Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Ducky Life Tea
Company Description:
We named this amazing Oolong for its distinctive buttery aroma and its fascinating taste-rich, smooth, and slightly sweet, with intriguing butter-like overtones. It reminds us of buttered popcorn. The tea, from the high mountains of Taiwan, has broad leaves that brew up beautifully to a light golden color. It’s absolutely delicious! One whiff, one sip, and you know you’ve found something special.
Taster’s Review:
This is an amazingly buttery Oolong! That buttery taste and feel is something that is actually quite typical in “green” Oolong teas, however, with this tea, the butter flavor is amplified. Intense!
The mouthfeel is very smooth and rich. The best way I can think of to describe it is velvety – it feels thick and substantial and soft and luxurious. Like butter!
The tea possesses a faint, slightly sharp floral note that offers a delightful contrast to the smooth buttery taste that dominates this cup. There is also a slightly vegetable taste to it… leafy and green. This is an interestingly complex tea.
Ducky Life Tea offers a truly delightful experience with this tea. From the lovely packaging (what a treat it is to open a package from Ducky Life!) to the exceptional taste of this Oolong, I’m very impressed!
These tightly wound tea leaves also produce multiple infusions… I managed SIX infusions from the same leaves. Six very flavorful, delicious infusions. This tea is definitely worth it’s weight in gold(en) butter!
Julia’s Ginger Matte Tea from Ducky Life Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Maté
Where to Buy: Ducky Life Tea
Company Description:
Tisane from the Amazon (Organic) Smooth, yet strong ginger tisane. Great for digestion and also for sinuses. No Caffeine, but has matteine.
Taster’s Review:
When it comes to green yerba maté, I’m kind of on the fence. I do not like it plain (that is, unflavored or not part of a blend) but some blends/flavors are quite alright, and I’ve even found one or two that are really tasty.
This one is tasty! It has a strong ginger taste to it (if you don’t like ginger, this tea isn’t for you! Fortunately, I love ginger.) and that ginger tempers some of the stronger earthy notes of the maté that I usually find a bit off-putting.
This blend is actually quite masala chai-like in composition. The ingredients include ginger, cinnamon and cardamom, three very standard marsala chai spices. But, because it’s more ginger than cinnamon and cardamom, I don’t think I would categorize this as a chai.
This is one intensely flavored tea! The first flavors that hit are the strong earthy, vegetative notes from the yerba maté and the peppery flavor of the ginger. That initial “bam” (imagine Emeril Lagasse sound clip there) of flavor lasts for about a split second, and then it tapers off to a very pleasant, smooth sweet-and-spicy taste from the ginger and cinnamon, with the cardamom popping in just long enough to say “hello.” I can taste the sweet snap of the licorice root linger in the aftertaste.
I am really pleased with this blend. I thought it was just going to be “eh, ok” but as it turns out, I’m enjoying it. It is also extremely soothing to a sore throat, so it is a good tea to keep on hand for times when you might be feeling under the weather. Not only soothing, but the yerba maté gives a little energy boost – which is also nice because, I don’t know about you, but when I’m not feeling well, I really need a little extra something. This is like “chicken soup” in a teacup!