Summer is coming and it is almost time for juicy, ripe peaches! I am enjoying that flavor early today with this delightful honeybush blend from AKA Tea.
The website has a lovely recipe for making this as a sweetened iced tea and I can hardly wait to give that a try, but for today I am in need of tea FAST and it is overcast and gloomy outside. This is a great day to try this one hot!
And oh man, did it ever hit the spot! This tastes just like biting into a fresh peach that is still warm from the summer sun, and sends juice dribbling down your hand to your arm. No sugar needed to enjoy the fresh fruit flavor here. It was a real show stopper. It grabbed my attention and made me really savor the cup.
Since I am tired with lots more work to go laying sod, it was a real pick-me-up before I head back out. This summer, I can drink as much as I want, as late as I want, because this is honeybush! Hooray! And iced in the 95 degree heat we regularly experience? Yes, please!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Aka Tea
Description
Life is “Just Peachy” with this honeybush blend! Keep it happy and just a little sappy.
The wonderful aroma of sweet peach is bound to put a smile on your face.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Catnap from Aka Tea
I misread the name of this tea at first, and thought it said “Catnip.” Turns out I wasn’t far wrong, because this blend does actually contain catnip. It’s even more fitting when you consider that the company logo, and indeed the majority of their blends, are cat themed.
Catnap is purportedly a relaxing blend, containing chamomile, mint, lemon verbena, lemon balm…and catnip. In my head, catnip isn’t something I typically associate with relaxation – it conjures images of bright-eyed, mischief-making kittens. Maybe in humans the effects are different.
Noticeable amongst the dry leaf are small whole chamomile flowers, pieces of lemongrass, cinnamon chips, bright blue cornflowers, and finely shredded mint (and, assumedly, catnip) leaves. I gave 1 tsp of leaf 4 minutes in boiling water, no additions. The resulting liquor is a bright yellow-orange, the scent generically herbal with an edge of sweet mint.
To taste, it’s a little danker than I was expecting, more a dark, sludgy herbal than a bright, clean, refreshing one. Mint is the main flavour – there’s the characteristic cooling peppermint, the sweeter edge of spearmint, and then a borderline vegetal flavour that I’m assuming is the catnip. I’m putting it with the mints because that’s how it comes across to me – minty, but with a definite swampiness about it. Underneath all of those runs the cinnamon, adding a warming spiciness. I’m not sure that it pairs 100% successfully with mint, though. It’s not a flavour combination I’ve come across many times before, and I’m pretty sure there’s a reason for that…
The lemon emerges in the mid-sip, and lifts what could have been a fairly uninspiring cup into brighter territory. The lemongrass adds another layer of sweetness, combining hay-like notes with a light citrus, and the lemon verbena and lemon balm also help to heighten this impression. The chamomile makes itself known at the end of the sip, with its typical thick honey notes. It pairs well with the lemongrass, and moves this blend more firmly into “relaxing tea” territory.
To me, this is a tea of two halves. The initial sip is very heavy on the mint and cinnamon, but that fades pretty quickly and is replaced by the citrus-honey flavours that seem to develop further as it cools. It’s certainly a unique blend, but I’m not sure it’s one I’d seek out especially frequently, primarily because I find the flavour combinations a little too jarring.
Having said that, this is an interesting caffeine-free option, and it’s different from most other “relaxing” blends I’ve tried. If you’re looking for something a little unusual to brighten up your evening tea drinking, this could well be the blend for you. Cat lovers may well award extra points also!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Aka Tea
Description:
CatNap, anyone? Sometimes that’s just what the doc ordered. Catnip is not just for cats. It has been known to help humans relax, relieve headaches, and calm the nerves. Curl up with a cup and “cat”ch some z’s.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Abby’s Grey from Aka Tea
Given the prevalence of Earl-Grey-like teas, you’d think it must be an easy thing to make. As my Calculus teacher used to say, “you already know the equation. Pop the numbers in there and plug-and-chug.
However, though the ingredients are straightforward, it’s a difficult thing to get PERFECT. There’s a technique. A FINESSE. A golden mean of proportions
Or maybe the secret ingredient is love, as my mother used to tell us (sarcastically) when she made us dinner. (I mean, she did love us. She just hated cooking.)
Whatever they’re putting in here (I don’t see “love” on the ingredients), they got this right. This is an easygoing, any-time Grey. A little more floral than usual, with maybe a lighter touch on the bergamot. Which I like. It’s got a soft, feminine feel. It’s smooth.
It’d be a great tea to read a novel with. Or to sip on while practicing calligraphy. It’s a friendly tea that would back you up while you got something enriching and creative done. Thumbs-up
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: AKA Tea
Description
Classic is sometimes the way to go! This blend has been around since the 1800’s, so it’s an oldie, but a goodie. Abby’s Grey is pure elegance to the eye and the tongue, highlighted by the orange-lemon undertone of the bergamot.
What is bergamot you might ask? It is a citrus fruit we normally don’t eat, but is lovely as an essential oil (especially on tea). Give it a try!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Holiday Happiness from Aka Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Aka Tea
Tea Description:
Don’t you love the smell of warm sugar cookies and cinnamon? How could that combination go wrong? This tea was inspired by winter loveliness, glistening white snow, a good book by the fireplace, and the ambiance of laughter. This tea is just waiting to celebrate holiday happiness with you!
Holiday Happiness – Green tea ( Mao Jian ), cinnamon, hibiscus, jasmine, spearmint, rosehips, peppermint, anise seed, rosemary, and natural flavoring
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
After trying to unsuccessfully make a protein matcha smoothie, I needed something to refresh my tastebuds. When I noticed in my tea stash that I still had a serving of Holiday Happiness from Aka Tea, I was giddy! I had reviewed a lot of their teas a while back and didn’t realize that I still had one left. I have already reviewed Holiday Happiness on my blog-CuppaGeek, but I wanted to see if my thoughts were the same.
Right out of the pouch you can smell the minty baked good aroma that reminds me of peppermint sugar cookies. What a treat!
Brewed this up per the instructions Aka Tea provides on their site-175 F and steep for about 3 minutes. The brew turned a lovely shade of pick almost instantly. Made my heart happy!
What I really love about this blend in particular is the amount of tea vs inclusions. There seems to be a happy medium of both. The tea isn’t overwhelmed by the inclusions and the inclusions are not overwhelmed by the tea. There is a lovely partnership between the ingredients blending together and creating a wonderfully unique flavor.
First sip in and I am once again in my tea happy place. Warm sweet cinnamon notes mixed with a slight tart minty background. Rich buttery green notes followed by a sweet flora note. Thru the entire sip, there is a spiced undertone that really mixes well with the rest of the flavors. Sure this tea is sort of all over the place, but it is one journey I love time and time again.
As odd as those flavors sound, this blend really works. There is an almost winter feel to the tea, but I have no problem drinking this in the middle of summer and am looking at buying a larger size. Holiday Happiness from Aka Tea is a tried and true flavored tea that never disappoints!
Mint Yerba Mate (Herbal) from Aka Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: Aka Teas
Tea Description:
Need some energy and focus? Yerba Maté has been shown to help the body digest carbohydrates (more energy!), burn calories from fat, and delay the buildup of lactic acid after a workout.
Stimulating to the mind, body, and taste buds, Mint Yerba Maté can’t be beat. With it’s healthy concentration of polyphenols and antioxidants, Yerba Maté has been touted as the most nutritious and balanced energy-giver, when compared to coffee, black tea, green tea, guarana, or kola nut
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Aka Teas is one of my newest love affairs when it comes to tea shops. I love their hand blended teas and the flavors each tea yields. When I saw this one, I knew it would be instant love. And it was.
I’m a sucker for mint teas. I have digestive issues so I find mint so refreshing and cooling. Almost relaxing because of the cooling effect it seems to have on my body. Pair that up with another love of mine, Yerba Mate and you have yourself a match made in heaven. And that is exactly how I see this tea.
I dumped the sample of this tea into my One Touch Breville and hit the Herbal setting for 5 minutes @212F. I wanted for that lovely beeping noise to alert me that my tea was ready.
I let this cool for a moment and dove right in. The mint hit me first. Such a lovely spearmint. Clean and refreshing. The Yerba Mate had a solid roasted flavor and that is the second flavor that hit my taste buds. The two combined was a unique flavor but one I really enjoyed. A mint refreshing cooling invigorating roasted tea. Simple but full of flavor. Each flavor played off the other and one flavor didn’t dominate the other. If you are a mint fan and an yerba mate fan, I think you’ll like this one too.