Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong, Mate, Ceylon, Rooibos Blend
Where to Buy: Mad Pots of Tea
Tea Description:
If You Were a Tea, What Would You Taste Like?
I’m sure this is a question you find yourself pondering almost daily…. If you want your own Custom Blend or “PersonaliTEA” Make My Blend!
Taster’s Review:
Mad Pots of Tea has a few select blends for sale on their site, but what is more important is that they make your custom blend for you based on a short but interesting survey that you take prior to their master blender Madam Potts taking over and mixing up your specialized tea!
It is all based on your likes, personality, and a answers to the survey. Its as if she profiles you!
My blend is called Toasta Rica because I love Costa Rica, and I like toasty teas. My tea came in a nice resealable brown paper bag which I believe is from recycled paper (love it) and a lovely card personalized by Madam Potts which reads:
Words of Inspiration from your form:
Rainforest, Autumn, Rich spice scents, Costa Rica, Full-Bodied, Mediative, Toasty, Aromatic, Fruity, Spicy, Exotic, Intense, Earth Tones.
Which basically means keywords I had put into the questionnaire I filled out when I began my journey on her site.
Also there is a note that my blend has never been created and will never be created for anyone else! It is a unique tea – just like me.
Of course I have big cheesy smiles all around now!
The ingredients of my blend include: Imperial Oolong, Mango Ceylon, Yerba Mate, Rooibos, Ginger Root, Sarsaparilla, Damiana, Allspice, Coriander, Cardamon, and Stevia.
I do love a good chai and this tea has a true chai flavor to it but one thing I notice when sipping this tea is a wonderful black pepper note that just dances on the tip of my tongue – I LOVE black pepper! It is a sweet tea that has just the right amount of fruit notes to it without being too fruity and cutting through the intense tones of what I call my renaissance tea!
While you can’t get my exact blend, of course without asking me for it, I just want to say how in love I am with my tea blend from Mad Pots of Tea and I want to encourage any tea lover to give her method of finding the perfect blend for you a try!
Turn around on your blend is not fast. I waited five weeks from the time of order to receiving it but I am fine with that as it seems there was time allowed for the flavors to meld and the true beauty of this tea to develop.
I am thrilled with my blend even though my head was not thinking chai-esque the fact is chai is one of my first tea loves! Not only is this a chai tea but an extremely excellent chai at that! I have several chai teas from many companies here but this one is supreme!
Somehow Madame Pots hit the nail on the head with this blend not forgetting I needed something a tad bit fruity to break the monotony of the chai spices! I love that oolong was used as a base, I am an oolong lover through and though but I also love that some mate was added as I always need to get my energy flowing! I do not feel that any of these flavor components, although there are many strong elements in this tea, take over. Each flavor is getting its time in the Toasta Rica sun! Oh yeah!
Thank you Madame Potts!
Wise Man’s Caravan from Indie Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Indie Tea
Product Description:
Wisdom May Be The Road Less Traveled, But It Beats The Road That Leads To The Unexpected Swamp Filled With Hungry Alligators.
Organic and Fair Trade Ingredients: Organic Assam Black Tea, Organic Cloves, Organic Orange Peel, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Cardamom, Organic White Peppercorn, Organic Allspice, Organic Ginger, Organic Nutmeg, Organic Myrrh, Organic Frankincense.
Taster’s Review:
I must admit that Frankincense and Myrrh are two ingredients with which I have very little (read: none) experience. I wouldn’t be able to readily identify either if I were given something that had been spiced with them. I might have tried something with one or both of the ingredients in it before trying this tea, but, if so, it apparently was memorable.
But that is certainly not the case with this chai! This is really a delicious and unique chai – and it is indeed memorable. The black tea base is robust enough to stand out and be noticed amongst these spices without overwhelming them. It has a pleasant flavor with a nice malty note.
The spices are strong, but they don’t hit you upside the head. The cloves, cinnamon and cardamom come through most distinctly. I do like the addition of the allspice and nutmeg, it gives the tea a very solid warmth and pleasant nutty/woody flavor. The spices come through with very little heat though… this is what I would call a well-seasoned spiced tea rather than a spicy tea. It’s rustic and unusual.
While I do enjoy ginger, I like that here it is a little subdued. It doesn’t come on too strong or peppery – it kind of sits back in the background and lets the other spices come out and play. I also like the hint of orange here. It isn’t strong, but, it is a nice citrus-y sweetness that lightens up what might otherwise be a very spice-laden cup.
This is a very unusual chai – unusual, but very enjoyable. Different is good!
