Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh Tea, Rooibos & Yerba Maté blend
Where to Buy: Blackbird Tea Co. or Black Bird Tea Co. Etsy
Tea Description:
In Argentina and Uruguay, maté is traditionally sipped through a metal straw in a cured gourd. Try that in rush hour traffic! Our interpretation is a blend of roasted maté mixed with rooibos, black pu-erh tea, and a kick of chocolate, lemongrass, cinnamon and ginger. Drink it throughout the day for a chocolaty, spicy pick-me-up.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When this tea first arrived, I was so excited! I have a tea that I love from Adagio Teas that is a version of a Mocha Mate. I can take that tea down in no time flat.
I quickly grabbed this tea and throw it in my Breville One Touch choosing the herbal setting (seeing how their is Mate in it). Poured myself a huge cup of it and sat down to write the review and then it hit me. The smell. The smell of my arch enemy. The smell one of the only teas I have trouble drinking. Yes. This tea had rooibos in it.
Unfortunately for me, I am not a rooibos fan. We each have our own teas that we adore and love and then there are the teas that really aren’t our cuppa. This one falls into the latter category. From the other flavors I was getting when I did try a sip, this tea is phenomenal. The spices and chocolate mix so well together and produce this vibrant and invigorating flavor with a sweet lemon like kick.
But with the rooibos in there, I think I need to find this darling a new home. Rooibos and I just have never gotten along. But from what I tasted, the rest of the tea is amazing. If you like rooibos blends, check this one out. I bet it would be delightful to you!
Marco Polo Rouge by Mariage Freres
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Roiboos
Where to Buy: Mariage Freres
Tea Description:
A wonderful secret tea will bring you to mysterious and distant lands. Flowers and fruits coming from China and Tibet give this rooibos a unique velvety taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This was the first Mariage Freres tea I tried, and it’s still among my favourites today. It’s one of their most well-known and iconic blends, and it’s one I was initially most curious to try, having heard various opinions. I used 1 tsp of leaf for this cup, and gave it approximately 3 minutes in boiling water. No additions. The resulting liquor is a medium red, with little scent except a vauge sweetness. The dry leaf is similarly innocuous in this way, with its scent giving little away. I think that’s why I find it such an intriguing tea in many ways – its secrets are well hidden, and a true impression of this tea comes only through having tried it.
The initial sip is sweet, with the flavour of creamy strawberry. It reminds me initially of strawberry yougurt, only without the texture. The initial intensity soon fades, however, and leaves the woody, almost medicinal tang of rooibos behind. It’s a little jarring after the initial sweetness, but past experience tells me that a dash of milk can help to smooth this transition. I have none with me at the moment, though, so I’m proceeding without! Successive sips add to the creaminess, which seems to build and linger a little longer each time. The strawberry is prominent, if a little artificial, but the rooibos base pulls it back from being cloying. It’s not the gentlest of partnerships, but it does work in this respect. The aftertaste is mildly floral, although it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how. If pushed I’d say jasmine, but it doesn’t play a huge role in the overall flavour. Those who are wary of jasmine (myself included) needn’t fear! As the cup cools, the rooibos becomes a little scratchy and drying at the back of the throat.
Mariage Freres descriptions can be maddeningly vague, and this one is no exception. It’s a tea worth trying, though, for the strawberries-and-cream deliciousness if nothing else. It does seem a little heavy-handed in some respects, which is rare for Maraige Freres in my experience. A case in point here is the rooibos base, which can dominate the flavour after the initial sip, and which can become a little scratchy and drying on the palate. It tempers the sweet, syrupy strawberry, though, and for that reason I can’t really complain about it. For me, this is a tea that works best with a reasonably long brew time (4 minutes or more), and a dash of full-fat milk. It’s palatable without, but this is how it really shines in my estimation. It’s a good introduction to the world of Mariage Freres, and definitely worth discovering alongside its black counterpart – Marco Polo.
Ginger Peach from theBeesTeas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black Tea & Rooibos
Where to Buy: theBeesTeas
Tea Description:
Black tea and peach red rooibos blended with ginger root, peach, and apricot. Ginger is known to help with stomach ailments, and act as a great digestive aid, It’s also great for helping to ward off illnesses such as colds, as it can aid the body in eliminating toxins in the body. This is a warming blend in the Winter as a hot tea, and a refreshing blend in the Summer as an iced tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As much as I try to like teas that have red rooibos in them, that weird medicinal flavor just destroys teas for me. I really wish I liked them. There are some amazing sounding teas that sound so good and then I see that they have red rooibos in them and its all over for me. Green rooibos on the other hand is fantastic.
I steeped this one up in my One Touch Breville (212F-2 scoops-2 cups of water) and was excited to try this one hoping I could see past the red roobios. Unfortunately that isn’t the case.
The ginger and peach are the front flavors that you taste and smell when you first start to sip. But that after taste is that weird red rooibos flavor that I just can’t get past. I was really hoping that the peach, ginger, and apricot flavors would mask the red rooibos. Sadly. . no. The flavors that you taste are really good. This tea without the red rooibos blended in, I think, would be amazing and very good. There are no hints of articial-ness with this one and everything tastes fresh and tasty.
If you like red rooibos and a ginger style tea with a touch of fruit, I could see this being a winner for some. It just wasn’t the case for me. Can’t like ’em all.
Papaya Mango Mate Herbal Tea from The Tea Guys
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea, Yerba Mate & Rooibos
Where to Buy: Tea Guys
Tea Description:
South American yerba mate makes the perfect base for this wonderfully tropical blend with sweet chopped papaya, apples, and refreshing lemongrass. The addition of green tea and organic rooibos helps to smooth the blend and create a healthful, antioxidant rich tea that is a wonderful way to re-balance anytime.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I look for an energy boost to get me through a challenging day at work, I usually bring with me a nice large jug of cold brewed tea. I absolutely love cold brewing. It’s the perfect lazyman’s way to prepare a nice cold beverage for the next day. I don’t have to double the leaf usually, and the results are almost always satisfying. All I have to do is dump some cold water over some leaves overnight and bam! Great results with little effort.
I like using tropical-themed teas for cold brewing, and Tea Guy’s Papaya Mango Mate certainly fits the bill. Smelling the dry leaf, there is something so nicely fruity about it. The papaya in this blend is most certainly the star. I have had plenty of other blends like this from Tea Guys, and I am sorry to let the cat out of the bag; most of their tropical/fruity teas smell the same. I wish the mango was much more present in this tea, I feel like the combination is really great and should not be forgotten when blending the tea. Looking at the dry leaf, I see a lot of flotsam that may only be 50% necessary. I see more blue corn flowers and safflower than I do yerba mate or green tea. While I do see plenty of lemongrass in this blend, I have had ones that have overwhelmed the loose with it, so see less of it is quite refreshing for a change.
What this tea promises in the dry leaf, it delivers in the cold brew! I get a herbaceous dry grassy note snuck into the body of the tea that alerts me to the Yorba. The tropical papaya shines through in both aroma and main flavor component. The lemongrass is leading lady, and lends a brightness to the tropical flavors. I must have been thirsty, because I gulped down the entire quart in my mason jar pretty quick without complaints. While I think that their Golden Grapefruit is a better iced tea, I would still recommend this tea for the cold-brew fanatic who needs a nice summer change up to their routine.
Chew-brew from Adagio Teas (Signature Blend)
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Red Rooibos/Mate
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
Warm and fuzzy or strong and bold? Either way Chewy always has your back.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
So lets start this off with saying I am a huge science fiction/fantasy/horror nerd. The horror genre is my favorite but after having kids you learn that watching a good ol fashioned movie like Halloween or Aliens doesn’t fit into your schedule. I learned to adjust and started watching more science fiction movies with my kids. My boys love Star Wars. Especially my nine year old. It does a mama proud when you hear your son arguing Star Wars with another adult. Telling them that the best three are 4,5,6 and naming them correctly. Heart Swells. . .Sigh.
Anyway. . .Today is May the 4th. So let me say to all “May the 4th Be With You”. I had this idea to do a Star Wars inspired tea and ran it by liberteas. Thought it might be fun. So I picked up a tea that I had in my stash for today. One of my favorite characters is Chewbacca. I mean, how can you not just fall in love with him? He is just awesome from the very first time you see him on screen. From the noises and the amazing job done by Peter Mayhew, this character steals the show.
The tea I picked for this awesome day was Chew-Brew by Adagio Teas. I am going 100% outside my comfort zone with this one. The artwork is just awesome so I couldn’t resist. This has the dreaded red rooibos in it. Ugh. But I knew that. Again, the artwork gets me every time with these fandom blends. Brewed this one up at work so I just used the water spout on the coffee, threw the tea in my teapot, brewed for 5 minutes and poured the brew over ice.
While this was brewing, you could smell the hazelnut and almond flavors. It was an almost overwhelming smell. Not bad, but just a bit much for me this morning. As I took my first sip, cringing and waiting for that first hint of red rooibos to overtake the cup, I was 100% surprised. I do not taste the red rooibos at all in this blend!!! How can that be?? I almost did a little dance at work but thought better of it.
As I continued to drink my iced tea, I picked up all of the nutty flavors listed. The almond, the hazelnut, and the mocha nut flavors. I do really enjoy Adagio’s Mocha Nut Mate. It has this rich roasted nutty flavor that I adore and I can pick it up in this and it is amazing iced. The honeybush hazelnut provides a creamy touch. This would be a nut lovers dream tea. The whole tea has a flavor profile of rich nuttiness that I can’t say I’ve had too many other times.
I can’t say that I would drink this one again even though I really enjoyed it. I am just not a huge hazelnut fan. The red rooibos almond must be a very small percentage of this blend. So for people like me that really don’t like it, there is still hope for us.
There really is only one way to end this review. . . . . May the 4th be with you. . . . . .