African Carnival from Shanti Tea

by liberteas

Tisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Rooibos

Where to Buy:  Shanti Tea

Tisane Description:

This herbal blend is an exciting combination of herbs and spices. It embodies the smells and flavours of the African festival season and piques all of your senses creating an experience that walks a fine line between excitement and relaxing escape.

Learn more about this tisane here.

Taster’s Review:

I know I’ve said it before, but, I prefer green rooibos over the oxidized, red variety.  The green rooibos (which is not oxidized) has a fresher, fruitier flavor that I really enjoy.  Unfortunately, there really are so few green rooibos blends out there … at least when compared to the red rooibos blends.  So when I saw that this rooibos blend from Shanti Tea was a green rooibos blend, I was very pleased.

While Shanti Tea does not go into details on their website about the ingredients of this blend, I can see large rose petals, chunks of citrus peel and pieces of dried fruit in there amongst the needle-thin green rooibos leaves.  It brews to a golden color that’s full of fruit flavor!

The citrus notes are prominent, and they add a certain brightness to the cup, as well as a tangy taste that offers a nice contrast to the sweeter fruit notes of peach and apple.  I taste the floral notes as well, starting out with a very soft rose flavor at the start of the cup, and by the time I’ve reached mid-cup, the rose becomes a little more focused.

Overall, I’d describe this cup as a deliciously fruity, lightly sweet cup – very enjoyable!  It is a tisane that I think kids would really like because of its sweet, nectar-y like taste, and because it’s naturally caffeine-free you won’t have to worry about it keeping them over-stimulated … and they certainly don’t need that!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Rooibos, Shanti Tea, Tea Company, Type Of Tea

Maté Carnival from Chado Tea

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Roasted Yerba Maté

Where to Buy:  Chado Tea Room

Company Description:

Raosted mate, cocoa, rooibos, sunflower, cactus, cornflowers and almonds. Coffee substitute, great with milk. Perfect of American Breakfast. Must Try!

Taster’s Review:

This is a pleasant yet rather unusual yerba maté blend.  I am really enjoying it!

Roasted yerba maté and chocolate really complement each other very well.  The combination of the deep, toasty, earthy flavor of the yerba maté and the rich, smooth chocolate is just so decadent and yummy!

There is a faint sharpness to this cup as well, and I attribute that to the sunflower.  It is very faint, though, and might otherwise be missed if you’re not trying to find it.  The almonds and chocolate – being a classic flavor combination – work well together in this blend as well.

I can also detect the woodsy rooibos flavor, but, again, this isn’t strong enough to really compete with the stronger, pungent flavor of the maté.  I am not really sure what contribution the cactus makes to the overall flavor of this tisane, although there is a fruit note to this tea that I cannot otherwise place.  Perhaps that is the cactus?  I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think that this blend would be quite the same without the cactus.

I’ve tried a couple of chocolate flavored maté blends, but this one stands alone because it has a more complex flavor to it – perhaps because of the rooibos, or the almonds, or the sunflower, or even the cactus.  Or, maybe it’s because of all of these components and how well they work together in this cup.

I really like it.

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Yerba Maté