Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Tea Description:
The reading nook blend is our signature organic tea created for enjoying while perfecting some of our dearest passions: reading, writing, and enjoying conversation with friends.
One needs a touch of caffeine to keep the conversation flowing, the pages turning, or the pen on the move, so we start this blend with a wonderful cream black tea. We then added rosebuds for creativity and sustenance, passionflower and lavender for flavor and aroma, and top it off with a bit of chamomile which adds a calming balance to it all. Customers often tell us this is our prettiest tea!
All Plum Deluxe teas are hand-blended and infused with love in Portland, Oregon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh wow! This tea has a delightful aroma! I can smell the floral notes – the passionflower, the lavender and the rose … along with hints of chamomile – and these beautifully fragrant flowers mingle with the notes of vanilla cream and it’s intoxicating! I imagine that this amazing scent would be the perfect accompaniment while reading a favorite book, a fantastical fragrance along with the fantasy of literature.
On the Plum Deluxe webpage for this tea, there are little snippets of customer responses about the tea. One that stood out to me was this:
A black tea with an herbal taste. Very cleansing aftertaste.
I think that this really describes the flavor of this tea quite well. I probably would only edit this comment to add the word “floral” behind the word “herbal” because I think that these two descriptive words better clarify what I’m tasting. It’s a black tea and the black tea base is mellow – I suspect it’s a Ceylon – and the herbaceous tones and floral notes come through as the strongest, most forward flavors, but without completely overwhelming the flavor of the black tea.
Now, usually, I’m in full support of a tea tasting more like tea and less like it’s additives. However, in the case of this blend, I think that I rather like the way the floral notes dance upon the palate. I like that the black tea is more of a supportive background ‘voice’ that allows these flowery tastes to take on the lead of this tasty symphony of flavors.
It’s really quite dreamy – the flavor of this cuppa!
And what makes it so dreamy is not the floral notes or the black tea – but the cream notes. The cream is not a dominant or aggressive flavor in this cup of tea, but it seems to be the stage that brings everything together so harmoniously.
When it comes to brewing this tea, I recommend using a slightly lower temperature. I think that the floral notes are better expressed when the water is just below boiling (I used water heated to 200°F). After giving the pouch a shake to redistribute the ingredients, I measured a heaping bamboo scoop into the basket of my Kati Tumbler and added the water and let it steep for 3 minutes. Perfection!
Jasmine Supreme Green Tea from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Of all the blossoms that are indigenous to Eastern Asia, the jasmine flower is perhaps the most popular and giving Jasmine Supreme tea its flavor. We have developed this unique blend of green tea and jasmine petals to bring the essence of the night-blooming vine to you. Infused with jasmine blossoms for hours at a time during several heating sessions, Jasmine Supreme Green Tea is a perfect floral tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was excited to try this Jasmine tea. I’m generally excited to try Jasmine teas because I love a good Jasmine. Unfortunately, this isn’t as supreme as the name of the tea led me to believe it would be.
The flavors are TOO floral. Oh, sure, I realize that Jasmine teas are supposed to be floral, but the floral notes here seem to taste more like a flavored jasmine rather than a scented one. As in, flavored with jasmine oil rather than scented with jasmine flowers. The description says that the jasmine flowers infused the leaves with their essence so I’m not going to question the validity of that, all I’m saying is that this is a highly floral to the point of tasting perfume-ish Jasmine tea.
To steep this, I used my Breville One Touch and added 2 scoops of the tea to the basket of the tea maker and added 500ml of water to the kettle. I set the parameters for 175°F for 2 minutes. Perhaps less time would make a better cuppa? I don’t know.
The green tea is a soft green tea with buttery notes and a silky texture, and I feel like I’d really like this if the floral notes were not so potent. As it is, though, I don’t drink perfume and I can’t finish the cup. Sad, because I truly like this company – and they do have many wonderful teas. This just isn’t one that I can recommend.
Beauty & The Beet White Tea from Lemon Lily
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Lemon Lily
Tea Description:
Organic, delicate, earthy but not grassy. This blend of organic white tea is gently paired with organic beetroot Powder, organic lavender, organic passionflower, organic rosehip, organic rose buds Dry, it’s beautiful to look at. Steeped and allowed to rest for about ten minutes and you really start to taste the floral notes. But the touch of earthy sweetness from the beetroot balances out the floral, keeping it from tasting soapy.
Learn more about this month’s Postal Teas shipment here.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
The photo above doesn’t really show the beetroot powder. When I received my pouch of this tea in my Postal Teas box this month, I was kind of surprised by the hot pink dust that had settled to the back of of the pouch. It kind of looked like freeze dried lipstick that had been pulverized into a powder.
I guess I could have said it looks like powder blush in the pouch, but, I couldn’t see anyone wanting to wear this particular shade of pink on their cheeks, but I could see it on someone’s lips or possibly their fingernails. Then again: freeze dried nail polish that had been pulverized into a powder – that seems like it would be a lot more effort to pulverize nail polish into a powder than it does lipstick.
Anyway … this blend has been dusted with powdered beetroot and it’s a vibrant shade of pink. And when you steep the tea, the tea becomes a ruby red color. It almost looks like it has hibiscus in it. Almost. Fortunately, beetroot doesn’t taste like hibiscus. I prefer beetroot.
This is one of the more interesting teas I’ve reviewed lately. First of all, love the name. Love it. And I can’t recall having a tea blended with beetroot powder. I may have. It’s just nothing comes to mind immediately. And you would think that something as unique as beetroot powder would stick in the memory, you know?
Similar to the Maple Leaf tea that I tried a few days ago from the same company, this tea is very floral. I am tasting notes of lavender and rose distinctly. The passionflower is a bit more demure in this blend, which is not surprising as it tends to be rather mild tasting. I like how the beetroot softens the flavors of the flowers a little and brings it’s own unique flavor to the cup. It’s sweet and I can taste a hint of the vegetable flavor of the beet.
The white tea is a little less discernible in this blend, but I do taste it. The light, airy, hay-like note of the white tea seems to complement the floral notes. This tea is earthy (which also complements the floral notes), floral, very slightly vegetal, and very enjoyable – albeit different! – to drink.
I steeped this in my Kati Tumbler and I chose to steep it in this cup for one reason: the beetroot powder. I didn’t want to have to scrub the jug of my Breville One-Touch after beetroot powder had steeped in it! It’s a lot easier to scrub my Kati Tumbler!
After shaking the pouch thoroughly (to redistribute the powder that had settled), I measured out 2 bamboo scoops of tea into my Kati and heat the water to 170°F and steeped the tea for 3 1/2 minutes.
Postal Teas recommends letting these teas cool a bit to let the flavors develop and I agree with that. As this particular tea cools, the flavors not only develop but the texture develops too. The beetroot seems to thicken somewhat to create a pleasant, brothy type texture to the cup (without it feeling syrupy the way a hibiscus blend would).
I’m really happy that I had this opportunity to try this tea! Thank you, Postal Teas!
Sweet Violet Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Flower
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
Sweet Chinese violets, creamy and sweet with just a hint of floral flavor! If you enjoy the lighter side of life (chamomile, rose buds, green tea) you will love this tea. Just throw a couple of flowers in some boiling water, and–viola! You have some sweet violet tea. Although this isn’t a rare flower, it is a difficult tea to locate, which makes us extra happy to offer it to our customers.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Every once in a while, I’ll shop around on Etsy. As an artist myself, I like supporting other artists. And also, every once in a while, I’ll come across a new-to-me tea company whose offerings are too enticing to pass up. Such is the case last week when I was looking around on Etsy and I found M&K’s Tea Company.
I was thrilled with the prices of their samplers. The one I ultimately decided upon was just $4.99 for a custom five tea sampler, but there are several other samplers to choose from as well. The order turnaround time is speedy: I placed the order and the next business day, my order was already in transit!
I really like the packaging of the samples from M&K’s Tea Company. The outer “sleeve” is a small Kraft envelope that is about the size of a coin envelope. it has a “window” cut out of it to offer a visual of the tea which has been sealed in a small zipper pouch that’s been sealed inside the Kraft envelope. The front outer label has the M&K’s logo and the name of the tea. The back outer label offers brewing parameters, ingredients and harvest information.
Under the sealed flap of the Kraft envelope is “Your Lucky Tea Symbol.” For this particular tea, my symbol is The Fox. I’m not sure exactly what that means. But it adds a little whimsy to the whole thing.
A lot of thought has gone into packaging and I like that. I like that it has a certain “small company” type feel to it but some time and effort was invested in it to give it a quality appearance while also providing the customer with the information needed to properly brew a cup of tea!
So, this Sweet Violet Tea is the first of the teas that I’ll be trying from this new to me company! Not actually a “tea” because it contains no camellia sinensis, this flower tisane is crafted from Sweet Violets. The flowers are gorgeous, colorful, whole and beautifully fragrant.
To brew this, I emptied the sample into the basket of my Kati Tumbler. The other samples from M&K’s hold enough for 500ml in my Breville One-Touch, but because these flowers are so large and bulky, the sample envelope looks like it’s just the right size for my tumbler. There are four whole flowers in the sample package, which seems about right for the size of the tumbler. Maybe one flower too many, but I’d rather go a little more on the leaf than a little less.
I filled the tumbler with water heated to 195°F and steeped the flowers for 8 minutes. (Incidentally, I didn’t follow the parameters as suggested on the packet, which called for 2 whole flowers per cup of boiling water, steeped for 2 – 5 minutes.)
Wow! I like this! I can’t think of another time that I’ve consumed a “pure Sweet Violet” tea/tisane such as this. I’ve had other flower teas, of course, but no Sweet Violets. I like this a lot.
The above description compares it to “the lighter side” and uses Chamomile, Rose Buds and Green Tea as examples. I think I like this better than chamomile. I like green tea better, but I think this would make a really good blend with green tea, I think. Perhaps a Dragon Well. As for rosebuds, this reminds me a bit of a rosebud tisane. The floral notes of a rosebud tea are maybe a little sharper – here, they’re soft and … well, the word I want to use is “fluffy.” There is a creaminess to this that I don’t experience with a rosebud tisane and that’s what’s giving it the fluffy taste.
So, I think I might actually like this better than a rosebud tisane. Or at least just as much.
The flowery notes are not sharp, they’re soft and sweet. And like the description above suggests, the floral notes are delicate. They don’t taste perfume-y or soapy at all. And the cup has a barely there floral aroma which kind of surprised me (I did, after all, steep flowers!) There really isn’t much aroma to the liquid at all. But the flavor is really enjoyable. I don’t generally get all excited over tisanes – I prefer my camellia sinensis – but this is actually one that I could see myself wanting to keep in my pantry. It’s really quite lovely!
And as it represent my first tea experience with M&K’s Tea Company, I’d say that we’re off to a really good start!
Snow Chrysanthemum Flower Tea (Xue Ju Hua Cha) from Teasenz
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Flower
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
A ‘heavenly’ rare flower tea that is grown only in the Kunlun mountains, where slow flower growth results in a delicious flower taste with notes of caramel and dark red tea liquor. Snow Chrysanthemum flower tea contains high amounts of amino acids and proteins, which are beneficial to your health by lowering blood sugar, reducing high cholesterol, and preventing heart diseases. A Teasenz favorite.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have tried a few chrysanthemum teas in the past, but I have never tried a chrysanthemum tea like this Snow Chrysanthemum tea from Teasenz. The flowers are dark red – burgundy! – the chrysanthemum teas I’ve had in the past have been white, and the petals are yellow. The aroma of the dry flowers is (not surprisingly!) floral and sweet.
The tea brews up dark. After reading more of the information provided about this tea on the website, I may have oversteeped these flowers, since it says that you should stop steeping when the liquid turns slightly red. This liquid has a deep burgundy hue similar to the color of the centers of the flowers. (For point of reference, I steeped these for five minutes.)
But the flavor is delightful, so I’m not complaining! I’m not upset … this doesn’t taste like over-steeped tea to me!
It has a wonderful, honey-caramel flavor. And even though the color would indicate that it’s “over-steeped” as I said, the flavor offers no such indication. It’s not bitter, and the flavor is remarkably mild and beautifully sweet with pleasing notes of flower. It’s very smooth from start to finish. The aftertaste is lightly sweet, reminiscent of the aftertaste I might experience if I were to have eaten some wildflower honey.
According to the Teasenz website, this is not only a tasty beverage, but a healthy one too:
Due to 18 kinds amino acids, researchers claim that it can prevent high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, coronary heart diseases, inflammation, colds, and insomnia when consumed in form of tea. Wild Kunlun snow daisy has been passed down from generation to generation as a Uighur medicinal herbal flower tea.
Now, I don’t usually drink something just because it’s healthy. There has to be a flavor payoff for me too. I have to like the way it tastes. What can I say? Life’s too short to drink something that tastes bad. But this doesn’t taste bad! It’s actually quite a tasty tisane!
It’s a very relaxing, soothing drink. I found it most enjoyable while the tea was hot. As it cooled, the flavors diminished somewhat, but it was still quite tasty. That is to say, it’s better when it’s hot, but it’s still good when it’s cold.