It’s getting to be summertime and cherries are in season. You can see them in a glorious, burgundy bundle at the grocery store or the farmer’s market. With summertime cherries on my mind, it seemed like the perfect time to try Black Cherries and Sweet Cream tea from A Quarter to Tea.
The dry tea leaves and the first minute of steeping was all about the cream, wafting sweet waves of vanilla out of my mug. As the tea cooled and I got my first taste, the cherries started to shine. This tea is named for black cherries specifically, and you can taste the dark, full, fruit flavor in the tea. This is certainly not the red cherry flavor of chewy candy or medicine, nor the syrupy maraschino cherry that goes on top of your sundae. This blend truly tastes like fresh black cherries and a dollop of cream. Even without milk and sugar, this blend is smooth and decadent, though it never gets too sweet.
There is a distinct tartness in this brew, both from the natural fruit notes and from a tanginess to the cream. This tartness goes well with the astringent black tea base, matching the bright and sharp tone of the tea leaves. This blend reminds me of the taste of fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt, with vanilla yogurt and burst of black cherries. The vanilla is creamy, but has enough complexity to remind me of true frozen yogurt, or even a slice of cherry cheesecake.
This is a great dessert blend to go with a cherry pie at that summer barbecue!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: A Quarter to Tea
Description:
Luscious black cherries with a medium body darjeeling base, paired with heavy notes of cream and vanilla. Decadent enough to make a magister proud.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Carrot Cake from Tea Taxi. . . .
I am a carrot cake fiend. Like I have an insane amount of love for carrot cake. All things carrot cake. In fact, when I go to the Cheesecake Factory, I almost always leave with a piece of carrot cake and a piece of carrot cake cheesecake. Once I got home from the Cheesecake Factory and noticed the carrot cake slice was smaller than normal and we complained and took the slice back. We got yet another piece of carrot cake and another piece of carrot cake cheesecake as an apology for making us drive back there and I practically cried over leaving the “small” (if you ever got a slice of carrot cake at the cheesecake factory, you know that even half a slice is huge) slice there. I was 22. Oh and did I mention I was on a diet at the time? One that focused on portion control, so yeah, I am a little carrot cake obsessed. That means I had high expectations going into this as I do all teas named for this beloved dessert.
Though the scent here is creamy and cinnamon, this misses the mark just a bit. It nods at carrot cake without actually capturing the flavor. It is creamy but bland. There is a thickness that lends itself to the cream cheese icing but lacks the tang. Carrot sweetness is present but just doesn’t blend with all the other components in this blend. And the nuttiness, though having potential, is layering on the rooibos base gesturing toward the idea of baked goods but ones that have maybe soured just a bit.
If anything this is carrot muffin. Carrot cakes younger, more annoying brother who pretends to be as awesome as carrot cake but just isn’t. This one was disappointing though in fairness it was up against some pretty high standards.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Tea Taxi
Description
Ahh, carrot cake… A classic that makes you melt inside everytime! The good news is, you can now enjoy it on the go thanks to our delicious flavorsed rooibos!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Salty Caramel Pumpkin Black Tea from Simpson and Vail. . . . #allthingspumpkin
I had to brew this tea three times before I actually started to enjoy it. I don’t know what happened, but I usually brew my black teas for 4-5 minutes. Don’t brew this one for that long, it gets way too bitter and both the salted caramel and pumpkin flavors will be overpowered. This tea needs to brew for only 2-3 minutes in order to be enjoyable!
Aside from the brewing issue, this tea is delicious! I love pumpkin everything- pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin bread, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pie, and even pumpkin soup. So, naturally, pumpkin tea is going to be something that I have to try. I also really like salted caramel. The combination of pumpkin and salted caramel makes my mouth water. It sounds so good! I was really bummed the first two times I brewed this one because I though that the black tea was just way too overpowering and way too bitter. Thankfully I finally went to their website and saw that this blend is only meant to be steeped for 3 minutes. Once I steeped it properly I was in heaven. Yum!
This blend filled my kitchen with smells of creamy salted caramel and pumpkin. On taste, salted caramel was in the forefront with pumpkin and black tea trailing behind. Even properly steeped, the black tea is still dominant in the blend. My only critique would be for them to maybe use a less bold black tea next time because the flavors of pumpkin and salted caramel would have popped just a little bit more. Otherwise, this tea is really really good! I’m now wondering if they make a salted caramel pumpkin ice cream flavor because the combination is heavenly! Even though pumpkin season is basically over, this blend is still worth a try because it is really good. I will look forward to it next fall!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
Fall in a cup! The aroma of caramel and pumpkin will delight your olfactory sense with the promise of a warm, tasty brew. The amber colored cup offers pumpkin on the front end with the delicious salty caramel taste at the back. These flavors are the perfect marriage in that they complement each other without competing.
Ingredients: black teas, marigold petals and pumpkin and salty caramal flavorings.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Covered Almond from DAVIDsTea
It seems like forever ago since I drank a tea from David’s Tea. Today I’m sharing with you their Chocolate Covered Almond flavored Black Tea. This tea is NOT currently listed on their website but according to the package does NOT contain dairy.
It claims that this is sweet, crunchy, and totally addictive. I would certainly agree that it IS a tasty treat! Cocoa, Carob, and Almonds are the addictive trinity here, friends! This tea also contains yerba mate, sugar, and flavorings.
Aside from the yummy-goodness of the flavor of this tea I have to say that I was overly impressed that it contained a black tea and Yerba Mate blended base. Because it had so much flavor it was hard to pick out the Yerba Mate flavor by itself but I appreciate that it was in there, regardless!
It’s sweet, bold, creamy, nutty, tasty, and certainly satisfies the sweet tooth on occasion.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTea
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Eclair Tea. . . .#52Teas
My sister has never been a lover of tea. For a long time she could not understand my love of the beverage and it was only recently that she has started actually trying teas. It started with afternoon teas, at those she found a couple she liked and started to build a small stash, then I learned that she was actually drinking her teas nightly, and now she’s starting to get it. That is awesome in one respect but now she’s moving in on my teas, which I guess is fine but occasionally it means I am losing my very own mug.
For example, CuppaGeek sent me a 1-2 cup sample of this to try, however before that arrived, I ended up ordering myself a taster packet from 52 Teas. Thank goodness I did because when I brewed the sample from CuppaGeek, my sister decided to give it a try and then she decided we were “sharing” except the mug just kept moving closer and closer to her and soon this was gone and I had barely a sip. I guess you could say she was a fan.
Today she is not at our home so I knew I could actually get to drink my own cup and it is perfection. This is actually quite accurate to its namesake which is surprising since an eclair seems like a pretty complex food to capture in liquid form. Nonetheless, this is silky milk chocolate icing and creamy vanilla. The black base gives this a sturdy foundation but also imparts a breadiness that plays out as the choux pastry. The components of an eclair are all represented and they work together to create one awesome tea.
Honestly, now that I have had it a few times, I think I should have just committed to the large pack because this really is GOOD.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.