Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Secret Garden Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Green tea blended with juicy Mango. An exotic complement to a chutney turkey sandwich, vegetable quiche, or other buttery delights.
Ingredients: Green tea, pineapple pieces, mallow petals, natural flavors
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I have really enjoyed the teas that I’ve tried from The Secret Garden. It makes me wish that I lived in Vancouver, British Columbia instead of Vancouver, Washington so that I could visit their tea room and have high tea with them. I mean seriously, take a look at some of these sweets and savories! YUM!
But since I don’t live in the Vancouver of British Columbia and instead live in the Vancouver of Washington State in the U.S., I must be content with enjoying the lovely teas that they offer and sell online. Like this Mango Green Tea, for example.
To brew it, I put 2 bamboo scoops of tea in the basket of my Breville One-Touch tea maker and added 500ml of freshly filtered water to the jug. Then I set the timer for 2 minutes and the temperature for 175° and I let the tea maker do it’s magic. I came back about five minutes later and a perfectly brewed tea waited for me.
It’s really tasty. There is a really delightful balance between the fruit flavor and the sweet green tea. I taste both of these components and neither seems to be competing with the other for the palate’s attention. They work together quite beautifully.
The green tea looks to me a bit like a Chinese Sencha and it tastes quite a bit like it too. It’s sweet and buttery and smooth. I’m picking up on very little to no astringency. There’s a light vegetal note that melds nicely with the fruit notes.
The mango is sweet and has a flavor that reminds me of fresh mango. It has a very authentic fruit flavor. It doesn’t taste overly sweet or artificial.
The fruit bits in the dry leaf are actually dried pineapple rather than dried mango – which was used, I suspect, because dried mango is a little more difficult to come by than dried pineapple. And since the dried fruit in a tea blend like this really adds very little to the finished flavor, the dried fruit is more for appearance sake than for taste.
And the proof of that is in the taste. I have attempted to taste pineapple in this and every once in a while I pick up on the slightest – ever so slight! – note of pineapple’s tart. I can’t even be sure if it’s something I’m actually tasting or if it’s in my head because I’m trying to see if I can taste it. Really, what I’m tasting is mango.
Delicious mango!
Oolong Tea from Teatulia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teatulia
Tea Description:
A stunning, full-bodied cup with hints of fresh pie crust, lemon and sake.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really excited to learn that Teatulia began offering an Oolong tea! I’ve tried other teas from this company in the past and have enjoyed them so I was eager to try their new Oolong.
What sets Teatulia apart from other tea companies is that their organic teas are grown in Bangladesh. You can learn more about the Teatulia Organic Tea Garden here.
I love the packaging of Teatulia. Their “eco-canisters” are completely biodegradable. And while I prefer my Oolongs loose, I do appreciate that the pyramid sachets are made from corn silk. Another plus: the leaves appear to be large, not chopped into dust the way many teas in sachets or bags are.
Normally, when I steep my Oolong teas, I grab my gaiwan. But because this tea is in a sachet, I didn’t do that. (I suppose I could have cut the sachet and poured the leaf into my gaiwan, but I didn’t do that either. I decided to brew this as the purveyor intended.) However, I did perform a 15 second rinse on the teabag. What can I say? I’m sold on the reawakening of the tea leaves. Oolongs just seem to taste better when I take that extra 15 seconds to do the rinse. After the rinse, I steeped one sachet in 8 ounces of water that had been heated to 180° for 3 minutes.
The aroma is intriguing! I smell notes of smoke. I also smell something sweet … like butterscotch: smoky butterscotch! Notes of earth and wood. I don’t think I’ve smelled an Oolong quite like this one.
The flavor is delightful! Sweet! I taste the notes of butterscotch. The above description suggests notes of fresh pie crust, lemon and sake. I’m not a drinker of alcohol and it’s been years since my one and only cup of sake, so I can’t tell you if I’m actually tasting sake or not. But I do taste notes of lemon!
Bright, sunny lemon. I also taste a slight pastry note. The pastry note really pops when I slurp the sip to aerate it. I can also taste subtle notes of smoke and woodsy tones. It’s a rather interesting Oolong!
And since it is an Oolong, I decided to take it for a resteep. The second cup is just as delicious as the first – maybe even better! I am getting more of that butterscotch-like sweetness with the second cup! Not so much of the smoke this time, but I am picking up on a slight woodsy tone. The pastry notes are more subdued now, but I’m still getting light lemony notes.
A really lovely Oolong!
Secret Garden’s Secret Black Tea from The Secret Garden Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: The Secret Garden Tea Co.
Tea Description:
One of our bestsellers! Vanilla and a secret sweet ingredient. Fruity and dessert-like, it pairs wonderfully with raspberry cheesecake, almond trifle, chocolate mousse, and other sweet treats.
Ingredients: Black tea, natural flavors.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
The dry leaf smells delicious with soft notes of vanilla and a fruity, berry essence. The brewed tea smells more like black tea. I can pick up on faint notes of vanilla, but none of the fruity notes that I could smell in the aroma of the dry tea.
I brewed this secret tea in my Breville One-Touch. I added 2 bamboo scoops of the tea into the basket and poured 500ml of water into the jug and set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes and the temperature to boil (212°F).
Mmm! This is tasty. I taste strawberry! I also taste a very subtle chocolate note along with the touch of vanilla. The strawberry is sweet but has that tart berry note toward the end of the sip. The vanilla softens the cup, giving it a smooth and delicately creamy taste and texture. The chocolate is very subtle. There’s just enough chocolate in there to make your taste buds perk up and say, “whoa, what was that? Was that chocolate?”
The black tea has some lovely notes of malt to it. It’s a rich black tea with a medium-to-full-bodied taste. There are hints of flower within the layers of flavor from the tea and it has a certain robustness to it – I think that I could reach for this as my first cup of the day and be quite satisfied with it.
I love the way this tea teases and tempts the palate. I taste strawberry and then it hides from me because the next sip is where I pick up on chocolate. It’s a fun tea to sip. And there is another note in this … almost nutty. I’m not sure if it’s a nuance from the tea or if it’s another secret flavor, but every once in a while, I pick up on a slight “nutty” tone.
After the tea cooled slightly, I could pick up on more of the rich chocolate-y notes and the nutty notes. It’s really quite a delicious and a fun tea to drink. I’m really glad I tried this one!
Secret Garden Rooibos Tisane from The Secret Garden Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Secret Garden Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Our secret, scrumptious blend. Perfect afternoon tea or as a digestif after a heavy meal.
Ingredients: Rooibos, safflower and rose petals, blackberry leaves, natural flavors
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This – brewed – smells AMAZING. I am picking up on distinct vanilla notes. Creamy and luscious!
And it tastes delightful. I’ve never made any big secret about the fact that I’m not the biggest fan of rooibos. I’d much rather sip on camellia sinensis. But, when I shouldn’t be drinking caffeine (later in the evening) but I still want something “tea-ish,” rooibos is a good alternative.
To brew this tisane, I went with my go-to temperature for rooibos: 195°F and I steeped the tisane for 10 minutes. Because rooibos doesn’t have the high tannin content of camellia sinensis, you can steep it longer to get the most out of the flavor. I brewed this in my Breville tea maker, using 2 bamboo scoops of tisane to 500ml of water.
Now, most tea purveyors will tell you that you can (or should) use boiling water for rooibos, but I recommend dropping the temperature slightly. I find that when I steep rooibos with boiling water, the flavor becomes “funky.” It has a weird taste that I want to describe as “sour wood.” Like a tisane that was made out of steeped sour wood and sweetened with saccharine. I’m not a fan of sour wood (not that I’ve actually tasted it, so I guess I should say that I don’t think of myself as a fan of it) and I really don’t like saccharine. So, I did some experimentation, and I found that by lowering the steep temperature a little, the saccharine-y sour wood flavor goes away and then I experience rooibos as a sweet, nutty, slightly woodsy flavor that I much prefer to the saccharine sour wood.
I noticed the delightful vanilla fragrance immediately as I began to pour the liquid into my favorite teacup. And this has a delicious vanilla flavor. I taste light floral notes as well and hints of berry. And of course, I do get some notes of nut and honey from the rooibos.
It all comes together in a very delicious way. It’s smooth and creamy. The vanilla notes meld with the natural nutty flavors of the rooibos. The hints of berry tickle the tip of my tongue in the aftertaste.
It’s a very relaxing tisane, and it has a dessert-y taste to it, making this an ideal tisane to choose for after dinner. (A fat-free dessert substitute, perhaps?) It’s sweet but not too sweet.
I like this one best served hot. It doesn’t need any additions, it has a nice sweetness to it without adding anything. A splash of milk might be nice if you want to enhance the creaminess of it, but I found it to be really pleasant and creamy without the addition of dairy.
Organic Black Tea from Arum Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Arum Tea
Tea Description:
A sweet and malty flavor that jolts the taste buds, with a caramel undertone and a floral finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have to admit that I was a little surprised when I opened this package of tea. The black tea leaves have been rolled into pellets much like the other teas from Arum Tea that I’ve tried. Why then, did it surprise me to see that this tea has been processed similarly to the others? I guess, mostly, because I’m not accustomed to seeing black tea leaves wound into pellets like this.
The leaves are a dark chocolate-y brown but otherwise look a lot like a Tie Guan Yin type Oolong. The leaves have been wound into small pellets and they have a warm, nutty aroma. Slightly sweet, slightly earthy.
To brew this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch. I measured out 2 bamboo scoops of dry leaf into the basket and added 500ml of water. I set the parameters for 205°F and 2 1/2 minutes. The tea brews up to a rich coppery color. The brewed tea has a sweet, nutty, earthy scent that is similar to the dry leaf, although this is a bit softer.
Mmm! This tastes so good. It’s a very rewarding taste. I am finding it reminiscent of a Nilgiri tea because it has a rich, malty tone to it, although it’s not quite as robust as a Nilgiri would be. It is somewhere between a Nilgiri and an Oriental Beauty Oolong. I’m experiencing some of the texture and nutty flavor of an Oriental Beauty while I’m getting that delightfully smooth, malty flavor and rich, buttery caramel-y note from the Nilgiri.
I’d recommend drinking this straight up. While most black teas take the addition of milk and honey well, I think that this tea would be overwhelmed by the additions and the nuances of this tea should be enjoyed to their fullest! For that reason, I wouldn’t make this that first cup of the day. Instead, this would be an excellent choice for a little later in the morning or early afternoon, when you want a delicious pick me up.
The second infusion of these tea leaves was also quite enjoyable – definitely worth the effort of resteeping! This tea is really delightful. It’s a bit different from the typical black tea and that’s what makes it so remarkable. Everyone should try this.