoy a cup of Lipton Daily Support to supplement your varied, balanced diet.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mao Feng from Global Tea Hut. . . . .
My holidays started early with the surprise receipt of Global Tea Hut’s Magazine and tea tin subscription from Taiwan.
I’m the type of person to read the manual first before trying something new, and was a little worried that this 80 page magazine would require me to brush up on my rusty Mandarin, but there were no parts lost in translation! It was both poetic and relatable, mixing Chinese tea history and culture as well as modern processing techniques used for the very Mao Feng Tea I was about to taste.
This months sample of bright colored organic buds and leaves from China’s Yellow mountain brewed into a clear liquor. After brewing there is an aroma of browned butter and a remarkable hint of sweetness – the lingering scent on a lovers sweater.
The sipping flavor was muted, but the long-lasting, sweet aftertaste was wholly unexpected! This is perhaps the purest tea I’ve ever consumed.
Reading the magazine along with my multiple resteeps, I felt a very meditative connection to this experience. There was even an invitation to contemplate the Personality (qi) of the tea. The care that went into its preparation and the lingering feeling of comfort I felt drinking it, led me to think of this Mao Feng as the embodiment of love. A very special surprise indeed!
When you subscribe, they offer to send a free gift to anyone. This company has won itself a great deal of my appreciation. I’d highly recommend their subscription for anyone who wants to learn more about teas, or who enjoys non-flavored leaves. Recently they’ve also started an App to connect Tea enthusiasts from around the world.
The tea by itself is a treat, but there is something even more beautiful in making a connection to the growers. It’s exciting and grounding at the same time. Is this Zen?
Here’s the scoop!
Loose Leaf: Green
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Harmony Tea from Mellow Monk. . . . . .
Genmai cha is a special type of green tea with toasted rice. Some of the rice kernels have popped in the toasting process, looking like little puffed, white popcorn pieces. I’ve sometimes seen genmai chai billed as the “movie night” tea for its inclusion of these popcorn-like rice pieces. No matter what you name it, genmai cha is a unique and delicious tea experience.
It was a long time in my tea journey before I put genmai cha tea into my usual rotation. Beyond the puffed rice in the dry leaf, the next most striking impression about the tea is that it is savory. If you aren’t expecting a savory experience, the brew can be a little unsettling at first. If you know this tea won’t be fruity or floral going into it, you’ll be much better off. Tasting Harmony Tea genmai cha from Mellow Monk was no exception.
Brewed, the Harmony Blend smells like warm bread or sticky rice. With these meal-like flavors, the warm tea might seem almost more like broth than tea. Over my years of drinking genmai cha, I find this warm brew and its toasty, starchy flavors to be supremely comforting, like sitting in the kitchen when the oven is on and bread is baking.
Despite all this toastiness, it is good not to forget that genmai cha is a green tea, so brew it with slightly cooler water to avoid burning the green tea leaves. Though the toasted rice is the prominent scent and taste of the tea, there is a role for the green tea to play in the flavor profile.
Green tea on its own can sometimes have savory incarnations, but it is usually a vegetable-inspired savoriness, like buttery bok choy or dark and nutty kale. The green tea in Mellow Monk’s Harmony Blend is much sweeter, and not too vegetal. It reminds me of a smooth green tea matcha, green and grassy but still sweet like nutty wheat bread.
It is a rainy, gray day today, and a warming cup of toasty Harmony Tea was just what I needed to turn my mood around.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Description:
Harmoney Tea™ is a genmaicha — green tea mixed with roasted brown rice. The rice imparts a nutty, toasty flavor that makes genmaicha one of the most popular types of green tea in America. Unlike some tea growers, this artisan roasts his own rice, which he buys from local farmers. (During roasting, some of the rice grains pop like popcorn. This popped rice is also included in the mixture to enhance the flavor.)
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Up Beet from Teapigs. . . . . .
Beets were a contentious part of my family dinners. Every Easter my grandmother would make a cold beet salad and our seating arrangements had to be coordinated to put certain beet-haters at the other end of the table from the beet salad. I was firmly on the side of the beets, and couldn’t get enough of grandma’s beet salad. Needless to say, I was excited to try a beet tea.
Up Beet from Teapigs is a green tea blend with hibiscus, beetroot, ginger, and carrot. The green tea is really just a base to carry the bolder vegetable and herb flavors. I didn’t think any flavor could hold up against powerful hibiscus, but beetroot is a formidable ally in this blend. The sharp hibiscus is balanced out by the iron-sweet earthiness of the beets. Carrots bring their own natural sweetness alongside the beets, and the ginger adds a hint spice to give more texture to the flavor palette. The longer I let the tea brew, the more ginger heat and mineral beet flavors came to the forefront.
Punchy, strong, and sweet, this is truly a unique blend. If you enjoy fruit and veggie juice blends, you should try this tea. It is a sweet and savory blend, with the umami-earthiness of the beets, the lightly sweet carrots, and the fruit-punch hibiscus, all coming together for a bold, full-flavored cup of tea. As a beet-lover, I’m happy to have this tea on my shelf anytime I’m craving their bold, earthy flavors and I don’t have grandma’s beet salad at hand.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teapigs
Description:
This blend will give you the kick you need to jump into your lycra, tie up your trainers, skip to the gym and throw that scary giant kettle bell way over your shoulder. This blend of beets, spice and hibiscus which helps give you extra energy, is fruity and punchy (enjoy with or without lycra!).