Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
This luxurious tea is almost as fun to drink as it is to crack the crust of the famed dessert. A crisp black tea balances the creamy, caramel-like flavour of Crème Brulee for a delectable cup of tea, perfect for an after-dinner treat. This creamy tea is best served hot.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s NEW Selection Club subscription program here.
Taster’s Review:
My fifth installment of my customized subscription with Simple Loose Leaf arrived the other day! It’s a happy mail day whenever there’s tea in the mailbox! And I was really looking forward to this package from Simple Loose Leaf because I had a feeling that I’d love this Crème Brulee Black Tea from Simple Loose Leaf Black Tea!
I’m sure I’ve probably mentioned this once or twice on this blog: crème brulee is my favorite dessert. I’ve tried a few different teas that have attempted to capture the flavors of crème brulee and some have been pretty successful at bringing the decadent flavor of the dessert to the teacup.
This one is really good! I can taste the creamy, smooth flavors of vanilla intertwined with the robust notes of black tea. These two distinct notes seem to swirl together and are present throughout the sip. The tea is strong, slightly malty, and has some distant fruit notes that are especially discernible in the aftertaste.
And then there is a caramel-y taste to this that tastes very much like the caramelized sugar that is browned on top of a crème brulee custard. All that’s missing here is that crackle of the crispy sugar crust! This tea is incredibly YUM!
Before I posted this review, Simple Loose Leaf got in touch with me to tell me about their new “Selection Club” subscription. Here is some information about this subscription:
The Selection Club is the only member curated Tea of the Month Club. Each month Simple Loose Leaf assembles a menu of 5 unique teas (a traditional green, a traditional black, a white, a oolong or pu’er, and a flavored tea) for our club member’s consideration. From this menu each member selects the two teas they want included in their next box of tea. Alternatively members can select to receive a half-weight sample of each of the 5 teas. Simple Loose Leaf also includes a list of the teas being featured on the next month’s menu and each member gets to select one of these 5 teas and we include a free 6 gram sample of the selected tea.
This allows you to try more teas each month, but you still get to customize your experience! Sounds pretty awesome, right? Well, I’ve got some more awesomeness for you! Use this code: SISTERSELECTION25 and get a 25% discount when you sign up for the selection club. This discount is not applicable on the retail selection of teas, and is only good for the selection club subscription.
I really like this company. They are very accessible! They respond to email inquiries in a VERY timely manner, and as I’ve mentioned before, they go above and beyond to make their customers happy! And they’ve got yummy teas too! Sounds like a winning combination to me.
La Isla Bonita Custom Tea Blend from Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
Tropical the island breeze All of nature wild and free This is where I long to be La Isla Bonita And when the samba played The sun would set so high Ring through my ears and sting my eyes Your Spanish lullaby
A Jennifer Bliss Custom Blend.
Learn more about this custom blend here.
Find more Jennifer Bliss blends here.
Taster’s Review:
Tasty! I must say that when it comes to Adagio Teas, I definitely have better luck with the white teas versus the black teas. This La Isla Bonita Custom Tea Blend (created by very own Jennifer Bliss aka TeaEqualsBliss!) from Adagio Teas – a white tea blend – is very nice, indeed.
The tropical notes are the strongest flavors in this cup. I taste the coconut and pineapple out in front, and then just beneath those tropical fruits, I taste notes of orange and tangerine. The coconut tastes smooth and creamy, the pineapple is sweet with just a hint of tart, and the orange and tangerine add a pop of bright flavor to the cup.
The white tea tastes soft and delicate and slightly earthy. It is the right base for this tea. Everything is “delicate” but together becomes a powerful flavor without becoming overwhelming.
And then there is the spearmint! I like that there isn’t too much spearmint in this blend. There is just the right touch of mint to give it that cool taste of mint without throwing off the sweet tropical and citrus-y notes.
What I’m enjoying most here is how the airy quality of the white tea comes together with the spearmint and together, the two become a very “breezy” sort of sensation, which is in keeping with the “La Isla Bonita” inspiration behind the blend. I love that I can taste the inspiration!
This is tasty served hot, but it really shines when it’s iced. So deliciously fruity with just a touch of mint: refreshing!
Madagascar Coconut White Tea Blend from Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
Our Madagascar Coconut white tea is like a coconut cream pie in a cup! A vibrant combination of Madagascar vanilla and coconut enrich a toasty white tea for a fruity, buttery and sweet finish. Enjoy either hot or iced for a light, sweet delight.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s customized subscription program here.
Taster’s Review:
My subscription package from Simple Loose Leaf arrived the other day and I’m LOVING this Madagascar Coconut White Tea Blend that I received! What a deliciously creamy tea! It tastes decadent, but it feels light and refreshing.
The white tea base is a Shou Mei white tea. I like this choice, because it isn’t as delicate as a Bai Mu Dan. The Shou Mei is a stronger tasting tea and this allows for a more flavorful experience. I can taste the earthy, hay-like notes of the white tea, along with a light, buttery sort of taste. It is crisp and exhilarating to sip.
The vanilla cream notes are smooth and rich and taste very dreamy! Like a dessert but without being a overly sweet treat. The coconut and vanilla are nicely balanced with the vanilla notes maybe just barely edging out over the coconut, but not by much. I taste just a tad more vanilla than coconut. But the two together are quite wonderful, like a sweet coconut custard.
You might remember my blog post about last month’s tea from Simple Loose Leaf. Well, they got in touch with me not long after the post published, and they wanted to make my dissatisfaction with that tea right! I was very impressed with not just their willingness to work with me to make things right, but their wanting to go above and beyond what they needed to do to fix things.
I love it when I find a company that is dedicated to excellent customer service – even when I will be the first to admit that the fault was not really with Simple Loose Leaf … it was my fault for not having read the description before I placed the order! I saw Cocoa Cream and thought CHOCOLATE without reading the “coffee” in the description. That’s my fault, not theirs. But they still wanted to make things right, and I love that.
They wrote me a nice email, and in it, they offered to replace the tea that I didn’t care for with a tea of similar price and weight ~or~ a handful of free samples. I, of course, opted for the samples since I’m a taster. This month, along with this month’s selection, I also received three free samples. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on those teas with you when I try them! Until then, I’m so happy that I included this Madagascar Coconut White in my subscription order, because it’s fantastic!
Toasta Rica from Mad Pots of Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong, Mate, Ceylon, Rooibos Blend
Where to Buy: Mad Pots of Tea
Tea Description:
If You Were a Tea, What Would You Taste Like?
I’m sure this is a question you find yourself pondering almost daily…. If you want your own Custom Blend or “PersonaliTEA” Make My Blend!
Taster’s Review:
Mad Pots of Tea has a few select blends for sale on their site, but what is more important is that they make your custom blend for you based on a short but interesting survey that you take prior to their master blender Madam Potts taking over and mixing up your specialized tea!
It is all based on your likes, personality, and a answers to the survey. Its as if she profiles you!
My blend is called Toasta Rica because I love Costa Rica, and I like toasty teas. My tea came in a nice resealable brown paper bag which I believe is from recycled paper (love it) and a lovely card personalized by Madam Potts which reads:
Words of Inspiration from your form:
Rainforest, Autumn, Rich spice scents, Costa Rica, Full-Bodied, Mediative, Toasty, Aromatic, Fruity, Spicy, Exotic, Intense, Earth Tones.
Which basically means keywords I had put into the questionnaire I filled out when I began my journey on her site.
Also there is a note that my blend has never been created and will never be created for anyone else! It is a unique tea – just like me.
Of course I have big cheesy smiles all around now!
The ingredients of my blend include: Imperial Oolong, Mango Ceylon, Yerba Mate, Rooibos, Ginger Root, Sarsaparilla, Damiana, Allspice, Coriander, Cardamon, and Stevia.
I do love a good chai and this tea has a true chai flavor to it but one thing I notice when sipping this tea is a wonderful black pepper note that just dances on the tip of my tongue – I LOVE black pepper! It is a sweet tea that has just the right amount of fruit notes to it without being too fruity and cutting through the intense tones of what I call my renaissance tea!
While you can’t get my exact blend, of course without asking me for it, I just want to say how in love I am with my tea blend from Mad Pots of Tea and I want to encourage any tea lover to give her method of finding the perfect blend for you a try!
Turn around on your blend is not fast. I waited five weeks from the time of order to receiving it but I am fine with that as it seems there was time allowed for the flavors to meld and the true beauty of this tea to develop.
I am thrilled with my blend even though my head was not thinking chai-esque the fact is chai is one of my first tea loves! Not only is this a chai tea but an extremely excellent chai at that! I have several chai teas from many companies here but this one is supreme!
Somehow Madame Pots hit the nail on the head with this blend not forgetting I needed something a tad bit fruity to break the monotony of the chai spices! I love that oolong was used as a base, I am an oolong lover through and though but I also love that some mate was added as I always need to get my energy flowing! I do not feel that any of these flavor components, although there are many strong elements in this tea, take over. Each flavor is getting its time in the Toasta Rica sun! Oh yeah!
Thank you Madame Potts!
