Morning me is a zombie. I feel like I’m rotting internally. I yearn to attack others. My skin looks frightful.
The cure? Tea. Possibly even, specifically, Zombie Cure by Down The Rabbit Hole!
This tea is a blend of different things that sounds complicated: “a blend of orange pekoe, green and Yerba mate. The flavoring is natural and it is vegan but not organic.” But the hodgepodge comes together beautifully. The mate is smooth and full of caffeine. The orange pekoe black is rich; and green perkiness rounds it out. The natural flavoring is sweet and creamy. This blend tastes milky without me having to actually put milk in it. And it’s vegan!
Zombie Cure comes from a cute little shop in downtown Jim Thorpe, PA. Jim Thorpe’s a town with a haunted jail and a lot of cute, hippie-ish stores. Down the Rabbit Hole, specifically, is a spot with eclectic jewelry, coffee, and tea — much of it with a whimsical/Alice in Wonderland sort of theme.
I can’t resist an Alice in Wonderland themed thing, ever. I have an Alice in Wonderland tattoo. I draw Alice in Wonderland illustrations.
Basically, if I lived in Jim Thorpe, I’d be in there all the time. Maybe I’d work there. Or just install myself in a corner and talk to people about tea. Not sure. But I’d definitely be ON THE SCENE.
If you’re not in Jim Thorpe, PA, often (or, uh, ever), they do take phone orders (484-767-3703) or facebook messages. The person I’ve been bothering on Facebook with ingredient queries has been very helpful and quick to reply.
Follow the rabbit to a wonderland of flavor!
(Sorry. I can’t help myself.)
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Down the Rabbit Hole
Description
Even though this store may not have an online presence, check out all their goodies below!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Raven’s Blend from Friday Afternoon . . . . . .
Hello dear readers! I have recently come across a quite delightful tea company that was sent to me as a secret Santa gift and I was amazed by the quality and of course with the tea selection. I had a whole lot of tea to chose from in the care package that was sent to me but after some consideration, I picked up Raven’s Blend.
For starters, this tea is very light given its black tea base and I believe that is thanks to the white tea wingman. There is also blue cornflower in this tea which adds a delightfully light floral taste. To those who are familiar with the taste profile of Lady Grey, it is like that but more delicate. I feel like I say this a lot because most teas are relaxing but I find that this one can be paired with just about any relaxing activity. But it also can spark creativity, giving your brain a needed boost. Which makes sense because its namesake is derived from the Ravenclaw house in the Harry Potter series. Which, funny enough is my actually my house.
Now on to the pricing of this beautiful blend. There are a total of four sizes to choose from; 1 oz which is priced at $10, a 2 oz which is priced at $14, 4 oz for $25, and 8 oz for $45. There aren’t any individual samples that you can order outright but I do know for certain that you can email the shop and ask for individual samples at $2 per sample. If you want to be more adventurous there is a mystery sample pack for $13 with four options (high caffeine, no caffeine, moderate caffeine, mixed caffeine) and an educational sampler pack for $35 that comes with steeping notes that has five options to choose from; black teas, green teas, oolong teas, pu-erh teas, and medicinal teas. Lastly, if you are in the Harry Potter fandom, there is a Wizarding Collection that you can purchase for $25 that features .5-.75 ounces for each of the teas from each of the four houses.
For the final thoughts on this tea, I believe it is well worth the money for the taste and the woman behind it is also great from my experience. From what I can tell she is very active with her consumers and is constantly adding new products to her online and physical store. There is also an option to make your own custom tea blend for $35 either by email or at the physical location. Also, as I was writing this review, I made a fresh cup of Raven’s Blend and I will possibly make another one! I fell in love with this tea company and you better be ready to see more reviews of this company in the near future!
See you for the next cuppa, Kara
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Friday Afternoon
Description
In wise old Ravenclaw house, “Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.” This medium-bodied, floral black tea is designed especially for you bibliophiles. High caffeine levels prepare you for those all-night study sessions and sharpen your focus while you devour the written word. Also fabulous while you read (or reread) your favorite novel, curled up in your favorite armchair or reading nook.
Ingredients: Black tea, white tea, and blue cornflower
All of our teas available online are gluten-free and sourced from organically certified farms. Most are vegan, but some may include honey (indicated in ingredients).
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Breathless – August Uncommon Tea
I need to stop looking at Facebook at 2 in the morning. It causes me to make sleepy purchases. One recent middle of the night purchase I made was from August Uncommon tea. I kept seeing adds on Facebook for August Uncommon and had been very interested in their unique blends. I saw that they were offering free shipping and many of their teas are available in sample sizes so I decided to order a few at 2 am. I am so glad that I did! The samples arrived very quickly and included an information card on the company. Their premise is that August is “like no tea you’ve ever tasted before. Our tea is wild, intense, and radically different.” I don’t know if I would say that the tea blends are “radically different” as I have seen a lot of unique blends in my tea journey. I will say though that the blends are interesting, fun and very flavorful.
One of the teas that I purchased is called Breathless. The description of the tea is “boozy black tea, white chocolate and prune.” This is an interesting combo for sure. The package indicates that the tea is gluten free and non gmo. I appreciate that August also includes tasting notes to let the consumer know what we should be tasting. In the case of Breathless it should taste like armagnac, prune, dark cherry and whipped cream. Interesting. I had to look up what armagnac is as I am not up on my liquors. It appears it is a brandy.
I will say that one aspect I appreciate on their packaging is that in the ingredient panel August actually tells us what type of black tea is being used in the blend. Often companies just simply put black tea down in a blend. August goes one step further and indicates it is an Indian Assam black tea. Other ingredients include hazelnut brittle (yum), sweet blackberry leaf, white chocolate, dried plum and flavoring. The package does not make any distinction if the flavoring is natural or artificial.
The first sip of the tea is nice, I get the initial hit of a pretty malty black tea base then the fruity plum develops followed by an ever so slight creaminess in the back end of the taste. I can certainly see where why they say that the this tea tastes like dark cherry because the plum notes coupled with the malty black tea gives a dark cherry flavor.
I really like this tea. It is very complex, dark and enjoyable when drinking straight. When I added a splash of soy milk the creamy notes developed more and gave a very dessert-like quality to this tea.
Overall I am very impressed with all of the samples that I purchased from August Uncommon. I think that they are doing a fantastic job of reinventing what the basic perception of tea is. They have left the safe confines of a traditional earl grey or english breakfast and are branching out to offer unique and interesting flavor combinations. I think they are certainly worth checking out!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: August Uncommon
Description
This tea has a boozy aroma with soft tannins, and a touch of fruit and leather. It is inspired by our favorite ice cream flavor in the world: Agenaise. This is a luscious ice cream laced with armagnac-soaked prunes made by the incomparable Parisian brand Berthillon. White chocolate gives it a super silky mouthfeel and a creamy finish reminiscent of ice cream melting over hot pie. This tea practically begs for milk to turn up the richness of its flavors.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Biron Herbal Teas – Pink Pepper Citron Black Tea
Typically I am not the first one to grab a black tea-especially a black flavored tea that could possibly be on the spicier side but I’m trying hard to stay out of my comfort zone with teas lately.
Biron Herbal Teas, based out of Georgia, offers a variety of herbal blends and teas with an adorable tea fairy as their logo. They mainly carry herbal blends but there are a few flavored and unflavored tea options as well in both tea sachet and loose leaf form.
For some reason, Pink Pepper Citron Black Tea caught my eye and before I knew it I had prepared freshly boiled water, grabbed my favorite mug, and I was steeping this tea. The citrus aroma wasn’t super strong but I could definitely tell there was ginger in the blend. I could also occasionally sniff a cinnamon note here and there. Because I’m super nuts about my black teas, I was very conservative with my steeping time. The first infusion I only steeped the tea for 3 minutes before I took my first sip.
Sip, I should probably say gulp. Once this tea hit my taste buds, I was in for an adventure. This tea is unique but in a uniquely delicious way. Not being a fan of chai I was surprised how much I enjoyed the peppery flavor this tea omits. Generous spicy notes of pepper and ginger mingle lovingly with this smooth malty black tea base. I was worried that the cardamom might overpower the blend but that isn’t the case at all. To compliment the spiced flavors there is also this subtle sweet citrus flavor. Really lovely and exactly what I needed to get my day started.
For being my first go with Biron Herbal Teas, I’m pretty happy with this selection and am thinking that I might even need to get more of this blend and try it as a cold brew. Especially with spring right around the corner. The flavors are just a fun creative mix that I think know I need more of.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Biron Herbal Teas
Description
With just enough spice provided by ginger, cardamom, and pink pepper, this black tea explodes with flavor. Lemongrass and orange peel even out the blend nicely, leaving a refreshing aftertaste on the palate.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Peppermint Bark Tea from Sunshine Cottage. . . .
Peppermint Bark is a holiday classic which is why chocolate peppermint teas flood the market at Christmas time. Almost each company has their own take on it and any holiday celebration doesn’t really feel complete without a peppermint bark tea latte. As such, these types of teas are cold weather teas in my mind.
So about a week ago when we had an unseasonably cold day, I set up a cold brew of Sunshine Cottage’s Peppermint Bark Tea in chocolate milk. I then forgot to drink it that day. Then the weather got significantly warmer and I just didn’t want to drink it tbh. Instead I favored my more spring-like teas. However, as the cold brewed milk has been sitting, I figured best to drink it before it goes bad. For comparison sake, I also brewed a hot tea with the remainder of the sample I had left.
This tea sets itself apart from the others, ingredients-wise at least, as it adds sunflower petals to the more typical ingredients of black tea, peppermint, white chocolate pieces, and natural flavors. However, flavor-wise as I sip on the hot tea, it tastes similar to the many other chocolate peppermint teas I have had before. In fact, it may even be a bit blander than most. There is a lot of peppermint flavor but not much else. The sample is a bit old so perhaps there is some flavor deterioration. Alternatively, there didn’t appear to be any white chocolate pieces in my filter while there was a ton of peppermint leaf so that could be causing the lack of flavor as well. Whatever the reason, the hot tea fell short of my expectations.
The cold brew, on the other hand, had a lot going on. The silky chocolate milk was made richer by the flavor of the black tea base. There is hints of white chocolate as well, though they are easy to miss under the strong chocolate milk flavor. The peppermint, on the other hand, comes through loud and clear leaving the aftertaste all minty. It is certainly more interesting than the hot tea was but even still I think this might become another in a long blurred line of chocolate mint teas.
Enjoyable but not really noteworthy.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Sunshine Cottage
Description
Creamy white chocolate and crisp mint make this holiday tea a real treat. Perfect for a toe thawing, pick me up after an afternoon on the slopes, or for sipping by the fire after a wonderful meal!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
