I am taking a wee break from work to enjoy Mardi Gras cookies – delightfully almond flavored and sweet – and a hot cuppa. This new-to-me caramel struck my fancy, and I am delighted with the pairing.
You might think sweet with sweet wouldn’t be awesome together, but this black tea from Kusmi is from China, lacking the lemon/citrus notes one gets from most Ceylon tea and the caramel is not overly sweet but instead is almost a burnt caramel. Honestly, if I hadn’t prepared this myself and someone had told me it was a tea from China with natural caramel notes, I would have believed them.
Put together, it makes for a wonderful tea to pair with sweets or to drink on its own. As usual, I have added no milk or sugar and it is smooth and delicious, but I would say that this tea would handle milk and sugar VERY well for those who prefer additions.
I have the muslin tea sachets, and I have steeped twice and literally forgot I was drinking a second steep. There is no sourness, but a mere hint of briskness and the flavor of the black tea is lingering. I think this would make an excellent breakfast for folks like me who are not looking for a big brown boot of a builder’s tea to kick start them in the mornings. This has all the strength I need for a day starter or an afternoon refreshment.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Kusmi
Description
With its delicious aroma, this black tea from China flavoured with caramel is the perfect drink to enjoy a quiet moment. It goes wonderfully with pastries.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Comforting Pear from Tea Taxi. . . . .
Some fruit flavors are so subtle and hard to capture when it comes to teas. Watermelon. Cantaloupe. Honeydew. And Pear. The flavors of the actual fruits aren’t necessarily in-your-face so in order to capture those flavors oftentimes they can either go completely unnoticed or come off artificial.
Comforting Pear by TeaTaxi teeters between artificial and unnoticed and somehow actually makes for a nice pear tea. Some sips, the base tea can be a bit astringent and the spices can get muddled. Yet underneath it all is a fruity sweetness that lingers and in the aftertaste, becomes distinctly pear-flavored. Other sips, all the flavors come together to taste of a spiced baked pear.
The spices of cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom are balanced which can be both good and bad. There is none of that ginger burn that I tend to enjoy, while others hate. There is also no overt cinnamon sweetness, which I tend to hate but others enjoy. Cardamom imparts some flavor but isn’t overwhelming. For me that is a plus but I know some will want more. Ultimately, it is that balance of spices that causes the occasional muddling which can make them one note and boring. Yet it is the balance that allows the pear to come through.
This tea is pleasant and could be great for a comforting tea on a cold day. Or a little bit of a treat on a rainy day. It is not a must-have for me but I certainly enjoyed my cup.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Tea Taxi
Description
The perfect harmony between a nutty aroma and a slightly fruity and sweet taste make this black tea the perfect warm drink to start your day on the right foot.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Passion Berry Jolt from Tiesta Tea. . . .
Sometimes I just get a period of several days where I am constantly tired. Don’t know why that is but I just feel like I am dragging myself out of bed when all I want to do is sleep. Usually this occurs following periods of time when a lot has been going on so I think it is my body making up for lost rest. So when these tired periods roll around, I reach for teas that are supposed to wake you up and that is why I am sipping on Passion Berry Jolt by Tiesta Tea.
Passion Berry Jolt is a raspberry passion fruit black tea made with black tea, pineapple bis, natural passion fruit flavors, passion fruit bits, cornflowers, marigold flowers, and raspberry bits. However, I do wonder if this is a complete list of ingredients considering the package also notes that Tiesta Tea’s Energizer blends, which this is, contain black tea AND mate tea. It also provides brewing instructions for both black tea and mate tea so I can’t help but think this may have some mate in it, which would explain the high caffeine content but also make me a little less excited about trying this since mate can have a real earthy flavor that I don’t love.
Since mate is not explicitly stated in the ingredient list, I brewed this per the recommended steeping instructions for a black tea, steeping the leaves in 190F water for 3 minutes. I made both a hot and iced tea this way.
At first sip, the hot tea definitely has a lot of passion fruit flavor. It is coming off like a very tropical black tea. Not much raspberry. There is a sort of concentrated fruity sourness that hits you in the back of the throat and then dissolves into a black tea aftertaste that is brisk and ever so slightly metallic. The passion fruit is nice but I am just not loving the other flavors going on in this hot cup. I am perking up though so I guess the big bold letters reading “Energizer” are telling the truth.
A lot of the time when I ice black teas, they tend to get this thick mouthfeel. This is no exception. I am not sure why that happens and if I am being honest I don’t love it. As for the flavor, this is more of that same passion fruit flavor that I enjoyed in the hot tea, without the sourness at the back of your throat. However, that slightly metallic essence that came in in the aftertaste of the hot tea sort of lingers under the entire sip in the iced tea. Again, I am not getting much raspberry.
This tea, both hot and iced, has one of the better passion fruit flavors I have tried. I think I enjoyed the iced tea more but it was nice both ways if you don’t mind a brisk black tea and that metallic note. Personally, this is not my favorite but I could see it being enjoyed by many. Plus, it is an effective wake up tea for those needing that extra little boost in the morning.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tiesta Tea
Description
Packed with passion fruit and raspberry, this black tea blend gives you a jolt of pineapple energy to keep you charged.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Earl on the Prairie from SimpliciTea . . . .
Not too long ago I received an envelop from Canada! Yay! My friends from the north! I’ve always adored Canada! Inside the package was Earl on the Prairie from SimpliciTea.
Upon opening this tea – I have to say – first and foremost – I was smacked in the face with an out of this world aroma! It was a cross between perfume and potpourri. It was pretty intense but oh-so-memorable!
This look leaf contains medium length black tea Ceylon leaves, Bergamot, and Saskatoon Berries! If you aren’t familiar with Saskatoon Berries they are much like blueberries but actually closer to the apple family and have a sweet almond-like flavor.
Saskatoon bushes are a deciduous shrub or small tree that can reach 16 ft in height. The mature bushes sport white flowers each spring. Saskatoons are native to North America, growing wild from Alaska to Maine. In the northern lower peninsula of Michigan there are currently over 20 commercial growers that have 50 to 10,000 plants each. We are currently working on a survey of operations in several other states and the Canadian provinces.
The flavor of the tea is pretty incredible. I have never tasted anything quite like it. It’s very memorable, fruity, semi-tart, and tasty! For a tea tasting experience you won’t forget – try Earl on the Prairie from SimpliciTea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: SimpliciTea
Description
A Decadent Saskatoon Berry Earl Grey
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
52Teas’ the 12 Teas of Christmas – Day 12
Day 12!
Wow! It’s finally here, Christmas morning! And the final tea of the 12 Teas of Christmas is Gingerbread Brûlée Black tea. It is a perfect choice for the grand finale: after all, what is more showy and celebratory than creme brûlée?
This black tea features fragrant and delicious pieces of candied ginger accompanied by festive gingerbread spices. The dry leaf smells like putting your nose in a tin of gingerbread cookies, dark, spicy, a little peppery, and plenty sweet.
Brewed, this tea is robust and flavorful, don’t let the dessert theme lull you into thinking this is a mild blend. The black tea base has plenty oomph to wake you up no matter how early your family is opening Christmas presents.
I personally love kick-your-tastebuds strong chai flavors, but this tea made me realize that there is more than one way to have a tasty ginger tea. I really appreciate the caramelized black tea tones and I’m glad the ginger isn’t so hot that it drowns out the other flavors.
The molasses tones from the gingerbread are a perfect match for the crispy, burnt sugar flavors of the brûlée. There is just a perfect hint of heat from the candied ginger root, and the comforting warmth of other cookie spices. If you can’t bake a tray of gingerbread cookies, brew a pot of this tea instead and make your kitchen smell like the holidays.
Merry Chistmas!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
This is a tea that I had planned out way back when I was still in the planning stages of taking over 52Teas – but kept putting off again and again. Why? I don’t know. But I sure am glad I finally blended this because WOW! It’s ah-ma-ZING!
I started out with a blend of black teas (Yunnan, Assam & Ceylon) and added ginger & candied ginger, a bit of cinnamon & cloves, some freshly shaved nutmeg as well as some creme brulee essence to complete the tea.
The cuppa starts out with strong gingerbread notes with mere hints of the creamy brulee. The ginger is definitely present in at the start, so there’s no mistaking that this is, indeed, a GINGERBREAD brulee. As I continue to sip, the custard-y notes of the creme brulee start to emerge and the flavors seem to come together and become more smooth with each sip. By the end of the cup, I find a very lovely balance of both creme brulee (and I even some of that bittersweet burnt sugar in there!) and gingerbread.
And of course, this is organic, VEGAN, gluten-free & allergen free!
