Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Our premium buttery sweet organic Chinese fannings green tea blended with organic yellow cake, pineapple, brown sugar, and a hint of maraschino cherry flavors. This is ridiculously delicious. Don’t miss your chance to grab one.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about SBT’s subscription here.
Taster’s Review:
Pineapple Upside Down Cake used to be one of my favorite desserts my mom would make as a child. Growing up, my brothers and I were never fans of the traditional birthday cake. My poor mom would always ending up baking a pie or some other dessert (she tried once to make orange fluff and put candles in it-true story). She would ask us if we were sure we didn’t want a chocolate cake and we would always say no, we want pie or we want cheesecake. Or we would ask for Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Which was a little different than the traditional Pineapple Upside Down Cake. My mom would make it as a cheesecake instead. To this day, even as adults,we devour that dessert whenever she makes it. And she makes a healthy version of it now too- so you don’t have to feel guilty about cramming huge bites of it in your face.
This tea brought all those warm and fuzzy memories to me. This tea reminds me of that dessert my mom makes minus the cheesecake part. So good! The green tea provides a rich buttery base. The pineapple flavor is mixed in with just the right amount of brown sugar and maraschino cherry flavoring. You can seriously taste each flavor separately. But they do mingle very well together. The only flavor I didn’t pick up was the yellow cake but I’m wondering if that was a flavor that the green tea kind of overshadowed. Oh well. Regardless I am really enjoying this one.
I cold brewed this one and was very happy with the results. I didn’t try making it up like a hot beverage because I ended up steeping this one until there were just no more infusions in the poor little tea pouch. I see myself picking more of this one up for sure. This one is going to be a fantastic addition to those teas I keep on hand to keep my sweet tooth from demanding a piece of candy or junk food around 2pm each work day.
Lemon-Lime Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Here’s our sweet, hay-like organic shou mei white tea fannings paired with the delicious tartness of organic lemon and lime flavors. It might not be as complicated as some of our other tea blends, but it will definitely put a smile on your face.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Lemon-Lime Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas … not the most innovative flavor combination out there, but, I do like the combination of lemon and lime.
There is a delicate, creamy, lightly sweet flavor to the Shou Mei tea that gives the tart, tangy notes of the citrus some contrast. The lemon and lime flavors are strong enough to be tasted, but delicate enough to allow the white tea to shine through.
It’s crisp and refreshing. It’s tart and a little bit sweet, too. Is it my favorite iced tea flavor from SBT? No, I can’t say that it is. But, it is tasty. It has a really light, refreshing taste that I enjoy and I think that this would be a real crowd pleaser – perfect to serve at your next family BBQ!
Blueberry and Banana Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebie’s
Tea Description:
Premium Organic black tea with organic flavors. Each 14g teabag will make one 2-quart pitcher of DELICIOUS iced tea. Re-steep the teabag and you can get a full gallon out of each one. Steep in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. (3 minutes MAX.) Then combine with ice and water to make a 2-quart pitcher. It couldn’t be simpler–OR more delicious!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love me a Banana flavored tea. They are hard to find, especially ones that are not red rooibos flavored. So when I saw this one during one of the recent sales, I had to grab it.
SBT’s teas are pretty convenient. Fill a pitcher with water, throw the tea pouch in, and a few hours later you have yourself some iced tea. Pretty tasty iced tea too. They make 2 quarts to share or not to share with others. I chose the not to share route with this one.
The banana sadly in this one is more of a hint or a slight aftertaste. The black tea base shows through the most with the blueberry falling into second place. If I hadn’t know there was supposed to be banana flavoring in this, I would have just thought it was a blueberry tea. I was really hoping for more banana. But even with that, I can see this one being a purchase here and there. The blueberry flavor that is used I really enjoy.
I’ll have to pick more of this up in the summer months for get together and family time at my parents’ pool. I can see this one going over really well!
Fortmason Black Tea from Fortnum & Mason
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Fortnum & Mason
Tea Description:
This blend of Indian and China teas is also perfumed with the delicate aroma of orange blossom to produce a subtle, floral flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
So this review is for the bagged version of this one; and dry it doesn’t smell like a lot. I don’t really know why but my first thought was “Fresh Linens” and then just simply “Fresh” when smelling, even though I couldn’t really identify anything in particular flavour wise.
Steeped up there’s something REALLY appealing about the smell; it’s just a tiny bit fruity and really, really floral. I know this is supposed to be orange/orange blossoms so I’m not really ‘surprised’ per say, but it’s a lot better than I expected. I really hope the steeped smell carries over into the taste! Also, I should point out that orange blossoms are actually my favourite flower and have been since I was in highschool and had to read the screenplay for Federico Garcia Lorca’s play ‘The Blood Wedding’. However, despite that, I’ve never actually seen one in person let alone smelled one so I don’t have a lot of familiarity (or really any) with how they should taste.
I actually didn’t like the first few sips of this; it seemed a little harsh and perfumey. However, once it cooled down a little bit the flavours seemed to calm down as well and I got really into this one! I don’t taste anything actually like orange and I don’t know if I should be – do orange blossoms actually smell like oranges? I wouldn’t think so. The description for this one is kind of unclear as well: it says “scented with orange” do they mean the fruit or the flower?
What I do taste is this really aromatic and fresh floral note that reminds me of rose, but not rose. I want to describe it as a combination of my Grandma’s perfume and roses on steroids – in a good way on both fronts! It’s quite sweet and soothing. It’s making me feel like, ugh, I don’t know quite how to phrase it? The simile that springs to my mind is “Innocent young adult discovering her first love through a summer romance”. It’s like Nicholas Sparks version of tea! I’m totally in love with this blend! I need more!
Lavender Earl Grey Cleanse from WayGood Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: WayGood Tea
Tea Description:
An exquisite black tea flavored with aromatic lavender flowers & bergamot.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Lavender Earl Grey Cleanse from WayGood Tea is one of the most unusual Earl Grey teas that I’ve encountered.
Let me start with the “cleanse” part of this tea. I’m not a doctor or one who specializes in herbs. I’m not someone who recommends a ‘cleanse’ or a ‘detox’ because neither of these activities are something of which I partake. I don’t drink tea for health benefits. I don’t drink tea to cleanse, detox or lose weight. I drink tea because I like the way it tastes.
Now, if I happen to find a tea that I enjoy drinking, I certainly don’t mind at all if it happens to have the cleansing, detoxifying or weight loss benefits in addition to a great flavor. But flavor should come first. I drink tea because I like the flavor of it, if I want to drink something for health benefits, I’ll go drink some wheatgrass juice.
I don’t drink wheatgrass juice. I drink stuff I like to drink. That’s why I stick to tea.
So now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me turn my attention to this tea. It’s one of the more unusual “twists” to the classic Earl Grey teas that I’ve yet to taste. That’s not to say that I don’t like it – to be honest, I haven’t actually decided if I do or I don’t! It’s quite different.
The rosemary adds it’s distinctive fragrance to the overall cup and when I lift the cup to my lips to take a sip, I smell the rosemary. While the rosemary and bergamot seem to complement each other aromatically, the first few sips were a little strange because I expected to smell bergamot but I smelled the rosemary with the bergamot (as well as notes of lavender and juniper berry) and the medley of aromas is just … well, it’s different. It is unexpected.
But, even though it IS different and unexpected, it’s quite pleasant! I’m not hating the flavor here at all. Quite the opposite.
That said, one big disappointment about this tea is that the black tea isn’t a particularly strong flavor. It’s more of a background note and that’s even a little more generous than the flavor here actually represents. The black tea tastes thin (almost like it’s a decaffeinated black tea). It’s a very weak tasting black tea and I’m of the opinion that black tea should have some vigor to it.
I steeped this for four minutes in 205°F – that should not have produced a weak tasting black tea unless the black tea is not a particularly strong tea to begin with … or it’s a decaffeinated tea.
The bergamot isn’t a particularly strong flavor as it melds with the flavors of lavender, rosemary and juniper berry. The orange peel enhances the notes of bergamot somewhat, but not really enough for someone who is a bergamot fan like I am.
I don’t taste much from the elderberry either. Of the seven elements of this tea, I taste the rosemary the strongest while the pine-y notes of the juniper seem to accentuate the rosemary, then I taste the lavender, followed by the bergamot (and orange), the black tea and then the elderberry. It tastes herb-y, pine-ish and floral with hints of citrus in the background.
Overall, it’s a pleasant cup of tea, but I find myself wanting to taste TEA here, and I’m not tasting a lot of it. It’s a very weak tea – but as far as a cleansing or detox type of tea, this is quite enjoyable.