Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Herbal Infusions
Tea Description:
Premium Ceylon tea hand blended with organic coconut shred and natural flavourings. Thanks to everyone that came out to our Yelp! Speakeasy tea event to help name this tea. We would like to think we definitely hit a graham slam with this tea. .
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
With a new like this one, you can’t help but have high expectations. I adore graham crackers and the flavor they yield. I recently devoured a box of Star Wars Graham crackers so I’ve got a taste for them right now.
I’m not sure where this tea came from, but I was excited to try it. I’ve heard good things about teas from Herbal Infusions and with a tea that is a mix of coconut and graham crackers. . . what could be better?
Brewed this up in my little tea pot with the help of my Breville One Touch to prep the water to the correct temp.
Poured the brew into my tea cup and sat down to enjoy some relax time. First sip in and your taste buds are enveloped with this fabulous coconut flavor. Like intense coconut fresh flavor. The secondary flavors hit you with a gentle and subtle manner. A lovely brown sugar like flavor.
This tea is a delicious black flavored tea for those who enjoy coconut flavors. I would recommend added two scoops instead of just one. With one, the coconut flavors were strong but that was about it. With two I think the other flavors would start to really come thru and pop.
First experience with this company and I’m quite happy!
Key Lime Coconut Black Tea Blend from Herbal Infusions
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Herbal Infusions
Tea Description:
If you can’t escape from the day to day grind this season then we’ve got the perfect blend for you! Dan has crafted a refreshing and full bodied tea that blends the best of the islands (key limes and coconuts to be specific) with the exotic flavour of a full high altitude premium Ceylon tea.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
As I type this, it’s snowing outside. In this part of the Pacific Northwest, we don’t get a lot of snow. We get rain, but, snow we get maybe once a year, and usually, a big snowstorm like this one … we get maybe every other year or every third year. I guess it’s pretty much what most of the rest of the country is experiencing, right? Lots and lots of snow.
So, as it’s snowing outside, I thought I’d enjoy something warm and tropical inside to get my mind off of that cold weather. This Key Lime Coconut Black Tea Blend from Herbal Infusions seemed to be just what I was looking for! It’s a tasty blend of a classic flavor combination: Lime and coconut – with lots of black tea flavor to remind you that you’re drinking tea and not a tropical cocktail!
The black tea flavor is the strongest note of the cup, and that’s the way I usually want it to be. When I drink tea, I want to taste the tea. Here, I do! The tea used in this blend is a Ceylon, and it’s a medium-bodied, brisk tasting tea. Even tempered and pleasant to taste. There is a dry, tangy astringency toward the tail that I’d categorize as moderate or medium.
The lime notes are tart, a little bit sweet, and even a tad bitter. The bitterness here reminds me a bit of a grapefruit. The lime really elevates the cup – it perks up the flavors of the cup. The aftertaste has a very bright, citrus-y taste.
The coconut is more of a background note. It’s not a really strong, well-defined coconut taste. This doesn’t have that slick, creamy coconut flavor that many coconut teas have. It’s a softer coconut taste: sweet and reminding me a bit of toasted coconut rather than fresh coconut. Toasted coconut has sort of a dry flavor, not quite as creamy and that’s what I taste here. A sweet, sort of toasty, nutty flavor, rather than the sweet, creamy, slick and almost milky sort of coconut taste.
It’s a tasty tea and the flavor gets better as the tea cools. This would make a really nice iced tea.
Creme Brulee Chai Blend from Herbal Infusions
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Herbal Infusions
Tea Description:
We use a well rounded flowery orange pekoe as the base for this decadent and luxurious chai mix. Hand blended ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, anise, peppercorn, and clove is accented by a rich creme brulee flavour.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Chai blends are among my favorite teas to drink this time of year – when it’s blustery cold outside, there’s really nothing nicer than to have a steaming cup of spicy chai in my tea mug! So, I’m glad I found this Creme Brulee Chai Blend from Herbal Infusions in my stash today. And, YUM! It’s just what I want from a chai: warm, spicy and delicious.
There is a good level of spice to this chai. It’s spicy, but, it’s not over-the-top. It isn’t a jarring level of spice. You know what I’m talking about, right? It’s not so spicy that I’m tasting way too much spice and not enough tea flavor. Here, the spice is strong – stronger than the tea, but that’s alright – but it isn’t overpowering the tea. The tea is tasted. It’s alright if the spices are stronger than the tea in a chai, Most of the time, I prefer it that way when it comes to chai! But I don’t want it so spicy that the flavor of the tea becomes completely obscured by the spice.
I taste the clove and cinnamon above all the other spices, but the cardamom is coming through nicely too. I can even taste that subtle “citrus” note from the cardamom here. The ginger and black peppercorn offer a peppery kick that I like. And there is a subtle hint of licorice-y anise to this as well. Anise is one of my favorite spices to use in a chai, and I’m glad that Herbal Infusions chose to include it in this chai.
And then I taste the creamy, custard-like flavor of the “creme brulee” flavoring in this. Personally, I am wishing I could taste more creme brulee here, not just because the chai is called “Creme Brulee Chai” and I think if it’s going to be called Creme Brulee … I should taste the Creme Brulee front and center and I’m just not getting it that strongly here. I taste it, it’s definitely there, but I want more, because, well, Creme Brulee is my favorite dessert. I was hoping for more custard-like flavor, and also that caramelized note of the burnt sugar atop a creme brulee. As it is, I do taste some creamy notes, some custard-like notes … and barely-there hints of caramel.
This is a very finely chopped chai – the spices and tea are both finely milled into a very fine cut. And because of this, I suggest using a shorter brew time than you might normally employ. It’s good with a dollop of honey or a sprinkling of turbinado sugar to bring out the flavors, however, I found that the creamy notes of the custard flavoring gave this a satisfying latte-like taste so I didn’t need to add milk.
Overall, this is a very flavorful chai. Lots of spice flavor to warm you from the inside out! It’s just the ticket on cold days like this one.
Graham Slam Black Tea Blend from Herbal Infusions
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Herbal Infusions
Tea Description:
Premium Ceylon tea hand blended with organic coconut shred and natural flavourings. Thanks to everyone that came out to our Yelp! Speakeasy tea event to help name this tea. We would like to think we definitely hit a graham slam with this tea.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
OK … this Graham Slam Black Tea Blend from Herbal Infusions is an interesting blend. I can’t say that it’s my favorite cuppa from them, because it isn’t, but I’m not hating it, and I think I just may have had a different idea of what this might be than what I’m tasting.
The name suggests to me something that might taste s’mores-ish. And I do get a sort of toasty flavor here, and maybe even a hint of something that tastes graham-like. But I don’t get any chocolate. And you know how I am when it comes to chocolate-y flavors.
I taste the black tea. The Ceylon is even-tempered and mellow. It has a moderate astringency to it, and it’s not bitter. Toward the finish I taste hints of citrus.
As the tea cools, I taste more and more of the graham notes. This is a tea that – if you’re looking for graham cracker taste – let it cool for a few moments to get to a drinkable temperature. The flavors will emerge. I taste hints of coconut in the distance, but these are less obvious than I think I’d like them to be.
Overall, this is tasty, but it’s just different than what I was expecting. It’s a pleasant, cookie-ish kind of taste: graham cracker, tea, with a toasty, nutty flavor in the backdrop. A pleasant cuppa.
Juicy Lemon & Pink Grapefruit Oolong Tea from Herbal Infusions
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Herbal Infusions
Tea Description:
At first we started off this blend of Formosa Oolong with just lemon, but soon Dan decided that his love of grapefruit (pink specifically) should be shared in this tea. We then added freshly peeled organic pink grapefruit rind and created a fantastically balanced and refreshing Oolong tea that we are sure you’ll love.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
The name of this Oolong: Juicy Lemon & Pink Grapefruit Oolong Tea from Herbal Infusions … suggests that it’s going to be quite a tart tasting tea. So, I’m not exactly sure why it was that I had to order some as soon as I discovered it. I’m not usually a big fan of tart flavors, although I do like lemon and I love grapefruit teas if they’re done correctly. And I think that was the allure for me, my love of grapefruit teas and still looking for the best grapefruit tea out there.
This is really good. Surprisingly, it’s not as tart as the name suggests. Sure, the lemon is there, and so is the grapefruit, but the flavors balance out with the sweet notes of the Oolong in such a way that I taste more of the sweeter notes of the two citrus fruits than I do the tarty flavors.
The Oolong has a toasty note to it, and there is a slightly earthy/nutty flavor to it as well. I really enjoy the contrast between the earthiness and warm nutty flavors to the bright, citrus-y notes of the fruit flavors.
A really enjoyable flavored Oolong. The natural flavors of the dark Oolong tea meld in a very agreeable way with the fruit flavors of lemon and grapefruit. I’m really glad I tried it! Oh! And be sure to resteep the leaves with this one. The second infusion is even better than the first.