Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
This is a crowd pleaser. Order this today and offer your Thanksgiving dinner guests an awesome caffeine-free treat with organic flavors of gingerbread and a hint of cream cheese frosting. This is a real treat and likely to go fast. Do not miss out on this one.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Gingerbread is not something I eat often. I like some gingerbread, but most that I find tends to be a little on the wimpy side with no real ginger flavor. An exception to that is the gingerbread that I’ve tasted from Nikki’s Cookies. Good stuff.
But a lot of the gingerbread that you can buy in the grocery stores (about a month ago, you couldn’t walk into a grocery store without seeing a “gingerbread house kit.” And most of that stuff tastes like it was made from cardboard. No real ginger flavor – it’s as if the ginger that they use in the recipe is ground ginger that had been sitting on the shelf since Christmas in 1990. Boring flavor with no ginger kick.
So I’m hoping this tea will give me the kind of gingerbread flavor I want!
I hot-brewed this tea. I brought a quart of water to 195°F and dropped the sachet into the kettle and let it steep for 9 minutes. Then I strained the liquid into my favorite half gallon iced tea pitcher and repeated the process: heated a quart of water – 195°F – and put the same sachet into the kettle. This time, I let it steep for 11 minutes. Then I let the pitcher come to room temperature before I stashed it in the refrigerator to cool overnight.
Today, I have a pitcher full of gingerbread tea! Well, I guess I should say, I did have a pitcher full of gingerbread tea. Now I have about 1 glassful of tea remaining at the bottom of the pitcher and that glassful will be consumed soon!
This has a nice ginger flavor. The ginger is subtle but present in every sip. It doesn’t have a strong, peppery zing from the ginger, but there’s enough ginger in there to know that you’re tasting ginger. And there’s a pleasant sweetness, almost molasses-y, and that’s something I want to taste with gingerbread too.
This is sweet and enjoyable without being cloying. The ginger cuts through enough of the sweetness to keep it from tasting too sweet. The honeybush is a good base for the gingerbread flavors because the nutty and honey-esque flavors of the honeybush really tie in well with the overall gingerbread concept.
If I’m to offer any “complaint” about this tea, it would be that I want a little more “buttery/pastry” like flavor. That – it would seem – has become a common complaint of mine about some of the baked good flavor teas that 52Teas/Southern Boy Teas/Zoomdweebies has been producing as of late. I’m just not getting the buttery/pastry-like flavor that I’ve come to love from some of 52Teas’ classic flavors like their Pancake Breakfast tea. I think that would make this taste more like a gingerbread cookie.
That said, I found this iced tisane to be enjoyable. I like the flavor of the ginger and the molasses notes are quite delightful. It’s not my favorite iced tea selection from Southern Boy Teas, but it’s tasty and refreshing. The fact that the half gallon pitcher is nearly empty after it being in the refrigerator for less than a day should be testament to the fact that I enjoyed the flavor and it is very easy to drink.
Please take a moment to check out Frank’s Kickstarter campaign! He’s looking to take Southern Boy Teas to new heights and the fundraising effort will help get him started in the right direction! Please help this small business!
Maple Marshmallow Flavored Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Why hasn’t anyone combined these two flavors yet? I don’t know, but I’m not scurred. Here’s our premium organic Indian black teas blended with organic maple and marshmallow flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
YUM! This is seriously good.
My mouth watered when I saw the label on the package. I want those cupcakes.
And while this tea doesn’t have “cupcake-y” flavors to it, it definitely has the maple and the marshmallow! These flavors are strong and very well-defined. And even though they are really strong, I still taste plenty of black tea flavor too.
It’s sweet and refreshing. It’s something that tastes so good that you’d swear you’re cheating on your diet when you drink it, but you aren’t! It’s iced tea! It only TASTES indulgent.
This is one of the best flavors I’ve tasted from SBT thus far. This might even be better than my lime favorites (Lime Cola and Lime Jello).
If you’re one who doesn’t like sweet flavors – this tea probably won’t be to your liking. But for the rest of us, seriously, you’ve got to try this. It’s so good.
AND Southern Boy Teas has a new Kickstarter Campaign going. Please take a moment and check out the campaign and if you can, please consider contributing to this small business!
Spiced Orange Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Premium Organic black tea with organic flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Yum! This tastes like a “holiday” tea blend – only iced! It has a great flavor with the warm spices and the burst of orange. It’s a little sweet and a little spicy and I love the way the bright citrus notes perk up the flavors of the spices.
The black tea base is flavorful and has a refreshing yet bold, brisk flavor. This isn’t your average black tea that you’ll find in the yellow, white and red box in the supermarket. (You know which tea I’m talking about, don’t you?) You can taste the quality in this tea.
It isn’t overly spiced. But I can definitely taste clove and cinnamon. The photo above shows star anise but I don’t taste it. I don’t really taste a strong presence of any spice – it’s more like a zesty medley of spices to add some depth to the iced tea.
I like the way the spices accent the vibrant orange taste. Like the spices, the orange isn’t overdone. There is a really good contrast between juicy orange flavor, lively spices, and brisk tea notes.
It may not be as unusual as “cotton candy” or “garlic toast” iced tea but this is a tasty, flavorful, refreshing iced tea that will quench the thirst and it has a certain holiday flair to it, making it seem quite alright to be drinking iced tea when it’s chilly outside! This is something that I’ve started doing over the last few years – keeping a pitcher of iced tea in my fridge even in the cooler months. A few years ago, I limited my iced tea brewing to the warm months when I really needed some cold drink waiting for me in refrigerator, but now I’ve come to embrace drinking both hot and cold teas year ’round.
And this tea would be great any time of year!
Vibrant Morning Green Tea Blend from Because UR Priceless
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Because UR Priceless on Etsy
Tea Description:
Are you having one of those days where you just want to snuggle under the covers and go back to sleep…but you can’t? Are you in the middle of one of those afternoon lulls when you just want to rest your eyes for a wee little bit?
GOOD NEWS! Let the naturally caffeinated green tea found in Vibrant Morning Herbal Tea help put a little pep into your step! You don’t like green tea, you say? Well, to be honest, I’m not a fan of its rather sharp taste either. However, Vibrant Morning’s added combination of lemon verbena, spearmint, lemongrass, and lemon peel will whisk that astringency right away. Whew! Green tea for all!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yes, I’ll get into my review of this Vibrant Morning Green Tea blend from Because UR Priceless in just a moment. But first, a rant:
I find myself in disagreement with the above description – I am a fan of green tea. I LOVE green tea! I don’t find the flavor of it to be sharp at all. In fact, when brewed properly, green tea is buttery, soft, and silky. Vegetal, yes. Most green teas are. But they’re also beautifully sweet, smooth and complex.
Some green teas are astringent, but I find green teas to be on the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to astringency. Sharp or bitter? No, not if you use a good quality product and brew it properly.
I think that the reason so many people dislike green teas is because either: a) they’re brewing a sub-par product, and/or b) they’re steeping the tea incorrectly.
To address matter a): as with just about anything, you get what you pay for. If you’re going to the grocery store and buying the cheapest green tea off the shelf, green tea dust and fannings that have been stuffed into teabags and then packaged in boxes that have probably been sitting on that aforementioned grocery store shelf for the last year (or longer!), you know what? I wouldn’t want to drink that stuff either. I’m not a fan of that stuff. Do yourself a favor and find a reputable purveyor of loose leaf green teas.
Which leads me to matter b): Learn how to brew those loose leaf teas! Because green tea leaves have not endured an oxidation process the way black tea leaves have, they are more delicate. They can’t withstand boiling water temperatures because boiling water can and most likely will scorch the leaves. They don’t need to be steeped as long as black tea either – usually 1 – 2 minutes will do. Some green teas should only be steeped for 30 seconds! A purveyor that knows their stuff will be able to tell you the best way to brew the tea to get the most out of it.
Now … on to the review!
What a lovely green tea blend! I love the combination of spearmint and bright, lemony notes! The green tea offers a soft, sweet background note.
The lemon-y notes are prominent and when I sip this, I find myself thinking: vibrant. Sunny. So … yeah, the name of this tea works. The burst of lemony flavor is very Vibrant and makes me think of the sunshine in the morning. I like that the lemon notes are tangy and tart, but not so tart that I’m puckering. The presence of the crisp spearmint and the smooth green tea help to soften the tartier notes of the lemon.
The spearmint adds a fresh taste to the cup. I like the choice of the spearmint here, which I find to be a little less aggressive than peppermint. The spearmint doesn’t overwhelm the flavors. Rather, it complements the juicy flavor of the lemon.
And the green tea isn’t lost in this blend (and I admit that I was a wee bit concerned that it might be after reading the above description). I taste the light vegetal notes. It has a light buttery taste and a silky texture. And this blend of spearmint and lemon-y herbals would not have the same flavor or mouthfeel without the presence of the green tea.
A very enjoyable, satisfying blend that’s delicious served hot or iced!
Cookie Dough Flavored Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
What’s better than eating a tub of cookie dough? Drinking an awesome organic iced tea with accents of organic cookie dough flavors and zero calories!
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
So, I was really excited to learn about this tea! Cookie Dough iced tea? Yum!
But I was a little skeptical too, because I wondered how well the idea of cookie dough would translate to an iced tea. But if anyone could do it, Frank at Zoomdweebies could do it!
And this is really tasty. It took a few sips of the tea for my palate to get used to the idea that it was drinking cookie dough. But once those flavors developed on my palate, I really found it difficult to stop sipping! I’m on my third glass of this tea now, and it’s almost gone!
It’s sweet and I taste the buttery flavors of the dough. I also taste hints of a brown sugar like sweetness and hints of chocolate. These flavors meld nicely with the brisk flavor of the black tea base.
To brew: I used the hot brew method (I usually do with iced teas that I’m going to be reviewing because I feel that this is the best way to get the flavor from the tea so that I can offer the best and “most accurate” review I can.) I heated 1 quart of water to boiling and then steeped the large tea pouch for 2 minutes. I poured the hot tea into my favorite tea pitcher and then repeated the process, heating another quart of water to boiling and resteeping the pouch for 2 1/2 minutes. Then I combined both quarts of tea in my pitcher and I let the temperature drop to room temperature before stashing it in the fridge.
It is a sweet iced tea so I’d advise caution if you are one who sweetens the whole pitcher of tea as you’re making it. Maybe either go a little lighter on the sweetener or better yet, don’t sweeten it and maybe make a simple sugar syrup to sweeten it if you decide it needs a little something. I didn’t sweeten this at all and it tastes great served unsweetened.
A really yummy iced tea. Now, I’m looking forward to the “hot tea” version of this from 52Teas! (That’s your cue, Frank.)