We’re in that seasonal stage now where it’s technically spring and everyone wants to act like it’s already warm outside, but it just isn’t yet. I am not immune from that urge. The long slog of winter has made me dream of sunshine and singing birds. I’m still waiting for springtime to hit the air, but in the meantime I can brew it up in my mug.
This blend is perfectly spring in a cup. Calabash lists the ingredients as jasmine flowers, Turkish roses, and first-pluck sencha green tea. First-pluck sencha usually comes out in April or May, so this is literally a spring tea. Plus I always think of flowers as a sign of spring (although I looked it up and it seems jasmine primarily blooms in summer and most but not all types of roses bloom in spring).
I like the choice of sencha as a base tea here. Its lightness allows the florals to shine. Rose is definitely the prominent flavor here, with jasmine playing a supporting role. It doesn’t have that chemically, artificial taste that some floral teas do and it’s not over-the-top. I also like that it’s only two flowers, so it’s not too busy. I get two solid steeps out of the leaf before it loses flavor.
This tea is the perfect way to tide me over until springtime arrives for real.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Calabash Tea & Tonic
Description
Hand-plucked jasmine flowers and Turkish roses compliment our exclusive first pluck sencha green tea & Love
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Jasmine from Arbor Teas. . . .
Arbor Teas is a family business based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan which is surprising to me as I did not take Ann Arbor as a town with a tea scene. Nevertheless, Arbor teas is sourcing some of the world’s finest organic teas for those looking for organic options.
My Sororitea Sisters were kind enough to send me a sample of Arbor Tea’s Jasmine tea. Normally I would not pick a jasmine tea for myself but I am happy to try anything once and this tea is no exception. I was given just enough for a hot cup of tea and an iced cup so I got to brewing per the company’s suggested brewing parameters.
The hot tea tastes like most other jasmine teas I have had, dark and floral with an intense briskness that comes off almost drying. The iced tea is more of the same with that drying floral flavor that tastes as if potpourri is what was steeped and not tea.
Basically this is like all other jasmine teas and by that I mean it is not for me. People who like this flavor can always give this a try but nothing stood out to me as distinct or particularly unique so unless you like this flavor and are placing an Arbor Tea order, it might be better to go with a more easily accessible option.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Arbor Teas
Description
This organic, Fair Trade Certified Jasmine Green Tea offers a wonderful jasmine fragrance backed by a fuller-bodied organic chun mee green tea base. This is acquired by picking the jasmine flower late at night when the blossom is in full bloom. The flowers are layered upon the organic tea leaves to impart their fragrance and create the most exquisite jasmine green tea experience around! By morning, the jasmine fragrance has transferred to the organic Chinese tealeaves and the blossoms are then discarded. This process is carried out on multiple successive evenings to impart the superior flavor and aroma of this specially selected organic green tea.
Ingredients: organic Chinese green tea
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sweet Magnolia Green from The Tea Spot. . . .
Next for my Birthday-Review-A-Thon, I’d thought I would check out Sweet Magnolia Green, a tea sent to me when I was subscribing to The Tea Spot’s Monthly Subscription Plan. I can’t recommend a better subscription plan to be honest. The only reason I had to stop was because I just found myself with way too many teas that needed my attention. So when my debit card needed to be updated, I just realized I needed to pause the plan for a bit and get back to it in a few months once my tea stash has gone down a bit.
Each month, The Tea Spot would curate a package of teas for you to try- all different varieties for all different occasions. I loved the fact that I wasn’t the one making the choice of what I was going to receive, getting me out of my comfort zone a bit. I’m more of a green and white tea drinking gal, but every once in a while, I need to remember all the love black and herbal teas can give.
This particular tea that I received in one of my tea subscriptions- Sweet Magnolia Green is a tea that I’ve been wanting to try for some tea. Green tea with jasmine flowers and throw in the magnolia scented piece . .be still my beating heart! I’ve been waiting for the right time to check this tea out and I feel like today is the day.
As soon as I open the package, I know I’m in for a treat. This tea has all the floral love and then some. The magnolia scent is for sure noticeable along with the familiar jasmine notes that I have grown to adore. The green tea base is there with a subtle vegetal scent.
Brewed up with water prepped at 175F and allowed to steep for 3 minutes, this hot cuppa floral tea keeps giving and giving in its own beautiful way. The first flavor that comes across is a strong jasmine note and I mean strong. I love my jasmine teas so this didn’t turn me off but I could see this not being a tea for those who aren’t into floral teas.
Towards the end of the sip, you are greeted with this wonderfully silky green tea base that had me coming back for more. Really lovely and one that I can’t get enough of. Highly recommend this one for all my green tea fans as well as anyone that enjoys a floral tea.
This tea is soft and bold with an alluring feel that makes you want to gulp and I mean gulp the tea down. I don’t think I’ll be sharing this tea with my hubby today. I think this gorgeous blend is all mine.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Tea Spot
Description
Our award-winning magnolia green tea won the Gold Medal at the 2017 World Tea Championship. Your senses will be exhilarated and your spirits uplifted when you breathe in the sweet, fragrant aroma of our Sweet Magnolia Green. This delicate tea is naturally scented with beautiful white magnolia flowers, giving it a diverse array of aromas that range from deep plum fruit to light citrus. The magnolia scent is in perfect harmony with the buttery green tea, making an unforgettable cup of tea that will infuse peace into any occasion.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Green Jasmine by The Love Tea Co. . . . .
I steeped this tea with 2 heaping teaspoons of leaf in 1 cup of 200 degree water for about four minutes.
I was a little concerned that the jasmine flowers wouldn’t have much fragrance left because I couldn’t detect much smell in the dry flowers, but when I started steeping the tea it started giving off its perfume right away, so I guess hot water is the magic ingredient to bring that out!
There are tons of jasmine flowers in this tea, too. Like, actual jasmine buds. And they smell like a combination of candy and perfume once they’ve started steeping. The green tea fragrance isn’t really coming through at this point, but I’m not surprised at all given how flowery the smell is.
I let it go to four minutes because I didn’t want to waste any of the jasmine fragrance.
Once the tea is steeped, I noticed that some leaf has escaped the ball; the tea is orange-yellow in color and, as mentioned before, highly fragrant.
First sip: Apparently Jasmine tastes sweet as well as smelling sweet. There’s an edge of bitterness to the green tea, though; there’s also some umami and maybe a little seaweediness to it, rounding the flavor out. I blame myself for the bitterness, because I used 200 degree water instead of 195 degree water like recommended (because hey, my electric kettle only has so many settings. Next time though I’d go with the cooler option, which I think would be 185 on my kettle).
A little sugar helps with any bitterness; or you could just steep at the recommended temperature, unlike me, and do a less intense steeping as well (three minutes instead of four). It’s really great as is, though, and tastes like drinking flowers!! Jasmine is so magical it kind of blows my mind every time I try a good jasmine tea (the reason I don’t try them more often is probably because I’m kind of scared of getting a not-so-good one).
I’m also really impressed by this tea company’s mission and activism; they don’t just say that they support charitable causes, they also give 25% of their proceeds (that’s a quarter of everything they get!) to mental health causes, according to their website.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
Jasmine tea is one of the most pleasant fragrances to all people. To the nose, the dry tea has a floral bouquet, which causes your senses to come alive with pleasant thoughts. This tea is filled to the brim with an abundance of beautiful jasmine blossoms which gives the tea an amazing presentation value. In China, they declare this jasmine tea as ‘Jasmine #1’.
This high quality green tea – produced between the middle of March and the middle of May – has jasmine flowers that bloom between the 1st of May and the end of May (the time of the most intense aroma). This tea yields a cup with all the concentrated heady bouquet of a garden in bloom, even if its your neighbor’s jasmine bush.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Gentle Hug from Nessie in Tea form! – Nessy Tea by Wendigo Tea Co.
Hello readers! I come with another review for a tea company that continues to impress me. As some of you may know that the tea blend named after the company has impressed me as far as green tea goes (the review is here). And like the tea that I had before named Wendigo, the Nessy blend also drew me in with its name. For the Loch Ness monster or Nessy has always piqued my interest for according to the legend Nessy is what you will call a gentle giant. Instead of the Chupacabras and the Nosferatus before her, she mainly keeps to herself with no intent to harm. With that being said, I believe this tea is a perfect representation of Nessy’s character.
At its base form this tea is referred to as Imperial Grade Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea and since I have not had much experience in the pearl tea family I can’t tell you much in comparison other than I enjoyed every cup I had of this tea. This tea was smooth and uplifting, it gave the feeling of the smell of clean linen. It was comforting and warm while giving your brain a nice clean jump start. This tea was also delightfully sweet, without one note of harshness. And this is without much sugar, for me personally on an average basis add 2-2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar depending on the beverage. So with this tea, I found 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar was perfect.
Now onto the numbers. Nessy, like the legend itself, is a treasure and so this blend is not an average price that I would pay for a container of tea. This tea, in my opinion, is a splurge item and every sip should be treasured for the asking price is 12.99 for 2.2 oz and $25.99 for 5.5 oz. So the 2.2 oz is not terribly expensive but it exceeds my normal purchases two-fold but then again this is Jasmine tea pearls we are talking about. Unfortunately, I have failed to find any type of samples on the site but there is a space for a Wendigo tea club in the works so I will stay tuned for that.
With all being said, I would say that I would recommend this tea to anyone who wants to try out authentic jasmine tea pearls. For if there is one thing that this company does well that is to provide its customers with the most authentic and pure taste of tea without adding weird ingredients like rice crispies or sprinkles. This tea is definitely on my list of future wants and I hope for the day where I can have Nessy with my evergrowing tea collection.
See you for the next cuppa!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Wendigo Tea Co
Description
You may know me better as the Loch Ness Monster. I am a jasmine scented tea whose leaves have been rolled into tiny pearls to release my beautiful taste and smell as I uncurl for you in the hot water. There is nothing quite like me.
Sometimes people call me an Imperial Grade Jasmine Dragon Pearl from Fuding of the Fujiang province of China and scented five times by jasmine flower buds picked just after they had bloomed. You can just call me Nessy though. All you really need to know is that I make one damn good cup of tea that will make you feel refreshed and comfy.
You love me, but just don’t know it yet.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
