Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Sweet orange peel roasted in honey, real grade-A Madagascar vanilla beans, actual peaches! California Sweet Peach is our signature herbal infusion. We are proud to roast our own orange peel in local honey and use peaches straight from California! Our natural peach flavor is supplied by Silver Cloud Estates and is a blend of different natural extracts and oils, enabling us to boost the taste of peaches. This blend is part of the Original 20 M&K’s Blends. Note: California Sweet Peach contains no tea, as it is an herbal infusion. We chose to include the term “herbal tea” in the title due to its categorical popularity.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This California Sweet Peach Herbal Tea from M&K’s Tea Company is an interesting tisane. As I sit here, sipping it, I’m trying to determine whether or not I like it. I can’t say that immediately upon taking my first few sips that I was blown away by it. At the same time, I can’t say that immediately upon taking my first few sips that I wasn’t intrigued. I felt the need to keep on sipping. It’s interesting enough to keep me sipping but there’s something about it that hasn’t yet ‘won me over’ – at least not yet.
I like that the hibiscus is not a strong presence in this cup. Normally, when I am about to taste a tea or tisane with hibiscus, my thought is “why?” Why hibiscus? But, after drinking about half a cup now, I can see why the hibiscus is in this blend. It adds a little bit of body to the cup (but I wouldn’t recommend steeping it longer than 6 minutes or so to avoid having a thick or syrupy body) and the little bit of tartness that it brings to the cup adds balance to the warm notes of the licorice and the sweetness of the peach, honey and vanilla notes.
The star of this cup is – obviously – the peach. I like the flavor of the peach here and I think that’s what’s keeping my interest. The peach is a genuine peach-y note. It doesn’t taste chemical or artificial. It tastes true to the fruit. I also like the orange in this. The orange adds a touch of bright flavor to the sweet peach notes.
Now that I’ve finished the cup I can say that I enjoyed this. It had a strong peach flavor but there was enough other stuff going on in this that it didn’t end up being all about the peach. I liked the different flavors going on. And even though this does have hibiscus in it – like so many other fruit/herbal tisanes to – this is not your ordinary tisane.
Just as an aside: it’s something when I finish the tea before I finish the review. Take that for what it’s worth, but it doesn’t happen often. I must have enjoyed what I was drinking!
Yeah. I’d drink this again. I enjoyed it. This one has earned my approval. Even if it does have hibiscus in it!
California Chai from Drink T
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Drink T
Company Description:
Chai simply means “tea” in many parts of the world. However, for others it means tea with Indian spices, enjoyed with milk and honey. Our California Chai goes its own way, using aromatic black tea, flavored with eastern spices plus a touch of citrus and vanilla. It’s a most relaxing and satisfying beverage.
Bring water to boil (212)
Steep Time: 3 – 5 Minutes
Number of Infusions: 1
Sweetener: Optional
Cream: No
Caffeine: Strong
Taster’s Review:
I have been drinking a lot of chai teas lately, because the weather has gotten considerably cooler over the last month or so, and I find the warmth of chai tea – not just the temperature of the tea, but also the warmth of the spices – to be extraordinarily comforting when autumn comes.
But this chai – really surprised me! It is different, but I really like it.
The first time I brewed some of this tea, I somehow went into “auto-pilot” mode and I steamed and frothed some milk and served it “latte” before reading the information on this tea. In particular, the part that says “Cream: No.”
I will say that this tea, as a latte, is really good. It has a kind of creamsicle-y taste to it, like a spiced creamsicle. And I quite enjoyed it.
But now that I sit here, with a cup brewed according to the above brewing parameters – and no cream – I can tell you that it is so much better without the steamed milk.
This is a deliciously different chai blend. The citrus (it tastes like orange) adds a unique twist to the chai spices. It really wakes up the flavor on what might otherwise be just another ordinary chai blend. The flavor is bright and juicy!
Together with the vanilla, there is still some of that “creamsicle-y” kind of taste, but it is not nearly as strong as it was with the steamed milk. With the steamed milk, that creamsicle taste is at the forefront of the flavor profile, without it, it becomes a charming background note that really enhances the chai spices.
The black tea is a smooth, even tasting black tea, not particularly outstanding in its own right, but, what it does do – quite well – is allow these other flavors to take the starring role without being washed out completely by them. It stands on its own, without being overwhelmed, but, it doesn’t attempt to overpower the other flavors in this cup, either.
The chai spices are warm, but, again, they aren’t overpowering. They seem perfectly content in sharing the cup with the sunny orange and creamy vanilla essences, creating a cup that is not as spicy as some chai teas, but, is every bit as flavorful in its own way.