Orange Creamsicle from BlendBee. . . .

by Mary

Often, I’ll find myself looking lovingly at my tea cabinet (not unusual) and envision myself as a tea blender. In this very particular fantasy of mine, I’m set up in a perfectly crisp, clean and home-y bright white kitchen, sunlight flooding through the windows, a gentle breeze pushing in the open windows, and I’m hand-blending delicious teas while the birds outside chirp backup as I trill, Snow-White-ing-ly.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t how actual tea blending happens. But this is my fantasy, so we’re gonna pretend it is.

Luckily, there exist some incredible companies who offer this service to fulfill all my tea-blending delusions of grandeur! I may not be in a sunlight kitchen, twirling through my own blending cabinet, but thanks to custom tea-blending services, I can almost be.

One of my very favorite companies that offers this service is the incredible BlendBee. I could wax poetic for ages about why I love BlendBee– super high quality teas, spectacular flavors, interesting blends and constant use of beneficial/healthy herbs and spices to flavor teas and support health, not just a bunch of “natural and artificial flavors” sprayed on some dry leaves. For a super reasonable price (and I’ve had great luck picking up a few groupons for this service recently, making it even more reasonable), you can completely customize your own blend, choosing everything from the base to a plethora of add-ins, flavors and other goodies.

In the past, I’ve made a custard tea (which was delightful, and I’ve already ordered more of), most recently, a blueberry Danish tart tea, and the one I’m sipping right now: Orange Creamsicle. I requested this blend be made with creamy, buttery green tea, marshmallow root, vanilla and custard flavor, lemongrass, orange pieces, and a touch of orange oil for flavor. The result s a pillowy green with dreamy, creamy vanilla flavors that is perfectly reminiscent of the favorite shopping mall Orange Julius of my youth.

Iced, this one is even better. The green is mellow, the flavors light and fresh, not at all artificial or overpowering. I love serving it up with a splash of freshly squeezed orange juice for a twist on an Arnold Palmer. It’s everything my little aspiring-blender-heart could have hoped for, and more!

Thanks, BlendBee, for making my tea-blending dreams a(n almost) reality. Now all I need are those singing birds in the background, and I’m set!

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type:  Green
Where to Buy:  BlendBee
Description

Click below to learn how to blend your own teas with BlendBee.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Mary

Hi there! I'm Mary, a 27-year-old mental health professional living with my fiancé and our quirky kitten in the Midwest! I've loved tea for as long as I can remember-- in fact, I have vivid memory of being four or five in a tea shop and being mesmerized by all the tea flavors and proclaiming that I "was going to be kind of adult who drank tea, not coffee." A stint living (and tea-drinking my way through) London and twenty-some years later, I'm still channeling that sassy four-year-old and loving my tea habit. When I'm not sipping a cuppa, you'll find me reading, doing yoga, traveling, exploring my own city, planning our wedding and experimenting with different healthful and healing foods in my kitchen.

This post was posted in BlendBee, Green Tea

Happily Headless from Adagio Teas. . . GoT Inspired Tea!

by VariaTEA

Now that Game of Thrones is six seasons in and the books have been around even longer, I think it is safe to say that referencing Ned’s death doesn’t really require a spoiler warning. I mean you would basically need to have lived under a rock to not know the shocking decapitation that befell the Stark patriarch. I guess people should have seen it coming when the show cast Sean Bean in the role given he is known for being killed off. In fact, this particular blend is merely one of a series of teas inspired by the many Sean Bean deaths.

One of the biggest appeals of Adagio is their fandom blends. They don’t have the best quality ingredients but something about pairing a tea with beloved characters just gives them an edge. Nostalgia is probably to blame but slapping a name like “Happily Headless” on a blend just makes me enjoy the tea that much more. Maybe its just me who feels this way though.

This is a black tea/green tea blend with chai spices, cream flavor, orange, and bits of candy canes in the leaf. The combination creates a sort of spice cake flavor that is rather intoxicating. The green base is slightly vegetal and the orange can be a bit pithy but mostly this is a whole lot of delicious. The peppermint from the candy canes is lacking just a touch but I am not sure how well it would blend with the other flavors that are present anyways, so perhaps that is for the best. If anything, the candy canes contribute a bit of a winter bite as you finish the sip – perhaps a nod to Ned’s famous warning?

Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description

You’ll lose your head over your loyalty to this kingly brew!

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

VariaTEA

Hey there! My name is Rachel. I’m a twenty-something from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who loves dogs and has a bit of an obsession with tea. As a child I hated the stuff since all I ever knew was Red Rose (no offense to Red Rose). However, a few years ago that all changed. I was on a diet and desperate for new flavors without adding calories and that’s when I turned to tea. I started off by going to DAVIDsTEA and Teavana for all their dessert-inspired flavors, and since I didn’t know any better, I bought 100 grams each of about twenty-something different teas. This was okay for the teas I liked but for those I didn’t I needed to find some way of getting rid of them. Enter Steepster.com. This is where I met some incredible tea friends, discovered tea swaps, and learned of so many amazing tea companies. My desire to try all the teas grew and since joining three years ago I have tried over a thousand different teas. I have learned what ingredients I love and I have learned what flavors I don’t like. I determined my go-to brewing method is Western-style with no added milk or sweeteners, though I also enjoy cold brewing, iced teas, teapops, lattes, and smoothies. I have yet to brew gong-fu style but I hope to do so just as soon as I get the proper teaware to do it. About a year ago, I actually stopped drinking tea but as my stash of over 200 teas started aging I decided I needed to respark my interest. I chose to take a 365 days of tea challenge on Instagram in which I post a new tea picture every day. So far it has been rather successful as I find myself drinking (and buying) more and more tea each day. Plus it enabled CuppaGeek to find me and invite me here to SororiTea Sisters.

This post was posted in Adagio Teas, Black Tea