Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Here’s our sweet, hay-like organic shou mei white tea fannings paired with the delicious tartness of organic lemon and lime flavors. It might not be as complicated as some of our other tea blends, but it will definitely put a smile on your face.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
Lemon-Lime Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas … not the most innovative flavor combination out there, but, I do like the combination of lemon and lime.
There is a delicate, creamy, lightly sweet flavor to the Shou Mei tea that gives the tart, tangy notes of the citrus some contrast. The lemon and lime flavors are strong enough to be tasted, but delicate enough to allow the white tea to shine through.
It’s crisp and refreshing. It’s tart and a little bit sweet, too. Is it my favorite iced tea flavor from SBT? No, I can’t say that it is. But, it is tasty. It has a really light, refreshing taste that I enjoy and I think that this would be a real crowd pleaser – perfect to serve at your next family BBQ!
Jungle Ju Ju Guayusa from DAVIDsTEA
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Guayusa
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
Head for the Ju Ju Jungle, made with a guayusa herb and fruit blend that’ll make you feel like swinging from the vines and hanging from the trees. No wonder. Guayusa contains a combo of the natural stimulants also found in green tea and dark chocolate. People claim it protects you against snake bites, gives you courage, and helps you spiritually connect to nature. With its smooth flavour and natural buzz, we’ll just say it makes for a deliciously stimulating cup of tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Uh-oh.
So I picked up some of this a couple weeks ago ’cause I had sipped down Main Squeeze (also from DT), which has been a cupboard staple of mine for daily use a little over a year now, and I wanted to switch things up a little bit because drinking too much of the same thing can definitely get boring or begin to feel too routine. Well, I think I may have spent a year missing out because this was really, really good.
Overall I tend to prefer guayusa over mate; I like the wet, mossy, earthy flavour of guayusa a lot because it makes me think of petrichor so this tea already had that edge over Main Squeeze; dry it smells very fresh with a more raw, unrefined peach flavour. It’s not a soft, creamy peach: it’s peach fresh from the orchard with the skin and a bit of dirt. The papaya comes through in the scent as well, but it’s definitely not the focus despite the surplus of very large candied papaya pieces in the leaf.
And the taste was awesome; the guayusa was everything I could have asked it to be and the peach I got to experience in the dry smell translated perfectly into the taste. The papaya is stronger in the taste as well, and adds this lovely roundness to the flavour that highlights the peach, petrichor, and plush earthy notes as well as a tropical and exotic kind of vibe. And it tastes so fresh; it’s weird that it tastes both tropical and like it could’ve come fresh from a local orchard.
It’s sweet enough that I can’t ever see why you’d add anything to it but it’s still got a mellowness to it too. The mouthfeel was very full as well. I’m totally picturing myself drinking this on the walk to work and I think that’s an A+ idea. Really, I have zero complaints about this one other than my own idiocy for drinking it at 6PM and now being way too wide awake.
This could easily, and I predict will easily, make its way into my cupboard staples so long as it proves to provide a consistent brew. It’s not one of the fanciest/highest quality teas I own – but for every day drinking and that extra caffeine boost before going to work I think it’s perfect! Plus, it’s a totally fun summer kind of flavour!
Choco Shou Pu-erh Tea from Camellia Sinensis
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Tea Description:
f you’re new to pu-erh, this is a great introductory tea. If you’re not new, you’ll still enjoy its vanilla chocolate goodness. This is slightly earthy and woody, as you might expect from an aged tea. The taste is smooth, rich (there’s mini chocolate chips in this afterall) with a lingering sweetness. Go ahead and try this hot with milk or even as an iced latte.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As I’ve said on several occasions, I’m usually hesitant when it comes to sampling pu-erh. I actually have enjoyed most of the pu-erh that I’ve tasted over the years but if I had to choose between pu-erh and most other tea types, I’d probably go with something else. I’m not a big fan of the earthiness that seems to go along with most pu-erh and especially with shou pu-erh. And as the name of the tea indicates, shou pu-erh is the base tea used for this Choco Shou Pu-erh Tea from Camellia Sinensis which is the last of the four teas that I’m sampling from this month’s Amoda Box.
And while I don’t usually like that earthy flavor of pu-erh, it works with this particular blend. The earthiness actually enhances the flavor of the chocolate and gives it a deeper, richer flavor. So while I may not be all excited about a shou pu-erh, I do get excited about a tea that complements the flavor of chocolate.
Yay chocolate!
So, yes, this is earthy. But not so much that it knocks me upside the head with a flavor that makes me think that I steeped soil instead of tea. This tastes much better than I would assume the steeped soil would taste – I’m going to go with that assumption because I’m not going to steep soil and drink it. Just not gonna do it.
The chocolate flavor here tastes dark and decadent, like an expensive chocolate bar that says 70% cacao on it. If you prefer your expensive chocolate bar to say “milk chocolate” on it, add a splash of milk to make a latte because this tea tastes amazing as a latte!
To steep: I used my Kati Tumbler rather than my gaiwan to steep this tea because of the little chocolate chips in the blend. I felt like the Kati was the better way to go. I did rinse the tea for 15 seconds before infusing though – you’ll want to do this with any shou to help wash away some of those stronger earthy notes. After the rinse, I infused the first cup for 2 1/2 minutes in 190°F. I added 30 seconds onto each subsequent infusion.
I resteeped twice – creating three very flavorful cups of tea – with the first two much more chocolate-y than the third. The third was still quite nice, just not as much chocolate flavor.
So smooth! No bitterness (not even from the chocolate!) and no astringency. Just a deep, mellow, luxuriously chocolate flavor that I would happily drink on a regular basis. As I said before: the chocolate flavor lasts through a couple of steeps – I got two very chocolate-y steeps out of the tea before the chocolate notes began to wane.
This tea gets a thumbs up from me. Quite good!
Blueberry and Banana Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebie’s
Tea Description:
Premium Organic black tea with organic flavors. Each 14g teabag will make one 2-quart pitcher of DELICIOUS iced tea. Re-steep the teabag and you can get a full gallon out of each one. Steep in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. (3 minutes MAX.) Then combine with ice and water to make a 2-quart pitcher. It couldn’t be simpler–OR more delicious!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love me a Banana flavored tea. They are hard to find, especially ones that are not red rooibos flavored. So when I saw this one during one of the recent sales, I had to grab it.
SBT’s teas are pretty convenient. Fill a pitcher with water, throw the tea pouch in, and a few hours later you have yourself some iced tea. Pretty tasty iced tea too. They make 2 quarts to share or not to share with others. I chose the not to share route with this one.
The banana sadly in this one is more of a hint or a slight aftertaste. The black tea base shows through the most with the blueberry falling into second place. If I hadn’t know there was supposed to be banana flavoring in this, I would have just thought it was a blueberry tea. I was really hoping for more banana. But even with that, I can see this one being a purchase here and there. The blueberry flavor that is used I really enjoy.
I’ll have to pick more of this up in the summer months for get together and family time at my parents’ pool. I can see this one going over really well!
Casablanca Twist by Adagio Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
An interesting twist on classic Moroccan Mint tea, which traditionally combines Gunpowder green tea from China with fresh mint. We kept the latter, and replaced the smoky notes of Gunpowder with the muscatel highlights of a Darjeeling from India. The result is very a refreshing cup, with bold, cool minty notes, smooth and relaxing texture and flavor. Very intriguing cup.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is a mint lovers dream! It screams mint from the moment you open the package until you take your last sip. I love mint teas. I especially love green tea with mint, but this tea takes the award for being the tea with the most mint flavor that I have ever had.
I picked this one up at the Chicago store when I was there for work a couple months ago. I had never had it but with it being a Darjeeling with mint, I knew I would love it. So I went with the 2 oz package. Glad I did.
I prepped this one up per the instructions on the bag, throwing a few more tsps in since I knew I wanted to try this one iced. (I’ve been in a huge iced tea sort of mood lately). So refreshing! I just shared a bacon breakfast with my boyfriend so this was the perfect tea to try right after that heavy meal.
The Darjeeling takes a step aside while the mint (which is peppermint) dominates this tea. I like it, just wish you could taste more of the base tea. But saying that, I think this would be a great base tea to mix with some herbal teas to bring out a brighter flavor or to spruce up a tea that you might not have liked the first go around. I have a few of those sitting around. This would also be a good one to have with some honey for a tea to drink while you aren’t feeling your best.
I can’t say that I would drink this tea by itself again, but I’m eyeing a package of Blood Orange herbal from Adagio that is right next to my computer and my brain is starting to create some other blends I could throw a tsp of this into to make a few new concoctions of my own.