Hello, tea lovers! Today is day eight of this holiday countdown, which means there are seventeen days until the big day, sixteen days to shop before the big day gets here and there have been eight wonderful days of tea!
Today’s artwork was created by artist Liane Ceglar for one of the 12 Days of Christmas swaps that I was involved in.
I’m quite proud of my Christmas tree. Well, not the tree itself (I’m actually in need of a new artificial tree as the one we have now is quite old and has had better days), but what I’m proud of is that every single ornament is different, and I’d estimate that 85 – 90% of the ornaments on the tree are handmade and of those handmade ornaments. I grew up in a household that had a very boring tree with boring round, glass bulb type ornaments. You know, the kind that you buy in the store and they all look the same?
One thing about my tree – it’s not boring! I love that every year when it comes time to put up the tree, that I’m not only putting up decorations but little works of art. Like this piece from Liane. This is one of my favorite ornaments because I love how the crystal bead reflects the light.
Let’s find out what tea Teanzo sent me on this, the eighth day of our holiday countdown!
Acai Berry Green Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
Reminiscent of juicy berries, this healthy loose leaf green tea is full of antioxidants. Acai Berry Green Tea has a sweet finish without using any added sweeteners, so you can drink this luscious green tea guilt-free. Acai berry is also known as the youth berry. You will love this berry tea! Drink it as a hot tea or serve this berrylicious tea over ice.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Acai berry tends to be a tart berry, so I usually am just a bit apprehensive when it comes to trying an acai berry tea. I’m not big on tarty flavors in tea, however, I do appreciate a tart taste when the overall tea offers a balance of both sweet and tart notes. I like there to be a contrast.
And with this tea, there is a nice contrast between sweet and tart. The sweet, fresh flavors of the green tea offer a pleasing counter note to the tart berry.
The sip starts out sweet with light grassy notes and a buttery taste and texture from the green tea. The description of the tea does not indicate the type of green tea used in this blend but based on the taste and appearance of the tea, I would guess that it’s a Chinese Sencha. It has that smooth, buttery flavor of a Chinese Sencha, and I like the way these flavors mingle with the tart of the Acai.
By mid-sip, my palate is introduced to the notes of berry. These notes start out gentle and sweet and as the sip approaches the finish, the tart notes begin to develop. And then there is that berry, tarty tingle at the finish.
To brew this tea, I used my Kati Tumbler again and poured the fragrant sample into the basket, and added 12 ounces of water heated to 175°F. I let the tea steep for 2 minutes. The brewed liquid is a golden green color and has a delicate berry aroma.
I enjoyed the tea served hot, but I stopped drinking it hot after I had finished about half the cup so that I could try it cold. I think this is even better as it cools! The flavors become smoother and more unified. This would make a very refreshing iced tea when the weather is warm!
It’s good hot, even better iced!
Southbrook Berry Blend Tisane from Pluck
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Pluck Tea
Tea Description:
A blend of dried grape skins from Niagara’s Organic and Biodynamic Southbrook Vinyards, layered with hibiscus and berries for a delicious fruit tea. Enjoy hot or iced. Caffeine – free
Learn more about August’s Postal Teas shipment here.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
Of the three teas that I received in this month’s box from Postal Teas, this is the tea that I was putting off trying. I was not looking forward to it. I can see the hibiscus! UGH! And because it’s dried grape skins, berries and hibiscus (all dark red) … it just looks like pure hibiscus!
So, needless to say, I didn’t have high hopes for this blend. To steep this, I got out my Kati tumbler and added 1 bamboo scoop of the dark, burgundy red leaves into the basket of the tumbler and poured water heated to 195°F into the tumbler and let it infuse for 4 1/2 minutes. Normally, I’d steep a fruit/berry/herbal tisane like this for 5 – 6 minutes, but because this looked like pure hibiscus to me, I went with slightly less time.
The thing about hibiscus is that the longer you let it steep, the tarter the flavor. Tarter? Tartier? More tart? In addition to a more tartness, the hibiscus turns the liquid into a thick, almost viscous syrup that is quite tart and not very enjoyable to sip. At least, not for me. I guess there are some people that dig that sort of thing.
Anyway, this tastes much better than I anticipated it would. Because of the short steep time, I don’t have a tisane with an unpleasantly thick texture. And because of the short steep time, I’m not tasting an overwhelmingly tart, hibiscus-y drink.
I can taste the berries! I can taste the grape! In fact, the grape is what I taste most. This tastes a whole lot like warm grape juice. I suspect that this tisane would taste really good iced and would go over well with children, and it’s a caffeine free alternative to all those sugary sodas.
The “berries” in this blend, because they meld in such a seamless way with the grape and the hibiscus, it’s difficult to discern what type of berry I’m tasting. It tastes like a berry/grape medley. The hibiscus is still there, of course, but it melds with the flavors of grape and berry in such a way that it doesn’t taste “hibiscus-y”. It tastes like a grape and berry juice that’s both sweet and tart. I am not one who particularly enjoys tart flavors so I added about half a teaspoon of raw sugar to the cup and this toned down the tartness to a tolerable level for my palate.
This is alright. It’s not my favorite tisane, but given how much I thought I’d dislike it, it turned out to be much better than I thought it would.
Overall, I enjoyed this month’s box from Postal Teas. And after perusing Pluck’s selection of teas, I’m finding a whole lot more that I’d love to try. Hey, Postal Teas, if you’re reading … you should feature Pluck again, soon!
Peruvian Spiced Berry Tisane from Inca Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tea
Where to Buy: Inca Tea
Tisane Description:
This is our Original blend to characterize the true ancient Incan recipe.
INGREDIENTS: Hibiscus Petals, Elderberries, Currants, Purple Corn, Apple Pieces, Pineapple Pieces, Cinnamon, Cloves and Natural Flavors. This is the tea that the founder Ryan came across during his hike. Its is an enlivening herbal, fruit tea blend of purple corn, berries and spices.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t sure exactly what to think about this new tea made with purple corn! Weird, right? But, I decided that I had to give it a try. It was just weird enough. Not so weird that I’m put off by the thought of it, but weird enough that I’m really intrigued!
The aroma of the dry leaf is spicy and sweet. I can smell the cinnamon and cloves, and the sweet notes of pineapple and berries. I steeped the pyramid sachet for 6 minutes (I don’t usually go over 6 minutes with hibiscus blends because I don’t want the tisane to become too syrupy) in 195°F water.
The brewed liquid is a dark plum color (hibiscus!) and smells of spiced fruit. The cinnamon and cloves are still a dominant scent to this, but I like that it’s not overwhelmingly spicy. The fruit notes come through nicely, smelling a bit like a spiced berry compote.
Tasty! Really tasty!
This Peruvian Spiced Berry is the first of the teas created by Inca Tea. It’s their “original.” And it certainly is original, because as I said, I can’t recall ever encountering a tea that is made with purple corn. And Inca Tea’s original is a tasty offering! I am really enjoying the combination of berry flavors and spice.
I taste a bit of corn in this too! The corn adds more of a nutty, grainy sort of background note than a strong, obvious “corn” flavor. This ends up tasting a bit like a liquefied spiced berry cobbler – YUM!
Yes, there’s hibiscus and rosehips in this, and this would ordinarily make for a tart cup, but the warmth of the spices and the sweetness from the apple and pineapple soften those tart notes so that the tartness of these herbs does more to accentuate the berry flavors rather than stand out on their own. There’s still some tartness, but it’s a berry tart rather than a hibiscus tart that I’m tasting.
There is some texture to the cup too, but it’s not coming off as syrupy. It’s pleasantly thick without feeling as though my tongue is coated with hibiscus syrup.
I really enjoyed this – my first experience with Inca Tea! I will be trying more from them – and I’m looking forward to it!
C of Tranquilitea Herbal Tisane from Good Life Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Good Life Tea
Tisane Description:
Luscious hibiscus flowers join with subtle citrus notes of lemongrass and tart rose hips. Add the superfruits and chamomile and you’ve got one bedtime immune system booster!
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, you’re probably well aware of my lack of enthusiasm for herbal tisanes that contain hibiscus and chamomile. Well, this blend has both of them. So as you can probably imagine, I wasn’t dancing the happy dance while I was brewing this.
But, it’s actually quite tasty! A lot nicer than I expected it to be, for sure, and much tastier than I would have imagined.
This is the first tea that I’m trying from this “new-to-me” company, and along with the teas that they sent to me, they sent a letter. In it, they described this blend this way:
This is a fruit and herbal blend. It has a nice blueberry base with Chamomile and Lemon Grass. The name is from a place on the moon where the Apollo landed – Sea of Tranquility. The name is a play on words. C is for the Vitamin C which the hibiscus and rosehips offer. Tranquilitea is the chamomile. It’s a great flower that promotes calmness and helps with sleep. This is our second most popular tea. The lemon grass is to give a nice, bright finish. This mix contains a little bit of Amber sugar to mellow it out.
While I’m generally not crazy about teas that include sugar or sweetener, I have to admit that I’m kind of glad that the Amber sugar is there, because I think that this would be a bit too tart without it. I’m not one who usually sweetens a tisane like this, and I know that if the sugar wasn’t there, I would have probably wanted to add a pinch of sugar to it to tame down the tartness.
That said, I do prefer to decide how much sugar I’m adding to my cup. So, I’m kind of finding myself unsure of how I feel about this addition. I’m glad that this wasn’t too tart when I took my first sip, but, at the same time, I’m not thrilled that sugar was added to the tisane. But without dwelling on the subject too long, I’ll tell you about the rest of what I’m tasting…
This tisane is pleasantly sweet and fruity. I’m liking the blueberry, and as much as I am not fond of hibiscus, I have to admit that hibiscus DOES enhance berry flavors. And it does enhance the blueberry nicely. I am getting the sweet blueberry flavor with a touch of berry tartness. The lemongrass adds just a hint of citrus flavor and perks up the flavors.
I can barely taste the chamomile. In fact, this would be the ideal blend for someone who doesn’t like chamomile but wants to drink chamomile teas for their restful/healthful properties, because like I said, the chamomile is barely noticeable as far as taste goes.
To brew this, I went with my go-to temperature of 195°F for herbals and steeped it for six minutes. I find that six minutes was a good time – it delivered a really delicious blueberry flavor with light citrus-y notes without too much hibiscus-y taste or texture.
Overall, this is a pleasant cup of tea. It’s soothing and sweet, with just the right level of tartness to it. And to my surprise, as I’m typing this, I find myself becoming slightly drowsy from the tea! That’s a big bonus in my book.
Petal Passion Oolong Tea Blend from ArtfulTea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: ArtfulTea orArtfulTea on Etsy
Tea Description:
This lovely, flavored oolong combines the taste of passion fruit with an intensely tropical fragrance that immediately enchants. Aronia berries, mango cubes and rose petals enhance the exotic flavor of this half-fermented tea. Refreshing hot or iced.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have very much enjoyed the teas that I’ve tried from ArtfulTea this far, and this Petal Passion Oolong Tea Blend is quite lovely.
The dark Oolong tea leaves look a lot like either an Oriental Beauty or a Formosa Oolong. There are chunks of fruit and pretty pink rose petals tossed in with the tea leaves. It’s a visually appealing blend, and it’s beautifully aromatic with notes of tropical fruit.
And the taste is YUM! The Oolong base is smooth. It has an almost buttery texture to it – not so much of a buttery taste as a texture, but some of this texture seems to translate a little bit to the flavor. I don’t taste a heavy “buttery” quality to it. There are some woodsy notes to the cup.
But mostly what I’m tasting is the lovely tropical fruit notes of this tea. Passion Fruit and mango! It’s sweet and there’s almost a nectar-like flavor to this, as if someone had added freshly pureed fruit to my cup of Oolong! I like that these flavors taste authentic, they don’t have the fake or chemical-ish type of flavor that sometimes accompanies flavored teas. This tea just has a very pleasant tropical flavor to go along with the naturally woodsy, smooth flavors of the Oolong tea.
There are some aronia berries in this tea and they do give the cup a slight astringency. Don’t let that frighten you though, I’m finding the astringency to be rather mild, and I’m experiencing more of a tingly berry tartness than I am a pucker-y astringency. I find this to be an enjoyable contrast to the sweetness of the passion fruit and mango flavors.
Another really lovely blend from ArtfulTea, and I feel like I’m trying it right at the right time – we’ve been experiencing some monsoon-ish weather here in the Pacific Northwest lately, and it’s been uncomfortably hot and humid! Ugh! This tea takes me away – at least, mentally – on a tropical vacation. Unfortunately, my vacation only lasts as long as the cup of tea – but fortunately, this is an Oolong and can be resteeped! Revisiting my tropical island is as easy as resteeping my tea leaves!