Pandan Chiffon Green Tea from Ette Tea

by Roswell Strange

PandanChiffonTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Ette Tea

Tea Description:

Inspired and named after a local favourite dessert cake, Pandan Chiffon is a blend of roasted green tea, pandan leaves, osmanthus blossoms and cinnamon. 

It is reduced in caffeine and we recommend to drink Pandan Chiffon on its own and without sugar.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Recently I had the opportunity to take part in a group order from Ette Tea, a relatively new company based in Singapore. They only have six blends currently, but they all appear to be very well thought out and the range of diverse flavours is impressive. Being able to take advantage of buying smaller sample sizes was the nail in the coffin on what probably would’ve been an inevitable order anyway.

This isn’t one of the blends I was initially more excited about; but it smells very good! Quite sweet with cake like elements and a playful touch of spice. I’m definitely getting notes from the dry smell that remind me of caramel or lightly burnt sugar. Mmm! And, because this is one of the lighter blends I ended up with a lot more of it than any of the other samples so I’m taking advantage of trying this one in a different way than a lot of the people from our group order appear to have done; cold brewing! That is my go to, after all.

I’m surprised by how sweet this is; though I don’t necessarily know why. Every other run in I’ve had with ‘chiffon’, be it tea or in real life, is sweet so I should have expected as much from this even though it doesn’t have ingredients that necessarily go hand in hand with more dessert-like teas.

There’s a lot going on but it’s harmonious; I’m picking up sweeter top notes like caramel and vanilla and a pastry-like cinnamon (like cinnamon sugar, sort of) which together are reminding me of Stroopwafel! That’s definitely not what I was expecting to get from this blend but it’s wonderful. I’m also getting some light roasty notes from the hojicha, though not as dominant as I anticipated. They’re great support though and keep this tea from tasting too sweet. There’s also a sweet, starchy taste present: in part I think that’s what making me think of the “waffle” part of the stroopwafel flavour going on, but it also reminds me loosely of sweet potato.

The osmanthus is somewhere in the middle; not as strong as the sweeter notes but not as light as the roasty/potato notes either. It doesn’t tie in the the Stroopwafel thing I’ve got going on, but what it DOES do is really, really round this tea out and give it a lot of depth. My only complaint is that this left quite a bit of sediment/fannings in the bottom of my brewing vessel. But even then it’s not a huge deal with cold brews anyway.

For my first tea from Ette Tea I’m very impressed! If all the others are half as good and interesting as this one it’ll be one of the most successful tea orders I’ve ever made. Yeah, this definitely set the bar high for the others. I don’t know if that’s for better or worse. I really want to try actual Pandan Chiffon now! I don’t know if there’s anywhere in town to get it…

I need a hookup ASAP!

Roswell Strange

Hello; my name is Kelly. I’m a nearly twenty tea drinker and reviewer living in Saskatchablah, Canada. I started drinking loose leaf fairly casually a little over a year ago, and at some point between then and now that ‘fun little hobby’ turned into a serious, serious obsession. Typically I drink flavoured blends more that straight but one of my mini goals this year is to get that ratio to a more 50/50 level. I do a daily cold brew, and have at least (but usually a lot more) two hot cups of tea every day. Naturally I lean towards black or white blends, but I WILL drink everything; the last half year or so I’ve been challenging myself by further exploring Oolong and Pu’Erh which are the tea types I know the least about overall. My default for preparation is Western Style with zero additives; so unless I mention otherwise you can assume that’s how I’ve prepared my tea!

This post was posted in Ette Tea, Green Tea, Tea Company, Type Of Tea

Lemon Chiffon from Della Terra Teas

by liberteas

lemonchiffonTisane Information:

Leaf Type:  Honeybush & Rooibos

Where to Buy:  Della Terra Teas

Tisane Description:

If you love lemon cake, lemon frosting, lemon pie, lemon cookies…  shall I go on?  You get the point!  This tea is for you!  This tea is a blended rooibos and honeybush.  With the rich and delicious flavor of real, homemade cake and the tartness and fruity freshness of real lemon, this tea will certainly be your morning cup, or your dessert treat. 

Learn more about this tisane here.

Taster’s Review:

I can’t get over how crazy good this Lemon Chiffon tisane from Della Terra Teas smells as the cup sits before me, and the aroma wafts from it.  It smells like a pan of freshly baked lemon bars!  YUM!

The base of this tisane is a combination of rooibos and honeybush, and this combination offers a sweet, nutty flavor that is lightly honey-esque.  I know I’ve said this before, but I really like it when tea companies combine these two herbs – rooibos and honeybush – because they seem to work synergistically together.

Rooibos can sometimes taste a bit “off” with a weird, sour wood taste and a saccharine-like sweetness … and having grown up in a household where saccharine was used in EVERYTHING … I managed to develop a huge dislike for this artificial sweetener.  And because rooibos sometimes has that funky sweetness to it, that’s why I tend to shy away from it … but when tea companies combine rooibos with honeybush … that icky sweetness seems to be canceled out, and I really appreciate that.  And the nutty notes of the tisane base really works to this dessert tea’s favor, because it gives the overall taste a sort of toasty, “fresh baked” kind of flavor.

But the real star of this cup is the lemon and vanilla cream notes.  It tastes sweet and lemon-y and creamy!  The flavor reminds me of lemon curd … as if someone dropped a spoonful of lip-smacking delicious lemon curd in my cup of tea.

This is really good.  If you like lemon teas, and are looking for a nice, caffeine free option, this is something you really should try.  Even if you aren’t looking for a caffeine free option, I’d recommend trying this one … even if you don’t usually care for rooibos and/or honeybush.  This one is really good, and might change your mind about rooibos and honeybush!

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 Honeybush, Rooibos