There are a lot of minty candy-cane inspired teas out there this time of year, so I was excited to try a more focused, herbal take on mint tea, with Jack Frost from Bluebird Tea.
This herbal blend is mainly spearmint and eucalyptus with a hint of sweeter flavors like coconut and vanilla. That hint of sweetness makes all the difference– pure spearmint tea has a bit too much icy bite, feeling more like medicine than a calm cup of tea. Jack Frost was smooth and cool without being too fierce or leaving me frozen.
It might sound odd to drink a mint tea at a hot temperature, but I’ve found it very calming both in my mind and in my cookie-crowded stomach. Mint is supposedly good for your digestion, so it’s been a nice blend to have on hand with all the rich eating of the holidays. If nothing else, the crisp, minty feeling on my tongue helps me feel refreshed during the bustle of the winter season. Since Jack Frost is an herbal blend, it’s naturally decaf and perfect for that before-bed brew.
The first time I brewed this tea, I was a bit baffled to see blue-green glitter in my mug. Had my holiday crafting spilled over into my tea? It turns out that the extra sparkle is from the snowflake sprinkles in the dry leaf. Once heated, the sprinkles melt and add a little shimmer and a little sweetness to the lush, green spearmint.
Jack Frost is a great blend for when you want to clear your mind and have the power and focus of fresh, clean, winter snow.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea
Description:
The mischevious Jack Frost is a crisp, cool cuppa. With icy spearmint, frosty coconut + snowflake sprinkles, Jack Frost will sure nip your nose + toes!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Cacao Shell Trio from Oliver Pluff. . . . .
The Oliver Pluff tea company focuses on colonial-styled teas, like those leaves thrown into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea party. But is also has a variety of other products like mulling spices, pressed tea cakes, and more. Being both an American history-lover and a tea-fanatic, I’ve had my eye on Oliver Pluff products for a little while, and this post-holiday shopping season seemed like the time to give them a try.
I ordered the Cacao Shell Trio from Oliver Pluff and it arrived promptly at my doorstep. The tins were as sleek and stylish as they appeared online, with nicely embossed, heavy paper labels, and dark metal lids. Careful when opening– these tins were filled to the brim!
According to Oliver Pluff, cacao shell tea was a big hit with our first First Lady, Martha Washington. Neither black tea nor coffee, cacao shells make for a roasty blend with chocolate overtones. I’ve reviewed other cacao shell tea on SororiTea Sisters before, and I’ll reiterate that I think they taste like chocolate-drizzled popcorn. The cacao shells are surprisingly more buttery and savory than you would expect. (Also, be aware that while the cacao shells don’t contain caffeine, they are technically stimulants, so make sure you brew this at a time that works around your sleep schedule).
The Cacao Shell Trio has three different blends, plan cacao shells, cacao and mint, and cacao citrus. The plan cacao shells were comparable to other cacao teas I’ve tried in the past, a nice change of pace for the coffee-lover, or a lower-calorie take on a warm, chocolate beverage.
In the cacao mint blend the mint was very strong, like a less-sweet peppermint mocha. It was a great blend to drink around christmas time, when everything is flavored like candy canes. I would advise not over-steeping this blend, or else the mint really takes over. Keep the steep times short to let the cacao shine through.
The cacao citrus blend had both cacao shells and orange peels. This was my favorite blend of the trio. The orange peels were mild, but helped add dimension to the chocolate cacao. This reminded me a bit of those chocolate oranges that come out around this time of year, or like some chocolate and orange pu erh teas I’ve tried in the past. The buttery cacao shells were a nice pair with the tart and fruity orange peels.
Overall this trio was a great purchase and I’ll have to give more Oliver Pluff products a try in the future.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Oliver Pluff
Description: Martha Washington enjoyed steeping the shells of roasted cocoa nuts from the cacao tree for the interesting flavor and health benefits.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Greek Mountain Tea by Klio
Steeping time 4 minutes, 1/2 cup boiling water, 2 g of tea leaves and stems.
I have always been an avid herb gardener (although not, alas, always a successful one) and today I noticed what exactly it is about this type of tea that I found familiar. The leaves are similar in appearance (silvery and fuzzy) and even similar in shape to Lamb’s Ear, and I think the fragrance may be similar as well, although Lamb’s Ear is not actually well-known for its smell. (Plus, I can never manage to keep it alive so I don’t actually have a Lamb’s Ear plant to compare right now). When I looked it up, I discovered that the two plants are in the same family, i.e. the Mint family . . . but then so are hundreds and thousands of other plants, so that doesn’t mean they’re actually closely related. I guess it’s just the type of family resemblance that sometimes shows up unexpectedly between distant cousins.
The other thing that the leaves remind me of is licorice, or at least those licorice-flavored herbal teas that you drink when you’re sick with a cold. (Actually I may be thinking of the combination of licorice and slippery elm flavors? But I’m not positive.) It’s not an unpleasant fragrance, and I can imagine this tea being pleasant to drink.
As I steep the tea, the fragrance emerges more, but not at overpowering levels. The tea liquid itself does not appear to change color greatly, and after steeping appears slightly yellowish but not extremely so. The fragrance hasn’t gotten much stronger in the last couple of minutes.
The first sip is not quite as flavorful as the fragrance, but it does support my impression of this tea as being similar to an herbal tea used to treat colds. It tastes slightly sweet in the back of the mouth. It doesn’t seem all that viscous, but it’s probably giving my throat a nice protective coating as I drink it. It doesn’t need sugar, which is a good thing because if you’re going to drink it every day for your health then you wouldn’t want to add sugar or you’d counteract the health benefits, right? It definitely tastes healthy, but in a good, gentle way, not in a bitter-green-smoothie type of way.
I’m not going to say that I want to replace my regularly scheduled tea breaks with this herbal tea, but since it’s caffeine free I bet it would be a great nightcap. Plus, it does have quite a soothing and calming effect, so add that to its other benefits (such as its health benefits) and it turns out to be quite a valuable beverage!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Klio Greek Tea
Description
This variety, Sideritis Scardica, comes from the legendary Mount Olympus, in the Balkans, situated between Thessaly and Macedonia.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Rose City Rooibos from Beach House Teas. . . . .
Spring and summer are my favorite time for drinking floral teas, complementing the flowers blooming outside of my teacup. So this seemed like the perfect time to try a cup of Rose City Rooibos from Beach House Teas.
This is the first tea I’ve tried from Beach House Teas so I took a look at their website. Family-run business in the Pacific Northwest with a focus on organic and wild ingredients, producing hand-blended teas. They also have an Etsy shop, if that’s more your style. They even offer herb-infused sugar for cooking, and herb infused salts and bath bombs for the bath.
Let’s get back to the tea at hand, Rose City Rooibos. Like many tea blends on Beach House Teas, this blend looks great in the dry leaf with beautiful curled rose blossoms in pink and cream, and the rich russet tones of the red rooibos.
Brewed, this tea is smooth and simple, with the nutty, caramel tones of the red rooibos with gentle floral overtones. The ingredients list says there is peppermint in this blend as well, but the mint gets lost under all the rooibos taste and rose scent. I wouldn’t mind more peppermint in the next batch to help add more dimension to the flavor set of this blend. I usually favor teas with a bit more punch to their flavors, so I might not brew this one again. Overall this was very simple and comforting.
This tea’s description calls this a “liquid spa” and I won’t deny that the floral notes are relaxing, and the rose petals are captivating to look at. A good tea for when you need some relaxing aromatherapy.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: Beach House Teas
Description:
Rose City Rooibos is 100% organic loose leaf tea blended with red rooibos tea, rose petals, peppermint, and pure extract. This floral elixir is all about beauty and what better way to surround yourself in beauty than rose petals and rooibos that’s like a liquid spa?
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
April Siesta from 52Teas. . . . .
Okay April Siesta, I see you, okay. Now I want to start off this review saying that my love of this tea was 110% unexpected. The ingredients are not my usual (aside from chamomile- because unlike a lot of people, I actually am a fan of chamomile). However, the ingredients of lemon, orange, and licorice definitely scared me. Licorice, not as much as lemon and orange. I am not usually the kind of girl that wants tart tea or citrus flavors. When I smelled the dry leaf, I could smell citrus and it definitely made me second guess trying it and just writing it off as a “no”. But- I forged on and made myself a cup. I have always loved chamomile. I just think it is a great herb, not only because I love its honeyed taste, but because it is just so soothing. I get a lot of anxiety and a lot of nausea, especially when I am stressed. Chamomile always helps, even if its in a small way, there is always something positive that I receive from a cup of chamomile tea.
I tried this tea sans agave at first, and while I don’t think that it actually needed any sweetener I still added some. I probably wont next time because it really isn’t needed (I am known for accidentally over-sweetening my teas!). The first thing I noticed was the smell of orange and lemon- lemon more so than the orange. Meh. I really dislike citrus. Thankfully the smell is more powerful than the taste. The citrus is still there, but its tolerable. The next taste I notice is definitely the honeybush and chamomile! Both have sweet, honey, herbal qualities about them. Yum! The last thing I notice is the licorice and also the star anise, which of course have qualities all their own- sweet, but in a different way. I don’t normally like the flavor of licorice, but I think it all depends on what it is. There are these Italian black licorice candies that i’ve tried and they taste horrid. But I’ve tried licorice flavors in teas and I don’t always hate them. I guess it all depends on what it is and what it’s mixed with and how it’s done!
This tea was done really, really well! I really did enjoy it and I really did find it so relaxing! I may even order a larger bag because I think this is something I would drink as part of my nighttime ritual. The citrus aspect gives it a light, fluffy, “spring” feel. The licorice and star anise give it a unique twist. The honeybush and chamomile give it an herbal/honey feel. Definite A+ from me! A must try before it is gone.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
I have a confession (although, for anyone who has read many of my reviews from back when I was a tea reviewer – this probably isn’t much of a confession) – I’m not particularly fond of chamomile. Oh, I’ll drink it (on a rare occasion) but it’s not a tea/tisane that I’ll grab enthusiastically. It’s not something I’ll brew every day – I certainly don’t like it that much.
That said, I don’t hate it either. I’m just kinda ‘meh’ about it. Not my favorite thing – you know?
I’ve crafted one blend with chamomile during my time as the Mad Tea Artist of 52Teas – At Play in the Fields of Love – which I blended as a VIT for a special customer. Now, I’m crafting my second chamomile blend – and I’m blending it with one of my very favorite flavors: Licorice! I absolutely love licorice and all herb-y things related to licorice, like licorice root, anise and fennel. But interestingly enough – this is my first time blending a licorice blend. (Although, I did use licorice root in the Butter Beer reblend.) I have refrained from using licorice as a primary flavor in my blends up until now because I realize that it is a somewhat polarizing flavor – most people either love it or hate it – and it seems like it’s a even balance between those that like it and those that don’t. It’s kind of hard to create a winning blend with a featured flavor that is so polarizing.
But I’m hoping that with this blend – I’ve done just that.
One day while cruising through the internet – I stumbled upon a recipe for a cocktail called “April Siesta.” The cocktail features Absinthe which is a licorice-y liqueur and Curacao which is a citrus-y liqueur. These two liqueurs are combined with Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and simple syrup and topped off with a lemon twist.
So this is my take on this cocktail that I’ve never actually tasted but was inspired by. I started with organic honeybush, added some chamomile (because when I think ‘siesta’ – the first herb that comes to mind is chamomile), added licorice root, star anise and some citrus (orange and lemon) wedges. I didn’t want the citrus to be too intrusive because I really wanted the licorice-y flavors to be the star of the show but I didn’t want the licorice to be so sharp that those who aren’t particularly fond of licorice might appreciate this beverage too.
I love this! I can honestly say that this is my favorite blend with chamomile in it – mostly because I can’t really taste the chamomile. Instead, I get sweet licorice with light citrus background notes. Yummy!
organic ingredients: honeybush, chamomile, orange, lemon, licorice root, star anise and natural flavors
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
