Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: What-Cha Tea
Tea Description:
A delightful black tea with a caramel nose and taste without any bitterness or astringency. Perfect for all times of the day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is AWESOME! Seriously, this is one of my favorite black teas of all time. It’s amazing. Astonishingly good. This!
To brew this tea, I could have gone all out and grabbed the gaiwan and steeped it like that. But, I don’t like to use the gaiwan for black teas because even though I’ve got my easy gaiwan, the boiling water does get those little ceramic “handles” for the fingertips hot and I didn’t want to burn the fingers. So, I used my Kati Tumbler and measured 1 bamboo scoop into the basket and brought 12 ounces of water to a boil and let it steep for 3 minutes.
Even the aroma of the brewed tea, as the cup sits here in front of me and I await the tea to reach a cooler temperature so that I can start sipping – even the fragrance is enough to send me into a state of excitement.
Imagine a kid on Christmas morning. It’s 5: 58 am and his parents said that under no circumstances were they to be awakened before 6 am and the child is trying to be mindful of his parents’ command. So, there he sits, in a state of pure impatient bliss and excitement waiting out those 2 minutes. Yeah, that’s me now, waiting on this tea.
The fragrance is sweet, caramel-y with delicious notes of cocoa. Background notes of leather and earth. It smells so rich and it’s that smell that is telling me to get ready because this is going to taste GOOD!
Oh … so good.
The flavor is what the aroma suggests it would be: sweet, caramel-y with notes of cocoa. The notes of cacao are so well defined that it almost tastes like I dropped a few cacao shells into the basket of the Kati before I brewed the tea. I didn’t, of course, but it tastes like I did!
There’s a backdrop of earthy notes and a leathery tone. Delightful notes of malt that mingle with the notes of caramel and cocoa for a rich flavor that hints at being creamy. It isn’t “creamy” the way some teas can be exactly but it entices the mind to evoke thoughts of something creamy and dreamy.
And really, dreamy is what this tea is. If I had to limit myself to one pure black tea for the rest of my life, this tea would probably be the one that I’d choose. This is the kind of flavor that I love so much that I wouldn’t mind starting every day sipping it. There is no bitterness. There IS a sweet yet savory quality to the tea with an emphasis on the sweet. There is virtually no astringency.
The sip is pure pleasure from start to finish. I love this tea!
Cotton Candy Honeybush Iced Tea From Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Our cotton candy iced teas have been a big hit, so I decided we really should have a caffeine-free, honeybush version.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
I love the cotton candy teas that Zoomdweebies creates. So I was confident that I’d enjoy this one too.
And I do.
I way, way oversteeped this – but because it’s a honeybush blend, I wasn’t worried. When I say “way, way oversteeped” what I mean is that I infused 1 quart of water with the sachet for over 30 minutes.
I forgot to set my timer and I stepped away and then I looked at the clock a half an hour later and remembered that I had this tea steeping! Yikes!
But again, no worries. And no bitterness. Honeybush just doesn’t get bitter. The same is true of rooibos. However, I’ve found that if you use too hot of water to steep either one, the leaves may impart a funky, sour wood kind of flavor that I don’t really enjoy. But since I heated the water to 195°F rather than boiling, I didn’t have to worry about that funky flavor either.
The sweet, sugary cotton candy flavor is strong and I like it with the honeybush base. The lightly sweet flavor of the honeybush highlights the sweet candy notes. I don’t taste a strong nutty or woodsy note from the honeybush. I taste some background flavors of the honeybush, but it doesn’t overpower the fluffy notes of cotton candy.
This flavor works really well with the honeybush, in fact, I think that I might prefer the honeybush base to either the black tea or the green tea versions of cotton candy iced teas from Southern Boy Teas!
Another yummy iced tea. Very refreshing!
24 Days of Tea Holiday Countdown – Day 17 from Teanzo 1856
Day 17! How many of you have finished your shopping?
Me either.
Today’s artwork comes from Jeri Aaron from the last 12 Days of Christmas Art Swap I was in (I think it was from 2012). She “stuffed” a holiday mitten with a Santa Stuffy. I think it was originally created to be a broach or something like that because there’s a pin back on it, but, it’s kind of big for a broach. (At least for me.) But, I really liked it and so I decided to make it a wall ornament for the holidays. I hang it along with the stockings to add a little bit of color to the place where the stockings are ‘hung with care.’ (We don’t hang our stockings by the fireplace. We hang our stockings on the wall next to the front door in the living room.)
Anyway, this was a fun little gift to receive. It seems like with these exchanges, most of the people are focused on making tree ornaments (myself included!) so, it’s nice to get something just a little different and unexpected like this. It’s a fun gift.
Today’s tea was also quite fun and festive!
Cranberry Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
Delicious black tea with cranberries is a holiday delight. Cranberry Tea makes a wonderful gift for a holiday host or a great stocking stuffer.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The appearance of the dry leaf is really pretty, lots of little red safflower petals and a couple of big chunks of freeze-dried cranberries. The aroma of the dry leaf is black tea with a berry note.
I brewed this the same way I’ve brewed most of the teas in this wonderful Advent Calendar from Teanzo, in my Kati Tumbler. I poured the contents of the sampler pouch into the basket of the tumbler and added 12 ounces of boiling water. I let it steep for 3 minutes.
The brewed tea has a sweet smell with notes of berry and black tea. I let the tea cool for a few minutes – a few minutes cool time is really essential to getting those flavors to pop!
Tasty! The sip starts out surprisingly sweet: sweeter than I expected since this is a cranberry tea and cranberries are usually quite tart. But as the sip progresses, some of those tart notes come forward to contrast with that sweet start. It’s almost a jammy start. It’s sweet and quite pleasant.
The mid-sip is where I notice most of the tartness of the berry, but the sweet notes in this tea help to soften the tartness so I’m not experiencing a pucker with this tea. I also get just a hint of berry tingle in the aftertaste.
The black tea base is smooth. No bitterness nor is there a strong astringent tone to the finish. Some astringency, not a lot. The black tea seems to complement the cranberry well.
Overall, this is a very enjoyable tea and I’m glad that it was included in the Advent Calendar!
Apple Harvest Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
If this doesn’t put you in the mood for fall, I can’t help you. This awesome iced tea is a blend of organic southern Indian black teas and organic red delicious and granny smith apple flavors. It’s a bit sweet, a bit tart and all refreshing.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve been drinking this periodically throughout the day, and when I was pouring past the half-way point of the pitcher of tea, I realized that I better sit down and write about it before I have an empty pitcher of tea and no tea left to write about!
That is to say, it’s tasty. I like that it’s sweet but not cloying. When I focus on what I taste, I can recognize the apple notes. When I’m casually sipping, I don’t immediately notice that “hey, I’m drinking an apple tea.” I just notice that “hey, this tastes really good.” But then when I reach the bottom of the glass of tea, my last gulp is very obviously apple.
The apple notes and the black tea notes work together extremely well. The black tea tastes smoother. It’s a medium-bodied black tea base that’s very pleasant to drink. It has a certain “invigorating” quality to it without being even the slightest bit aggressive, bitter or astringent. It is smooth and silky and very refreshing.
The apple tastes sweet and there’s just enough tartness to the apple to add a balancing contrast to the flavor. It’s not an overly flavored tea – this is a tea first and an apple-y tasting tea second.
I have to admit that when this tea was announced on the week of October 13, I wasn’t all that excited about it. I mean, it sounded good and if I wasn’t already a subscriber, I probably would have ordered the tea to try it. But, was I dancing the happy dance over the idea of Apple Harvest Iced Tea? No, no I wasn’t. But now, I’m dancing that happy dance. Because this tea is really good! I ended up liking this much more than I thought I would. Yum!
24 Days of Tea Holiday Countdown – Day 14 from Teanzo 1856
Today is Day 14 in this lovely holiday countdown. I love counting down with tea. I’m sure I’ve probably mentioned that already. But … tea is one of my very favorite things about life itself so I’ll probably end up saying it again before this countdown is over!
For today’s artistic inspiration, I chose one of my very favorite ornaments from what I believe is one of the very earliest 12 Days of Christmas mail art swaps that I was involved in and if I remember correctly, this is one that I actually hosted.
The artist’s name is Betsey. I wish I could remember her last name. (I’m so sorry Betsey!) I do remember that she lives somewhere in Washington State, I just don’t recall her name.
Anyway, Betsey made this amazing little metal bird for our 12 Days of Christmas Swap. Isn’t it adorable? It adds a little charm and whimsy to my tree, and I’m always happy to see it as I’m unwrapping all the ornaments to put on the tree each year (I wrap all my ornaments in tissue paper because most are delicate. This one isn’t so much delicate as I just don’t want it to shift to the bottom of the box and possibly get lost, so it’s better to have it tucked in a bit of tissue paper with the other ornies!
Breakfast Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
You will love this loose leaf breakfast tea! It has a rich aroma and bold flavor with a smooth finish. The young leaf tea buds also known as golden tips in this Assam, add to the complex flavors of the leaf tea, with a hint of maltiness. Drink this iced or hot to get going with your day, or as a quick perk up throughout the day. Buy this loose leaf breakfast tea online today!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was excited to flip over packet #14 and find that today’s tea would be Teanzo’s Breakfast Tea. I am always eager to try a rich, delicious breakfast tea – whether it be a blend or just one type of tea like this one (this is an Assam tea with golden tips), the term “breakfast tea” to me means a robust cup of tea with plenty of that go-get-’em kind of gusto that I need to energize me.
That’s something that I love about tea: there is such a rich, diverse world of tea that you can find teas that will invigorate you as well as other teas that will soothe and relax you. There’s always something out there in the world of tea to help you with whatever you’re going through.
And I wanted something strong and bold today – and this tea filled the bill … to a TEA! (Ha ha … punny. OK, maybe not.)
This Breakfast Tea is wonderful! I had finished about half the cup before I started writing this because I was enjoying it so much that I almost forgot that I needed to write about the tea!
It’s everything I want in a “breakfast tea.” The gold tipped Assam leaves produced a delightful cup that’s rich and full-flavored. It’s energizing, yes. Malty, check! It’s got an amazing, caramel-y undertone, yep! And there are even notes of chocolate in the layers of flavor.
I’ve consumed a lot of Assam over the years, and while I’ve enjoyed many (perhaps most!) of what I’ve tried. It would be difficult for me to say this one or that one is the best that I’ve ever tried because I’ve tried a lot! So, what I can tell you is that this one is really good. And what stands out about me most about this particular Assam is the sweetness. It’s really delightfully sweet.
It’s got a flavor to it that keeps me sipping and not wanting to put the cup down long enough to start typing. That’s the sign of a good tea to me. And this one is good, because I finished the cup before I finished writing! Bonus points!