Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Leaf Co.
Tea Description:
An eye-catching green tea blend with a sweet rose fragrance and light citrus notes. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this blend while the world’s magical nature reveals itself to you.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
My first couple of sips of this tea – Wish Upon A Star Green Tea from Tea Leaf Co. – were a little less than memorable, to be honest. I tasted green tea and little else. I found myself wondering where is the rose and citrus?
Then I sat the cup aside and let it cool a few minutes. Now as I sip it, I can taste those lovely notes of rose and orange – and they’re really quite lovely indeed!
The orange and rose are still quite delicate, but they’re discernible now and I like the way the flavors are arranged here. The green tea is the strongest flavor: it’s fresh and lightly vegetal with a pleasantly creamy texture. It’s very smooth! I’m not getting any astringency from this at all. The vegetal tones are somewhere between sweet grass and mild steamed veggies.
The rose is the next flavor I pick up on – it’s a subtle rose flavor. Not sharp nor does it lend a strong perfume-y flavor to the cup. It’s softly sweet and pleasantly floral. It’s a nice contrast to the hint of juicy flavor that I pick up on from the orange. Another subtle flavor, the orange adds just a touch of brightness to the cup. It’s a very uplifting note.
Overall, a very pleasant cup of tea. I recommend letting it cool slightly so that the flavors have time to develop – about five minutes – just the right amount of time to let the tea come to a drinkable temperature while the flavors come forward.
Le Grand Bleu Black Tea from Christine Dattner Paris
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Christine Dattner Paris
Tea Description:
An ocean of Flavors. black Tea of china flavored with blackberry blueberry blackcurrant and strewed with blackberries blue dolphins sugar and flowers of cornflowers.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Le Grand Bleu, or the Grand Blue from Christine Dattner Paris is a French tea available one more than one place online. I actually got this tea from a company that sells Christine Dattner’s teas, Flaavor . They sell a few different French company’s teas repackaged under their name. They have a great selection of small scale French tea companies. But if you are looking for a specific tea, I would suggest looking for the direct website.
This tea looks And smells live blueberry heaven. I the main attraction, Dolphin Sprinkles. I mean that really could be the whole article. But! Cutesy sprinkles in tea does not make for a standout tea. Luckily, the tea lives up to it’s sprinkles.
There are other flotsam and jetsam in the loose leaf, and to me, they all look good. Blueberries, blackberries, and little corn flowers for the hell of it. The scent of blueberries is strong and rich. I brewed this tea up western style, 5g of leaf to 16oz. The aroma itself was pretty amazing. The fresh blueberry complimented the raisin and malt notes of the black base tea like cheese on potatoes. The black tea is robust and in your face, but still comforting, like hot chocolate in front of a campfire. The little blue dolphins in this tea dissolve slowly, dissipating into the deep dark brown sea of tea.
I tend to shy away from berry and other fruit flavors in black tea, the combinations are either boring to too contrasting to the nuances of the base black tea. But this tea proved me wrong. I liked the combination so much that it may have changed the way I look at fruity blacks forever. And the dolphin sprinkles certainly don’t hurt.
Cola déthéiné Black from Dammann Freres
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Decaffeinated Black
Where to Buy: Dammann Freres
Tea Description:
Coming from the ‘Little Cristal’ collection, Cola is a decaffeinated black tea with a cola flavor that children have so dear.
At tea time, a flavored tea to enjoy the “Five O’clock” like grown people.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Prior to trying this blend, I’ve had exactly three cola flavoured teas: Cola Matcha from Red Leaf Tea, Cherry Cola & Cake from Della Terra Teas, and DAVIDsTEA’s Cherry Cola black tea. I remember that so specifically because all of them were super memorable experiences, and not for a good reason. In fact, DT’s Cherry Cola blend may actually be the worst black tea I’ve ever had. Cola just seems to be something that doesn’t apply well to tea, so I’m going into this tasting with extreme reservation and fairly low expectations.
I probably wouldn’t have purchased this one at all if it weren’t for the fact I got some in a group order, and therefore got to pick up a small size of it. It also helps it’s from Dammann Freres – I’ve yet to really find a “flop” from them, though there have been a few blends that just didn’t click because of personal taste. I have faith that if any company can pull off a cola tea they’re likely to be the ones to do it.
I’m cold brewing this – I just personally think that cola flavor kind of only works cold. I’ve had hot coke before (it was a dare) and it didn’t go over well. I have to say, the dry leaf of this smells pretty wonderful. It definitely conveys the smell of coke without any of the chemical/artificial qualities that I’ve experienced with every other coke tea. I don’t know how they do it! There’s even a whiff of vanilla to the smell as well!
I’ll come right out and say it; this is easily the best cola tea I’ve had. Simply put, it tastes like those shimmery silver cola ball candies that are basically pure sugar – though not as cloying as you’d imagine. There’s a really nice freshness to the tea and more natural notes as well like very mild citrus and possibly also pear. It’s ‘fancy’ cola ball candy! Definitely no sweetened needed with this one though; it’s just barely treading the line between natural sweet and ‘cavity’ sweet. I like that the base is also pretty strong, but not overly brisk. The fact it’s decaffeinated is a huge plus – as a generalization black tea is my favourite type and being limited with how much I can drink at night without the jitters is definitely a concern of mine; this will fit seamlessly into my evening routine.
I can totally see why this is marketed towards children as well; it’s something familiar flavor-wise, definitely sweet enough on its own, obviously healthier than actually giving a child a bottle of Coke, and what parent is going to complain about the lack of caffeine!?
My opinion on cola teas has been completely changed; and I’m already imagining interesting ways to try this one: tea soda, as a latte (because ‘floats’), and possibly even hot…
Soul Good Organic Oolong from Tea Leaf Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Leaf Co.
Tea Description:
A perfect cup of all natural apple cider to warm you up this autumn and winter.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The last couple of weeks have been crazy and the next week is going to be even more so – so it’s nice to have a tea like this Soul Good Organic Oolong from Tea Leaf Co. to help me collect myself and find a sense of calm. Tea is delightful like that – I love how I can sip it and it helps to de-stress me.
And what a delightful tea this is!
Even though it’s not autumn or winter – I am enjoying this cup of “apple cider” tea. It’s pleasantly sweet with a nice essence of apple and warm spices. And even though these flavors are prominent, they don’t overwhelm the sweet Oolong tea which appears to be a Tie Guan Yin based on the little green pellets of tea that I saw when I was measuring out the tea.
And the flavor and texture suggests a Tie Guan Yin tea to me. It’s sweet and has a soft, slightly creamy mouthfeel. There’s a light, buttery flavor to the tea that melds quite beautifully with the notes of apple and the spices.
The ginger is really nice – it’s warm and peppery without being too spicy. Generally when I think “apple cider,” I think of cinnamon flavor but I like that ginger is the star of this show – I’m really enjoying how nicely the apple and ginger taste together.
And the apple is wonderful here – it’s a strong flavor. My own experience with tea blending has taught me that apple can be a difficult flavor to nail but Tea Leaf Co. has nailed it here! It’s sweet and apple-y and authentic! This tastes very true-to-the-fruit!
A really lovely tea – and while it does have a very autumnal flavor to it, this is something I can see myself enjoying year round!
Mango Kiwi Green Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Here’s a lovely organic Ceylon (Sri Lankan) green tea blended with freeze dried mango and kiwi and organic mango and kiwi flavors. It’s a little tart, a little sweet and all refreshing.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
My review of this Mango Kiwi Green Tea may just be my last “SororiTea Sisters” review of a tea from 52Teas. In just a few days, my daughter takes over the business side of things with 52Teas and I become the mad tea artist! And since I’ll be crafting all the teas for 52Teas as of June 1st, I wouldn’t feel right about writing a critical review about the teas that I create. It just wouldn’t be ethical, you know? I’m excited and nervous, it’s a huge step for us but I believe it’s a step in the right direction.
So this review is a little bittersweet with an emphasis on the sweet, but I will miss writing reviews!
To brew this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch. I measured 2 bamboo scoops into the basket and poured 500ml of freshly filtered water into the kettle. Then I set the temperature for 180°F and the timer for 2 minutes. And a few minutes later, I have TEA!
Yummy tea! Just like the description above says, this is a little sweet and a little tart. I like that it’s neither too sweet nor too tart, though. The sip starts out sweet with notes of mango. The mango seems to be the strongest flavor in the cup, with the kiwi playing in the background. At the finish of the sip, I start to notice the tart notes and those tarty flavors tickle on my tongue in the aftertaste.
The green tea is light and fresh tasting. It has hints of grass and a delicate buttery taste. It’s not bitter or astringent. The vegetal notes of this tea aren’t particularly strong. It’s a very soft, pleasant green tea. This is the kind of green tea I’d recommend to someone who thinks they don’t like green tea because it tastes like vegetables. This … doesn’t taste like vegetables! It’s just delicate and lovely.
A really nice tea! A good tea to have in the cupboard now as the weather is getting warmer because it tastes GREAT iced!