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.
Lughnasadh from Solstice Brews
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Solstice Brews
Tea Description:
Celebrate the harvest with this pineapple coconut green tea!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Shame on me! I found this poor neglected tea in one of my tea storage bins over the weekend. I should know better. I was so excited when I first received this tea but alas, it was pushed to the back of the bin. Well I have rectified this problem but drinking about 3 cups of this brew this morning!
This tea is no longer available on the Solstice Brews Etsy site but there are so many other amazingly awesome teas available. Like Tardis Tea. That one has my name written all over it!
This tea is a gorgeous blend of green tea, with huge and I mean huge bits of pineapple and coconut in it. I couldn’t believe how lovely the inclusions were for this tea. Normally you just get little pieces, but not with this tea. You could smell the tropical feel in the aroma coming off of the dry leaves.
I prepped water at 190F and scooped a few spoon fulls of tea into my infuser. Poured the water in and allowed the tea to brew for about 3 minutes. I was greeted and rewarded with a lovely light and refreshing cuppa that just shined. All flavors were present and accounted for.
The green tea was a lovely buttery goodness that laid the foundation for the other flavors to play off of. The coconut was sweet and gave that familiar flavor to the blend and the pineapple tasted like fresh pineapples! What I loved the most about this tea was that it didn’t taste like a pina colada but all those flavors were noted. I am not a big pina colada fan so that just made me happy. I loved how all of the flavors created a happy feeling tea that was so light but with rich flavors. Very refreshing and this would make an absolutely smashing ice tea with a pineapple wedge for a garnish!
Another reason why I love Solstice Brews so much. Her teas are solid and you can count on them being marvelous!
Snow Crysanthemum from Teasenz
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
A ‘heavenly’ rare flower tea that is grown only in the Kunlun mountains, where slow flower growth results in a delicious flower taste with notes of caramel and dark red tea liquor. Snow Chrysanthemum flower tea contains high amounts of amino acids and proteins, which are beneficial to your health by lowering blood sugar, reducing high cholesterol, and preventing heart diseases. A Teasenz favorite.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is a perfect example of why I love being a SororiTea Sister! All the fun and unique teas you get to experience that you might now have tried on your own. I love my floral and flowering teas so this one I thought would be right up my alley.
When I first looked in the pouch, I was very surprised with what I found. Being relatively new to Snow Chrysanthemum teas, I didn’t expect such a unique looking flower. I was thinking more like a fluffy Chrysanthemum like I’ve had in the past and this was more of a berry flower bud. I gladly poured a few heaping scoops into my tea pot and allowed this tea to brew to its gorgeous purplish amber brew for me to try.
While this tea was brewing, I was getting a very strong tangy berry aroma. I was hoping that the aroma would translate into a very tangy flavor. And it did! This tea created such a lovely tangy herbal like tea that soothed this tired soul after a really long day at the office. I just loved it.
There wasn’t a floral taste that I could really pick up but there was a familiar tangy herbal flavor that almost had a sour like resemblance. I brewed up another infusion and I was greeted with the same flavor profile. I can see how this would be a favorite amongst Teasenz customers. This tea is gorgeous hot. But I knew and had a feeling this would make an incredibly iced tea.
So I grabbed a few ice cubes from our break room and threw them in my cup and poured the tea in. Wow! This tea was just as good iced as it was hot. I’m getting the same flavor profile but just in a different temperature. Regardless of how you brew this tea, I think it is a winner!
Wild Black Tea from Teabook
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teabook
Tea Description:
Our red tea comes from Yunnan, Fujian, and Hunan provinces in China. The original name for black tea is red tea because of the general color of the infusion; it is still referred to as red tea in China today. Flavors that can define red tea are often robust, woodsy, or toasted and might have notes of walnut, raisin and chocolate. From a health perspective, some studies have established that red (black) tea may help protect lungs from exposure to cigarette smoke; new studies are starting to look at its possible role in helping to reduce the risk for stroke. Black is aggressively rolled/shaped during the processing to bring out its distinct flavors and aromas and are fully oxidized, thus creating darker deeper teas with more tannins (astringency).
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love the idea and concept behind Teabook and have really thought about getting a subscription. I love the convenience factor of having my loose leaf already measured out for me in convenient packaging. Such an alluring idea and so far I’ve enjoyed the teas I’ve tried.
And this one is no exception! This is another great offering from the Teabook. This particular offering is a Dian Hong from Lincang, Yunnan Province, China.
Brewed up with water at 195F and allowed to steep for about 3 minutes, this tea is giving me a gorgeous spot on black tea flavor that is woods, smooth, slightly astringent, with a lovely malty flavor running thru every sip! Such a well balanced tea. Really love how complex the tea is but yet so simple. Crisp and lovely!
This would be fabulous offering for the cool brisk spring evenings that are coming our way. I really like this one! This may have been the tea that gets me to subscribe!
Chocolate Buddha from Red Clover Tea and Herbs
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: Red Clover Tea and Herbs
Tea Description:
Drinking this tea always makes me think of the Happy Buddha. It brings me such joy. The combination of the peppermint, chocolate and Yerba Mate create such a delicious sweet chocolate mint tea that leaves you feeling recharged, nourished and happy! It’s a sweet minty tea with a chocolate finish.
INGREDIENTS
Fair Trade Yerba Mate tea, Peppermint, roasted Cacao Nibs, Dark Chocolate pieces, Red Ginseng root & Stevia leaf. All organic
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Red Clover Tea and Herbs is one of those tea companies that I think sometimes goes unnoticed. It really is one of those hidden gems. I know even when you Google it, you have to dig a bit. But what a find! The teas are hand blended delights that you keep you coming back for more.
This blend is a yerba mate blend which I love. Yerba Mate is one of those unique teas that I keep on hand when I want something a little different from the same old same old and it always is satisfying. Take Yerba Mate, peppermint, roasted cacao nibs, dark chocolate, red ginseng root & stevia leaf. Such a unique combo that I can’t say I’ve seen anywhere else.
Brewed this up per the sample pkg’s instructions and had a gorgeous cuppa awaiting me in about 7 minutes. I can’t say I really got much of anything else than a chocolate note from the dry leaves. I was hoping that the chocolate wouldn’t dominate the tea and I was in luck it didn’t.
Unfortunately, the stevia leaf did. The tea itself is really fabulous and fantastic. A lush and silky like blend that reminds me of a candy bar but there is an off taste through each sip that is the stevia leaf. Sometimes I can’t pick the stevia leaf up in blends and others it is overwhelming. This blend doesn’t have an overwhelming blend but it is definitely there.
If this tea didn’t have the stevia leaf in it, I would be sold and this WOULD become a daily tea. Who wouldn’t want to drink a liquid candy bar each and every day to stomp on that sweet tooth that plagues so many of us. Still overall, I was able to finish my cuppa without much of a fuss. Just wish the stevia leaf was either eliminated or just toned down.