I love my genmaicha tea and if I can find a flavored one, its an automatic impulse buy. I can’t stop myself. Which is what happened when I laid eyes on this blend, Honey Mead from A Quarter to Tea. I knew I didn’t need any more tea, but I HAD to have this one. I mean just listen to the description:
Sencha and toasted rice make a toasty and sweet base for apple, buttered rum and honey flavors (which are accented further with honeysuckle).
This tea had me at toasty sweet base.
Brewed up by the recommended parameters, I set about trying my first sip of this tea. After allowing the tea to settle and cool for a moment, I came away with this gorgeous silky honey flavor that reminded me of a sweet wheat beer. There definitely is a note of “mead” and I can see why this blend is called Honey Mead.
In each sip you are greeted with this amazingly balance honey toasted flavor that mingles very well with the apple buttered rum flavors. All in all, an amazing blend that I had every intention of sharing with some of my sisters but found myself devouring teapot after teapot of this blend until it was gone.
Every time I have A Quarter To Tea I am blown away by how amazing their blends are. This is one of those companies that you know you will not be disappointed by the teas you pick up. I adore the unique flavors they offer that you can’t get anywhere else. One of my favorite companies for sure!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description:
Sencha and toasted rice make a toasty and sweet base for apple, buttered rum and honey flavors (which are accented further with honeysuckle). Comforting and revitalizing.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Coconut Carrot Cashew from A Quarter To Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Tea Description:
Coconut Carrot Cashew: Three of the best C’s in existence that are only better when paired together. Sweet carrot, creamy coconut, and rich and nutty cashews come together on an Assam base for a medium bodied, and incredibly satisfying cup.
All orders come in resealable packaging and include a reusable muslin cotton tea bag. Ingredients: Assam black tea, raw cashews, shredded coconut, dried carrot, natural flavors. Brew and Size Instructions: Use 1-2 teaspoons for a 6 oz cup. Steep for 3-5 minutes at 200F water.
Remember, there’s no wrong way to take your tea, as long as it makes you happy!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
If you haven’t checked out A Quarter To Tea, I implore you to do so. A Quarter to Tea offers fresh gorgeous unique blends that make you crave more. And Coconut Carrot Cashew is no exception.
Coconut Carrot Cashew is an very unique and odd blend. Who would have thought that these three flavors would work together. But I have to say, they do brilliantly!
Let’s start with the ingredients in this blend. First whiff of this package and you get the sugar coconut noes right off the bat. There is that good ol fashioned black tea fragrance that just makes ones heart happy.
Per the brewing suggestions, I steeped this blend for 4 minutes with water prepped at 200F. Once the timer went off letting me know the tea was ready, I did allow the tea to cool for a moment or two. I was eager to try this delight!
First sip in and I am in LOVE. I have to say this tea has it all.
Gorgeous sweet almost sugary notes of coconut envelope the entire sip. The perfect amount of sweet to contrast with the subtle yet vibrant malty and astringent black tea base. The carrot and cashew tones finish up perfectly with a carrot cake like finish. During each sip, you could almost imagine a lush decadent carrot cake with icing piled high.
I have tried several different dessert teas and several blends boasting that they taste like carrot cake. I have never tasted a tea that tasted more like a carrot cake than this one. Initially I was worried that the coconut in the blend would take over since the flakes are quite large, but that wasn’t the case. The coconut brought this tea to a whole new level completing that baked good note that A Quarter To Tea has captured.
So what I’m trying to say is yeah. . .this tea is good. . . . very good. . . Brilliant actually!
Tropical Sunshine Green from A Quarter to Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Tea Description:
Summer winding to a close, getting you down? Don’t fret — just let yourself get whisked off to the beach. Tangerine, mango, raspberry and coconut make a fruity tropical cocktail that will have you hearing waves and feeling the sand underfoot.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
We’re a long way from summer now, so a tropical themed tea feels a little out of place but just because this might not be the ideal season to drink it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be super tasty! So, when I cold brewed this tea I did my absolute best to be open minded about it. And honestly, it wasn’t hard: the coconut in the blend smells super fresh and yummy and I could see lots of goji berries which are a fruit I’ve really tried to learn more about this year. Both are things for me to get excited about.
Like I said, this was cold brewed because Lauren from A Quarter to Tea specifically said on the tea’s page that it’s great iced. I don’t normally ice teas, but I do cold brew them! I find, if a company is going to specifically point out a way to try their tea I want to take that into consideration.
Mostly; I thought this was just a really nice smooth, vegetal and grassy cold brewed green tea that demonstrated characteristics of both the Chinese and Japanese style greens in the blend. On top of the really enjoyable base, the coconut was quite a dominant flavour. It tastes insanely fresh! It’s a nice balance between tropical “Pina Colada” type coconut and a more confectionery type coconut. It reminds me of DT’s Coconut Grove which is something I haven’t gotten to say in a LONG time since that delightful blend has been discontinued for a while now.
Sadly, none of the fruit really seems to contribute much flavour. I certainly don’t taste the goji and I just barely taste the faintest citrus flavour on the finish of the cup. I’d never be able to identify it as tangerine is I wasn’t reading an ingredients list. I don’t mind the absence of fruit because I get to enjoy the coconut, but I doubt that’s entirely what was intended and if you’re looking for fruit flavour you may be disappointed with this blend.
Regardless, it was a good experience for me.
Sangria White from A Quarter to Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Tea Description:
Hold on to your summer year round, with this cuppa. Combines the flavors of cherry, apple and blueberries with a hint of rum and wine to make the perfect sangria year round.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is my second sample from A Quarter to Tea! I chose it for a couple reasons; the big one was that the other two samples I picked out were oolongs and I wanted to get to taste at least one of Lauren’s other tea types. However, I was also interested by the fairly unique ingredients. I’ve never seen Sangria with blueberry, for starters. Finally, I wanted to find a Sangria tea that was an improvement on the other two I’ve tried. DAVIDsTEA had a seasonal Sangria blend which I didn’t mind but didn’t love, and Red Leaf Tea has a Sangria flavour of matcha I currently own but don’t particularly like. And the idea of Sangria with a white base sounds awesome, too!
It was hard to form much of an impression of the tea dry: I could see several chunks of the dry ingredients in the blend, but there wasn’t a distinct aroma. Part of that, I feel, is that in the package Lauren mailed to me the Cherry Chocolate Latte was really a dominant flavour and I think possibly may have contaminated the other teas it was packaged with or, at least, “cancelled out” their aromas – which weren’t as potent/strong. Since Lauren suggests on her Etsy page to ice this and since Sangria really is a drink best consumed cold I decided to go with a cold method of preparation. However, instead of icing I went with cold brewing because that style of preparation is a favourite of mine.
I do find this tea to be very mildly/delicately flavoured overall, with softer and less prominent notes of apple and blueberry and a jammy stonefruit quality which I suppose is the cherry. I want to point out that mild and subtle isn’t actually a bad thing, however Sangria doesn’t have a ‘delicate’ flavour to begin with so it’s not reading as the most accurate flavour profile. Plus it’s a little odd for me to neither taste “orange”/citrus which is such a common Sangria flavour or the wine/rum. As such, while I really like the flavour that I do taste, I find it very hard to drink this and think of it as ‘Sangria’ flavoured. The name just doesn’t seem to match, you know?
I’d be interested to see this tea rebranded as another flavour, maybe even some kind of ‘punch’? This is a refreshing, light, fruity cuppa but in my ‘quest’ for the perfect Sangria tea my expectations just haven’t been met.
Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong Green from A Quarter to Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong/Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Tea Description:
Roasty enough to appease the coffee lover in you! The blend of hojicha and oolong makes a robust, coffee like base without the jitters. Mellowed out with chicory, chocolate, and cherries. What could be a better start to the morning?
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A Quarter to Teas is a fairly new tea store selling on Etsy that feautues seasonal and limited edition blends such as the blend I’m trying now and many other unique flavours like Strawberry Jalapeno Salsa. The owner, Lauren, was kind enough to send a few samples my way. I have to say my email correspondence with Lauren was incredibly impressive – she was so prompt in replying to my messages and very pleasant overall. Without even taking a sip of tea yet, I’m already impressed with the company on the grounds of their customer service alone.
That said, getting into the tea itself this smells AMAZING. I was totally expecting more of a coffee/chocolate with a subtle cherry because most blends that attempt to do cherry blends in which the cherry isn’t the sole flavour never really nail it. Instead, the smell is indicating this will be the opposite: cherry tea with more subtle coffee and chocolate. I am SO on board with that idea!
And I am so gleeful right now because the taste of the infused tea IS very strongly cherry! And it’s not some kind of gross cough syrup cherry either! Instead it’s sweet, dark cherry. So yummy and indulgent! Of course, there’s more going on here aside from the cherry even if that is the element of the tea which I’m most excited about. The chocolate notes come through well too and the pairing is a match made in heaven. However, it’s a little thin and I think that’s probably because this blend uses chocolate chips. If I could make one suggestion it’d be to use either cocoa nibs or shells instead. I think that’d kick the chocolate factor up a lot and also make the mouthfeel a little cleaner. Finally, the “coffee”. Personally I think this is the mildest element of the blend but I’m more that ok with that. As much as I don’t hate coffee and am cool with the flavour being in my tea I still prefer the tea itself to be the most dominant flavour. On that note I definitely taste the hojicha more than the oolong. I really love the idea of pairing the hojicha with the oolong as well; it ups the roasty notes up quite a bit and adds a whole new layer of flavour into the tea.
This tea is absolutely phenomenal! I’m very impressed, and I really look forward to trying the rest of my samples from Lauren. As far as first impressions go, this was a really good one.