Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Fusion Tea Room
Product Description:
This fruit creation is spicy and fruity with a deliciously creamy aftertaste. Just like the freshly served, steamy apple strudel from Vienna. Air dried apples and strong cinnamon pieces hit your palate as the cream flavor finishes nicely giving it a smooth finish.
Taster’s Review:
My first thought when I reached for this pouch of tea was “Yum! Apple strudel!” I was in the mood for something a little sweet and this tisane certainly filled the bill.
While I can see the connection with apple strudel, this tisane tastes a bit more like warm apple-berry cider to me. It has a very autumnal taste, like something you’d want to share with friends while warm and cozy next to the fireplace.
The apple flavor is sweet yet tart. Off the top of my head I might compare it to the flavor of a ripe Jonagold apple. I like the way the apple is represented here because even though it’s named after an apple dessert, it doesn’t come off as too confectionery. Of course, the hibiscus has a little something to do with that as I can taste the tartness from this herb. But the hibiscus was added with care to this blend – it doesn’t overpower the blend, nor does it come off as too tart. The liquor is not too thick or syrupy, but does have a little bit of body to it (as well as color) that it would lack without the hibiscus.
The berry notes of elderberry and currant also lend a sweet-tart taste to the cup, but again, they don’t overwhelm the cup. The apple is the strongest note of this tisane, and as this is called “Apple Strudel” – that’s just the way it should be.
The nutty flavor in the background is a nice touch, as is the cinnamon. While the cinnamon here is one of the stronger flavors of this cup, it is not what I would consider to be a spicy cinnamon taste. It is more like the sweet cinnamon flavor you’d find in an apple pie (or apple strudel!)
This is a yummy tisane that I enjoy hot for it’s apple-cider-y likeness, but it also makes a very charming iced tea that kids as well as adults will enjoy.
Foreign Affair from East Pacific Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: East Pacific Tea Co.
Product Description:
Our Foreign Affair blend features buds from flowers of the Provence region in France. This rooibos tea is the most deliciously aromatic combination currently offered.
Taster’s Review:
This rooibos blend is beautifully fragrant. The dry leaf beacons me to brew it, while the brewed liquor beacons me to sip. The lavender and rose perfume the tea so pleasantly, while the fruit notes come through to cut through some of the floral notes just enough so that the tea doesn’t become all about the flowers.
What I like best about this blend is that the flavor of the rooibos is quite subtle. I can taste the rooibos, but only mere hints of a nutty, woodsy taste, and none of that weird sweetness that often comes from rooibos. The rooibos here seems quite content to let the fruit and flowers do all the work – and that’s quite alright with me.
The lavender and rose are a delightful pairing. Together, these two flowers give a slightly sweet, decidedly feminine taste to the cup. It is not unpleasantly sharp or bitter. The fruit flavors of blueberry, raisin, black currant and red currant offer a light tartness and just enough sweetness to the cup without going overboard.
The tea finishes soft and slightly tangy. It is a pleasing contrast of flavors: sweet and tart; fruit and flower. And it makes for a refreshing, restorative tisane that is delicious any time of the day, but especially in the evening when you want to succumb to the relaxation it offers.
Cinna*Plum Tea from American Tea Room
Tea Type: Herbal Tisane
Where To Buy: American Tea Room
Product Description:
A delightfully warming organic caffeine free blend of cinnamon, plum, currants and licorice root. The herbal infusion is organic naturally caffeine free. Cinn*Plum is American Tea Room’s Holiday Tea for 2010.
Tasters Review:
Dry Cinna*Plum Tea from American Tea Room smells like Plum and Cinnamon and MAYBE a little licorice – but not too much licorice to the nose.
When I finished infusing this – I saw the color and freaked because I assumed it had Hibiscus in it…BUT…it doesn’t! I give this Extra Points for that on my personal preference meter, indeed!
This was quite smoother than I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong – I am thankful for that – as I am not overly fond of intense tarty or fruity teas and tisanes, usually!
I could taste Plum and maybe the currants, too…they’re very wine-like. The cinnamon isn’t an intense cinnamon type taste – I can smell it more than taste it…and the licorice is pretty much the same way…together they knock down the tartiness of the fruit and it works out VERY nice!!! This is very warming and comforting and fruity and fun but not overly tart and I like that.
Eventho American Tea Room markets this as their Holiday Tea for 2010 – I think it would be lovely iced, as well!
