Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Conundrum Tea
Tea Description:
This Orthodox (whole leaf) Assam tea is a lot different from your typical Assam. The tea leaves are hand-picked and hand-processed. This results in a bold, flavorful, and complex tea. It tastes malty and woody with hints of honey. The brewed tea has a nice sunset orange color and it smells of a subtle campfire.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Ever had a tea that made you appreciate the little moments life? I swear this tea just did that to m
Conundrum Tea is a new tea company to me but I’ve heard rave reviews about them. After trying this tea, I can see why. This tea is like heaven in a cup!
Jungle Fire Assam doesn’t have the same flavor notes and profiles like other Assams I’ve had in the past. This tea has a malty sweetness that you pick up from the very first sniff of the package and keeps on going right until that last drop. The honey like flavor is remarkable and really something memorable. The woodsy flavor is present but more in the background. No astringent factors at all. Just a smoothness that I’m devouring.
I can honestly say this is one of the best Assams I’ve ever had and it will be one I’ll be visiting and wanting again and again.
I think I found my new best friend in a tea!
Lime Green with Envy from BlendBee
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Tea Description:
You don’t see as many lime teas as you do lemon because it’s so much more sour than a lemon and can be tough to balance in a tea. Here it really works though. The lime is tame. The strong green teas and the raspberry leaf give the tea backbone – a little bit earthy, vegetal and what hints at a black tea flavour.
What’s In It:
All organic ingredients: sencha green tea, china green tea, lemon peel, raspberry leaf, lime extract.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Amoda’s Monthly Subscription Box here.
Taster’s Review:
Let’s all say that when I opened up this month’s Amoda Tea box, I squealed. . . LOUDLY! I love Amoda Tea’s monthly box and to see a company that I have been wanting to try for some tea featured, well, I was a happy girl to say the least.
Each month Amoda Tea puts together a thoughtful offering for their customers. What I love is that when I open the box up, they have lovingly packaged my teas with my name on it. That just makes you smile!
This month they featured BlendBee, a company that I first heard about on Twitter. When I saw that there was a sampling of Lime Green with Envy, I couldn’t get my infuser out quick enough. This tea is described as a green tea with a sour twist. That is a lot for a tea to live up to. So I prepared my water and sat somewhat patiently while the tea steeped. 3 minutes later I was ready to take my first sip.
My initial thoughts? Wow, they got this right! I can really pick up that lime flavor. Sour but not overly so that I’m puckering up as I drink the tea. The green tea base is laying down a nice flavor that is somewhat grassy with notes of a vegetal finish. Each flavor contrasts the other in a very nice way. This tea was crisp and refreshing!
As much as I loved this tea hot, I wanted to try it cold so I popped in a few ice cubes, threw the infuser back in the tea and let it steep for a few more minutes.
What I got in return was one of the best iced teas I’ve had in a bit. This will be one of those teas that I’ll be remembering for some time to come. Cold this tea just shines. I would love to finish this glass off with a nice lemon or lime wedge and possibly turn this tea into a mojito even. Cooled down the lime flavor really shines thru and I’m reminded of summer. A great tea to have to bring some sunshine in your day.
This month’s offerings have made me realize that I need an Amoda Monthly Tea Box in my life every month. I will be asking for a subscription for Christmas and if Santa doesn’t bring me what I want? I’ll be getting for myself!
Tropical Sunshine Green from A Quarter to Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Tea Description:
Summer winding to a close, getting you down? Don’t fret — just let yourself get whisked off to the beach. Tangerine, mango, raspberry and coconut make a fruity tropical cocktail that will have you hearing waves and feeling the sand underfoot.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
We’re a long way from summer now, so a tropical themed tea feels a little out of place but just because this might not be the ideal season to drink it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be super tasty! So, when I cold brewed this tea I did my absolute best to be open minded about it. And honestly, it wasn’t hard: the coconut in the blend smells super fresh and yummy and I could see lots of goji berries which are a fruit I’ve really tried to learn more about this year. Both are things for me to get excited about.
Like I said, this was cold brewed because Lauren from A Quarter to Tea specifically said on the tea’s page that it’s great iced. I don’t normally ice teas, but I do cold brew them! I find, if a company is going to specifically point out a way to try their tea I want to take that into consideration.
Mostly; I thought this was just a really nice smooth, vegetal and grassy cold brewed green tea that demonstrated characteristics of both the Chinese and Japanese style greens in the blend. On top of the really enjoyable base, the coconut was quite a dominant flavour. It tastes insanely fresh! It’s a nice balance between tropical “Pina Colada” type coconut and a more confectionery type coconut. It reminds me of DT’s Coconut Grove which is something I haven’t gotten to say in a LONG time since that delightful blend has been discontinued for a while now.
Sadly, none of the fruit really seems to contribute much flavour. I certainly don’t taste the goji and I just barely taste the faintest citrus flavour on the finish of the cup. I’d never be able to identify it as tangerine is I wasn’t reading an ingredients list. I don’t mind the absence of fruit because I get to enjoy the coconut, but I doubt that’s entirely what was intended and if you’re looking for fruit flavour you may be disappointed with this blend.
Regardless, it was a good experience for me.
Orange Grapefruit Herb Blend from Trader Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Trader Leaf
Tea Description:
This mild creation is given fruity sweetness by the apple pieces and carrot flakes and a touch of freshness by eucalyptus leaves, lemon grass, tangerine bits and a nuance of hibiscus. Beetroot pieces lend their color to the cup along with a slightly earthy note. Dried orange slices are an optical reminder of the fresh citrus flavor of this absolutely perfect composition.
Ingredients: apple pieces, carrot flakes, blackberry and eucalyptus leaves, beetroot pieces, hibiscus flowers, lemon grass, flavoring, tangerine pieces, orange slices.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Being sick is just too much! Especially after having a wonderful wedding and fantastic honeymoon. The last thing I needed was to come home and get sick. Blah! Oh well! The way she goes boys. . . . (Any Trailer Park Boys fans out there?)
I was excited to see this blend in my newest box to review. The only flavor that I have been wanting lately is grapefruit. Coffee and other teas right now just don’t have that same draw only because of this wicked cough and sore throat I’ve got going on. This tea sounded like heaven!
Brewed this up with boiling water and allowed it to brew for about 10 minutes or so. I wanted to get as much flavor as I could out of the sample.
Poured the brew into my cup and just sat and admired the gorgeous pink appearance of the tea. I took a sip and my heart sang. This tea tasted so good on my poor throat. Soothing and refreshing. I couldn’t pick up all the flavors that are listed in the description but the two that I could really pick up where the citrus flavor and the eucalyptus. They both had such a soothing and calming manner about them. Such a lovely fruity flavor that stays with you even after your last sip. I was so pleased and happy!
I’m not sure how I would like this tea when I’m at 100% but this would be a great one to keep on hand for those days where you just aren’t feeling up to your old self. My cup was gone in no time and I headed straight back into our breakroom to prep more water. This tea is definitely a keeper! Can’t wait to try this tea when I’m feeling more like myself again.
Sangria White from A Quarter to Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Tea Description:
Hold on to your summer year round, with this cuppa. Combines the flavors of cherry, apple and blueberries with a hint of rum and wine to make the perfect sangria year round.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is my second sample from A Quarter to Tea! I chose it for a couple reasons; the big one was that the other two samples I picked out were oolongs and I wanted to get to taste at least one of Lauren’s other tea types. However, I was also interested by the fairly unique ingredients. I’ve never seen Sangria with blueberry, for starters. Finally, I wanted to find a Sangria tea that was an improvement on the other two I’ve tried. DAVIDsTEA had a seasonal Sangria blend which I didn’t mind but didn’t love, and Red Leaf Tea has a Sangria flavour of matcha I currently own but don’t particularly like. And the idea of Sangria with a white base sounds awesome, too!
It was hard to form much of an impression of the tea dry: I could see several chunks of the dry ingredients in the blend, but there wasn’t a distinct aroma. Part of that, I feel, is that in the package Lauren mailed to me the Cherry Chocolate Latte was really a dominant flavour and I think possibly may have contaminated the other teas it was packaged with or, at least, “cancelled out” their aromas – which weren’t as potent/strong. Since Lauren suggests on her Etsy page to ice this and since Sangria really is a drink best consumed cold I decided to go with a cold method of preparation. However, instead of icing I went with cold brewing because that style of preparation is a favourite of mine.
I do find this tea to be very mildly/delicately flavoured overall, with softer and less prominent notes of apple and blueberry and a jammy stonefruit quality which I suppose is the cherry. I want to point out that mild and subtle isn’t actually a bad thing, however Sangria doesn’t have a ‘delicate’ flavour to begin with so it’s not reading as the most accurate flavour profile. Plus it’s a little odd for me to neither taste “orange”/citrus which is such a common Sangria flavour or the wine/rum. As such, while I really like the flavour that I do taste, I find it very hard to drink this and think of it as ‘Sangria’ flavoured. The name just doesn’t seem to match, you know?
I’d be interested to see this tea rebranded as another flavour, maybe even some kind of ‘punch’? This is a refreshing, light, fruity cuppa but in my ‘quest’ for the perfect Sangria tea my expectations just haven’t been met.