Mint Medley/Brooke Birch Tea Shoppe -skysamurai

Photo Credit: BrookeBirchTeaShoppe

You’ve eaten a ton of pizza and now you’re dragging. Grab some peppermint tea to put some pep back into your step. Granted this varies depending on the pizza you consume.

While I generally do not pick a peppermint tea I thought tonight was a good night to give it a go. This is a lovely one as far as peppermint goes. Though I still find the spearmint to be just a bit too much.

I love mint but I prefer regular mint to spearmint. The dry and wet aromas are pleasant. My lungs feel a bit cleansed. My tongue definitely does as well.


Want to Know More About This Tea?

Leaf Type:  Herbal

Where to Buy:  Brooke Birch Tea Shoppe

Description

A after dinner mint tea at its finest. Great for the digestion system but lovely anytime. Makes a great dessert tea.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Creamsicle Oolong/Little Woods Herbs & Teas -VariaTEA-

Advent season 2020 sort of got away from me. My original intention was to make my own advent calendar using teas I already owned so that it would force me to drink my own stash. I did that. I also bought 6 other advent calendars. Oops.

This particular tea, Creamsicle Oolong by Little Woods, was part of my DIY advent calendar. It is a tea that was shared with me by one of the sisters, Nichole/CuppaGeek, that I had not tried by the time I was making my own calendar. As such, it found its way into the calendar and was a pleasant surprise the day I pulled it out.

Citrus is not actually one of my favorite flavors in teas. It’s one of those flavors that my reaction will depend on my mood. Sometimes I crave citrus and other times I am just tired of it. As far as citrus goes, however, creamsicle tends to be one I like. I think that is because its not just citrus but instead citrus and vanilla/cream. These flavors combined are dessert-like and anyone who knows me knows that I like dessert teas.

When I steeped this up, I was taken aback by an almost-roasted scent that was coming from the tea. I know there are roasted oolongs or oolongs that have that flavor, but I did not expect that in a creamsicle tea. Creamsicles are frozen and sweet and bright and “roasted” doesn’t fit into that picture. Plus, this uses a milk oolong which are typically creamy, not roasted. With that said, my nose did not deceive me because there is definitely a roasted flavor in this tea.

I would describe the flavor as orange and roasted oolong with an aftertaste of vanilla creaminess. I want to like it but the roasted quality really takes me out of the idea of creamsicle. It’s also more tart and savory than it is sweet and that seems off for me. Perhaps if it were branded differently I would be less disappointed and more accepting of the overall flavor. While personally I am more likely to purchase a creamsicle blend, I find it a lot worse when I expect creamsicle and instead get roasted orange, than if I were just given a blend called roasted orange and that’s what is delivered. As it is, I am disappointed with this blend – which is not a bad blend, but also not creamsicle.


Want to Know More About This Tea?

Leaf Type: Oolong

Where to Buy: Little Woods Herbs & Teas

Description

A special blend using a Taiwanese Milk Oolong as the tea base. It is creamy, tart, and great with milk and honey.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Gourmet Root Beer/52 Teas. . . .#sipdown

What a weird time we are in right now. .  .The majority of us are in lockdown and are experiencing feelings and situations that are new to us.  Trying to keep sane with working remotely and e learning for our kiddos is starting to become our new normal.  I typically work remotely anyway but not with my stepsons and kiddos e learning and my husband working right beside me as well.  On top of all those new experiences,  I have been sick for literally over a month now with a respitory infection that seems to be lingering so there is currently a me sized imprint in my couch.  I finally have enough energy ( or should say I just made myself get back to) to start getting my routine back which included pulling out my tea stash and making an effort to drink down some delights that I still have.

One of the first delights that caught my eye was Gourmet Root Beer from 52Teas.  This is an older tea but one that I remember enjoying the first go around.  Instead of brewing this tea hot, I decided this would be a perfect tea to cold brew while I work on hot brewing other teas.  And what a great choice I made!

To start, I used a tea straw, my handy tervis, some ice, and cold water.  I emptied the contents of the loose leaf tea into the cup, added the ice and cold water and let the cup sit for a bit.  There was quite a bit of leaf left probably too much for one serving but I wasn’t paying attention and just dumped the contents into my cup. I’ll blame that oops on my current mediciation that is making me a bit loopy.

First sip in and I was reminded of how much I adore 52Teas.  Not just because of the incredible flavors they are able to create but just the love and passion that goes into each blend.  The rootbeer flavor is the front runner for sure witha touch of the anise falling behind.  Fresh and delightful! I can’t say that I taste a whole lot of black tea notes but since I cold brewed the tea and the brewing hasn’t been going long, I think I’m mainly picking up on the extracts and I’m not mad at that.

Fast forward ten minutes and I’ve added a bit more cold water and took another sip.  Again, the root beer and sarsaparilla flavors are the front runners with notes of the black tea starting to lightly drift in.  Again, still not mad at the flavors coming across especially with all of the medicines.  This bright pop of rootbeer flavor is exactly what I have been craving.

Not sure how this tea would be hot brewed but that is the beauty of tea. . .so many different ways to brew and enjoy.  And now after this afternoon ditty, I’m craving 52Teas. . .looks like I know how I am going to be spending my birthday money!


Want to Know More About This Tea?

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  52Teas

Description

This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Raspberry Kissed Coconut Green Tea/52Teas

Raspberry and coconut is a tea combination I overlooked for a very long time but one that I loved when I finally tried it. My tea journey started with DAVIDsTEA and I quickly made my way through most of the teas on their wall. One that I always seemed to skip over was Fantasy Island. For whatever reason, it just never appealed to me until a friend sent a sample over in a swap. One taste was all I needed to get hooked. The combination of raspberry and coconut was magical and it left me all the more heartbroken when the blend was discontinued.

Thankfully Anne, the genius behind 52 Teas, blended up a raspberry coconut tea, Raspberry Kissed Coconut Green Tea. The tea combined fair trade single estate zomba green tea, organic coconut, organic raspberries, and organic natural flavors.

Unlike Fantasy Island which was a black tea, this has a green tea base and that green tea is imparting a vegetal flavor. This is a coconut green tea through and through. The raspberry is present but a secondary note to the coconut, adding some brightness to the drink. For a raspberry coconut tea, it is not as sweet as you might expect. It’s a rather mellow tea which makes it nice in the warmer months when you want something light.


Want to Know More About This Tea?

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  52Teas 

Description

This tea is no longer available but click below to see the current green tea lineup.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Creme Brulee Grey Black Tea/Plum Deluxe

Earl Grey tea is black tea with bergamot flavor, and there is a huge difference in natural bergamot – a type of sour orange – and artificial. Some people think they don’t like Earl Grey because they tried either a tea made with a poor substitute for the real deal or a base that too lemony and astringent to take on sour orange. Others love the stuff, any old way.

Enter Creme Brulee black tea. Plum Deluxe has blended a strong black tea base with orange peel, jasmine flowers (<3), blue cornflower, bergamot oil, vanilla extract, and….here I quote the package…love and gratitude.

This tea is STRONG. I don’t mean strong, in-your-face bergamot. I mean they didn’t wimp out on us for the black tea base. It is quality stuff. The first cup has deep, dark, rich color. The bergamot flavor is strong enough to please an Earl Grey lover, and balanced enough with the other ingredients to please the reluctant. The addition of vanilla adds a nice creaminess, and jasmine sweetens it. The aftertaste leaves a brisk tingle on the tongue.

To stretch my sample, I made a second steep. It was good, and sufficiently strong! In future, I would blend the two steeps together at the outset and double my tea dollar. The price is reasonable for a blend of this quality, but more money equals more tea! I was smitten with their Reading Nook blend, so I want to get the most bang for my buck so I can get all the teas I love and share them, too.

I checked out their accessories page and saw quite a few items that would make great gifts…or treats for me! I was rather taken with the pewter dragonfly strainer, but the Victorian infuser was really nice as well. This is also one of the more reasonable subscription boxes. Take a look!


Want to Know More About This Tea?

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Plum Deluxe

Description

Creme Brulee Earl Grey was the winner in our recent customer appreciation month vote – it won by a landslide, which tells you how good it is. The creamiest of cream earl greys, the brisk bergamot notes balance nicely wonderful rich cream notes. It makes a dandy London Fog (earl grey latte) or just enjoy it with your favorite tea cookie or biscuit.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!