Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
This is delicious and refreshing. I don’t know if I’m tasting peach cobbler a la mode or not … but I definitely am tasting the peach cobbler. And it’s really yummy.
Peach cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. There are few desserts out there that say “summer” quite as clearly as peach cobbler! Sweet, fluffy, golden-browned biscuit atop sweet, juicy peaches and their juices. Mmm!
To brew this tea, I went with the hot-brew method. I brought 1 quart of freshly filtered water to a boil and then tossed in the tea bag and let it steep for 90 seconds, removed the bag and then poured the tea into my favorite tea pitcher. I repeated this process – bringing another quart of water to a boil, this time steeping the same tea bag for 2 full minutes, removing the bag and pouring the hot tea into the tea pitcher to combine both infusions.
Then I let the pitcher cool down a while before stashing the tea into the chillbox and refrigerating for a few hours. Mmm! Frosty, delicious iced tea!
The peach notes are sweet and I can taste notes of buttery, biscuit-y pastry that’s been caramelized. These flavors are evenly matched with the brisk-tasting black tea. It’s sweet and fruity, but not too much. The black tea balances out these flavors. The black tea isn’t bitter, and I like that it’s a rich, solid tasting black tea.
This is SO MUCH better than one of those ready-to-drink iced teas that you can buy in the grocery store that are mostly sugar. I can taste the black tea here. This isn’t an overly sweetened, overly flavored tea. It’s just a really refreshing, smooth-tasting, flavorful drink that tastes more like tea than a bunch of flavors and sugar … and it quenches my thirst on this hot summer day. I like it.
Thé Aromatisé a la Rose (Rose Petal Tea) from Hediard Paris
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Tea Description:
Since 1854 Hédiard has been a well-known name in Paris, for years the shop has been frequented by many cosmopolitan and noteworthy figures. The flagship store and restaurant are located on Place de Madeleine and the company has grown to oversee distribution to select shops in France and on four continents.
Hediard’s tea blends use the whole tealeaf to minimize the powdery residue sometimes left behind from crushed leaves. Hediard buys only from the greatest tea experts in the topmost estates.
Hediard Rose flavored tea with rose petals has an aromatique and alluring blend of black tea from China, rose petals and rose essential oil. The fragrance and taste are perfect for romance or pampering.
Learn more about Hediard Paris here.
This tea can be found at various locations including Cyber Cucina.
Taster’s Review:
This is really quite nice, and rather unexpected! I was a little unsure about the tea when I read that the tea had been blended using “rose essential oil.” While I realize that most flavored tea blends are flavored with oils, most teas flavored with floral essence tend to be teas that were scented with the flower blossoms and petals themselves by layering the young tea leaves and blossoms and allowing the tea leaves to absorb the flower essence this way. I find that teas that are flavored with floral essential oils tend to taste very perfume-y and sometimes downright soapy.
But, I am glad that my previous experiences with teas flavored with floral essential oils did not cloud my judgement and I still tried this tea, because it is really quite lovely.
The black tea is invigorating without being too bold or assertive, making this a nice tea to enjoy in the afternoon (and would make a perfectly lovely choice for a garden tea party!) There is a very nice balance between black tea flavor (rich and earthy) and sweet rose notes.
The rose is strong but not overwhelming and doesn’t come off as too perfume-y. There is a somewhat perfume-ish taste that arrives on the palate at about mid-sip, but, it is a slight perfume-ish kind of note, and seems to wash over the palate smoothly and quickly, so it doesn’t end up becoming off-putting. Instead it is what I’d call feminine and romantic, tasting more of rose water than of perfume or soap.
The rose here is not as strong or as sharp as a typical rose tea (I’m thinking of most of the rose congou teas I’ve tried), it is more of a sweet, dainty, delicate kind of flavor, kind of what I’d expect a rose tea from Paris to be … kind of like a windswept romantic kind of taste … very daydream-y, just like Paris is to me.