Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/Green
Where to Buy: Tea Desire
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Ceylon black tea, Sencha green tea, Java black tea, pink rose petals, bucco leaves, natural flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Tea Desire is a smaller Canadian chain primarily based in British Columbia; I just happen to be fortunate enough to live in a city that has one of their branches so over the few years I’ve lived here I’ve frequented the store often and tried a sizable range of their teas – still there’s always more to try! The service feels a lot more personalized, and the feel of the store is certainly a lot less commercial that larger Canadian chains such as DAVIDsTEA.
One thing I do dislike about the company is the 50g minimum purchase – however because I do have a local store I can always purchase a To Go cup and try something that way; and that’s exactly what I did when I grabbed this newer Tea Desire blend. It’s one I wanted to try a few months ago, but my branch hadn’t received a shipment of it yet so when the associate today recommended it I was pretty on board.
Based on her recommendation I got it iced, and trying it now I definitely think that probably was a more appropriate way to try it than hot would have been. This is a very floral blend; it’s supposed to be rose and while I did taste rose I definitely thought the floral notes seemed a lot more like peony. There was a light, pleasant vegetal taste from the green tea but mostly the black tea came through; it was smooth softer with floral notes of its own; very characteristic of a good ceylon. For those familiar with DAVIDsTEA’s Elderflower Spritz I’d say this one tastes similar, but has a base with more backbone. Same sort of fruitier elderberry notes, too.
About halfway through I started to pick up on sort of weird buttery notes. I actually don’t have a clue where they were coming from, but it was weird and slightly jarring. Buttery flowers is definitely not something I’d normally pick for myself; but I actually didn’t hate it. All in all, I thought this was pretty good and DEFINITELY a well put together tea for what it’s named after: sweeter floral, natural flavours that definitely evoke the image of fairies, nymphs and yes, druids too.
I’d totally revisit this one!
Date Nut Bread Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Organic honeybush is the perfect compliment to this melding of delicious and aromatic organic flavors, including date, orange, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and pecan. This might seem like a strange thing to flavor an iced tea like, but just wait til you try it!
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
I just ate some Spicy Sriracha Cosmos and let me tell you, my mouth is on fire! Acha-cha! Spicy!
So, I needed something cold and refreshing and easy to drink (read: gulp!) to help cool my palate. Since I brewed this Date Nut Bread Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas last night so it could chill in the fridge overnight, I figured it was the perfect thing to help me cool down my mouth.
And not only did it do just that, but I was happy to say that the flavors came through LOUD and CLEAR even though my palate might have been somewhat impaired after eating those spicy nuggets of fluffy goodness. (It’s the very good kind of burn!) After a tall glass of the tea, my mouth was feeling back to normal, but I wanted to wait a while before I finished the review so that my palate was back to a functioning level.
So now that my taste buds are refreshed and ready to taste things again – I’m really amazed at how much this actually tastes like date nut bread! I taste the dates – this is a strong flavor. The nutty flavor comes from a hint of pecan flavoring as well as the natural nutty flavor from the honeybush. I taste notes of a cake-y/bread-y type flavor, as well as notes of brown sugar and butter and just a dash of cinnamon.
There is a bright note to this that didn’t taste immediately like “orange” to me until I got to the aftertaste. The aftertaste has a sunny orange flavor. I like that while I can taste the orange and cinnamon here, these flavors were added carefully and offer more of a gentle note rather than overpower the tea.
It’s a surprisingly refreshing iced tea. Not flavors that I would normally think of when I think “Iced Tea” but it works and works very nicely!
Irish Cream Butter Crisps White Tea from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Tea Description:
Our Irish Cream Butter Crisps tea pairs an intense creaminess with rich buttery sugar crisps for a decadent dessert treat. Adding some brown crystal sugar intensifies the sugar cookie component and cuts some of the creamy flavor. This is our creamiest tea yet.
Read more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
A few days ago, Butiki Teas announced that their last day of operation would be January 31st. I still have a couple of other teas from them that I plan on reviewing – and some of them are now sold out and not returning – so you won’t be able to buy them, but I hope that you’ll be enjoying what I have to say about them anyway!
This is one such tea. It’s been sold out!
I’m really happy that I got to order some before it sold out because this is yummy! Just as the description above suggests, it’s really creamy.
The first thing I noticed was a strong buttery flavor. It tasted like I was drinking a butter cookie. It was sweet, but not too sweet, but definitely creamy and rich like a butter shortbread cookie.
I taste hints of Irish Cream but these are faint undertones. Mostly what I taste is butter! The white tea base has a hay-like flavor and I taste subtle whispers of fruit. I found myself wishing I tasted more of the Irish Cream, but I do love this creamy, buttery sweetness that I’m tasting!
Since this is a white tea, I decided to resteep it. And the second infusion was just as flavorful as the first – I’m still getting that really strong, buttery taste. This actually tastes like someone liquefied a buttery shortbread cookie and added the liquid to a cup of white tea. It’s such a strong, well defined flavor.
A really lovely tea – and as I sit here, drinking it, I can’t help but feel more than a wee bit sad that Butiki Teas is closing. They will be missed!
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Well, you asked for it. Here it is. Our Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha. It’s sweet and savory and delicious, and best of all, it’s a guilt-free treat. Get yours while you can. This one is likely to go fast.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I am a little bit … leery of peanut butter teas. I don’t know why it is. I’ve been pretty open to try just about any other flavor, but peanut butter is one of those flavors that just seems “wrong” to have in a tea. Then one day, I tried something (taffy … not tea!) and something about that taffy suggested to me that maybe, just maybe, I should give peanut butter flavored tea a try. I don’t know why this epiphany came to me after eating a piece of taffy. It doesn’t make sense to me, so if it doesn’t make sense to you … well, it shouldn’t. It doesn’t make sense to me, it shouldn’t make sense to you.
So, I tried a peanut butter tea. Well, ok, it was a tisane with a honeybush base. But, I enjoyed it. So, I decided that maybe peanut butter teas aren’t so strange after all. Yeah … they’re still … weird. Different. Unusual. But, it can be said that I’m a little different and unusual (but not weird!) and so, I guess it’s OK for me to be sipping on this Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas.
I brewed an extra large pot of this tea today, because my youngest daughter has been exploring teas lately (especially green teas) and she has a very keen interest in all things peanut butter. She’s a little different and unusual too. Her ideas about this tea: “It tastes interesting, I like it.”
And, I can say the same thing. It does taste interesting and I am enjoying it. I taste the genmaicha base, and it works really well with the “marshmallow treat” aspect of the concept of this tea (as has been noted with 52Teas’ other marshmallow treat teas). The sweet, toasty rice flavor melds really nicely with the marshmallow.
And the peanut butter comes through in a nice way. It’s not an overly aggressive, in your face flavor, and it strikes just the right balance for my palate. I get a little bit of peanut butter, a little bit of marshmallow, a little bit of sweet green tea and a little bit of toasted rice in every sip.
I can’t say that “peanut butter marshmallow treats” are my favorite type of marshmallow treats out there, I wouldn’t turn one down if it were offered. I mean, YUMMY, right? Personally, I think I’d rather have a Strawberry Marshmallow Treat, and as I type this, I think … what if you were to eat them both together. Would you then have a peanut butter and jelly marshmallow treat? Then again, I’m not a peanut butter and jelly fan. I might be the only person alive who doesn’t like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I like peanut butter and marshmallow cream. I like peanut butter and banana. I don’t like peanut butter and jelly.
My point is this: I like this tea. It isn’t my favorite from 52Teas, but, it’s not my least favorite either. It’s enjoyable, and I’m happy I tried it. I think I may be over my irrational fear of peanut butter flavored teas.
On The Third Day of Christmas, Southern Boy Teas Edition!
This countdown is a bit more difficult for a couple of reasons. First, it’s iced tea. I don’t drink a lot of iced tea, especially in the winter, although I certainly do drink some. But, drinking a whole half a gallon in a day? No, I don’t usually drink that much each day.
It’s also a little more difficult because it takes a little longer to produce a cold-brewed pitcher of iced tea. It needs to sit and brew for at least a few hours to get full flavor out of the tea when it’s cold-brewed, and I usually leave the tea in the fridge overnight. So, the difficulty becomes … waiting for the tea to brew.
Butter Beer Iced Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
When 52Teas/Southern Boy Teas first introduced this tea as an iced tea, I got very excited, because the original Butter Beer Tea from 52Teas is one of my FAVES from 52Teas. Partly because I asked Frank from 52Teas to create a butter beer-ish sort of tea (yeah, I’m a Harry Potter nerd), and part because it’s just so dang good. So, I was very happy that he decided to add this to his iced tea line.
Cold-brewed, the flavor is a little underwhelming with this tea. Perhaps the issue is that I loved the original Butter Beer Tea so much that maybe this just isn’t living up to that. But I remember that tea being so much more … Butter Beer-ish.
It’s still good, but, it’s a little less than what I envisioned. The black tea base tastes nicely round, and I can taste a butter-scotch-y sort of taste with the flavoring. I’m not getting a whole lot of the chicory notes that were in the original, and I don’t taste a lot of licorice either. I taste hints of root beer, but this tastes more like a cream soda flavored tea than the Butter Beer Tea that I remember.
The hot-brewed, re-steeped tea pouch produces a much more flavorful pitcher of iced tea than the cold-brewed first steep. This tells me that this particular flavor (just like the pink lemonade flavor) should be hot-brewed instead of cold-brewed. But, based on this re-steep, I would say that it’s certainly worth it. This is more of the Butter Beer flavor that I was looking for. I still don’t taste much of the chicory, but, I do get a lot of the butter-scotch-y notes and hints of root beer-ish notes. I find myself still looking for some licorice and the chicory.
When I get around to hot-brewing my second pouch of this tea, I’ll be sure to update you on how well that comes out. In the meantime, this one is good, but, I think that the original was better.