Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Golden Moon Tea
Tea Description:
Our Honey Pear begins with top-quality black tea. Then we add the sweet flavor of ripe fruit and rich, smooth honey.
Reminiscent of a succulent Mid-Eastern dessert treat, this loose leaf tea delivers a full-bodied, amber liquor and a sweet, rich flavor that is delicious hot or iced.
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
So, this tea is incredibly aromatic – even with my sample in a Ziploc over top of the foil sample pouch I can see smell intense, fragrant notes of pear. It reminds me of this really sweet, kind of ‘dewy’ pear scented hair detangler I used to have before I shaved off all of my hair. I know that doesn’t sound appealing, but I think that hair detangler was the best smelling ‘beauty product’ I’ve EVER owned. I remember even spraying it as a ‘perfume’ too (I was twelve at the time; don’t judge). And then, when I was out of it I was never able to find it again. If the taste of this tea translates into the smell of that detangler as well as the dry aroma makes me think it will I know I’m gonna be all over this tea.
I cold brewed my sample; and I have to say this turned out to be absolutely incredible. Honestly, the black base is a little drowned out but it’s not surprising given how intense the flavourings are. I would have been more surprised if the base had been able to compete with pear notes that strong. The mouthfeel is also incredibly thick and full; if I didn’t know better I could probably be persuaded that I was drinking the sweetened pear juices from a can of halved pears. It’s also just a sliver floral tasting. It compliments the pear notes well though. And you know what? It does kind of taste like that detangler smelled.
One thing I will say is that the ‘honey’ seems a lot less obvious; sure there’s absolutely 100% a sweetness to this tea that isn’t representative of just the pear on its own, but nothing identifies it specifically as honey. Though comparing this again to a ‘beauty product’ (but in the best way), my personal favourite perfume is ‘white tea and honey’ scented and this does have the same effervescent, fresh sweetness that I enjoy when I wear that perfume. The common denominator between the two is the ‘honey’. So that’s something.
Overall, I’m really impressed with this tea! At this point, it takes A LOT for a pear tea to sweep me off my feet and this blend certainly did it. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good pear tea or just a fruity tea in general with an over the top juiciness and freshness.
Lychee Burst Black from The Persimmon Tree Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree Tea Company (On Hiatus)
Tea Description:
Lychee Burst tea is a fruitful blend of lychee essence and organic, black loose-leaf tea. It steeps a sweet infusion; with delicate notes of apricot, osmanthus and ripe pear. Bring out the flavor with rock sugar, and pour over ice for a refreshing change to regular iced tea.
Learn more about this tea on Steepster!
Taster’s Review:
Recently I received a sample of this tea from a tea friend in the mail! I didn’t even realize that The Persimmon Tree Tea Company offered a black lychee tea, but I was certainly excited to learn that they do and be able to try it. The last black lychee tea I fell in love with, The Tea of Kings, was from RiverTea so I can’t buy it anymore. I need a solid replacement.
My thoughts about this cold brew are that the flavor level of the lychee and black base are pretty equal, which is how I feel it should be. The black base is brisk, clean and full bodied with malty notes and slightly more floral notes. It reminds me vaguely of a high grown Ceylon? The lychee is juicy and realistic and doesn’t taste overly floral or chemical which is a trap that flavour often falls into with lower quality lychee teas. I taste the pear notes a little too, but they’re fairly flat and certainly not the focal point of the blend.
I don’t think this is my new lychee black to keep on hand, but it’s definitely one of the better ones I’ve had the pleasure of tasting. If you’re looking for a black lychee tea, my suggestion would be to start here after The Persimmon Tree’s hiatus is over.
Dark Chocolate Oolong from Liquid Proust Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Liquid Proust Teas (No Longer Listed)
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Roasted Oolong, Cocoa, Flavoring
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of Andrew, from Liquid Proust Teas, crazy ideas but one which certainly looked interesting to me. I can’t actually remember ever trying a mind blowing chocolate oolong and so the possibility of this tea filling that whole intrigued me a lot! The dry leaf looks really interesting; and it has a soft, sweet cocoa smell and some floral notes too.
Hmm, this didn’t brew up to be the most appetizing smelling or aesthetically beautiful. It’s very murky/cloudy looking, and I get the impression it may have an oilier mouthfeel. However, the really concerning thing is the aroma of the liquor coming from the cup: it’s like the most floral oolong smell I’ve ever come across mixed with mildew and wet dog? And I know that’s harsh – but honestly that’s what I’m smelling and it’s making me gag just a little bit.
The weird thing is that it actually doesn’t taste bad; and I don’t know if I’ve ever come across a tea with such a disconnect between the taste and smell since those two senses are so incredibly intertwined. I mean it’s certainly not the delicious cocoa tea I was expecting but it’s actually nice enough. There are very strong nutty notes and then more medium notes of burnt toast and cocoa in the body of the sip. There are also subtle moss and floral notes. I don’t really like the way the more natural/floral notes pair with the toasty notes and sweet cocoa – it’s kind of like some sort of unholy Frankenstein’s monster of tea.
I’m gonna call it; this is the first offering from Liquid Proust that I dislike – I could probably handle it if, when I went in for a sip, I didn’t have to smell the steeped tea but that just kills it for me. That said, every other review I’ve read has been favourable so if you get the chance to sample this I encourage trying it and forming your own opinion. It’s just not for me.
China Fujian Cinnamon ‘Rou Gui’ Wuyi Rock Oolong from What-Cha
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: What-Cha
Tea Description:
Rou Gui has a great cinnamon taste combined with a thick texture and sweet taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love Rou Gui and the reviews I’ve read for What-Chas have all be positive so I thought it was about time I bought some to try for myself. Usually, I like to do Gong Fu sessions with Rou Gui and I’m sure I’ll try this that way eventually, but when I showed this to my mom what she said was that it smelled like it’d be good cold; and since she so rarely weighs in on how I prepare the teas I share with her I decided to honor her suggestion and make my inaugural tasting a cold brew.
I have to say, this was definitely an interesting blend to me. One of the things I most like about drinking Rou Gui Gong Fu is the progression of flavours and drinking a cold brew with an extended six or seven hour steep time really makes that progression of flavour blur together. So, I tasted qualities I think I normally would have in the first few steeps of a Gong Fu session as well as ones I probably only would have noticed in the last few infusions.
The most obvious taste was, of course, the sweet flavour of cinnamon. I find ‘cinnamon’ has such a varied flavour; it can be spicy like you’d find in Chai or very drying (have you ever done the cinnamon challenge?) or it can have this lovely pastry/baking sweetness. Of all the ways cinnamon can express itself, I definitely get the latter example here.
Other dominant flavours are honey, wood, leather, and floral notes. Maybe just a hint of cream as well. It’s a weird contrast between bold flavour notes and delicate ones too; the overall affect is a medium bodied, smooth tea with a very rich, thick mouthfeel and clean taste with a pleasant, lingering finish. One of the nice things about cold brewing this is that I got to skip the more ashy/char notes and biting astringency that usually accompany the first few infusions of a Rou Gui; but I still got leathery, wood notes! No additives are necessary. In fact, they’d probably detract from the taste more than anything else.
If there’s one thing I’d have liked to see which I didn’t it’s more of a fruity note – but maybe that’ll come out more when I inevitably Gong Fu this.
Miss Figgy Black from The East Indies Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The East Indies Tea Company
Tea Description:
Fig taste with dried figs and pink pig sprinkles.
Learn more about this on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
Despite being pretty much over my ‘sprinkles in tea’ phase, this tea drew me in with the combination of pig sprinkles in the blend and the fun, whimsical name and the promise of fig flavour. In my humble opinion, there aren’t nearly enough fig blends and any chance I have to try a new one is one I’m going to take!
However, when I cracked open my sealed 2 oz. package of this blend I was hit with something I hadn’t been prepared for; the strong, piercing aroma of lavender! The lack of comprehensive ingredients lists on East Indie’s website it definitely a valid criticism; while a super generic blurb has worked out in my favor in the past in this case I feel like I was failed – I cannot stand lavender, and had I known this blend had so much of it I’m sure I would’ve been persuaded against this tea despite wanting to try ‘all the fig’.
Regardless, I cold brewed myself up a mason jar worth of tea because you never really know how a tea is going to taste for sure until you try it, so despite major reservations there was still a chance this could be alright. Sadly, I just couldn’t get over that concentrated lavender flavour. It was floral in a soapy, artificial way that made me feel like I’d licked all of the counters and shelves in a Bath & Body Works store. Any fig that was in this blend, and I know there was because I could see the dried out pieces in the leaf along with the adorable pig sprinkles, was completely masked. I was not impressed.
My overall opinion is that personally I found this blend as irksome as the puppet it’s playfully named for – and if you’re looking for fig look elsewhere. However, if you’re a fan of lavender and want to try a strong lavender blend over a black base you’re in luck.