When I first tried this tea, I didn‘t know the difference between a macaron and a macaroon. Macaroons are far more common here! I have now been introduced to macarons, which I much prefer, but that’s just me! The two are very different.
This tea does have lots and lots of coconut pieces and the coconut flavor is as noticeable as the pastry like scent, the caramel, and hazelnut flavor, with hazelnut being the lightest element here. There isn’t a lot of oil floating on top like some coconut flavored teas have, nor is coconut overpowering to me.
The main thing is noticed was that as much as I loved the flavorings in this one, they did not obliterate the taste of the tea base. Quite often, flavorings will utterly mask the tea base, and tea lovers can feel a little let down. We want TEA. Here we have equal strength in the cup of tea, coconut, caramel, hazelnut, confection…how did they accomplish this?
I think the key is that over a third of the leaves in this blend are Sencha, a green tea from Japan that boosts the actual tea presence to keep it from being masked. It’s has a bit of edge that some black teas don’t have, and you end up tasting both the black and green, with the black tea lending a luscious, rich base for all the other ingredients.
I often pair sweets with unflavored black tea, usually from China, but this is a flavored tea that goes well with most sweets or serves as a decadent and chic afternoon treat on its own.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black/Green
Where to Buy: Whittard’s of Chelsea
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Creepy Cake/Evil Tea -CuppaGeek
Taste buds are a super funny thing. Over the last few months, my taste buds have been all over the place. There was even a time frame where I couldn’t even drink tea. Everything tasted off and not even my favorite teas tasted right. Right around the same time when I noticed my taste buds going wonky, I was starting to notice other health issues so I decided just to take a break from tea all together, hoping that eventually my taste buds would right themselves again.
Recently I felt the urge to have a cuppa tea and I was delighted when not only did the tea taste amazing but my taste seemed to be sharper. Like I was able to pick up flavors I wasn’t able to before. Which was so exciting! I quickly shuffled through my tea stash and got to work enjoying cuppa after cuppa of teas that had not had a lot of attention for a while. After making some headway in my stash. . I decided it was time to check out my friends at Evil Tea once again. I had tried their teas before and enjoyed them but never reordered or nabbed any of their latest blends. After seeing a Halloween promo of theirs, I decided to indulge and pick up a few of their blends. And then a few days later, picked up a few more. . .because. .I was a bit hooked.
I couldn’t wait to try this blend again. I had tried this blend a bit ago and while it was good and I enjoyed the cuppa, with having so much tea in my tea stash- I was trying to still sip a few more down before I ordered again. This morning I was super excited to get home, get the kettle prepped and get this tea a brewing. I was a bit leery about the 5 minute steep time- so I went with a 3 min steep time with freshly prepped 212F water.
First sip in and straight away you are hit with a delicious dessert like note of vanilla that doesn’t really scream straight out vanilla but almost like that soft vanilla like note you would get from a really upscaled cookie or cupcake. The aroma hits you in the same fashion. Just a solid lovely not overdone sweetness that keeps you grabbing for you cuppa and enjoying every sip. This is a Ceylon based blend and there is a slight briskness or astringent note towards the end of each sip that rounds out the sweetness perfectly. There are also adorable sugar coated fennel seeds that I’m not really picking up but that is probably because I didn’t stick with the 5 minute steep. I’m a big fennel fan so I will have to try for that 5 min steep to see if the fennel notes come across stronger.
All in all, just a perfect lovely cuppa that I can only imagine would make an insanely good latte with a spiced oat cream or even a lovely adult beverage with a touch of bourbon cream, which I will be trying later this evening. I’ve always been a fan of my friends over at Evil Tea since they combine two of my favorite loves- all things dark and spooky and tea. Can’t wait to steep up the other blends to see if they hit the spot like Creepy Cake does.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Evil Tea
Description
Ingredients: A blend of Ceylon Teas with Creme Brulee Flavoring and Sugar Coated Fennel Seeds
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Truffle/Fraser Tea -ashmanra
We are a family of puerh lovers and food lovers, so when we gather together there is likely to be an ample amount of both. Fortunately, puerh is touted as having a mitigating effect on overconsumption, and I can personally attest that it has been my boon companion after too much pizza with garlic butter.
At our last gathering, we tried something new – Chocolate Truffle, a flavored organic blend of puerh and black tea.
There are some chocolate teas that have a strong, strange odor. I assume it is an artificial chocolate flavoring. I greatly prefer the natural, thumping good bass note that comes from cocoa nibs, and that’s what Fraser uses in this organic blend. Natural cocoa nibs seem to s-c-r-a-p-e across the tongue like unsweetened cocoa without the bite.
The puerh is earthy and sweet, not terribly strong, and the black tea is not a brisk one, which made this delightfully smooth to drink, and it resteeped very well. There is a natural sweetness coming from the flowers without the tea taking on a strong floral taste.
Overall, it is an elegant cup, somewhat mild and very satisfying as a dessert tea. Being on the higher end of the caffeine scale for tea, it may also serve as a little energy boost if you are using it as a dessert replacement.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black/Puerh
Where to Buy: Fraser Tea
Description
Sweet cream with earthy chocolate flavors and smooth finish
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Death’s Morning Cuppa/Call Me Sweetea – stephenia
There is just something so comforting about curling up with a good book and a hot cup of tea, especially when it starts to feel like Fall outside. It is very therapeutic for the soul, at least to me. I love when the worlds of tea and books come together. Call Me Sweetea is a new tea company to me that is doing just that, bringing tea and books together. They are creating unique blends that capture the essence of a particular book. Blends are made to coordinate with popular reads but if you are not a fan of the book that is the tea inspiration no need to worry, the blends are fantastic and can be enjoyed alongside any book.
Today I tried Death’s Morning Cuppa, a unique spin on an earl grey. Any guesses on what book inspired the blend? I am an earl grey addict so I was especially interested in this tea and it didn’t disappoint. The base is comprised of China black tea and assam along with bergamot oil, orange peel, cassia chips, cornflowers and orange extract. I absolutely loved this tea. The addiction of orange peel and orange extract along with the bergamot gives this a more complex citrus edge while the addition of cassia chips imparts a warm, earthy cinnamon flavor. I especially love the combo of orange and cinnamon in this blend, it gives the tea a holiday vibe to me. I really loved this tea and look forward to trying more teas from this small company. And, needless to say, I will be sipping on this tea the next time I curl up with a good book! Harry Potter perhaps?
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Call Me Sweetea
Description
Do you believe in the Deathly Hallows? And if so…what do you think Death likes to drink before gathering folks for the journey to the other side?
Death’s Morning Cuppa is a bright, yet earthy earl grey blend that will wake you up and soothe you at the same time.
You might enjoy this blend if you:
- Seek Hallows over Horcruxes
- Find magic in the ordinary
- Intend to greet Death as an old friend and go with him gladly when your time comes
Ingredients: earl grey (organic China black and organic assam tea, organic bergamot oil), orange peel, cassia chips, cornflowers, orange extract (alcohol, orange oil)
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Monk’s Meditaton/Piper and Leaf -ashmanra
This was gifted to me by a friend who was curious about the blend but who isn’t really into black tea much anymore. She tried it and passed it on for me to taste.
It smells wonderfully fruity and sweet in the pouch!
I tried it hot first, and….wow. I actually did a slightly short steep of four minutes but this hits hard. The black tea is strong, builder’s tea strong, and might be just right for someone who adds milk and sugar, but I (and my friend) do not. To be fair, I have yet to meet a Monk’s Blend style tea that I liked, as they all came out too astringent or bitter for me, even with the fruit flavors. I love certain Ceylon teas, but others are a “no, thanks” for me.
I have never had catnip by itself but I read that it is woody and strong, and eventually minty notes will steep out. Maybe the catnip is also lending some bitter edge to this.
The grenadine is delightfully fruity, though, and with food this was okay. It is too astringent for my tastes to try to drink it without food – or sugar – to mitigate it.
Most tea of any decent quality can be manipulated to be at least drinkable no matter what your personal preferences are. I decided to cold steep this and see how it goes as a fruity iced tea.
I made simple syrup so we could each add sweetness to our iced tea as we like.
This is the way to go on this one for me! It cold steeped well in the fridge, and after about four hours of chilling and releasing those lovely grenadine notes, I poured it into mason jars and took it to the patio with a hearty dollop of simple syrup in each serving. Very nice this way, and might be just right for lovers of Monk’s Blend teas!
I will be saving some to pass back to my friend so she can try it cold steeped. It is really is the way to go with this one for me!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Piper and Leaf
Description
Ingredients: Ceylon Black Tea, Catnip, Organic Grenadine Flavor, Calendula Petals
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!