This tea traveled all the way from South Africa to join my tea stash in Toronto. Better than that? It arrived with two other Tea Merchant teas in tow: Cranberry and Strawberry Cream. They were all intriguing but my family unanimously determined that this was the best smelling of the three, an interesting decision given that everyone else in my family doesn’t like cherries. I, on the other hand, am a cherry fiend and couldn’t wait to dive in.
I have now had this tea a few times since it first arrived and I think I like it best cold brewed. There is a lot of hibiscus here and when prepared hot it can get rather tart. Cold brewing tames that hibby tartness and provides a chance for the other flavors to come through. That’s not to say it isn’t tart, because it is, but there is also sweetness here and the combination is reminiscent of cherry. Underneath everything, the currant acts as a foundation and though I am not entirely sure what elderberries taste like, this blend has a fairly juicy yet generic berry/cherry flavor that I am sure captures the taste of them.
If I am being totally honest, I do enjoy this tea and it makes for a flavorful juice-like drink but it is a bit of a disappointment in light of how good it smells. The scent is quite distinct but the flavor is far less specific. Plus, when you name a blend something like “Black Forest Cherry” it creates a certain expectation of baked goods and chocolate cake that is just not present here. So, as much as I do like this tea from time to time, it is not quite what I hoped it would be.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Fruit Tea
Where to Buy: The Tea Merchant
Description
A rich cherry infusion to blow your taste buds away. Packed full of flavour, this blend of cherry, black currants and elderberries is simply wonderful.
Ingredients: Hibiscus, Currants, Grapes, Elderberries, Chopped Almonds, Natural Flavourants, Safflower, Cherry Pieces
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Slytherin from The Forest Witch. . . . . .
The Forest Witch’s Slytherin Blend is — to start off — just a really cool name. Both the Forest Witch part and the Harry Potter part. Kudos on the naming. The Witch also carries teas named after Game of Thrones houses, mythological characters, and other magic. I’m a huge sucker for that kind of thing, and this tea definitely knows its niche and caters to it.
The tea itself is a hearty lemon and nut-flavored tea with a dash of cherry. The cherry is secondary, so if that’s your primary focus, I’d recommend hunting down another cup. But if you want a cool blend of unexpected yet harmonious flavors, this might be your jam.
The lemon is zesty; the cherry is like a violin playing; and the nuts form a friendly base. They’re all being embraced by the malty black.
This tea totally works. Sometimes, when I’m trying a tea, I think the creators are putting in a little too much effort. (“Eighty ingredients? Are they OKAY over there?”) But a base + 3 flavors is just right. You get the high, the middle, and the low notes (ideally, in my opinion).
I don’t know if this tea says “Slytherin” to me, necessarily. Lemon is totally a Slytherin thing (kinda spiky in flavor, a little sassy). Cherry, sure. Black tea? Obviously. Slytherins look great in black.
But I feel like nuts are the zone of Hufflepuff. Nuts feel “friendly” to me.
This is, obviously, totally subjective and in my head.
I’ve put a lot of thought into the Potter Houses. For example, of all the Harry Potter houses I could be at present, Slytherin is literally the last. I’m not bragging here that I’m a selfless angel; I’m instead telling you that my “go-getter” drive is dead. I took too many AP classes in high school, and was, frankly, terminally exhausted by the time I was 18. Then I got sucked into a difficult (but rewarding!) major, and I’m now a vortex “meh, not worth it.”
If Hermione Granger just took it easy the rest of her life post-Hogwarts, would anyone really hold it against her? Maybe she could find a reasonably-challenging job she liked, and devote her free time to writing tea reviews or something.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: The Forest Witch
Description
Brewing up plans for your path to success and prestige once you leave Hogwarts? Why not enjoy a satisfying cup of tea sure to help fortify you on your way?
Black tea provides a lovely malty and sweet base for pistachios, cherries, and lemongrass. A delicious treat for pistachio pudding lovers, and ambitious witches and wizards alike!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong from A Quarter To Tea
I must confess: when I first received this, my heart broke into itty-bitty pieces. Oh no! Cherry! AAAAAH!
I usually hate cherry. It tends to remind me of cough medicine. What if I hated it? How would I show my face at Tea Club? How could they have sent me my Kryptonite?
Fortunately, yay, this tea uses ACTUAL cherries. It’s not that sugar-chemical stuff. It’s the real deal. That — plus the yumminess of the chocolate (my favorite) and the bright vegetal note of the oolong — made a mighty brew. It’s so sweet and rich.
I am wicked-hype because this tea combines two things: 1) Broken my cherry hate and 2) Been the second oolong I’ve liked
This tea feels like the start of something new.
Maybe I’m not allergic to Kryptonite after all.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Roasty enough to appease the coffee lover in you! The blend of hojicha and oolong makes a robust, coffee like base without the jitters. Mellowed out with chicory, chocolate, and cherries. What could be a better start to the morning?
Takes milk and sugar well.
All orders come in resealable packaging and include a reusable muslin cotton tea bag.
Ingredients:
Organic Quilan Oolong Tea, Hojicha Tea, Coffee Beans, Dried Cherries, Mini Chocolate Chips, Chicory, Natural Flavors
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
The Love Dalek Tea from Adagio Teas (Custom Blends)
CuppaGeek’s Review:
Love Dalek Tea (from Adagio Teas Custom Blend platform) is a blend based off of the Doctor Who series, one of my personal favorite. After taking a whiff of the dry leaf mix, you can almost taste a white tea flavor with notes of tart cherry and hibiscus. A great play on flavor-tart and floral.
Brewed up with water at 190F and allowed 3 minutes to steep, I was eager to take my first sip. In this blend it seems, black tea is king. I was eager for those white floral notes to pop out and play with the tart cherry flavorings added- but that didn’t happen right away.
At the very beginning of each sip, you know that the black tea reigns supreme. What I was hoping would be a lovely floral cherry tea with a slight astringency, turned into a heavy handed astringent hibiscus tea party.
But I wasn’t ready to just say, this isn’t my cuppa. After all, this is a Doctor Who blend. So I prepped a few more sessions with this tea. And Eureka! After third infusion I was finally able to pull out a lovely white tea astringent tea with pops of floral and cherry notes. Delicious and exactly what I was looking for.
So what are my final thoughts on this tea? As confused as the blend seems to be, I think there is potential. This may be a tea that needs a good solid cold brew to allow all the flavors an opportunity to shine. I’m glad I have a few servings left to try just that!
All in all, I still love the idea behind Custom Blends from Adagio Teas. Drinking a tea dedicated to your favorite fandoms just gives one warm fuzzies!!
What to learn more about this tea?
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/White Tea Blend
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
YOU ARE DALEKTABLE. YOU WOULD MAKE A GOOD VALENTINE. INFATUATE! INFATUATE! INFATUATE!
Ingredients: White Peony, Black Tea, Rose Hips, Hibiscus, Apple Pieces, Rose Petals, Natural Wild Cherry Flavor, Rose Flavor, Dried Cherries
Learn even more about this tea here.
White Cherry from Tea and Absinthe
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Tea and Absinthe
Tea Description:
Ingredients: white tea China Pai Mu Tan, green tea Darjeeling, green tea China -Fog Tea, -Lung Ching, -Jasmine Jade Pearls, cherries, coconut chips (coconut, coconut fat, sugar), flavor, rose buds
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A couple weekends ago, my hubby and I had an amazing experience at St Louis’s Wizard World. My hubby had bought me a Doctor Who VIP package where I had my picture take with and met David Tennant and Billie Piper. I was crazy excited since they are two of my favorite Doctor Who characters and arguable the most iconic. While wondering around the convention, I stumbled upon a tea shop. I couldn’t believe it. Not going to lie, I think I squealed a little. It was a pretty neat set up and I couldn’t wait to check all of the teas out. I picked up a few and have started to finally dive into them.
Let’s start off with saying this tea is gorgeous to look at. Huge roses, cherries, gorgeous tea leaves. . .everything you would want to see in a tea, this has it. The dry leaf mixture has a lovely sweet floral smell. One that I couldn’t want to steep up.
While steeping this tea, I could definitely still smell the same sweet smell with a hint of an almost kool aid smell as well. Not offensive at all. Almost made this tea a bit more appealing. I was in the mood for a sweeter fruity tea.
I brewed this up per the package instructions, and about 4 minutes later, I was pouring the tea into my Doctor Who mug. The smell of the tea had a lovely almost bakery smell to it with a fruity sweetness. This is one of those smells that actually makes you hungry!
I allowed the tea to cool for a few and took my first sip. In the words of Doctor Who “Hello Sweetie”! This tea is incredible and a taste profile/experience I can’t say I’ve ever had before. And that is pretty crazy to say. I drink a crazy variety of teas each and every day and am always looking for something new. I can’t believe I have never came across a tea like this before.
Each flavor comes thru. You can pick up the flora white notes, the distinct Darjeeling touches, a rich buttery green tea base, with a lovely jasmine hint here and there. Throw in the sweet robust cherry (almost Kool-Aid like) flavor with hints of coconut all surrounding by again another sweet floral touch and you have yourself one amazingly complex tea. The tea isn’t so sweet that it is overpowering. I think the green tea and Darjeeling go a long way to tame the crazy sweet flavors down and bring a bit more vegetal feel to the tea. In just about every other sip you get a nice tart almost wine like flavor.
I am insanely impressed with this tea and can not wait to see how many infusions this tea will provide. I’m also excited to try this as a lovely cold brew tea. Especially for the summertime. I bet this tea will make a marvelous iced tea!
Really well done! If you haven’t checked out this tea company before, I encourage you too. So far I have had two of the 5 blends that I picked up from them and I’m impressed with both.