Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Beacon Hill Tea Company
Tea Description:
This myriad of autumn flavors simply smolders. Grab a blanket and warm your soul with this spiced blend. Ingredients: honeybush tea, apple pieces, aniseed, lapsang souchong tea, cocoa nibs, rose hips, cinnamon, red peppercorn, orange peels, cloves, natural cinnamon flavor, natural orange flavor, safflower, natural hazelnut flavor.
Learn more about Beacon Hill’s Monthly Subscription Plan here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m running a little behind in my reviews lately, but I’m glad I’m seeing a light at the end of the tunnel in regards to my November teas. Crackling Fire was an offering the Beacon Hill Tea Company’s November box. The tea itself has such a lovely description. I took one whiff of it tho and I knew this tea and I were not going to be the best of friends.
This tea has a rather rich smoky flavor. One that I just couldn’t get behind, but I wanted to give it a try anyway. The rest of the tea sounded amazing. I brewed the tea up per the packaging instructions (212F-5 min) and took a sip.
If you are one of those that love that campfire smokey flavor. . .this tea is for you! The honeybush and apple pieces bring a sweet and tanginess to the tea while the hazelnut and cocoa nibs give this tea real definition. I wanted to like this tea so much but the smoky flavor just kept hitting me wrong. If that smokey flavor was just a bit less, I can see this being an insanely amazing tea. But for me, it just doesn’t work. All of the other flavors are fanastic, tho and for a flavored smokey tea I would have to say this is one of the better ones I’ve had. But-that’s ok that I didn’t like it. This is the first tea from Beacon Hill Company that I haven’t really liked. You can’t like them all and to each his or her own cuppa!
Pisces from the Zodiac Collection by AstroloTeas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/Herbal
Where to Buy: AstroloTeas
Tea Description:
An intuitive dance of flavors to open the imagination, inspire compassion, and dive deep into the dreams of The Fish.
Every sign rules a different part of the body, Pisces rules the feet, immune system, hormones and circulation. The Pisces tea, a deep and spicy blend with a high fruity note, is like a full-body jolt of inspiration.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Looking for a strong cinnamon spiced tea to bring on the fall days? Check out this one.
This tea is very cinnamon flavored tea, almost to the point of mouth drying. This isn’t the sweet kind of cinnamon either, but the more robust spiced flavor. The base of this tea is an Assam and it is delicious. The cinnamon mixes well with the base giving this tea an almost chai like feel with out the clover and ginger flavors. I don’t really pick up any of the rosehips flavor or the other ingredients mixed in.
I find myself almost longing for a touch of sweetness or maybe even a dollop of cream or milk to kick this tea up and give it a sweet spiced contrast.
Not loving or hating this tea, more or less thinking this would be killer as a latte with caramel and whip cream on top. That would be an awesome fall latte for sure. This may not be my favorite AstroloTea but this is still quite tasty.
Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Black Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
The original blend was a black tea base with marigold petals and organic flavors. We can do that!
Our black tea base IS different from the original. We spent months developing a black tea base that is well rounded and flavorful. To learn more about it, click here.
So we took our all-new, go-to black tea base and blended it with organic marigold petals and all-natural, organic flavors. As the original description states; “It’s a guilt-free (vegan even) caramelly, cheesecakey, pumpkiny feast for your sweet-tooth all wrapped up in the hug of a great cuppa premium black tea.” And it is!
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about subscribing to the Tea of the Week Program here.
Taster’s Review:
52Teas recently had a grab bag on sale of a mix of their teas and who am I to say no to that. I jumped on the opportunity and picked up two grab bags. I couldn’t wait to try some of the new takes on old favorites. 52Teas has recently gone thru a much needed (IMO) management shake up and I’m thrilled with what Anne has put out for us so far. To be as transparent as possible with this review, I did purchase this tea from 52Teas and it wasn’t a sample from Anne. This review is 100% my own honest review of what I thought of this tea.
I was excited to try this one. I distantly remember enjoying the original version of this tea and was looking forward to the reboot. I brewed this black tea up with water that was at 212F and allowed it to steep for a 3 minutes. I was picking up some lovely caramel notes and a certain sweetness but nothing that I would say translated into caramel pumpkin cheesecake.
I took my first sip and the lovely caramel notes that I was picking up translated into a lovely caramel flavor. I loved the caramel flavoring that 52Teas has used. Rich and creamy. But I do have to say, I am missing any of the other flavors like the pumpkin or the cheesecake. I tried steeping this tea a few different ways and always came away with this being more of a caramel flavored black tea than the pumpkin cheesecake.
Now, I did have a friend try this tea and they loved the combination of the pumpkin and caramel flavors. She said that the more she drank the tea, the more she picked up those pumpkin notes. She really liked it and said it was helping her sore throat.
As far as a flavored tea goes, this tea was quite delicious. Like I said, those caramel flavors were very good. But this tea is supposed to be a caramel pumpkin cheesecake tea. So yes it is really tasty but it seems the title doesn’t exactly match up. Regardless this tea found a home with someone who really enjoys it and to me that is a winning combination!
Now to see what other lovely teas are awaiting me from my grab bag!