Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Strand Tea
Tea Description:
Premium Black Teas from highland China blended with lilac flowers. This tea looks, smells, and tastes great.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I must agree with that last line in the description above: this Lilac Blend Black Tea from Strand Tea DOES look, smell, and taste great! I love the beautiful purple blossoms, the tea is lightly fragrant with the flower, and the flavor is a rich, full-flavored black tea with a delicate floral tone.
I really like the texture of this tea. It has a delightfully round taste, and the texture is almost creamy when it glides over the palate. The flavor is lightly floral and sweet with notes of caramel and honey.
I can’t say that the flower that I taste is distinctly “lilac” because I can’t say for certain that I’ve actually tried a tea with lilac flower in it before. But I will say that the delicate flower notes are very pleasant. The flowery notes don’t taste sharp, they are soft and sweet tasting. It doesn’t taste off-putting or perfume-ish. It’s just really … nice!
I have been a fan of Strand Tea for a while. I love that they’re a local company, and I love that they embrace that with their Portland Blend. I also like that they include cookies with every order. I love it when a company adds special little touches like that … it makes me feel special as a customer, and it makes me want to order from that company again, and the next time I order from them, I’m going to be getting more of this Lilac Blend because it’s really good!
Lavender Green Tea from Tradition
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: This tea is available on Amazon
Tea Description:
Tradition Lavender Green Tea is made from select natural lavender flowers, combined green tea leaves.
Taster’s Review:
I thought long and hard on whether or not I was actually going to post my review of this Lavender Green Tea from Tradition. I wasn’t sure if I could conjure up enough words to describe this tea given the fact that I really wasn’t all that happy with the tea.
But here goes . . .
The fragrance of the tea – both in its dry and brewed form – is very light. I found this somewhat surprising and a little disconcerting given the fact that this is supposed to be a lavender scented tea. I wanted to smell the lavender, but I really didn’t smell much lavender at all.
The tea brews up very light in color … and very light in flavor too. The barely there aroma of the lavender translates into the brewed tea – that is to say that it’s barely there.
I don’t taste much from the green tea either, to be quite honest. On the good side, this isn’t a bitter, grassy green tea which can sometimes be the case of a bagged green tea. Then again, there is so little “green tea” taste here that it makes me question whether or not there’s any green tea in it at all. I don’t taste grassy. I don’t taste vegetative. I do taste a hint of buttery taste that I do sometimes taste in green teas. And I do like that light, little bit of butter taste to this.
But, I taste next to no lavender. On the plus side, at least the lavender isn’t overdone. It doesn’t taste soapy, perfume-ish or chemical-y. There is a very, very delicate whisper of lavender, and I notice that only if I’m really focused on the sip.
Overall, this is just … boring. A very boring and lackluster tea. Not something I’d recommend to anyone. I wouldn’t even recommend to use it as potpourri because the aroma is too slight to enjoy.
Hey … on the plus side … I guess I was able to come up with enough words for a review!
Sunny Ceylon Flavored Black Tea from Tea People
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea People
Tea Description:
Ginger and lemon flavours are a match made in heaven. Add to that luxury Ceylon,which by the way, are considered an aphrodisiac. And you have your perfect honeymoon tea! Of course you don’t have to be on your honeymoon to have our Sunny Ceylon. With bits of pineapple,sunflower and calendula petals, it is guaranteed to bring you a taste of warm sunshine in the gloomiest of days.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m always excited to try teas from a new-to-me company, and this Sunny Ceylon Flavored Black Tea is the first that I’m tasting from Tea People! I chose this tea to try first because it’s been so cold and gray over the last week – not that I dislike this kind of weather, I actually prefer it to the sunshine – but, after a week of not seeing the sun, it’s kind of nice to have a bit of sunshine in my teacup.
When I opened the package and smelled the tea, it has a very sunshine-y kind of fragrance: bright and lemony! The brewed tea is not quite as citrus-y as the dry leaf, but I can smell the ginger and hints of lemon along with the distinct aroma of black Ceylon tea.
The flavor is nice! Even though the bouquet of the dry leaf suggested that this might taste very strongly of lemon, it’s not quite as powerful a flavor as I expected. Oh sure, I can taste the lemon in every sip, but, it doesn’t overpower the other flavors in my cup and that’s a really good thing. I can taste the ginger, I can taste the lemon … but mostly, I taste Ceylon tea!
It is a brisk tea with a medium body with an astringency that I’d categorize as fair to moderate. It is a cleansing astringency – after I’ve taken a sip, my mouth feels clean and dry, like it’s ready for another sip! But don’t mistake astringency for bitterness, because this isn’t bitter. (Although, as with any tea, I wouldn’t recommend oversteeping it because that could cause it to become bitter.)
The lemon adds a bright, sunny taste to the cup (hence the name!) The ginger is very mellow here, adding just a hint of warmth to the cup without tasting spicy. When I slurp the tea, I can taste very subtle whispers of pineapple which accentuate the lemon nicely. There isn’t enough pineapple here to offset the two primary flavors: lemon and ginger; there is just a hint of something a little extra that intrigues the palate to explore.
As the tea continues to cool (and I continue to sip) … the lemon becomes more apparent, and now that I’m about halfway through the cup, the lemon almost tastes as though I squeezed a thin slice of fresh lemon in my teacup. it’s very bright and juicy!
A really nice tea, and it turned out to be the perfect choice for this rather gray day! I can taste the sunshine in my teacup even if I can’t see it when I peek out my window! This joyous tea experience makes me look forward to trying some other teas from Tea People!
Pan Asia Green Tea Blend from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
A delightful blend of Chinese Bancha and big Chrysanthemum flowers that create a light, clean tasting delight.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? We haven’t yet celebrated our Thanksgiving because my husband works every Thursday, and it’s next to impossible for him to get the day off, especially if Thursday happens to fall on a holiday. So, we always postpone our Thanksgiving for a day when the whole family can come together, and this year, it happens to be this coming Tuesday.
But as I sit here, contemplating my Thanksgiving feast menu, I am sipping on this Pan Asia Green Tea Blend from Harney & Sons. It’s sweet and light, with a refreshing floral note. The background is slightly grassy. It’s a delightful tea to drink as I’m trying not to get stressed out over holiday plans. It’s keeping my nerves in check!
Overall, the flavor reminds me of springtime, and that’s certainly a welcome memory as it is quite cold outside right now. Brrrrr! I am finding this tea – served warm – to be very soothing and calming and helping me to forget that chill outside, and the stress that I’m feeling on my insides!
Of course, this tea would be splendid served iced too. The texture is soft and the flavor sweet, and the chrysanthemum adds just a hint of sharpness to the buttery smooth notes of the Chinese Bancha.
It’s not too floral and not too grassy. There’s a really enjoyable balance of tastes. A nice, relaxing cuppa.
Jasmine Pearls Mo Li Hua Green Tea from Yezi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yezi Tea
Tea Description:
This exquisite organic green tea is harvested in the city of Fuzhou in the famed Fujian province of China. Mo Li Hua is sold as a mix of carefully oxidized green-tea leaves and fragrant jasmine flowers.
Jasmine is the municipal flower of Fuzhou—and for good reason. The citizens of Fuzhou know that there are fewer sensations more rejuvenating than the fragrance of jasmine flowers wafting through their windows on evenings ideal for quiet contemplation. Now you, too, can enjoy this carefully handcrafted loose-leaf green tea. Be sure to note how, as soon as the Mo Li Hua leaves come into contact with water, they expand into exquisite floral patterns, further accentuating the goodness of the brew.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love jasmine pearls! And these Jasmine Pearls Mo Li Hua Green Tea from Yezi Tea are some of the finest I’ve tried. The aroma is captivating, and the flavor … amazing. And drinking jasmine teas is always a treat for me … not just because I love jasmine, but it also means that I get to get out my Yixing mug. It’s Jasmine time!
The leaves have been carefully wound into small pellets, and these “pearls” slowly unfurl to release their flavor. It’s fun to watch them do their elegant dance in the hot water, so if you have a glass gaiwan … you should use it to brew this tea!
This is a lovely jasmine tea. The jasmine is not nearly as strong in flavor as the fragrance suggests. It is a highly aromatic tea: both the dry leaf and the brewed tea emit an outstanding bouquet. But the flavor of the jasmine is soft and smooth … not at all perfume-y. It is beautifully exotic and feminine without tasting like a bar of soap from one of those luxury bath stores in the mall.
The green tea is sweet and it has a delicate taste that is a perfect complement to the subtle taste of the jasmine flower. There is no sharpness and very little astringency here. It’s just a pleasure to sip, from start to finish.
Yet another amazing tea from Yezi Tea … I’m really impressed with this company thus far!