I can’t believe I am enjoying a ginger tea to the point that I am happily resteeping! I NEED ginger for digestive issues but I have never enjoyed it, especially when there is enough of it to actually do you some good. It is hot, it is spicy, and I am a plain vanilla kind of gal.
One thing I do hold dear is licorice root. I know a lot of people don’t care for it, but I love the sweetness and body it gives to a blend and I prefer it to stevia…and that’s an understatement.
I have the loose leaf version of this tea and the website warns that the pyramid version may have slightly different ingredients so keep that in my mind if you decide to try it.
The aroma is GINGER, first, foremost, front and center. Since it is the first ingredient listed I assume it constitutes more of the blend. The first sip is soft and sweet, and the more you drink, the more the ginger builds.
Pear is a delicate flavor to me even when eating a fresh pear right out of hand, so pear with ginger is no contest. Ginger is definitely going to dominate. The nice thing is that you get little fruity flavors peeking now and again, adding another dimension to the tea. The white tea base is a nice little boost of antioxidants.
The tin lists all of the ingredients as being organic, so another bonus! Finally, a ginger winner for me! This is one I would definitely restock and consider it a treat to drink when feeling under the weather, or just a cup to enjoy.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Tea Forte
Description
Delicate white tea leaves plus a hint of pear and spicy ginger.
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!
Honey Pear from Nelson’s Tea. . . .
Holy murky waters, Batman! Seriously. Teas are normally translucent at the very least but this brews up unexpectedly opaque. My guess is the pollen is at play here. Well, here goes nothing…
Alright, so after my first sip, my thought was, for a tea that looks so dense, this tastes surprisingly thin. It smells like tea and pear and yet the taste is just slightly sweet/ slightly pear flavored water. No honey. Not much tea. Big sips, small sips, letting it sit on my tongue…maybe there is a touch of honey sweetness but I want MOAR!!! More pear. More honey. This sounds awesome but it is failing to deliver. Honestly, I don’t even know if I could identified the honey or pear if I had this in a blind taste test because it is very, very subtle.
If I am being honest, I think this may benefit from a different base. A green would be good actually since it is lighter which would allow for more of the light pear flavor to come through. Honey would also stand out more on a green base, though when I saw the base was black I hoped it would contribute additional honey notes that the flavoring could play off. Alas, it seems I am getting a whole lotta nothing.
Perhaps next time I will steep it stronger or maybe add something to coax out more flavor. However, steeped per the recommended time in 190F water, I am sad to say this fell short of my expectations.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Nelson’s Tea
Description
Just like biting into a sweet, succulent pear, this tea is sure to please. Enjoy it hot or iced!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cinnamon Pear from 52Teas. . . . .
I served a number of teas to some friends yesterday and this one came out as the favorite flavored blend we tried. No big surprise since 52Teas is one of the best tea blending companies I have come across.
I like the black tea base. It doesn’t bow down and disappear, but sails right along with the flavors. It isn’t super astringent like a lot of black tea bases in flavored blends. The cinnamon was nice – not red hot candy cinnamon but the kind of cinnamon levels you would expect in Grandma’s fruit pie.
The pear aspect was a little harder for me because I don’t eat pears. I like them fine, but I find them really mild and usually reach for an apple instead. I am an infrequent pear eater. So I can say this definitely has an apple/pear vibe, but I couldn’t pinpoint what kind of pear for you. The pear aficionados among you probably could pin it down right away. But the mild fruit flavor is very pleasant.
This is a nice blend with cinnamon to escape the ubiquitous orange/clove/cinnamon blends that are hanging around during the holidays. A breath of fresh pear…(sorry, couldn’t resist!)
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for what flavored black teas are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
On the 1st Day of Christmas my 52Teas delivered to me. . . .
If you are a fan of 52Teas, you are probably aware of their amazing Christmas promotion. For the last few years, 52Teas has offered a 12 Teas of Christmas set. Included in each set are 12 different teas to enjoy while getting into the holiday spirit. Now what is unique about this is that the flavors are a mystery. Each label has a foil sticker that you scratch off to find out what the tea is. Such a fun, inventive and unique way to enjoy the holidays.
And the presentation couldn’t have been better! The teas were lovingly addressed to me and in a fun gift box, with a note on when to start drinking the teas. So very festive indeed!
So for the next 12 days, I’ll be reviewing the 12 Teas of Christmas. Without further ado. . . .The 1st Day of Christmas tea is. . . {insert drumroll}
Partidgeberry in a Pear Tea
This is a green tea with huge chunks of berries and what I can only assume are huge pear chunks. You really can’t get more festive looking than this tea. Simply gorgeous looking. Brewed up and allowed to steep per the package instructions. (The official description is below)
After drinking this tea and finishing off the package, I can honestly say I can’t imagine a better way to kick off this fun promotion. The green tea was rich and buttery while the pear gave the tea this unique sweetness and the berries complimented the brew with a tang. Very well done and well balanced. This is for sure a tea that can easily go wrong but it really works well.
Like I said, I drank this tea down and am still impressed by how many infusions I was able to get out of each serving. I know typically you are lucky to get 2-3 infusions out of each tea but this tea I was able to infuse 5 times. Sure the flavor wasn’t as strong but those notes were still there being as festive and merry as possible.
If all of the teas are like this one, we are in for an awesome holiday treat!
Tea Description: This was one of my favorite Christmas teas from Frank’s era, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I loved it so much for the tea (although the tea is really delightful!) or the name because – seriously – so clever! Right?
So what is a partridgeberry? Well, my research on Wikipedia tells me a partridgeberry can be a creeping herbaceous shrub native to North America (scientific name: mitchella repens) or it can be a lingonberry (scientific name: vaccinium vitis-idaea). Since I have neither mitchella repens nor vaccinium vitis-idaea at my easy disposal, I decided to choose the easiest/most accessible of these two to include in this blend: the lingonberry.
Prior to blending this tea, my experience with the lingonberry was limited to trips to IKEA and seeing lingonberry jam on the shelves (and at one point, I purchased some of that jam to make a sauce for meatballs. No, I didn’t get the meatballs from IKEA.) I also purchased some lingonberry glogg last year. That was pretty tasty.
Official description of this tea below. Click here for the Mad Tea Musings.
Frank’s description of this tea went like this:
Yes, okay, I am a very silly man. I just couldn’t resist.
Back when I was planning to create all new blends for the 12 teas of Christmas sampler, I was trying to figure out how to go along with the 12 Days of Christmas song. I figured out this one and some sort of Turtle® chocolate treat blend. Three French Hens might have been some kind of French vanilla, but four calling birds completely stumped me.
Well, anyway, here’s our buttery-sweet Chinese sencha blended with wild-harvested Partidgeberry (Mitchella repens), dried pears and natural pear flavors. Silly or not, it is delicious if you like pears.
Yes, I love pears! And I’m much more familiar with pears than I am partridgeberries. And this is technically not supposed to be a partridgeberry tea but a pear tea.
I started with organic Chinese Sencha (just like the original recipe!) and added dried pears and instead of using wild-harvested Partridgeberry, I used internet-purchased lingonberries. And they look pretty in this blend, like little red crystals amidst the long spears of green tea and the chunks of pear. It looks very Christmas-y, this tea.
organic ingredients: green tea, pears and natural flavors
ingredients: lingonberries
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Flavored Green Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
This tea will be available in very limited quantities beginning December 28th at 52Teas!
