Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Tisane Description:
Strong hibiscus and cassis on the nose transforms to a delicious sweet blueberry and sour currant on the tongue. Sweet to start, tart to finish and herbaceous all around.
All organic ingredients: raspberry leaf, hibiscus, rosehip chips, dried currants, blueberries, natural flavour.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! Where did June go?
This is the last of the three teas/tisanes that I received in Amoda’s June Tea Tasting Box: Organic Goddess Tisane from Shushwap Infusions. After reading about this tisane on the Amoda website, I decided to follow their suggestion and ice the tea … so I hot-brewed it and stashed it in the fridge until it got nice and cold.
This tea was included in the Amoda box to celebrate the coming of Summer. I’m not exactly sure I see the connection yet – I mean, berries, yes those are summertime … maybe that’s it. I’ll reserve my final judgement until the tea cools and I’m sipping on some iced tea.
The dry leaf smells a bit like wine to me. Like a sweet, fruity wine. That gave me some hope for this one, unfortunately, no amount of hope could really … save this tisane.
Meh … I gotta be real, this one isn’t doing a whole lot to inspire flowery prose from me. I taste the berry notes, but mostly what I taste is hibiscus. It isn’t overly hibiscus-y, fortunately, because I didn’t steep it too long. It has a tart-sweet flavor and reminds me a bit of Kool Aid.
Not all that exciting really. It’s not horrible, and I’ll be finishing the pitcher of it that I brewed. It is light and thirst-quenching. But I do think that this could really benefit from … something. Perhaps the addition of some peppermint or spearmint … or even some cinnamon, ginger, or … something. It lacks “umph!” You know what I’m saying? It lacks that excitement factor. It lacks that something that makes me want to keep sipping it.
This is the first tisane that I find myself truly disappointed by from the Amoda Tea Boxes, and since I’ve been subscribed since November, I guess that’s pretty good.
Blue Unicorn from Shanti Tea
Tea Type: Oolong
Where To Buy: Shanti Tea
Product Description:
A rare hand-crafted designer Ceylon tea, medium-bodied.
From the famous Biodynamic & Fair Trade Idulgashinna Tea Garden come these visually captivating spears of cassis, cinnamon, gold, and silver tips, resembling the mythical unicorn’s horn. This hand crafted tea is carefully hand-rolled and twisted into spears. Each finished cluster is slightly more than 1 inch in length. These partially fermented leaves produce a delicate, pale liquor that is exceptionally sweet and clean, with champagne undertones. The tea can be steeped multiple times, each revealing new complexities.
Tasters Review:
I’ve collected unicorns since I was 3. Anything from collectibles and figurines to logo-ed items and ANYTHING in between. So when I saw that Shanti Tea had an Oolong Tea named Blue Unicorn…I HAD TO HAVE IT! And I am so glad I chose it!! It’s truly amazing!
The first time I tried this – I infused 3 “horns” as suggested. The pre-infusion scent is completely different than the during and post-infusion scent! The Pre-Infusion is more of a Sweet/Floral, During Infusion it’s a Floral/Semi-Sugary type, and the Post is more of a Sweet Honey/Candied type aroma.
I also noticed this is a VERY hefty handcrafted leaf! Surely to live up to multiple infusions!
My first response to my first sip was…WOW. My 2nd response was…YAY!
Oh my! What a treat! This is VERY unique! VERY Sweet and Juicy! It’s Clean and Crisp! Very Champagne-Like! Almost fruity but I am not sure what kind of fruit to compare it to upon my first attempt and first infusion.
Like I said…these ‘horns’ or leaves were screaming multiple infusions, so I gladly obliged.
I used the same ‘horns’ in my 2nd infusion. I infused for 9 minutes (did 7 the first time).
The 2nd infusion smelled much more peachy! A VERY awesome scent! It was sweeter and juicier and more champagne-like! The color was pretty much the same…a lovely yellow-orange-light brown.
As for my 3rd infusion…I used the same 3 pieces and infused for approx 11 to 12 minutes. The color was a littler lighter. The scent was Peachy and Floral and Pleasant…not as Peachy as the 2nd infusion tho.
The ‘horns’ were continuing to morph but still played games with me – egging me on to continue to play with them! They look to still have more infusions left. NOW it’s become a challenge…a game…
The taste…Fruity (slightly peachy) – not as peachy as the 2nd infusion. Along with floral notes…blossoms, perhaps.
AND that was just my first attempt with multiple infusions. I have much more fun with this Blue Unicorn since opening the tin! Here is how other attempts have turned out…
I used 5 ‘horns’ and the first infusion at 4 Minutes turned out like this…
The color post-infusion is very honey-like. The horns haven’t really unfurled but that just means more infusions in my book so I am totally ok with that! It smells more like silver tips this time around…I’m not picking up on the peach like my last go-around…It has a refreshing aftertaste…juicy!
2nd Infusion – same 5 Horns – 7 minutes I found the same coloring and scent – scent a tad sweeter that first infusion. The taste changed to more of a sweet-floral with juicy fruity tones but not overly identifiable as to switch fruit(s). It’s VERY Smooth. It seems I get a new surprise with each cup!
I have successfully done 4 flavorful infusions of this and a VERY HAPPY with the outcome. Very few teas make it to my 100 percentile list but this one has! I can safely say this is one of my all-time-favorite teas!
Just goes to show you…UNICORNS…they really ARE magical!
LOVE THIS!!!
