Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Parenteau’s Gourmet Foods
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Red and black currents, raisins, hibiscus, Saskatoon berries, blueberries, seneka root, natural flavours.
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
So this tisane is locally made and sold, and it features the Saskatoon Berry which isn’t as well known as it ought to be. I happen to live in Saskatoon Saskatchewan – and the berry is so popular around here that the city is named after the berry, and not the other way around. As such, any tea that features Saskatoons (of which there aren’t enough) very easily get my attention.
I decided to do a cold brew for my first try; sadly there’s a lot of hibiscus in the blend so a cold brew seemed like the best way to hold back some of the expected tartness I’ll likely be experiencing. Thankfully, there’s also a lot of berries in the blend as well but even still, not thirty seconds after I’d poured the water over the leaves the water was already the colour of McDonald’s mascot Grimace. The hibiscus in the blend was working quickly.
By the time the brew was done, it was a deep, dark almost maroon colour – but just slightly more purple. It reminded me of the colour of red wine. The smell is mostly hibiscus. That’s not very promising, but I’m still holding out that this’ll deliver the Saskatoon berry flavour I know and love anyway.
And the moment of truth; taste test!
The initial flavour here is a tart hibiscus flavour as anticipated; however, thankfully this isn’t all hibiscus. Similar to other berry/hibiscus teas I’ve had before like Rum Cream, from another local company (McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants), this starts tart and softens into a more mellow berry drink; it’s quite juice-like. I can definitely taste Saskatoon berries myself, but I also really taste the blueberries and black currants in the blend. Thankfully, I don’t get much flavour from the raisins – I’m not a raisin person, so it’s no loss for me.
For people unfamiliar with Saskatoon Berries picture something sort of like a blueberry and cranberry cross. They’re great straight, in pies, in jam or jelly, and as syrup. Really, they’re just great in general. It’s that simple.
I am enjoying this cold brew a lot though I’m craving a richer, more full Saskatoon berry flavour. If they used more Saskatoons and cut down a little on the amount of other berries in the tea, I think this could be amazing without having a more monotone and flat flavour. As is, I’m concerned people not familiar with Saskatoons are mainly going to focus in on the other berries in the blend and the hibiscus and miss out on the great flavour.
And what a loss that’d be.
Starry Night from Tea For All Reasons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea for All Reasons
Tea Description:
Inspired by Van Gogh’s painting, our version of “Starry Night” is a lovely combination of wild blackberry tea with splashes of blue in the form of cornflower blossoms, and candy blue sprinkles, as well as edible yellow and gold stars.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A tea with three different kinds of sprinkles. . . I’m in! This tea is pretty adorable with the blue and star sprinkles and the gold balls just add to the cuteness. Tea for All Reasons always has a few fandom style teas. This particular one is based off of Van Gough’s painting, Starry Night. But I digress. . .now to the tea.
I added the tea to my Breville, set it up for the black tea setting (212F-3 minutes-4 tbsp-3 cups water) and away I go. The tea definitely smells like berries . I picked that up from the dry leaves as well. As I start to enjoy this tea, I’m not picking up the bright berry flavor that I was hoping for. It definitely has an astringent factor to it. The more I drink and the tea cools, it just seems to be more of a muddled flavor. Definitely drinkable but its like the blackberry flavor is trying to pop but its just not quite there.
For my second cup, I used my Breville Milk Frother and made myself a latte with regular milk. Oh the flavors popped with this addition! Can you say Blackberries and Cream! Yum!! The sprinkles that looked to be there for show before the addition of the milk are now lending themselves to a sweet and subtle addition to the latte. I think I might just have to go for one more cup! I think adding the milk is the way to go with this one.
Serenity Now Herbal from DAVIDsTEA
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Tisane
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
So maybe you burned dinner. Maybe the dishwasher broke. Again. Maybe you just forgot to hit “save.” Life is full of stressful surprises. But lucky for us, life is also full of tea. And this oh-so-soothing blend is a guaranteed one-way ticket to your happy place. It’s got serene strawberries, harmonious hibiscus and restful rosehips, all in a base of low-key lavender. So get that kettle started and brace yourself for the rush of calm. Bring it on, life. We got this.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Serenity Now is the April ‘Tea of the Month’ from DAVIDsTEA.
Despite really liking the tea’s description (except for the part that called hibiscus ‘harmonious’ – that part is a total fib) I was very skeptical about this blend; I don’t much care for lavender myself, and I couldn’t see it going well with the strawberry, blueberry or other fruity things in the blend either. However, the quince was certainly an intriguing aspect; I’ve only had one other Quince tea but I really, really enjoyed it. As well, I do quite like the pairing of strawberry and spearmint! So despite reservations, it was worth a go.
I purchased this one in store as a Tea To Go; I decided on iced because the associate I asked said that hot was better for relaxing to/brought out the lavender more and iced was more refreshing and fruity. I actually initially didn’t really taste the lavender at all; my first few sips were almost entirely strawberry with a bit of a crisper spearmint backdrop. Hints of blueberry were present as well. The rosehips/hibiscus in this are pretty toned down; I think they just contributed a very slight tartness that blended in near seamlessly with the natural tang of the strawberry. Sadly, I didn’t pick up on the quince at all which is probably what I was most excited about.
About half way through drinking this one I sort of couldn’t help but burp a little bit? Something wasn’t sitting quite right with me and it resulted in this weird hiccup/reflux sort of cross. And that’s when I started to taste the lavender. Every time I’d ‘hiccup’ I get this flood of gnarly lavender flavour in my mouth. Very strong; borderline perfume-y. So, I’d take another sip to get my the taste out of my mouth – and then like thirty seconds later it’d hit me again and I’d get that nasty lavender breath. Repeated the cycle until the tea was gone – and then a few minutes later I was fine again.
Overall; this was better than anticipated for sure – I thought that the strawberry in particular was well executed, and the spearmint pairing definitely made for a light, fun fruity treat. It wasn’t “in your face” juicy – just a nice, softer and very refreshing drink like the associate I spoke to had described. I’d be interested in trying this one again to see if the same reflux type thing happened again – if it’s something caused by the lavender and going to be a regular occurrence when I drink this tea, then that definitely negatively impacts how I view this one (that lavender breath was NASTY), but if it was a one time deal then I think I could maybe get behind this one a bit better because the floral aspects were pretty in check, hiccups aside.
Body Tea from NudiTea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: NudiTea
Tea Description:
Take control of your weight with our natural body blend. The rich combination of hawthorn berries, dandelion root and fennel actively assist in burning excess fat and reducing fat storage in the body throughout the day and into the night. This delicious brew also helps suppress your appetite, reducing those pesky cravings. This is the perfect aid to help you look good in the nude.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As I’ve said before, I have my reservations about teas that claim to help you lose weight. I have never drank a tea based on its health claims, I drink tea because I love tea.
So, I won’t be reviewing this Body Tea from NudiTea based upon what it claims it can or cannot do. I’ll be reviewing it based on what it tastes like.
The dry leaf smells very herbaceous, a bit like an herb garden. The brewed liquid has kind of a weird smell. It’s not the most appetizing smell, either. It’s unfortunate to me because I usually inhale the fragrance of a tea before sipping and this generally enhances the overall experience. Since I’m not digging this scent, I don’t want to deeply inhale the fragrance and I feel like part of the experience is lost.
As for the taste: it’s actually kind of tasty. I’m surprised to say it! I might not enjoy the aroma of the brewed tisane but the flavor is quite pleasant.
I love the warmth of the fennel and I am enjoying the way the five ingredients – Alfalfa, hawthorn berries, dandelion root, fennel and nettle – interact with each other. It’s a warm and comforting beverage. Not really spicy but there is some warmth from the fennel, as I said, and while it does have somewhat of an herbaceous taste, given the ingredients, I expected it to taste a little more herby than it actually does. There seems to be a palatable balance of flavors in this tisane.
As I said at the start, I’m skeptical about any claims of weight loss that a tea might make. But, if I were going to try to embark upon a weight-loss-by-tea regime, I wouldn’t mind making this particular tea part of my daily routine. It’s actually quite pleasant and it’s surprises me just how much I’m enjoying this!
Raspberry Cocoa Flavored Black Tea from Tippy’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tippy’s Tea
Tea Description:
A bold, malty blended black tea with a taste of raspberry and dark chocolate notes at the end. We highly recommend sweetening slightly to bring out the chocolate and raspberry. Delectable.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Hmm … after experiencing their wonderful Not so Vanilla Tea, I had high expectations from the Raspberry Cocoa Tea from Tippy’s Tea. And while it didn’t quite live up to those expectations, I still found this tea to be quite enjoyable overall. And based upon some of the tasting notes for this tea on Steepster, I think I might be a minority in my thoughts on this tea.
To brew this tea, I used my Kati tumbler. I measured a bamboo scoop into the basket of the tumbler and poured 12 ounces of boiling water into the tumbler. Then I let the tea steep for 3 minutes. I let the tea cool a couple of minutes before taking a sip. That very first sip was not only still quite hot but also a little ‘muddied’ so I let it cool a few more minutes.
After the tea had cooled to a drinkable temperature, the flavors were much more distinguished. The raspberry is strong. It’s sweet with notes of tart. But it doesn’t taste quite as authentic as I would want from a raspberry flavor. It seems a little contrived, and I’m not sure if that’s because of the Keemun’s presence in this blend.
The black tea base is a blend of Assam and Keemun. I’m getting lovely notes of malt and I like the way these notes play with the chocolate-y flavors. The Keemun offers a hint of smoke to the cup as well as a hint of wine-like flavor. The wine notes interact with the raspberry and I’m not sure that it does so in a good way. I’m not sure if it’s the raspberry flavoring itself or if it’s the way the Keemun tastes with the strawberry, it just tastes a little bit off to me.
The smoke from the Keemun adds some interest to the cup as well, although I can’t say that it’s my favorite thing about this tea. It adds interest, but does it improve the flavors? Not really. It almost seems like an odd note, standing out a little in the crowd, it’s just kind of different and doesn’t seem to meld with the other flavors quite right.
So, maybe it’s the Keemun in this tea and not so much the flavoring? I’m not quite sure.
As the tea cools slightly, I pick up on more chocolate-y notes and that’s a plus. The chocolate reminds me of a dark, powdery cocoa, as if it were derived from Dutch powdered cocoa. I can taste the bitter and the sweet. I think I’m just wanting more of it.
Interestingly enough, I needed to leave my cup for a while and when I returned, it was quite cold. I found this to be a much tastier cup of tea when it was cold than when served hot. I don’t usually find this with a chocolate tea (and maybe that’s my own perception because I think of “hot chocolate” when I think of a chocolate drink).
Overall, it was an enjoyable beverage, but there was something just a wee bit off with either the raspberry or the Keemun … or possibly both. I’m still unsure.