Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.
Tea Description:
White Tea with Chai (Cardamom, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Cloves, Ginger and Nutmeg)
Taster’s Review:
When I opened the pouch that held the tea bag that brewed this cup of White Tea Chai Blend from Tea of Life, I lifted the tea bag to my nose to get a whiff of what I would soon be tasting. And … I was a little surprised and just a little dismayed that I couldn’t smell much in the way of spice. I mean, spices should be FRAGRANT, right? When I smell a chai, I like there to be no mistake of what I’m smelling. I like to smell those vibrant, warm spices.
But, I didn’t smell a whole lot of spice from this chai, at least, not in it’s dry form. However, now that the tea has been brewed, I can really smell those spices. What a lovely aroma! I smell (in order of most prevalent scent): pepper, clove, cinnamon and cardamom. I am picking up hints of nutmeg and ginger too.
And the main reason why I want to be able to smell the spices is because I want to taste them when I take a sip! I love chai: I love that spice! And I can taste those spices here! The black pepper is the most dominating flavor that I taste in this cup, but because I can also taste the other spices, this doesn’t taste like a black pepper white tea, this tastes like a white tea chai!
The white tea is soft and deliciously delicate, and now that I think about it, it’s probably good that the spices presented such a subtle fragrance because had the spices been stronger than they are now, they would have surely overpowered the sweet white tea and I am enjoying the way the white tea is represented in this blend. It is soft, sweet, and it evokes thoughts of the taste of rain on fresh spring leaves. Not that I go out and start licking the leaves after a rain … but if I did, this is how I would like that to taste. It’s only because I don’t know that this is what I would taste that I don’t go out and start drinking rain off of leaves.
And I like how the pepper POPS in this. It makes for a really interesting and different tasting chai. Normally, pepper is a accenting ingredient, here, it takes more of a central focus. I like pepper, and I like how it’s brought to life here.
Overall, a really enjoyable chai!
Green Tea Honey and Lemon from Tea of Life
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.
Tea Description:
High quality delicate Green Tea seamlessly blended with Honey and Lemon flavor to offer an excitingly flavorful refreshing drink.
Taster’s Review:
Nice! I have really enjoyed the teas that I’ve been tasting from Tea of Life. Right now in my tea cup, I’ve got Green Tea that have been flavored with Honey and Lemon and it’s really tasty.
There is just the right balance of green tea, honey and lemon flavors. It’s sweet, slightly grassy, and bright with citrus flavor. It has a very fresh flavor from the vegetative/grassy notes, and there are buttery notes in the background which I attribute to the green tea. It’s a very smooth taste.
As I lift the cup to my face and inhale deeply, I experience the lemony fragrance. It’s a delicate scent – this doesn’t smell like Lemon Pledge or anything. It’s a soft lemon tone that lets your senses know what flavor you’re about to experience.
The honey flavor is not quite as sharp as the lemon flavor. Oh, sure, I taste honey, but mostly what I taste from the honey flavor is the sweetness of honey. It is sweet, but it isn’t a clear, defined note that says “honey.” Instead, it says “sweet.” It’s a nice complement to the tangy lemon notes though, and when I slurp the sip, the honey notes become more distinctive.
The green tea flavor here is delicate. I don’t want to say that the tea flavor is obscured by the flavors, because that’s not really what I’m experiencing. There is an equal distribution of tastes between green tea, lemon and honey-esque sweetness, which is to say that I taste equal amounts of the three components.
I enjoyed this tea, as did my younger daughter and her friend (I made them a cup at the same time). It would be a nice tea to have on hand when one is feeling under the weather because it has three flavors that always seem to perk me up when I’m feeling low: green tea, lemon, and honey! This tea also tastes excellent chilled.
Whole Leaf Green Tea with Essence of Sunflower from Eden Grove
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Amazon Trading
Ingredients:
Camellia Sinensis with Red Pigments (Red Tea) with natural Sunflower flavor.
Learn more about Amazon Trading here.
Taster’s Review:
The ingredients of this Whole Leaf Green Tea with Essence of Sunflower form Eden Grove confuses me. The “red pigments” part confuses me. Red Tea to me means either Rooibos or black/oxidized tea leaves, depending upon where the tea is coming from. And this with this tea, the dry leaf looks like green tea leaves. I don’t see any rooibos and the leaves don’t appear oxidized. When I brewed the tea, it brewed up to look like a green tea – it’s a light, bright yellow-ish green color. And it tastes like a green tea.
Actually, it tastes like a green tea and sunflower petals. I can taste the distinct, bitter notes of the sunflower and they add a certain “perkiness” to this cup. The green tea is sweet and has a light, refreshing, slightly buttery tone to them. The sunflower adds a nice contrast to the green tea.
And I like that this is different from the usual tea selection. I encounter a lot of flavored teas on this, my tea journey, and I encounter many scented teas. But usually those teas aren’t flavored or scented with Sunflower. Usually those that craft the tea select a different flower when they scent a tea: rose and jasmine are two that come to mind immediately. But I don’t think I’ve found a tea until now that has been flavored/scented with Sunflower. And I like it!
So while I don’t understand the ingredient list of this tea … what I do understand is that I am enjoying what I’m drinking. It has an invigorating sort of flavor that doesn’t weigh the palate down. It’s a very nice, relaxing cup to sip.
Pomegranate Green Tea from Sarabeth’s
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Sarabeth’s
Tea Description:
Green Tea is one of the most natural of all teas and contains many of the natural compounds which make teas a healthy drink. The preference to green teas lies in their light, delicate and refreshing taste. It is meant to be consumed without milk or sugar and is a pleasant accompaniment to a meal thanks to its digestive properties.
Learn more about Sarabeth’s teas here.
Taster’s Review:
What a nice and soothing cup of tea! This Pomegranate Green Tea from Sarabeth’s has a really refreshing flavor that seems to energize the palate every time I take a sip.
As I’ve said before on this blog, pomegranate is one of my favorite fruits, but one that I don’t give myself the opportunity to enjoy very often because the fruits are kind of on the spendy side and since I’m really the only person in the household that will eat them, I feel a little guilty indulging in such an expensive fruit just for me. I do occasionally buy a pomegranate now and then, and my youngest daughter shares it with me, but it’s not something that she wants often.
So, pomegranate flavored teas like this one are a nice alternative to enjoying the fruit. I like that the fruit flavor here is subtle so it doesn’t overpower the light flavor of the buttery, vegetative taste of the green tea. There is a nice balance between tea and fruit. It is sweet, a little tart and it has a really enjoyable, silky texture. The aftertaste is tart and fruity.
This tea – when served hot – makes a fine pick-me-up for the afternoon. However, I think I like this one best iced! (Try cold-brewing it, it’s fantastic!)
Ivy Hills Estate Black Tea Essence of Lemongrass from Eden Grove
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Amazon Trading
Ingredients:
Black Tea with natural Lemongrass flavor.
Learn more about Amazon Trading here.
Taster’s Review:
This is nice! I like the delicate citrus-y quality to this Ivy Hills Estate Black Tea Essence of Lemongrass from Eden Grove. The black tea is the prominent flavor, but, it’s followed up with this light, sweet, citrus-y taste from the lemongrass.
The black tea has a robust, earthy scent to it and there are barely there hints of lemon. The tea also tastes earthy and rich, and it is a pleasing medium-to-full bodied tea. I am impressed by the amount of flavor that this tea delivers, especially considering that this came from a sachet! This is one sacheted/bagged tea that I could recommend with great confidence.
The lemongrass is a flavor that starts out delicate, but as I continue to sip, the hints of citrus become stronger. It never becomes a really bold flavor nor does it ever attempt to compete with the star of the show: the black tea. There is just enough lemongrass to give the tea an enjoyable touch of citrus without going overboard.
I like this one a lot. This is the kind of tea that I’d like to have with me when I travel, because let’s face it, when traveling I don’t want to mess around with loose leaf tea. It’s just too messy and not terribly convenient. But, these sachets would make traveling with my own tea easy, and this is tasty stuff! It’s SO MUCH better than anything I’ve ever found in a hotel’s tea selections!