Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Functional Tisane
Where to Buy: Algonquin Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Peace Tea instills the tranquility, patience and beauty of the earth. This rich, bittersweet blend grounds us in a flowing meadow of healing herbs. Peace tea is ideal for calming down before, during or after any busy period.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
So, my Postal Teas box arrived the other day! Yay! A beam of happiness shines like a ray of sunshine when tea is in the mailbox! And I do really enjoy the Postal Teas subscription. So far, with every box that I’ve received from them, I’ve tried teas from companies that are new to me. I like that. I like that a lot!
I’ve never really made a big secret of the fact that I prefer camellia sinensis blends over herbal teas/tisanes. Not a big surprise, right? So, I was a little less than enthused when I opened the box this month and found not one … not two … but ALL THREE teas in the box were herbals.
What?
So, it probably goes without saying that this month’s box was a little bittersweet. I was not thrilled about receiving three herbal teas in the box BUT I was happy to be trying teas from a new-to-me company: Algonquin Tea Co.
And while I do prefer camellia sinensis, I am willing to try herbal blends, and I actually do like to have an herbal tisane later in the evening to encourage some peace and quiet so that I can get a good night’s rest.
Which is why I chose to try this Peace Tea first. The ingredient list suggests that there are quite a few calming herbs in the blend.
Ingredients: Blue Vervain, Lemon Balm, Catnip, Oat Straw, Red Bergamot, Chamomile, Hops, Motherwort, Valerian, Skullcap and St John’s Wort.
To brew this tisane, I used my Kati tumbler and measured 1 1/2 bamboo scoops into the basket. I heated 12 ounces of water to 195°F and then let it steep for 8 minutes.
As the description suggests, there is some bittersweet going on here. This is a tisane that I recommend adding a dollop of honey (raw, locally harvested honey if you’ve got it!) to help tame the bitterness a bit. After I added a little bit of honey, I found this to be an enjoyable cup.
The vervain and the hops is where a lot of the bitterness is coming from. I taste hints of mint-like flavor from the catnip and there is a touch of citrus flavors from the lemon balm and bergamot. I was really hoping to taste more of the bergamot in this.
Mostly, what I’m tasting is a very herbaceous flavor. It is bittersweet. Almost medicinal. There’s a light floral note that is nice and it develops as I continue to sip. I pick up on more of the chamomile flavor as the tea cools and guess what? I was actually happy to discover the chamomile! I think that the reason for that is because it’s more of a familiar flavor amid the medicinal notes.
All that said: this isn’t a bad tisane. I’m not hating this. It’s not horrible. It’s alright. But this is not something I’d want to reach for on a regular basis. The citrus notes and the hint of mint are this tea’s saving grace, because without those notes, I don’t know that I’d enjoy this.
The pros: there is no hibiscus in here. I enjoy the citrus-y notes and the touch of mint. The floral notes are pleasant. With a bit of honey this tastes much nicer and I am noticing myself relaxing and calming down a bit – I feel the peace that the name of the tea promises. These are good things!
The cons: It does have a strong bitter tone to it and while I can appreciate a contrasting, savory bitter note in a tea or tisane now and again, this is a stronger bitter taste than I’d like it to be. It has a medicinal quality that makes me feel like I’m drinking something functional or “good for me” – which I am, but I don’t like to feel like I am. I like to get my functional, good for me teas in sweeter, better tasting blends.
I think I’d like this a lot more if it had more citrus-y flavors, or more flavors that I don’t normally associate as “herbaceous.” As a drink, it’s alright. As a source of peace and calm, I appreciate how this tea is inspiring those things in me at the moment. I feel noticeably more relaxed now than I did before I started sipping.
White Vanilla Peppermint Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Polar bears? Candy canes? It’s that time of the year again! Yay consumerism! Yay tasty things! So hop on board the capitalism train, and try out a bag of our exclusive limited-edition White Vanilla Peppermint black tea blend! It has tea from Australia if you can even believe it. It tastes like a polar bear got into a fight with a mint plant that exploded all over your face. Seriously, try it.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m really enjoying the teas this company I found on Etsy! The holiday blends are really unique. I love that they didn’t go the standard orange spice holiday blend route. Don’t get me wrong! I enjoy those orange spice blends, but, it’s nice to find something that ventures off the beaten path, you know?
And this blend is different from any other holiday blend I’ve yet to try. Mint is a popular “holiday” flavor, but M&K’s decided to change the mint a bit by adding licorice to the blend. I like the way the licorice cuts through some of those strong minty notes to give this more of a candy-like flavor than a mouthwash-y one. The sweet candy-ish taste is enhanced further with the addition of creamy vanilla.
And let’s not forget the black tea in this – because M&K’s didn’t! This has a strong, full-flavored black tea base that’s rich and has a hefty impact. It’s the kind of tea that I imagine I’d want for Christmas morning when my daughter wakes me up at the crack of dawn to open presents.
I like the way everything comes together in this blend. The peppermint is cool and refreshing. The licorice adds a sharp, snappy flavor that I like. The vanilla softens the sharper edges of the licorice and tones down the peppermint a little bit.
The black tea offers a lot of interest to this blend too, I’m tasting hints of smoke. I like the way that wisp of smoke melds with these other flavors, it sort of tastes like Christmas Day: it’s around 9 am. All the presents have been opened and you’re relaxing before you start working on that holiday dinner. There’s a fire roaring in your fireplace and you’re curled up next to the warmth of the fire and sipping on tea and enjoying something sweet that Santa left you in your stocking. That’s what this tea tastes like!
It’s a nice (and different) holiday blend!
Winterwolf Tea Blend from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos (Green)
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Winterwolf Tea is here! A limited holiday tea, we take juicy wolfberries and roast them in our local honey with a bit of butterscotch flavor, mix in some spiced green rooibos with cinnamon, and, well, you have some Winterwolf Tea. It tastes like an apple met a cinnamon stick and got caught in a magical honey ocean. But they lived.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As I was brewing this, I was thinking to myself, what are wolfberries? After the tea brewed, I looked at the infused berry and it looked a lot like a goji berry, so I googled it and it turns out that yes, goji berries are also known as wolfberries. I didn’t know that. You learn something new every day.
To brew this tisane, I emptied the sampler pouch into the basket of my Kati tumbler and added 12 ounces of water heated to 195°F and let it steep for 10 minutes. The result is something that’s a lot like the description above suggests. It does taste “like an apple met a cinnamon stick and got caught in a magical honey ocean.” In other words: YUM!
Because the rooibos used here is a green rooibos, the flavor doesn’t come off as nutty or woodsy, instead, it’s light and fresh and fruit-like. Apparently when green rooibos mixed with goji berries, honey, and butterscotch flavor, the end result is an apple-y flavor.
I don’t taste a strong ‘goji berry’ flavor here. I don’t get the tartness that I often get from goji berry. I taste honey, I taste notes of butterscotch, but mostly, what I taste is an apple-y, cinnamon-y flavor that is quite lovely. I’m not quite sure where the apple notes are coming from, but they’re there, and I’m loving what I’m drinking, even if I don’t quite understand it!
I’m really pleased with this holiday blend from M&K’s. If all rooibos blends tasted this good, I’d not be so apprehensive to try them, because this tisane is delicious!
Mintberry Pine Green Tea Blend from M & K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Sweet roasted sloe berries doused in honey and liquid hibiscus, tossed with fresh spearmint and 3-distinct green teas, paired with real pine needles. That’s Mintberry Pine. It’s our limited-edition green tea holiday blend that offers a more complex, subtle taste (as opposed to mint exploding in your mouth with the force of a white hot sun). If you’re a green tea lover, mint lover, berry lover, or all three, this tea is perfect for you. Get it while it’s here!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I saw that M&K’s Tea Company had some really intriguing holiday blends, I decided that I needed (yes, needed) to try them! Fortunately, they understood this need and they offered a Wintertime Tea Sampler! This sampler offers five different teas: Moroccan Mint, Pine Needle Tea, Winterwolf Tea, White Vanilla Peppermint and this Mintberry Pine Green Tea. These samples were all packed into a special sampler package that’s just the right size for stocking stuffers. It’s a handsome package, something that Santa would be proud to give!
Before I received my package, I received a message from Marty (the “M” of M&K’s, I think!) explaining that the Mintberry Pine (and the Pine Needle Tea) are both very subtle teas. He recommended steeping them a little longer than the package directs and to allow plenty of steep room for the leaves (let them steep loose in the teapot instead of using an infuser tool).
To steep, I grabbed my small teapot (4 cup size) and dusted it off – it’s been a while since I’ve used this! I have gotten spoiled with my Breville! I warmed the teapot and poured the contents of the sampler into the teapot and heated 16 ounces of water to 180°F. Then I poured the water into the teapot and let it steep for 3 1/2 minutes. The package suggests 2 – 4 1/2 minutes, but I couldn’t bear to let a green tea steep longer than 3 1/2 minutes. I was willing to sacrifice a little of the mint, berry and pine flavors but I didn’t want a bitter green tea.
Yes, the flavors are a little subtle, but I like that I’m tasting all the elements of this tea and that the green tea doesn’t taste bitter.
I like the subtle flavor of the mint here. I like that I have a crisp, cool minty taste without it tasting like I added a shot of mouthwash to my cup of green tea.
The berry notes add some sweetness and not a lot of tartness (which I was a little apprehensive about because I saw liquid hibiscus up there in the description). There is a light, tingly tart tone that tickles the tongue (try saying that five times fast) in the aftertaste, but that’s to be expected with berry blends. I’m also picking up a delightful honeyed note from the honey roasting process. Nice touch.
The pine needles are the softest flavor component of the three elements in the name of this tea. I do get a very slight, resinous pine note to this that hits the palate right at the start and then it quickly disappears and reappears just after mid-sip, just to remind me that it is there. It’s very faint and it’s something that I think I’d have missed if I didn’t search for it.
However, as I continue to sip, I taste more and more of the pine, and by the time I’m halfway through my second cup of this tea, I’m getting a nice pine note. It never becomes a strong presence, but it certainly is a noticeable presence at this point.
And let us not forget that we’re drinking tea here. There’s a soft, buttery note of green tea. It’s lightly grassy (and I think that the grassy tones accentuate both the pine and the mint notes in a positive way), and it has a nice mouthfeel. It’s not bitter nor is it overly astringent, even though I steeped it longer than I typically would steep a green tea. I think that this could have even gone another 30 seconds to 1 full minute longer without bitterness!
Overall, a very unique blend. Certainly festive and definitely different from the other teas that everyone else is producing out there! Bravo M&K!
Provénce Rooibos Blend from The Secret Garden Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Secret Garden Tea Co.
Tea Description:
French lavender, rosebuds, and berries yield a sweet melange.
Ingredients: Rooibos, rosehip, elderberry, and blueberry pieces, lavender, rose petals, natural flavors.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a really lovely melody of flavors. I like the way the floral notes of lavender and rose contrast with the earthy and nutty flavors of the rooibos and the sweet-tart berry notes of elderberry and blueberry. It all comes together in a really pleasant way.
To brew this, I used my Breville One-Touch and added 3 bamboo scoops of leaf to the basket (I usually use a little more leaf with herbal tisanes) and 500ml of water to the kettle. I set the temperature for 195°F (my go-to temperature for most rooibos or honeybush blends as well as other herbal tisanes), and the time for 10 minutes (again, my go-to steep time for rooibos or honeybush blends – except for tisanes with hibiscus in them).
The sip starts with floral notes of lavender and lighter notes of rose. Almost immediately after I pick up on the lavender and rose, I start to notice the tart notes of elderberry and a hint of sweetness from the blueberry. A moment later, I start to recognize the honeyed sweetness of the rooibos, followed by the nutty and earthy flavors. The finish is sweet with fruit and flower tastes, with the floral notes lingering in the aftertaste along with that tingly berry tartness.
It’s a really enjoyable cup and it’s one that I’d recommend to those who feel that rooibos blends are one-note. This one will change their mind. There are some really wonderful layers of flavor to it. The berry flavors as well as the sweet floral notes bring to mind thoughts of spring or summer and this would make a really nice warm weather blend (it’s really quite nice as it cools!) but because I am finding it to be a very calming blend, I think it’s just as appropriate a blend to have in the winter season because let’s face it, we could all use a little bit of calm during this busy holiday season!