This tea is exactly what I needed today!
Work has been pretty stressful so I needed an easy going tea that would be forgiving (if i oversteeped) and wouldn’t taste bitter if I had to leave the brew to cool. I quickly grabbed this one, Emerald City from Oh You Tease, an Etsy Tea Shop that I instantly fell in love with.
Brewed up with freshly prepped water and allowed to steep for about 4 minutes, this tea yielded an absolutely gorgeous take on a mint green tea blend. Strikingly on target with the perfect amounts of roasted green tea buttery richness with a hint of vegetal tones and mint. Refreshing, cooling, all you need in a mint green tea and more. I love how both ingredients are allowed to shine and one flavor isn’t overshadowing the other.
Very well done. Simple yet brilliant. Exactly what I was looking for today. I’ve infused the same leaves at least 4 times and I’m still loving the flavor!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Oh You Tease
Description
Whether you are in Kansas, Oz or your own kitchen, there is no green mint tea like this! Rich blend of green tea and spearmint.
Ingredients: Green tea, spearmint leaves
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Honey Mead from A Quarter to Tea
I love my genmaicha tea and if I can find a flavored one, its an automatic impulse buy. I can’t stop myself. Which is what happened when I laid eyes on this blend, Honey Mead from A Quarter to Tea. I knew I didn’t need any more tea, but I HAD to have this one. I mean just listen to the description:
Sencha and toasted rice make a toasty and sweet base for apple, buttered rum and honey flavors (which are accented further with honeysuckle).
This tea had me at toasty sweet base.
Brewed up by the recommended parameters, I set about trying my first sip of this tea. After allowing the tea to settle and cool for a moment, I came away with this gorgeous silky honey flavor that reminded me of a sweet wheat beer. There definitely is a note of “mead” and I can see why this blend is called Honey Mead.
In each sip you are greeted with this amazingly balance honey toasted flavor that mingles very well with the apple buttered rum flavors. All in all, an amazing blend that I had every intention of sharing with some of my sisters but found myself devouring teapot after teapot of this blend until it was gone.
Every time I have A Quarter To Tea I am blown away by how amazing their blends are. This is one of those companies that you know you will not be disappointed by the teas you pick up. I adore the unique flavors they offer that you can’t get anywhere else. One of my favorite companies for sure!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description:
Sencha and toasted rice make a toasty and sweet base for apple, buttered rum and honey flavors (which are accented further with honeysuckle). Comforting and revitalizing.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Death Eater from Grimoire Tea
CuppaGeek’s Review:
Death Eater from Grimoire Tea is a fandom tea for the Harry Potter Verse. I just love fandom teas.
There is just something that gives you the warm fuzzies when you drink a tea dedicated to your favorite fandom. But I have to admit, I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan. . .I know. . .shame on me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what this tea is going for. After all, I’m one that likes those darker villains in movies. . .and The Death Eaters are right up there in the evil category!
Death Eater fits the name perfectly. The blend is a mix of black tea, spearmint, and peppermint. A wonderful combination for the villains this tea is portraying. Dark and brooding with notes of vibrancy and a cooling factor. . . .
Brewed hot:
Brewed up with fresh boiled water and steeped for about 4 minutes, the first sip resulted in a lovely malty note with a kick of minty freshness. Simple, yet very satisfying. Found myself devouring my first cuppa and reaching for more water before I knew it.
I know a spearmint and peppermint combo in a blend can be intimidating and for this blend it serves a purpose. I loved the refreshing notes that came after that familiar malty black tea base that I adore. Once this tea started to cool, I was afraid of an astringency factor coming to play but that was never the case. Even while cooling, I enjoyed this delicious minty malty beverage.
Cold Brewed:
I wanted to try this as a cold brew so I scooped a few heap fulls into my infuser, ice, and cold water. Allowed the steepter for an hour and took a sip. Fresh brisk minty notes, the kind you want to find on hot summer days or just for a refreshing cuppa.
This tea is nothing but good tea loving even tho it is dedicated to bad guys.
I’m excited to see what other fandom teas Grimoire Teas offers to add to my collection!
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Grimoire Tea
Tea Description:
They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty.
Ingredients:
Black Tea
Spearmint
PeppermintEach Grimoire Tea bottle can create 10-15 cups of tea, depending on your desired strength and brew style. Store your bottles out of direct sunlight, and in a cool dark place. For best taste, use tea within one year of purchase date.
Learn even more about this tea here.
Hello Sweet-Tea A Doctor Who Fandom Tea from Fandom Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Fandom Teas
Tea Description:
Spoilers!
Our Hello Sweet-tea blend is a ginger peach black tea with notes of spearmint, hibiscus, and cinnamon. It can be enjoyed hot or iced and it’s perfect as a little afternoon pick me up, or at any other time of the day. This blend is inspired by River Song from Doctor Who!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I will admit this and probably sound like a poser but I do not watch Doctor Who. I have nothing against the show and do have an interest in one day watching it, but really it comes down to time. With our schedule being so hectic, I’m going to bed basically as soon as my 10 year old is to catch up on a few games I play on my Kindle and to read. My TV watching really happens more on the weekends or when I’m yelling at the screen during America Ninja Warrior. I’m kinda obsessed with that show right now. (Ryan Stratis- I’m looking at you to win this year!).
Ok, that is out of the way I have to say I’m very intrigued with the combinations in this black flavored tea. Peach, ginger, cinnamon, spearmint, and hibiscus. And you can smell each ingredient as the tea steeps. The color is a beautiful amber and so far I’m enjoying just sitting here indulging in the fragrance this tea is emitting.
Now it is time for the taste test. I brewed this tea up like a black tea and made an effort not to allowing this tea to oversteep and become bitter. So how does it taste?
Unique. Very unique. The flavor that hits you first is the combination of spearmint, peach, and cinnamon. Very different. Not bad, just different. As the taste starts to end you come away with the hibiscus aftertaste. In the very next sip I came away with peach and ginger notes with malty hints. It seems like each sip you are presented with a different flavor combination. As the tea cools, I am definitely getting that astringency but it really isn’t adding anything to the tea. I’m wishing that the tea was either more of a peach, sweet cinnamon, black tea without the ginger but I could see where some tea drinkers may want that hint of spice in the tea to give it a kick.
Being not much of a ginger tea fan, I can see where this one isn’t right up my alley. I do enjoy how different the tea is and if a tea is part of a fandom, I’m all over it being the geeky gal I am. I’m just not sure if this particular tea is for me. But they have several more fandoms I’m excited to try including a Game of Thrones tea and a Walking Dead tea.
Sipdown #34!
Yogi Berry from Yellowstone Tea Co
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Yellowstone Tea Co
Tea Description:
This Berry tea is great iced and full of antioxidants for flu season.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been neglecting my herbal teas as of late. I’m sorry herbals! I’ll try to keep you more in sight ;).
This tea is from Yellowstone Tea Co, an Etsy Store. I have tried a few of their teas in the past so when I saw this poor neglected fellow in my tea basket, I knew it was time to try him.
Into my tea pot the sample went along with 1 cup of water at 212F to steep for 5 minutes. The tea produced a gorgeous dark red liquid. So very pretty!
What is so nice with this herbal is the different and unique flavors that have been added in. There are apples, orange peel, elderberries, hibiscus, rosehips, carrot flavors, orange slices, lemongrass, beet powder, raspberry fruit powder, and freeze dried grapes. I can’t say that I’ve ever had a tea with carrots or beet powder. I was excited to see what these flavors would produce.
The first flavor that hits me is the tartness from the hibiscus but it is nicely contrasted with the lemon from the lemongrass and the sweet flavor from the grapes. The other lovely flavor is what I’m assuming is the beet powder. There is a really nice sweet yet I swear there are hints of an earthy flavor there, maybe I should describe it more like a tangy note. Last but not least are the orange peels. They are probably my favorite part. The citrus flavor that is added in really kicks this tea up a couple notches and really balances out the flavor.
This tea iced is even just amazing. So many flavors going on. Each sip is different from the next. An explosion of flavor with each taste.
Such a fun herbal to end my day with.