The SororiTea Sisters has always been a great place for finding different teas and tea companies to check out. But we really only look at the teas and not so much the tea companies behind those delicious brews we drink each and everyday. Today we are starting a new series of posts that will start doing just that. . .taking a deeper look into the creative minds and wonderful owners/blenders/crazy tea scientists who keep our cuppas brimming with our favorite brew.
So without further ado. . . . .Let’s start off the series with a company that can blend a dessert tea like no one else. . . .
Name: The NecessiTeas
Owner: Linsey Manning
Founded: 2007
Thank you Linsey for being our first company to be featured. I know several of The SororiTea Sisters adore your blends and we’ve had a blast reviewing the delicious treats in the past. But I would love to know, what made you decide to go into the tea business to being with?
The story behind it all is a bit funny… I was raised in a very strict LDS (Morman) family and we weren’t allowed to drink tea or coffee, it is just part of the religion so I didn’t grow up having a love for tea, I really didn’t even know what it was. I remember my mom having a few boxes of Celestial Seasonings in the cupboard (decaffeinated of course) and on a rare occasion, if we were sick or something, we would get a cup.
That is really the ONLY memory I have of tea! My first “real” experience with tea was in 2007, we were watching the local news and they were taking about things to do for Valentines day. They were featuring my favorite hotel, the Grand America, and talking about a special Valentines day afternoon tea experience. They were showcasing their sipping chocolate (a real fancy hot chocolate) and it caught my attention, I knew I had to see what this afternoon tea was all about. When we got there I remember how special they made us feel. The tea ware was so pretty, I was nervous to even touch it! The waitress gave us a tea menu and it was like reading gibberish, I finally just told her to pick something for me. She brought out the teapot and strainer and poured my first cup and reminded me to place the strainer over the cup each time I pour. I wasn’t impressed with the flavor of the tea, in fact, I had to keep adding sugar just so I could get it down and I spent half the time fishing tea leaves from my cup because I kept forgetting to use the strainer.
However, the dainty little tea sandwiches, scones, and desserts are what really won me over. I had so much fun that I returned a week later to share the experience with a few other friends. This time our waitress recommended a different tea. I remember lifting the cup to my mouth and the aroma was incredible, I closed my eyes and took my first sip and instantly fell in love. I loved it so much that I ended up drinking 4 pots of it and purchased some to take home. I made some for my husband and he fell in love as well. We both loved the experience of making tea that it became our nightly ritual.
As time went on, I started purchasing more teas online, I started collecting tea cups, and I purchased every tea party book I could find. I started hosting tea parties at my home for friends and family and it warmed my heart watching their faces light up with the whole experience. One night I was showing my husband a new tea book I had just bought and I was going on and on about all the fun ideas and amazing recipes. He stopped me mid sentence and said “if you love tea so much, why don’t you start your own business?” My own business, how was I going to do that? See, I got married and had my first of 4 boys at 19 and all I’ve ever done was be a stay at home mom. My husband started his own business at 18 and new exactly what to do, he told me he would help me step by step if this was something I wanted to pursue.
It was that very night that The NecessiTeas was born!
I think a lot of us started off our tea obsession the exact same way. You fall in love with one blend and all of a sudden you’ve got a tea stash that is full to the brim and you are stuffing tea in every nook and cranny you can find.
Your site offers such a great range of flavored teas . . .what is the inspiration behind those blends?
I have a HUGE sweet tooth so many of my ideas come from my favorite desserts. I will get ideas while walking down the ice cream isle at the grocery store, I also get ideas from some of my favorite hand soaps or candles. I also get ideas from other tea companies. Sometimes I will see a blend and think to myself, how can I make this even better or how can I put my own twist on it. And many times customers will email me and give me ideas that they have.
What is your favorite tea. . .doesn’t have to be one of your own blends either. . . .
That’s a tricky question! All my blends are my favorite, I couldn’t bring myself to sell them if they weren’t. And like the seasons, my taste is always changing! An all time favorite would have to be my Almond Cookie and my new and current favorite might be my Marshmallow Krispy Treat.
Have you ever had a great idea for a tea but the blend just didn’t come together?
That is also a hard one to answer because I have had SO many not turn out! Each time I work on new blends, I might have 20 ideas and only 5 make the cut. I am super picky and if I don’t absolutely LOVE it, I wont sell it. This winter I was really let down by a White Chocolate Chai blend I was attempting. I haven’t given up just yet so who knows, you might see it on my site one of these days!
Are there big plans in 2017 for The NecessiTeas?
I started The NecessiTeas as a hobby but this last year I have wanted more than anything to really make it grow! I want MY blends to be in everyone’s kitchen cupboards! As always, I am working on new flavors and continuing to push the envelope. I am also working on a new look and new packaging and I have also created a new brand that I am hoping to add to The NecessiTeas very soon.
I know my kitchen cupboards are filled with shiny tins full of your delicious blends.
Do you have any special activities you like to pair tea with? I’m partial to sharing a pot of tea with my hubby while we chill and watch Netflix.
I recently got in to planning so each time I sit down to plan I have a cup of tea by my side. I also have a cup keeping me company while answering emails, watching YouTube or a movie at night.
I know I’m quite partial to your hand blended teas and just adore them. What new flavors can we expect to see in 2017?
I have many in store, some that I am hoping to add to the site very shortly. I am also pushing myself out of my comfort zone and will be using tea bases I don’t normally use and also mixing different teas together.
A big Thanks to Linsey@The NecessiTeas for being our first featured Spotlight company. If you are interested in learning more about The NecessiTeas, you can check them out on SnapChat, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.
For our readers, The NecessiTeas has offered a coupon-SIP10. I highly recommend checking out their site if you are interested in flavored teas that are fresh, quality, and taste amazing. I’m quite partial to My Morning Blend and I’ve been known to drink pots of this tea on Saturday mornings.
Be sure to check back all through the day today as we will be sharing our thoughts on a few of the different blends The NecessiTeas offers including a review from one our newest contributors, Sophia.
(All pictures used in this post are property of The NecessiTeas)
Ginger Spiced Pear Cake from A Quarter To Tea. . . .
While I’ll try pretty much any new tea that crosses my path, as a tea lover, I’ll always have my favorites. And when it comes to teas from A Quarter to Tea, I can pretty much expect that anything new I try is going to be a knockout.
Every few months, I like to order sampler packs from AQTT to try out new flavors without overwhelming my tea stash. I thought I’d sipped through everything from my previous order, but sure enough, deep in the recesses of my work-tea stash, I found this one hiding the other day and couldn’t wait to brew it up!
The dry leaf is really interesting. Big, noticeable spices and a balance of white and black tea leaves are visible with delightful whiffs of ginger and sweet, warming spices. Brewed, I get a cup like none I’ve really had before. The white tea balances out any possible bitterness from the black, and the black brings a heartiness to the white that I usually find lacking in white tea. I get most strongly the flavors of pear and spice with less ginger than I’d like, but that could be just due to the amount of tea in my sample.
I typically drink all black teas with cream (or coconut milk, in my case), but I’ve been finding myself drawn lately to black teas that don’t need that classic milkyness, and this one fits the bill entirely. Sweet and spiced but not at all bitter, still hearty enough for a morning blend, but not so that it wouldn’t make a wonderful afternoon treat. As usual, another hit from AQTT, and apparently now the end of my sample stash for real– time to stock up again!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
Sweet pastry with pear, spicy ginger, and cinnamon and clove accents.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Bronte Sisters’ Black Tea Blend from Simpson And Vail
The first thing I noticed about this tea was the fruity, sweet smell. It smelled much more like fruit than tea. The tea ingredients include papaya and raspberry, and also marigold petals. I brewed myself a cup, and added a little raw sugar and a splash of coconut creamer. I should have left the sugar out because it is very sweet on it’s own. Almost too sweet if I’m being honest. It definitely has a very fruity taste and perfume. I didn’t taste to any floral notes which surprised me.
I would say this would be an excellent tea for people who really enjoy sweet tea and very fruity teas. The sweetness definitely lingered on my taste buds long after drinking it. I will have to experiment and see if maybe this is more refreshing as an iced tea. I prefer fruity teas iced not hot. And I guess with black teas I like a spicier, less sweet tea. This might even be considered a dessert tea. Although vanilla isn’t listed as an ingredient, I tasted a vanilla essence in the background. As I said, this isn’t my favorite tea I’ve tried, but if you or someone you know loves dessert teas, this would definitely be worth a try
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description
The Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, lived and wrote in Yorkshire, England. Born in 1816, 1818 and 1820, respectively, the sisters lived very short lives, with Charlotte living the longest at 38. During their unfortunately short lifetimes, each sister produced novels that would become cornerstones of western literature and inspire studies for generations. Emily’s Wuthering Heights, Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall each found an audience and acclaim that continues to this day. With their novels, the sisters introduced the world to a starkly honest portrayal of English womanhood that didn’t hide the ugliness and intrigue many novels of the time shied away from. Although tame by today’s standards, their inclusion of independent female characters, alcoholism, and abuse meant that the Bronte’s novels faced their share of controversy.
The Bronte family kept an orchard and garden where the sisters spent much of their time exploring, drawing, and writing. Charlotte was more inclined to draw the flowers and the plants than to stop and smell them, but Anne and Emily were happy to get their hands dirty with a little gardening. Emily especially, who was known to be a bit of a recluse, could often be found taking long walks and enjoying nature. Our Bronte Sisters tea blend combines pear, apple, and gooseberry flavors to make a sweet and fragrant blend that’s reminiscent of an orchard stroll. The flavors in this blend meld together in perfect harmony and the taste lingers deliciously on the palate.
Ingredients: Black teas, papaya pieces (papayas and sugar), flavorings, raspberry pieces, alfalfa leaves and marigold petals.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
The 2017 Valentine’s Day Collection from DAVIDs Tea. . . .
Valentine’s Day, the Hallmark holiday. A wonderful time to celebrate those you love with flowers and cards and chocolates and gifts. Red and pink hearts abound. All the while, intelligent companies bank on this commercial goldmine, like Lindt which sells the same Milk Chocolate Lindor Balls you can get year-round but in a heart-shaped box and with an inflated price tag. DAVIDsTEA is no stranger to the Valentine’s Day game and lucky for us that means new Valentine’-inspired teas to try. That and cute heart-shaped tea tins for those hoping to impress their tea-loving sweethearts.
The Earl’s Valentine is a returning Valentine’s Day blend that was sold last year to a great deal of popularity. It is branded as a black early grey based tea, but there are more chocolate curls and rosebuds in the dry mix than actual tea leaf. It is made with roasted carob, black tea, chocolate pieces, rose buds, cornflower petals, natural and artificial bergamot, chocolate and cocoa flavouring. It brews up a caramel brown color and looks rather oily on top, probably due to the chocolate pieces. Thankfully the slickness of that oil goes unnoticed unless you are focusing on it. As for the flavor, the earl grey base, though it appears minimal compared to the other ingredients in the dry leaf, is quite present. The bottom of the sip is brisk and citrusy while the silky milk chocolate floats on top. Sandwiched in between is the rose which acts as a nice segue between the other flavors that might seem out of sync without its presence. Sweet yet floral, this blend delivers on what it promises and should be enjoyable if you enjoy bergamot and can look past the sheen on the top of your mug.
Berry Romantic, one of the new blends introduced this year, is a strawberries-and-cream tea made with apple, oolong tea, cane sugar, blackberry leaf, gomphrena petals, jasmine buds, strawberries, rose buds, natural strawberry flavouring and artificial cream flavouring. The dry leaf looks quite lovely and smells like a bouquet of flowers. The blend steeps up almost golden and has an unexpectedly thick mouthfeel that compliments the “cream” flavor. Unfortunately, the berry doesn’t remind me of the fruit so much as a generic berry flavoring. Also, I do pick up on the apple more than I would like, though I suppose that would make sense since it is the first ingredient. On the plus side though, despite the various floral ingredients, it is not a particularly floral-tasting tea and the blackberry leaf and cane sugar do not make this overly sweet. It is better than expected but still more synthetic and processed tasting than I normally like.
White Chocolate Rose, the other new blend for 2017’s Valentine’s Day, is probably the one I was most excited about. I don’t usually love floral teas so the rose should be more off putting to me but something about the simplicity of this blend just called to me. Black tea, white chocolate , rose buds, and natural and artificial flavouring make up this offering – no added sweeteners which DAVIDs has become so found of and no mile-long list of ingredients. The dry leaf is beautiful with its large pink rosebuds and its bright white chocolate pieces amidst the black tea base. Brewed up it is very similar in appearance to The Earl’s Valentine, caramel brown and with a slickness on top which, again like The Earl’s Valentine, is inoffensive in regards to the texture. Scent-wise this is all rose and that translates into the flavor as well. I saw white chocolate so I know it is in here but I just can’t find where. Nevertheless, I think this is my favorite of the three as it is the most natural in the mix. It is also the prettiest/most romantic looking blend, though all would make for an aesthetically pleasing present.
If your Valentine like chocolate teas or floral blends, these might be worth taking a look at. If not, I would recommend going with teaware instead…or flowers or chocolate or jewelry or any other classic Valentine’s Day present.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Various
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
truly, madly, steeply
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Irish Whiskey Cream from Tea & Absinthe – The Other Irish Breakfast
As the weather gets colder, I get a craving for sweeter, more dessert-like teas. So when it was the first real, cold and blustery day of the season, I was excited to taste Irish Whiskey Cream from Tea & Absinthe. The dry leaf smells mild but sweet, like black tea with a hint of caramel. When brewed, this blend smells amazing, as rich and decadent as crème brûlée. I take my tea without milk or sugar, and the dessert flavors were still very forward and enjoyable.
While there is “cream” in the name, the sweetness in this tea is less like vanilla frosting and much more like salted caramel or burnt brown sugar, with just a bit of vanilla underneath. Cocoa bits are listed in the ingredients, but any chocolate flavor gets buried under the more caramel and toffee notes. I’m sure the “whiskey” in the name is a recommended brewing partner for this tea on those evenings when you need a little bit more warmth and merriment. The tea itself doesn’t have any overtly whiskey tones, nothing smoky, but the roasted-sugar flavors do remind me of certain amber libations.
I was careful not to over steep this blend, as the Irish breakfast Assam black tea base could get strong very fast. Keeping an eye on my brew times, I’ve had no bitterness and all creaminess. I could definitely see myself brewing up a cup of Irish Whiskey Cream from Tea & Absinthe and topping it with whipped cream on a snowy day.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea & Absinthe
Description:
“The Other Irish Breakfast” – Black tea Assam, cocoa bits, flavor.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
