Full disclosure, this is one of the blends I made on Adagio Teas. Their create-a-blend tools are just too much fun, and their fandom tea community is active and engaging. I wanted to review my Sabriel blend because I had been stewing over the idea for a long time, and it was so satisfying to have it finally come together.
Sabriel is one of the main characters from the Old Kingdom book series by Garth Nix. I won’t go into too much detail about the books, except to say that the series essentially follows the lives of “good” necromancers who help fight dead creatures or put the dead to rest. The stories are beautiful, imaginative, and just a little spooky.
For my Sabriel tea blend I wanted something impactful but nuanced; her work managing the magic of the dead takes steadiness and subtlety. The body of the tea is made up of two types of green tea. The gunpowder tea is robust without being astringent, and adds a whiff of smokiness that compliments the crackling, toasted notes of the hojicha tea.
The rest of the ingredients are all fragrant and sensory-inspiring. Peppermint brings a cooling creepiness, like fog in a graveyard, or a settling peacefulness like still water. Rose and lavender can have the morbid interpretation of flowers at a funeral, but can also being nostalgic, like remembering a favorite bouquet or garden memory. Cardamom adds some spirit and peppery spice, and feels a bit unexpected without its usual partners of cinnamon and ginger. The scent of cardamom always makes me think of opening the kitchen spice cabinet, and all the cooking possibilities within.
I have not come across a blend quite like this in my tea drinking experience, so I was more than happy to have the opportunity to make it myself. It was also great fun to honor one of my favorite characters and book series in tea form.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
This Is My Boomstick from Geeky Teas. . . . .
I feel like This Is My Boomstick is the kind of tea that Confucius drank while he was doing all that writing. Boomstick strikes the balance of meditative and action. Boomstick is the flavor of Chinese calligraphy, fireworks, and wall-building. (FACT: it’s not possible to see the Great Wall from space. How disappointing is reality?) Boomstick tastes like intellectual conversations and long travels.
The tea itself shows up in cute little rolled-up balls. When I showed them to a coworker, she said “that must be a tedious job.” I like to imagine that the workers are watching Netflix while hand-crafting, like I crochet on my couch during Handmaid’s Tale or what-have-you. It seems like a job one can do somewhat automatically after a little practice. Or, at least, I hope it is.
As the tea steeped, the balls at the top of my gravity steeper unfurled downward. The balls at the bottom puffed upward. They were like stalactites and stalagmites reaching for each other.
It’s a flavorful, robust green, but not too tart or overwhelming. I’d say this falls into the “just right” category, a quintessential straight green. Definitely worth a try, even if just to watch the unfurling. It’s a lovely moment to just enjoy in the present.
I couldn’t find any Confucius quotes about tea to wrap up this post, so we’re going to end on this:
“Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.” ― Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Geeky Teas
Description
Gunpowder tea from china is crafted from hand-rolled green tea leaves. The oxidation gives it a smoky flavor.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Boomstick from Fandom Tea
Yes, I am a huge horror fan. One of the first movies I remember watching when I was a kid with my dad is Army of Darkness. At the time, I just thought it was a fun weird off the wall movie. I loved every cut scene and one liner. Plus, the leading actor had this crazy chin. Little did I know this movie would actually set the tone for a good chunk of my life and my obsession with all things horror and supernatural.
When Starz green lighted Ash vs Evil Dead, I was ecstatic! I couldn’t wait and when the show aired, I was instantly in love! Even tho I still love the original Evil Dead movies, there is a special place in my heart for this series. Any way I can get more Bruce Campbell, I’m all over it.
So let’s chat about this tea dedicated to the Evil Dead Series, Boomstick. If you are familiar with the series, Boomstick is one of the iconic fixtures of the movies/show. Boomstick is the gun that Bruce Campbell aka Ash uses. With that kind of description, you would think this would be a smoky blend of some sort. While there is a underlying smoke from this green flavored tea, there is also a sweetness.
Boomstick is a gunpowder green tea with strawberry flavorings added in. Sweet yet smoky and that is exactly the flavor profile of this tea as well. What you really come away with are this rich bursting strawberry notes that sweetened that smoky gunpowder green tea perfectly. The perfect way to describe the main character as well. He is sweet and cares as much as he is sleek and charming, well and maybe a bit off the wall as well.
Overall, a great flavored unique tea that was bursting with so much fresh flavor. I could see this being an amazing tea as a cold brew too. Especially with those chilly fall/winter days upon us. A fresh burst of strawberry can always brighten up someone’s day.
I will be ordering more of this tea so I can watch the series premiere of season 2 of Ash Vs Evil Dead in style while drinking out of my awesome mug! And yes, I have to end this review like this. . .Groovy!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Fandom Teas
Description
Our bold strawberry gunpowder green is inspired by Ash’s signature weapon, the Boomstick.
This tea is perfect with a little bit of shortbread or a late night snack!
– Bold strawberry gunpowder green tea blend
– Available in 10 tea bags, 1oz and 2oz loose leaf varieties
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Citrus Spice Tea From Tea Is Chi
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Tea is Chi
Tea Description:
A lovely blend of gunpowder green, orange, and cinnamon.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Citrus Spice Tea from Tea Is Chi is a very nicely done flavored Gunpowder Green Tea. It features both orange and/or orange peel and cinnamon flavors in with the Gunpowder Green. I will say that the flavors that were combined with the green tea base wasn’t over the top but I think that they reached the level of flavor they were going for here because I believe sometimes it can be difficult to appropriately flavor a Gunpowder Green Tea. Sometimes the flavoring on Gunpowder Green Teas that I have tried in the past are either too intense or not intense enough. Others don’t seem to mesh well with the natural smokiness of the gunpowder or Earth-tones or veggie-like notes of the green tea base. Citrus Spice Tea from Tea Is Chi seems to bust through those barricades! The orange is citrusy and semi-puckery and the cinnamon gives it a terrific contrasting kick! I find this to be a good tea to give to people who are unsure about green teas or gunpowders more specifically. This is darn tasty ICED, too! Nice Job, Tea is Chi!
Thé Vert à la Menthe Nanah (Spearmint Green Tea) by Kusmi
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Kusmi
Tea Description:
Nana mint is the mint used for teas in the Middle East and North Africa. Its refreshing taste makes Spearmint green tea perfect for after a meal.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The first thing I noticed about this one is how wonderful it smells – fresh, strong, sweet spearmint, right from the get go! I prefer spearmint to peppermint in general, but spearmint teas seem relatively scarce in comparison, so I’m pleased to have found this one from Kusmi. The dry leaf is very dark green and tightly rolled. There’s no indication on the tin of the variety of green tea this is, but I would guess Gunpowder from looking at the leaves alone. I could be wrong, but that’s my educated guess. For my cup, I used 1 tsp of leaf, and gave it 2 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a golden yellow, and smells primarily of spearmint with an underlying hint of green tea.
To taste, this one reminds me a bit of chewing gum, or softmints. It has the same intense initial sweet mint flavour, which lingers decently into the aftertaste. Spearmint is pretty much all I’m getting from this one, so it comes across fairly one note, but if spearmint is what you’re looking for, then it’s certainly what you’ll get. I had thought I’d be able to taste the green tea base a little more, but it remains firmly in the background. There’s the tiniest hint of it right at the end of the sip, but in a blind tasting you could tell me this was a pure spearmint tea and I’d probably be none the wiser.
As a fan of spearmint, I really like this one. It’s sweet, clean-tasting, and refreshing, and makes for a very pleasant cup on a warm summer afternoon. I imagine it’d also work well cold brewed, which is something I’ll have to try in the coming weeks. It’s not as punchy as peppermint in terms of flavour, and it lacks the intensely cooling effect that mint sometimes has, so this tea is just the thing if you like your mint a little softer and more gentle. This is a wonderful offering from Kusmi, and well worth a look this summer if you’re in the market for a mint green tea.
