Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Wildberries = Blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, elderberry, and black currant. Premium Organic green tea with organic flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Here it is … my first review of one of Southern Boy Teas green tea creations. I was excited to learn of SBT’s expansion into other tea types – they’re not just black teas anymore – since I usually prefer green or white iced teas (I find them more refreshing than black tea).
And this Wildberries Flavored Green Tea is VERY refreshing. Mmm! It’s bursting with berry flavor. My first sip I could really taste the elderberry and black currant flavors. In the aftertaste, I started to pick up on the other berry flavors, strawberry, blackberry and raspberry are the flavors that seem to tickle the palate in the aftertaste, with an emphasis on the raspberry notes.
The blueberry is a little less conspicuous.
As I continue to sip, I start to notice more of the berry flavor throughout the sip, not just the elderberry and currant. Now I’m tasting more blackberry, strawberry and raspberry throughout the sip, and I can even pick up on some blueberry notes.
And the green tea base is ideal for these flavors because it’s a lighter tasting base. I feel that a black tea base might be a little bit too much. It could work, and I’d certainly be more than happy to try it, but I like the softer flavor of the sweet green tea with light buttery notes and how the green tea allows the berry flavors to really express themselves fully, while not hiding off in the background. I still taste the green tea, but it doesn’t intrude upon the berry notes. It’s a very lovely balance that’s been achieved.
To brew this, I went ahead and used the “hot brew” method. I filled my kettle with one quart of water and heat it to 175°F. Then I allowed the sachet to infuse for 1 1/2 minutes. Then I poured the hot liquid into my tempered glass pitcher (to temper it, I just run it under hot tap water for about a minute to get the glass warm so that the hot liquid doesn’t shock the glass and cause it to break). Repeat with another quart of water heated to 175°F, this time allowing the sachet to steep for 2 full minutes. Then I stashed the sachet in an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator to see how a resteep would taste.
The verdict: The resteep is still VERY flavorful. Almost – if not just as – flavorful as the first half gallon that I prepared. This tea is a winner! It’s one that I’ll be getting more of!
Taiwan AliShan High Mountain Oolong Tea (Premium Grade) from Cameron Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Cameron Tea
Tea Description:
AliShan is one the famous oolong tea growing areas in Taiwan. Located at altitude of 1500m, the mountain has a rich soil and ideal climactic conditions. The cool climate and moist from daily mists make the plants to grow very slowly and produce tender, flavourful tea leaves and buds.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Not too long ago, I reviewed the Competition Grade of Cameron Tea’s AliShan High Mountain Oolong Tea. According to the website, one notable difference between the two grades is that the Competition Grade has been lightly roasted. And tasting this Premium Grade AliShan, I can say that the roasting definitely does make a difference in flavor.
That doesn’t mean that this one is better nor does it mean that it’s not as good. I really enjoy both! This tea has less of the roasted, nutty flavors that I discovered in the Competition Grade. But I’m tasting more of a creamy note here as well as a floral tone that melds beautifully with the natural vegetal tones of the green Oolong tea.
As I’ve said many times, AliShan is my very favorite type of Oolong. I love the creaminess of the tea and how that almost vanilla-esque note softens the somewhat sharp flowery tones. I love how the two flavors meet on my palate – sweet and sharp – and how they interact with one another. And I love the soft, silky, lush texture of AliShan. I love AliShan so much that I bought a special mug just for AliShan tea!
And this AliShan is simply magnificient.
The dry leaves look very much like what you might expect from a greener Oolong type tea: they’re tightly wound into pellets and they’re a dark, forest green color. They are very aromatic, smelling of flower and vegetable.
I brew these leaves in my gaiwan using 180°F water and short steeps. The first infusion – the “rinse” cycle as I sometimes call it – lasts for just 15 seconds and I strain off the liquid and discard it. This process is often referred to an ‘awakening’ of the tea leaves and it’s something that I think is crucial to ensuring a properly brewed cup of tea.
Then I infused the leaves again, this time for 45 seconds and I strained the liquid into my special Yi Xing “Ali Shan” mug, and I started infusing the leaves again … and again … and again! I added an extra 15 seconds onto each subsequent brew time, and kept on resteeping until my mug was full (this usually takes 5 steeps).
The combination of the first five infusions (following the rinse cycle) is smooth, sweet, and amazingly good. There is sweetness from the floral tones as well as the aforementioned vanilla-like flavors. There is a lightly savory aspect to the flavor from the very faint vegetal tones, although there is definitely more sweet than savory to this cup. It’s like a blanket of sweetness that envelops the palate. Like liquid candy, except that it’s not cloying.
Love this tea!
And I got 2 mugs full of tea from the same leaves. This is a very high quality AliShan, one of the finest I’ve had the opportunity to taste. I highly recommend it to all you Oolong fans out there … and if you love AliShan the way that I do, then you simply must – I said MUST – try this tea!
Well, what are you waiting for? Put it on your must try list now! Once you try it, you’ll be glad you took my advice!
Thym Tisane from Les 2 Marmottes
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: Les 2 Marmottes
Tisane Description:
Thymus in Greek means ‘perfume’. Our friend thyme took its name in the pure sense. Not for him the discretion! Wherever he goes, he makes his presence felt, with a hint of camphor to assert its explosive character. Like any clear-cut personality, we love or hate. No half measures! For those who can appreciate it will be the friend you expected. Its natural mover will take care of clutter. His explosive side waltz send your sworn enemies of winter. A superhero among plants.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Thym tisane smells like my spice cabinet! It smells like what I smell when I open the door to my spice cabinet. And that makes sense, since this is 100% thyme.
And while I can’t recall having a tea with thyme in it (I may have, it’s just that none come to mind), as I sip this, I’m really digging it! I’m liking it a lot more than I expected to. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it as a tisane.
I mean, I like thyme as a spice, and it’s an herb I turn to every Thanksgiving to add just the right flavor to my turkey. It’s great in meatloaf and I also add it to the crock pot when I’m cooking a pork roast. But, I never really thought to steep it and drink it in a tisane, and to drink a tisane that is 100% thyme, nope, I can’t say that I’ve ever really considered it until I received this sampling from Les 2 Marmottes.
But I like this! I like it a lot! It has notes of mint and clove with a pleasant woodsy flavor that I’d describe as something between pine and cedar. It’s a little sweet and it’s savory and it’s definitely different.
It’s really tasty!
Cinnamon Roll Flavored Honeybush Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
OK, so I have to admit that I’m less excited about a honeybush iced tea than I am a black iced tea. (Or should I say honeybush iced tisane?) Anyway, despite my less than enthusiastic attitude about this product, I am LOVING IT! It is really delicious and very refreshing.
The honeybush base is actually ideal for these flavors because the naturally sweet, nutty flavor of the honeybush creates a sort of bready/doughy flavor for the “roll” part of this taste experience. I can taste notes of butter that further accentuate the pastry flavor.
It’s sweet and gently spiced with cinnamon. I don’t get a heavy “icing” taste from this but I do get a light vanilla-y, creamy undertone to this that tastes a bit like the icing that would be smothered over a freshly baked cinnamon roll. I don’t think I’d want it to be a heavier icing taste, I like the way that the creamy notes here are softer in flavor than your typical mall-food-court cinnamon roll because while my sweet tooth gets happy at the thought of that sweet, decadent icing … it’s the part of the cinnamon roll that keeps me from indulging in cinnamon rolls very often – that sweetness becomes cloying too fast and I feel a little overwhelmed by the sweetness (and sometimes a little sick from it.)
This – on the other hand – is just right with the sweetness. This is the way I’d want my cinnamon roll to taste: lighter on the icing with a nice, well-pronounced cinnamon note and a satisfying, buttery pastry.
A really enjoyable iced tea. This is one that I could see myself ordering again.
Citrus Blast Flavored Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I was pretty sure that I’d enjoy this iced tea flavor from Southern Boy Teas … I mean, citrus and black tea? These are two flavors that just go together … much like iced tea and summertime go together.
And this is really refreshing. It definitely has a big BLAST of citrus flavor, but I appreciate that I’m tasting more iced tea than citrus fruit. And not surprisingly, the citrus notes are quite complementary to the flavors of black tea. Like I said before, these are two flavor profiles that just work.
This tea is not overly tart, the tea balances out the tart flavors and lets some of the sweet notes of the citrus flavors come through. For me, I think that the lime is the most prominent citrus note that I taste, but I also taste hints of lemon and orange. There is also a grapefruit-like note to this and I like how all these flavors meld together into a “blast” of citrus: all the citrus notes work together to create a very harmonious tasting, refreshing glass of iced tea that seems to disappear from my glass quickly.
And while citrus flavors and black tea DO work together well, I find that this is not just “lemon” or “lime” or “orange” flavored iced tea. It’s a medley of flavors so that makes it just a little different from an average pitcher of iced tea. I like that I can count on SBT to deliver not just tasty iced tea, but something that’s a little outside of the box. Something a little different, something a little unexpected … SBT not only keeps my palate cool and refreshed but happy too!