A friend sent me some samples of Ginger Lemon Zest recently, and since the bags were so huge and plump with all the goodies inside I pulled out a gallon pitcher thinking that these must make two quarts each, or at least one quart with the possibility of resteeping. Fortunately, I decided to look up the instructions online before boiling my water because each bag is good for just eight to ten ounces! I had to look twice to be sure I wasn’t misreading that!
I used two bags and twenty ounces of water. When I pulled the bags out of the steeping cup, they were limp little bundles with very little left in them! Wow! That’s because much of what had filled the bag was the granulated honey infused with the ginger flavor.
The resulting brew looks like cloudy tea because this herbal mixture has LOTS of honey granules. Have no fear, it is not overly sweet.
I drank a small cup hot before bedtime to help with the reflux and heartburn issues I have been having lately and put the rest in the fridge.
This is really ginger forward, very warm but not unpleasantly hot and spicy, and nicely sweet from the honey. So convenient for carrying with you to work where a jar of honey might make a mess! The lemon myrtle is very light and more on the back of the sip, much gentler than citrus would be, with ginger rising again and lingering after. This would be brilliant to have around for colds and sore throats, not just tender tummies.
I enjoyed this as a relaxing bedtime cuppa but as a Southern gal in the dog days of summer, I am seriously looking forward to mixing this half and half with my sweet black tea on lots of ice!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: True Honey Teas
Description
Our Ginger Lemon Zest is more than just a delicious tea – its an experience. Upon the first sip, you are hit with a bold ginger taste that fills your senses – we infuse only real ginger into the honey granules in its natural form. Real ginger is a delight, and you truly feel a healthy zest in this all natural blend. After the burst of ginger, your pallet is soothed with lemon undertones brought out by Australian Lemon Myrtle. As with all our blends, the Ginger Lemon Zest is paired with honey granules to offer sweet finishing notes
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Relaxation Herbal Tea/Culinary Teas -Just Tea-Zen-
I have to admit: I had to test this one two nights in a row. The first night, I literally guzzled it. Kind of hard to get the flavor details when you chug your tea! So, night two: I sipped slowly and carefully to enjoy and get the full scoop on this tea.
There is something so soothing about lemon at bed time. On occasion I sometimes just drink warm lemon water; it’s calming and it’s great for digestion (especially if you eat late).
This blend by Culinary Teas brings soothing and calming to a whole new level. Lemon verbena, lemongrass, and lemon peel offer an intoxicating aroma; it’s relaxing just inhaling the steam off of your cup. With this combination of lemon notes, you’re getting some of the best components you could ask for in an herbal tea: bitter-tart from lemon peel, bright herbal from lemon verbena, and a hearty and earthy herbal note from lemon grass. Lemon grass is packed with a ton of health benefits on top of being relaxing.
Finishing it off with my favorite fruit to mix with lemon: raspberry! There’s also apple pieces which are helpful in bringing a good balance to the flavors when you have a lot of ingredients. I’ve heard rumors of cornflowers tasting a little spicy like clove but, I’m not getting that with this tea. However, cornflower mixed with the hibiscus give this liqueur a pretty hue. Pretty tea is more fun to drink!
Altogether, this tea is a good one to keep around. It’s relaxing, it has an amazing aroma, and the flavor is smooth and delicious. I followed the steeping directions the first time with one teaspoon for 3-4 minutes. The second tasting, I did a full tablespoon in a bigger mug and gave it about 5 minutes. It was perfect both times, but I much preferred the longer steep.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Description
This House Blend will relax and comfort you at any moment.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
**this tea was gifted in exchange for review**
Sweet Cherry Rose Tea/High Street Owl Post – Steeping Beauty –
Just the Facts
*Caffeine Level: None
*Brewing Instructions: 1 teaspoon tea, 8 ounces of water. Steep 3-5 minutes.
*Aroma: cherries and roses
*Color: ruby red
*Ingredients: cherries, elderberries, rose hips, hibiscus, cranberries, blackberries, raspberries and cherry flavor.
*Description: Caffeine-free magical loose leaf tea infused with cherry and rose hips.
*Tasting Notes: cherry, sweet rose, and tart hibiscus.
The Review
High Street Owl Post is a Harry Potter Inspired monthly subscription box that frequently includes a custom blended tea amongst other handcrafted items. A friend and YouTuber I know gifted me several of the teas she received. I was so taken with the quality and flavor that I had to review them. To check out the subscription box and see the tea, please follow the link or here.
The tea company, Rosa Lee Teabag, is a fun and fictitious name inspired by the Harry Potter franchise. But, the tea is authentic flavor and quality that when brewed reminded me of a melted cherry popsicle with added layers of adult flavor. In fact, the rose petals took this sweet with a slightly tart beverage to an aromatic elixir with a wine-like finish. The aroma of the unbrewed tea reminded me of summers past on vacation in a seaside town with cozy rented cottages and quaint shops. The smell of flowering orchards with ripe succulent fruit emoted from the combination of catch-all goods, like candles, penny candy, and flowers luring us into the general store. I sniffed the pouch repeatedly hoping I could dive deeper into the memory.
Much to my chagrin the teakettle chirped and jolted me back to reality. It wasn’t long before I returned when I found myself entranced by the ruby red appearance of the hot steeped tea that darkened to bing cherry red as it steeped; evoking memories of buying cherries from the u-pick farm off the highway on our way to the cottage. I remembered making cherry lemonade for the kids on the first night and decided to do a second batch of tea using cold brewing in hopes of replicating that taste. To do this, I placed 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea in a mason jar with 8 ounces of room temperature water. I then capped the jar and placed it in the fridge overnight for at least 12 hours. The next day I strained the tea, added simple syrup, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and ice. After a vigorous shake, I took my usual spot on the porch and slowly sipped. The taste was dynamic and I couldn’t put the jar down. Each drag on the paper straw was refreshing and addictive. Now, I’m regretting having brewed the rest of this craveable tea because it’s all gone and there are more sweltering summer days to go and precious memories to induce.
Recipes
Simple Syrup
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water (filtered preferred)
Cook over low heat in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves completely.
Cool and place in an airtight container in the fridge.
Enjoy for up to 1 month in the fridge.
Cold Brew Tea
1 ½ – 2 teaspoons of loose leaf tea or 1-2 tea bags
8 ounces of room temperature water (filtered preferred)
Place tea and water in an airtight container and place in the fridge for 6-12 hours.
Strain fully brewed tea and sweeten with simple syrup if desired.
Enjoy for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: High Street Owl Post
Description
“We offer 4 different subscription plans. One time/Gift, month-to-month, 3 months, and 6 months.”
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
**received as a gift**
Lemongrass and Ginger. . . .Empa-Tea/Miss TeaSmith
Things have been unique as of late with my family. We are currently experiencing some life changing news and are working on addressing and processing all of this new info we’ve been given. Except for me- who has decided to go on this mad teaware and tea buying spree, which is not necessarily a bad thing- I just have not had the mind set to sit down and actually enjoy what I’ve been buying as of late.
Until this beauty showed up at my door. Empa-Tea is a simple blend of ginger and lemongrass that we’ve seen a few different versions of. Sometimes there is a bit of rose or lavender in the blend but an herbal ginger lemongrass blend is pretty common. This particular blend only has ginger and lemongrass listed in the ingredients on the label (on the website the ingredients also list lime peel, lemon verbena, lime leaves, red peppercorns and sunflower petals) but I am spying some peppercorn along with possibly some citrus peel as well. The name struck me and it seemed like the perfect time to check this blend out.
I prepped this blend a few different ways but my absolute favorite way was to cold brew this blend over night in sparkling water from my Soda Stream. I can’t seem to get enough of it. Bright pops of the ginger and lemongrass really blend well with the citrus undertones and the fresh bubbles of the sparkling water. Our lovely VariaTea creates unique tea concoctions all the time and I thought I’d try my hand with this blend. And so happy I did. Bubbly sweet, spicy, with a citrus note. . .you can’t go wrong. Completely puts the sparkling water flavors you can pick up at the local grocery store to shame or at least a bit.
I did try this blend as both a regular cold brew and brewed hot and all were lovely. The prominent notes that came across with each brewing was the ginger and the lemongrass. The citrus notes were more muted when hot brewed but cold brewed you were able to pick up on those.
Versatile blend and classic flavors, you really can’t go wrong with a solid fresh ginger lemongrass blend like Empa-Tea no matter how you prep it.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Miss TeaSmith
Description
ingredients – Ginger, Lemongrass, Lemon Verbena, Lemon peel, Lime Leaves, Red Peppercorns, Sunflower Petals
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
**This tea was sent to the SororiTea Sisters in exchange for a review**
Birthday Cake Infused Hot Chocolate/DAVIDs Tea
DAVIDsTEA’s Birthday Cake is actually the very first tea that caught my attention. It is the tea that got me curious about teas and made me drive my mother crazy until she drove me over to a DAVIDsTEA store. It is the tea that started it all and if I am being honest, I didn’t even like it that much when I first tried it.
The idea of a Birthday Cake tea just sounded too good to pass up. I mean, all the flavor of delicious birthday cake and none of the calories…Who could say no to that?! So, I went to the store and since I had no clue what I was doing I bought about 50 grams of the Birthday Cake tea and 50 grams of about 15 other teas. Of course I tried Birthday Cake first and only tasted sweet rooibos and was left disappointed. Among the 15 others, I found some I loved and some I didn’t but I found myself always coming back to Birthday Cake. Even though it wasn’t the best tea, it was the first and for that reason alone it had a special place in my heart.
When I discovered cold brewing, that is when my love for the Birthday Cake tea really bloomed. Cold brewing pushed aside the rooibos flavor, making room for the vanilla frosting deliciousness to shine. Cakey and amazing.
Well, DAVIDsTEA has taken now their beloved Birthday Cake tea and made it even more lovable. They infused their tea in a chocolate cube filled with sprinkles that sits at the end of a stick. Atop the tea-infused chocolate cube is a colorful confetti marshmallow. Submerge this delight in a cup of hot milk and stir until the chocolate is melted and the marshmallow begins to melt. What do you get? A super fun hot chocolate. And, if you are anything like me, you add just a touch more fun with a dollop of whipped cream on top. Yum!
As for the flavor of this hot chocolate…well, it is creamy and rich. It has a smooth, melted milk chocolate flavor that you can only get from real chocolate. More than the chocolate though is the birthday cake flavor. I was skeptical of whether it would actually come through but between the sprinkles and the marshmallow you definitely get a burst of birthday cake sweetness and a touch of vanilla caramel frosting from the tea.
Marshmallowy and full of sprinkle sugaryness, this might be a bit on the sweet side for most but this could make for a very special treat for any kid…or kid at heart.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
This combo of tea/chocolate is not longer available but the loose leaf tea is.
This sweet and festive rooibos tea brings the taste of birthday cake to your cup any day of the year – rainbow sprinkles and all. Its creamy vanilla twist is just as craveable as the real dessert. And with all the goodness of rooibos and next to no calories, this caffeine-free infusion lets you have your cake and eat it too.
