I ordered these samples such a long time ago that I’ve been ripping them open without quite remembering their contents. This morning I ripped open “strawberry blonde” hoping it’d be some kind of strawberry-vanilla black tea, but it’s a strawberry green. Even though I prefer black tea in the morning, I was committed.
This is an adorable number! What a light, sweet blend! The green is a tingling non-vegetal one, which allows the sweet strawberry to hop into the limelight. This flavor is so rich that it tastes like this tea should have calories.
(Speaking of which, why does anyone drink apple or orange juice when they could just drink flavored tea? Or herbal tea? Don’t they know how easy tea is on calories? Straight tea without sugar/honey/whatever is ZERO WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS, guys.)
This is supposed to taste like a strawberry crumble, but I’m not getting anything that tastes like a graham cracker or granola. That said, I don’t particularly care about it being a crumble. I think this stands on its own as just a nice strawberry experience. I suspect that it’d be pretty good iced, too.
I’m a brunette, but I feel pretty included in this blend!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Perkse Tea
Description
❤ A deliciously light green tea with smooth traces of strawberry delight! We source our strawberries from Niagara Region in the province of Ontario.
Our luxury loose leaf teas are carefully blended & packaged by hand within 24 hours prior to shipping. We source directly from farmers/cultivators/tea merchants. Our teas are packaged in an air tight resealable pouch to ensure freshness.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Warm Fuzzy – Hand-blended tea from PaperBoxGoodies
Today’s blend, Warm Fuzzy, comes from Etsy shop PaperBoxGoodies. This teabag came with a cute tag and tea charm, helping remind me that each bag is hand-filled by the small Etsy shop.
Warm Fuzzy lives up to its name, With fuzzy chamomile blossoms and green tea, this is a cozy, relaxing blend. The grassy green notes pair easily with the floral, lemony chamomile. For a tea with blend of herbal ingredients, this was gentle and sweet, definitely not bitter or medicine-like. I think this blend is best with touch of honey to bring out the natural sweetness in the chamomile. I prefer teas with a bit more spice or boldness, but this is a kind, comforting brew for when you need to calm down and drink something nice-and-easy.
I don’t see Warm Fuzzy in stock on PaperBoxGoodies’ Etsy shop, but there are other intriguing flavors with names like Purple Snozberry, Bluesfest Green, or Passionmint Green. After the quality of Warm Fuzzy, I look forward to trying other blends from PaperBoxGoodies.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: PaperBoxGoodies
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Summer Lovin from becauseURpriceless
With a name like Summer Lovin, this has got to be brewed as an iced tea. I brewed this tea with hot water at double strength, and poured it over ice. I took a sip while brewing the tea hot, and was surprised to get hit with a wave of out-of-season nostalgia. Cinnamon and citrus always remind me of wintertime spices, and brewed warm, this tea almost seems like an orange chai.
On paper, hibiscus and cinnamon sound like weird bedfellows, but the combination turns out to be well-balanced, both hot and iced. While hibiscus is an overbearing herb, there are undertones of lemon and rose, to give some variety to the taste. Sweet licorice root and earthy cinnamon tame the hibiscus, and keep it from getting too tart.
This would be a great tea for showing off in a sangria or summertime fruit punch. It brews up a luscious ruby color, and looks amazing in any glass pitcher: vibrant red against snowy, white ice cubes and contrasting fruit slices.
Pick up a bag of this blend before the heat of summer takes you by surprise!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: becauseURpriceless Etsy Shop
Description:
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Roses are Red, Berries are Blue from Kipers Lil Tea Shop. . . .
Roses are red, berries are blue, this tea from Kipers Lil Tea Shop is delicious, and good for you too!
Not too long ago, I discovered Kipers Lil Tea Shop on Etsy and I have just been enamored with these hand blended beauties. This go around, I devoured their Roses are Red and Berries are Blue blend.
This particular hand blended treat is a blend of Dao Ren Green Tea, rosehips, hibiscus, elderberry, and bilberries. To start off with, this tea is just stunning with rich tones of pinks, purples, and greens.
Brewed up with water prepped right under boiling and allowed to steep for 4 minutes and cooled for three, this tea provides a sweet yet vegetal note in each sip. The beginning of the sip you are greeted with the familiar green tea tones from the Dao Ren Green Tea. Towards the middle, you start to get the tart hibiscus, while the end note is a different kind of tartness- almost a sweet tart tone.
What I loved most was how each flavor could be identified and each ingredient had their own moment in the spotlight. No one flavor overwhelmed the other and each sip and this awesome transition from vegetal to tart to tart with a sweet finish.
An incredibly well balanced berry tea that gives you the best of both worlds. . .all the green tea loving you can take garnished with the tart hibiscus and tart yet sweet berries. Oh I’m in love!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Kippers Lil Tea Shop
Description
This tea blend is as beautiful to look at as it is to drink. I combined Rosehips, Hibiscus, Bilberry, Elderberry in a sea of Dao Ren Green Tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cinderella from Kipers Lil Tea Shop. . .
I love the wonderful world of Etsy. You just never know what you will find wandering through the shops. I always like to see what possible gem of a tea shop I might stumble upon. You really just never know what you might find and I think I have found quite a gem the other day.
Kipers Lil Tea Shop offers quite a variety of hand blended teas, anything from herbal teas to flavored puerh blends. When I saw the picture of Cinderlla, I knew I had to try it.
Cinderella is a blend of puerh, calendula, hibiscus, red clover, jasmine, and a few other inclusions. The combination of puerh and jasmine instantly grabbed a hold of me and screamed-“You MUST try me NOW”. So I threw a few other teas into my cart and anxiously awaited by the mailbox for my beauties to arrive.
Finally the day came when this adorably packaged treat arrived. Inside were my tea samples telling me to prep my tea pot asap. Since this is a puerh, I prepped my water to 212F and allowed this tea to steep for 4 minutes, then cooled for an additional 3 minutes.
With being a blend of puerh and jasmine, I wasn’t sure what to think. Floral and dark teas don’t exactly sound like they belong, but I have to say, they really do. This tea blend is absolutely gorgeous! The dark tea tones provide such a dark and alluring flavor that is earthy, robust, and rich. Hibiscus tart notes yield a wonderful contrast to the puerh while the jasmine provides this slight floral hint. The rest of the inclusions give off this lovely herbal feel to finish the sip off. Such a unique pairing of flavors.
I couldn’t get enough of this cuppa and quickly prepped for a second infusion. I have to say, this tea didn’t steep up for a second cuppa like I thought the blend would. The flavors definitely did not come across as strong but I was still happy to get another cuppa of this wonderful tea.
I’m insanely gaga over this tea and over Kipers Lil Tea Shop. Currently there are around 60ish teas available to check out from this lovely gem of a tea shop and quite a few of them are now calling to me. . . .
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Kipers Lil Tea Shop
Description
Cinderella – A delightfully original blend of black tea, herbs and flowers create this one-of-a-kind herbal tea that will have you wanting more. Starting on a bed of Pu’erh black tea, I add in some Red Clover Herb & Blossoms, Catauba Bark (a known aphrodisiac), Calendula petals, Jasmine buds, and Hibiscus, and then for added “oomph” I sprinkled in some Vitex Chaste Berry (the “female-friendly” fruit).
The result is a taste unlike anything you have ever had, and you definitely won’t find this pre-bagged on a store shelf.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!