If you’ve been around here for a minute, you know that I have a pretty high bar for white teas (as in, I don’t really like most of them, I’M SORRY, please don’t hate me). But when this little beauty showed up in one of my AQTT monthly tea boxes, I couldn’t wait to dive in. Having just come out of my own wedding season, a strawberry champagne cupcake sounds just like the kind of treat I would’ve been enjoying over some sort of bridal celebration, but now that I don’t have the celebratory caloric excuse to eat whatever treats I want at these amazing parties thrown for my dude + me, it’s probably best drank rather than eaten.
The dry leaf on this one is unusual, but absolutely tantalizing. Not necessarily filled with the candy-sweet strawberry scent that other berry-flavored teas have, but this one is decidedly fruity, with wisps of vanilla marshmallowy notes not far behind. And while those traditional, floral white tea notes are certain present in the brewed cup, they’re balanced well by the fruitiness of the berry, and the pillow-y marshmallow root. If you’re a fence-sitting white tea drinker like I am, give this one a try– it might be just the thing to convince you! And bonus: you can drink as many cups as you’d like (whether it’s at a bridal shower or in your backyard), and all those cute clothes you bought for your honeymoon will still fit in the morning!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White Tea
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
This tea is not available bu click below for white teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Passion Fruit de la Crème from 52Teas. . .
I iced this blend with dinner tonight. It was the perfect accompaniment to a summer salad. The vanilla and white hold hands as the background to a lovely fruity top layer. It’s a chilly, sweet cream flavor that sparkles.
This berry-and-sugar-tasting blend is the Wonder Woman of teas: quiet yet tough, feminine yet sturdy. And, like Wonder Woman, it’s a summer blockbuster that’s stolen my heart.
I realize that calling a tea “feminine” might turn people away from it, which isn’t a result I want. There’s a weird bias against men liking “girly” things that doesn’t apply to women liking “manly” things. Which I think is a bunch of hooey.
So implore the dudes out there: try this tea. Get in touch with your Softer Side. Let the creamy, fruity deliciousness wash over you.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
I’ve not done a passion fruit tea before – so I thought it was about time to change that! Because passion fruit tends to be a tart fruit, I thought the perfect tea base would be a sweet Bai Mu Dan from the Yunnan Province. Then I added some vanilla bean for some extra sweetness and a touch of creaminess.
This is really quite nice, I love the way the sweeter components soften the tart fruit just enough so I’m not puckering – but not so much that it obscures the flavor of the fruit. It’s going to make a really lovely summertime refresher!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ginger Spiced Pear Cake from A Quarter to Tea. . . .
If you’re looking for some tea to go with your post-holiday fruitcake, or just some tea that tastes a bit like holiday fruitcake, brew up a cup of Ginger Spiced Pear Cake from A Quarter to Tea.
This black tea smells sweet in the dry left and in the brew. The taste of the blend is not too sweet, mainly driven by the appropriately clean and tart breakfast black tea base. There is a hint of juicy pear with each sip, and a touch of ginger heat behind the pear. The ginger is not too spicy, mainly adding a little herbal flavor and sweetness to make the tea feel festive. I don’t taste any buttery cake or pastry flavors, just pear and ginger.
It’s possible that my small sample wasn’t at peak freshness or maybe I just needed a bigger serving of tea leaves to get the flavor intensity I was looking for. I’ll have to keep an eye out for this blend in the future and give it another try.
This is a gently flavored blend, but very drinkable. There are not many pear teas on my shelf, so this was a nice brew to have in my mug.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White/Black
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!
White Berry from Naked Teas Galore. . .
I keep calling this tea Berry White, perhaps because I think it should be named for the singer or just a fun pun. However, its White Berry which is more descriptive than anything given this is a tea made up of White Peony, Silver Needles, rosehips, blue cornflowers, flavoring.
I had just enough in my sample pulled from a traveling teabox to try this both hot and iced. Both methods were steeped for 4 minutes in 175F water, as per the company’s recommendation.
I started with the hot tea since that is the more standard brewing method and thus my control for flavor. Though it is a pretty smooth, summery tea, it lacks the berry flavor I hoped for. Instead this, to me at least, tastes vaguely floral.
Iced, this is even more floral and that I attribute to the white peony base. In fact, if I didn’t know any better I would have thought I was drinking a glass of iced white peony tea as opposed to a flavored white tea. Though that might not seem like a bad thing for those who enjoy this type of tea, it is not what I have been promised and so I find myself disappointed.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Naked Teas Galore
Description
Smooth, light & refreshing berry tea!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Bourbon Smoked White Tea – Embrew Teas. . . .
I am not going to lie but I was very wary of this tea for one of my first teas by Embrew, Creamy Honey Oolong, was one of my first negative reviews. But then again I chock that up to not liking honey. This tea surprised me, to say the least. For I haven’t had a close relationship with white teas but I did know that white tea leaves were the ones that lacked the most flavor. But not this tea blend, this tea had a depth and a smokiness that left me wanting cup after cup.
Now as the title suggests, this tea’s base is white tea but it is the sugar that is included in the bag that really makes it stand out. To be specific this tea has bourbon smoked sugar and not being the hugest fan of bourbon I was skeptical. So to my surprise, I found this tea to be light but also to have a bold sweetness that lingered on my tongue. And I was happy to also note that the sugar that is included in the bag was a perfect amount, not too sweet in the slightest. But my favorite part of the tea, other than the taste, had to be the smell. The smell was an amazing blend of oaky sweetness that made me imagine that I was in a study with a roaring fire with a fantasy novel placed in my lap. I swear I need to find this as a candle because when winter rolls around I feel that this will be the perfect scent to fill my house.
Now you are probably wondering how much this will set you back if you want to get a cup. Well, it is a pretty penny and there is only one option for an amount that you can get. Ten tea bags at the asking price of $15.95. So basically $1.60 per tea bag. I honestly wish there was a bigger option, like a 25 pack of tea but it is what it is.
Now, will I buy this tea? I will say yes but this will be a splurge tea. But if I did find this tea being served at my local tea shop I will happily pay $2 for it. I would also buy this tea for someone who doesn’t have a large collection of tea and is always on the go, for they don’t have to worry about the sugar for it is already premixed! But for now this blend is on the horizon and I hope soon that this will be in my tea collection.
See you for the next cuppa!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Embrew Tea
Description
This African white tea comes from the delicate immature leaves of the plant that produce a mild, but sweet fragrance of baked bread and white peach that infuses quickly. The real hero is the Bourbon Smoked Sugar already blended inside the tea bag, which steeps with a subtle charred oak aroma.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
