Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Canton Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Specially created for the Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair, this luxurious blend of Indian Assam, Chinese Yunnan black, Madagascan vanilla pod and Peruvian cocoa nibs is served daily with their famous Afternoon Tea., It is deep, rich and moreish with a velvety mouthfeel. Extremely satisfying with smooth, malty Assam and a hint of plum from the Yunnan black adding an additional layer of dark fruit. The cocoa nibs and vanilla pod provide the depth and sweetness which complements the heady flavours.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Chocolate Tea from Canton Tea Co. is one that I’ve been wanting to try for a while! Let’s face it, whenever I see a new-to-me chocolate tea from just about any tea company, my interest is piqued, but when it comes from a company that I associate with high quality, top-notch teas like Canton Tea Company, then let’s just say that my interest sizzles into very lusty desire.
Yes, I lust for chocolate.
And this tea lived up to my crazy high expectations that I put on it. This is deliciously chocolate. Even with the hint of Madagascar vanilla in this, the flavor is still delightfully dark chocolate-y. Rich and decadent and sweet. Mmm!
The black tea base is rich and satisfying. The combination of Assam and Yunnan is a thoughtful one. The rich, malty notes of the Assam add to the sweetness of the tea. The fruit notes of both teas play to the deep berry notes of the cacao nibs. The slightly spiced notes of the Yunnan enhance the overall experience. The black tea base tastes robust and it’s a solid background of flavor, allowing the flavor of the key ingredient (the chocolate!) to really come out and express itself in a sumptuous, seductive, chocolate-y way.
So good!
The chocolate is a rich, dark chocolate-y flavor as I mentioned before. It has a luscious, creamy taste that Canton describes as velvety and I find myself in complete agreement with that assessment. The vanilla is not overly done, there is just enough vanilla here to add that velvety texture and taste. There is just enough to give the cup some dimension and depth without diminishing that deep, dark chocolate flavor.
If you’re a fan of chocolate teas – put this at the top of your must try list!
Cranberry Salad Green Tea from 52Teas
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Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
I got some top-shelf organic green tea from China and I was having a hard time deciding what to do with it until I happened across a recipe for cranberry salad with pineapple and marshmallows. It looked so good I had to try my hand at creating it as a tea. So here we have organic Chinese green pekoe tea blended with freeze-dried cranberries and pineapple, organic marshmallow root and organic flavors. This is going to be hard to beat. And it makes a great iced tea too.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As soon as I read the name Cranberry Salad Green Tea I knew that this was going to be a big hit with my oldest daughter, Amethyst. (She’s also going to be the one who is heading up 52Teas when we take over!) She loves cranberries. So I was sure to put aside some of the tea for her to try (the classic “kissing up to the boss” move).
I’m really enjoying this blend too. The cranberry is very tart and offers a nice contrast to the sweet, fluffy marshmallow-y notes.
The sip starts out very fruity with notes of cranberry and pineapple. Then I pick up on notes of sweet, smooth green tea. It’s a little grassy. It’s sweet and not bitter or astringent. I love the smoothness of this tea – it’s smooth from beginning to finish.
Towards mid-sip, I start to notice the sweetness of the marshmallow. It’s not a strong, apparent marshmallow flavor. It’s more like a sweet hint of it, as if I were eating an ambrosia salad but instead of those mini marshmallows in the salad, some marshmallow fluff was stirred into the whipped topping.
I used to really like that non-dairy whipped topping until one day it dawned on me that the non-dairy part meant NON DAIRY. And I found myself rather confused by that. Because if it’s not dairy, then what it it? And then I decided that I didn’t want to know what it was, but whatever it was, I didn’t want to eat it either. So, now, it’s not so much that I dislike the non-dairy whipped topping as I’m so befuddled by it that I no longer wish to consume it. Of course, that’s all irrelevant to this tea. Because this tea contains absolutely no non-dairy whipped topping.
This tea is really nice – it’s a little sweet, a little tart and a whole lot yummy. The texture is soft and silky. It’s a tasty cuppa – one that makes me glad that I decided to brew it up today! It’s good hot or chilled!
Strawberry Pie Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Our premium organic caffeine-free honeybush blended with organic strawberry, cinnamon, brown sugar and pastry flavors. A delicious caffeine-free treat. Don’t miss your chance to grab one.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
From the moment that I tore open the pouch of this Strawberry Pie Iced Honeybush Tea from Southern Boy Teas, I knew I was in for a treat! I could smell the strawberry right away! And the berry with the cinnamon produced an aroma that was absolutely irresistible! YUM!
And this really is yummy. The nutty, honey-sweet honeybush with the notes of buttery pastry, earthy cinnamon and sweet brown sugar notes create a really delightful ‘pie-like’ flavor. The strawberry tastes sweet with hints of tart, just like the real thing. It tastes like the glazed strawberries in a strawberry pie (or a strawberry shortcake!)
It makes a really refreshing iced tea. It tastes a lot like I remember the “My Sweet Honeybush” version of this flavor tasting: sweet and delicious. I think that ‘hot tea’ version of this tea also had more of a vanilla-y taste to it. I do taste some vanilla-ish flavor to this, like a creamy sweetness, but it’s not as strong as my taste buds want to remember based on reading my past review.
However, I don’t feel like I’m missing that vanilla note in this tea because I rather like that this is about the strawberry and the pie. Very refreshing, pleasantly sweet and dessert-like. Nice!
White Chocolate Lemon Shou Mei Tea from 52Teas
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Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
As popular as our White Chocolate Raspberry Shou Mei was, I expect this one might even be more popular. Our premium shou mei white tea blended with white chocolate chips, lemon myrtle and organic white chocolate and lemon flavors. This is a gorgeous blend of sweet and tart that suits the hay-like shou mei beautifully.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! I must admit that I wasn’t as much a fan of the White Chocolate Raspberry Shou Mei from a couple of months ago as I thought I would be. I thought I’d love that blend and it was just alright for me. My daughter – with whom I’m going into business – loved it. I expected her to because that’s probably her favorite flavor combination, or at least one of them.
But this White Chocolate Lemon Shou Mei Tea from 52Teas – I’m loving this! Similar to the White Chocolate Raspberry, this is primarily a lemon tea. That is to say, I taste more lemon than I do white chocolate. But I taste enough white chocolate to satisfy me, and I like the way the sweet, creamy notes of the white chocolate soften the tangy notes of the lemon and highlight the creaminess of the Shou Mei base.
And the Shou Mei isn’t hidden behind the flavors either. I taste the light, slightly earthy, slightly hay-like flavor of the Shou Mei. This tea has some really wonderful layers of flavor.
This tea is best if you let it cool slightly. After pouring the piping hot tea into your cup, let it set for just a few minutes. This seems to let the flavors come forth and now that I’m nearly finished with the cup I notice even more lemony notes as well as a stronger white chocolate presence.
A really good tea. One of the better white teas that I’ve tried from 52Teas!
If you’ve been keeping up with our kickstarter campaign, then you know that we recently reached our goal! Yay! We still have roughly 19 days until the campaign comes to a close – so please contribute what you can to help our business succeed. We have some really awesome incentives for those that pledge to the campaign! Please check it out!
Cherry Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas
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Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Following the popularity of our other marshmallow treat genmaicha blends, we’ve created a special one for Valentine’s Day, with real freeze-dried cherries, marshmallow root and organic marshmallow and maraschino cherry flavors. This is a treat for your sweet tooth.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
After tasting a couple of cherry flavored teas lately that tasted more of cough syrup than tea, I cringed just a little (just a little!) when I read the announcement for the tea of the week of February 9th. But I was hopeful that this Cherry Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas wouldn’t go the same route as some of the other cherry teas I’ve tasted consumed in the past weeks. I hoped that this would taste as wonderful as it sounded, because the idea of having a cherry flavored marshmallow treat sounds delightful!
In fact, it sounds so delightful that before I brewed the tea, I asked my youngest daughter if she might be interested in trying the tea with me. She apparently thought it sounded yummy too, because she said yes. So, I brewed the whole 1/2 ounce package in my Breville One-Touch, using 1000ml of water. I set the temperature for 175°F and the timer for 2 1/2 minutes. These smaller 1/2 ounce pouches are just the right size for a teapot to share with a friend (or daughter!)
After allowing the tea to cool for a few minutes, I took my first sip. Mmm! I’m happy to say that while I taste cherry, I don’t taste cough syrup. This cherry flavor seems to have just the right balance between sweet and tart cherry flavors, because I’m getting a little bit of sweet and a little bit of tart. The tart tickles my taste buds in the aftertaste.
The genmaicha has a light, slightly grassy taste and adds a nice, toasty flavor and the rice notes add a rice cereal kind of flavor. The marshmallow adds a little bit of fluffy, creamy taste but I find myself wanting just a tad more marshmallow in this.
Overall, this is really tasty. My daughter enjoyed it too. I still favor the “Original” Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha – which I’ll be reblending when I take over 52Teas! Please take a moment to stop over at my campaign and support my efforts to save this small business while creating fantastic teas!