Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Maté
Where to Buy: Element Tea
Product Description:
Boost circulation and stimulate your senses with this popular blend of Yerba Mate and Masala Chai Spices. For a sweeter and creamier finish, add milk and sugar.
Ingredients: Mate Green, Cinnamon, Ginger Bits, Cardamom, Cloves, Fennel, Anise Seed
Taster’s Review:
I love chai (and when I say “chai,” I mean the beverage that is made from a masala spice blend … with or without tea or other leaf types, like the green Yerba Maté leaf used in this blend). I enjoy it year ’round, but I find it especially enjoyable this time of year. The spices warm me from the inside out, and the zesty flavor is very invigorating.
The spices dominate this tisane, and what I taste most are the fennel and anise seed. They give a sweet, licorice-y kind of taste to this chai, and I’m really liking that. (I’m quite fond of black licorice!) While the cinnamon does not present a really strong presence in this cup, I like the way it mingles with the fennel and anise.
The ginger, cloves and cardamom are pretty well balanced here. One of these spices does not seem to be stronger than the others, they all seem pretty even. Every once in a while, a flavor will pop out that I recognize distinctly as one particular spice, but for the most part, it is a very unified set of spices.
The green Yerba Maté of this blend lends an earthy, somewhat vegetative taste to the cup. It isn’t nearly as strong a flavor as the spices, of course, but, it really adds an interesting dimension of flavor to the cup. The earthy notes are a pleasing contrast to the licorice-y flavors.
I recommend drinking this hot with a dollop of honey to help round out the flavors. I didn’t drink mine with milk, but, I think it would be quite nice as a latte. This turned out to be one of the nicest Yerba Maté Chai blends I’ve tried!
Serenity from Element Tea
Tea Type: Black Tea
Where To Buy: Element Teas
Product Description:
This tea combines the decadent pleasures of delicious vanilla and grenadine. The warm and comforting finish will make this your tea of choice.
Brew Time: 3 – 5 minutes
Ingredients: Decaffeinated Black Tea, Calendula, Sunflower Petals, Natural Flavors
Tasters Review:
The first time I sampled this I didn’t read the product description on it until after I tried it first! I wondered “what the heck am I tasting” and I mean that in a very positive way! It was just that I couldn’t quite put my finger – or in this case my tongue – as to what that lovely flavor was! Come to find out it was Grenadine but with the combination of the vanilla it really changed it up a bit and tasted ‘out of this world’! It created it’s own new taste! It’s floral and fruity but fun and almost candy-like! I really like these two tastes together especially when it accompanies a nice, solid black tea base!
This is also a great tasting decaf tea! Probably one of my all-time favorite decaf teas, actually!
