Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Rooibos
Where to Buy: Stash
Tea Description:
This herbal tea combines the sweetness of maple with the tartness of apple for a lively, delicious cup. Fruity hibiscus and rooibos have been blended with sweet cinnamon, maple, apple and caramel flavors for this tasty tea cider. A touch of sugar brings out the flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This had a fancier box than other Stash teas I’ve seen so I’m wondering if, based on the flavour, this was a seasonal/Christmas blend? Upon opening up the box, the wrapper itself has a different design too. There’s definitely something different about this blend!
There’s really no smell to the dry teabag; if I concentrate maybe a little apple. It’s very weak though; I hoped the tea itself has more flavour. Steeped up, I could smell the cider part of the tea quite strongly, but no maple. I really hope I pick the maple up in the taste; it’s what intrigued me about this tea in the first place! It made this something a little bit different. And as a Canadian, I can never really resist anything maple anyway.
Sipping on it now though; and there definitely is more flavour than what the dry leaf led me to believe. It really does taste like apple cider; good apple cider too! Just the right balance of sweet, tart, and spice. And speaking of that spice, there’s obviously cinnamon but the nutmeg in here is a really nice touch too. Nutmeg has really grown on me, I never used to be a fan but now when a tea includes it I get so excited! That’s the first wave of flavour but then it eases a little into the maple; it’s a little raw and unrefined tasting with a sappy quality. I like it! It makes the cup sweet and layered, and I like that this one doesn’t feel completely put together, with the ’T’s crossed and ’I’s dotted. Sometimes a little reliable inconsistency makes a tea good. If that makes any sense at all.
There are also a few other interesting notes here; I’m picking woody-cedar like notes too! Maybe it’s a trick of the mind because of the raw, sappy maple or maybe part of it is from the rooibos – but it’s very enjoyable regardless. Actually, now that I think of it the more I’m sure it’s from the rooibos. I love how natural and earthy this tea tastes though; for once the wood like quality is contributing something that enhances the tea flavourings!
There’s surprisingly a lot going on with this tea bag. Colour me quite impressed!
Sant Superfruit Beverage from Sant
Keep reading to find out how to win your own package of Sant Superfruit!
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Sant
Tea Description:
The fruit, Garcinia indica, is super. Its been used in Ayuervedic medicine for 1000’s of years to balance the mind & body. It has Garcinol, HCA, xanthones; vitamins B1, B3, B9, B12, C; maganese, magnesium, and potassium and 5x more antioxidants than Kale.
Learn more about Sant here.
Taster’s Review:
I learned about Sant Superfruit Beverage from Kickstarter, because they were running their campaign about the same time that I ran my first campaign. I was curious about the beverage and I do like to support people on Kickstarter since I’ve been pretty active on Kickstarter over the last three months or so.
But as I read about the beverage that results from infusing Sant the Superfruit, I realized that this is probably going to taste a lot like hibiscus. As some of you are probably well aware, I’m not particularly fond of hibiscus. However, my curiosity and desire to support a fellow Kickstarter seemed to over-ride my dislike for hibiscus, so I decided, let’s try it! Why not go ahead and give it a try.
It was another of those, “hey, what have I got to lose” moments. Of course, I did have a certain risk element that is attached to Kickstarter. So there is that. But, as long as the people at Sant weren’t going to abscond with my cash, I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose. And, I didn’t think they were going to send me poisonous fruit. I mean, the lady in the picture looks nothing like the evil queen that poisoned Snow White. So, I asked myself, other than the cash risk element and the risk that Sant could possibly be owned by the evil queen impersonating a real person that can do a headstand (impressive!), what else did I have to lose? Nothing, really. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? I guess I could find out that I’m allergic to Sant. There is that. OK, but what else did I have to lose?
At this point, I was starting to think that I didn’t think this out as clearly as I thought I did. But, I still decided to try it and toss caution to the wind. So, instead of a what have I got to lose moment, this became a “what the heck, if I don’t end up dead, then I’ll write a review about it” moment.
I decided to try this a couple of different ways. The first sampling, I hot steeped it. Bringing the kettle to 195°F, I got out my infuser mug. This is a 12 ounce mug with a ceramic infuser insert. I don’t use this mug often because the ceramic infuser has really big holes in it (it’s made of ceramic) and so tea can just sort of cruise in and out of those holes and leave floaters in my tea. I’m not fond of floaters.
But these pieces of dried pieces of Kokum fruit are fairly large. There are different sizes, with some being about the size of a slivered almond and others being closer to the size of a dried apricot. On average, the pieces are about the size of a shelled, halved walnut.
So I dropped four pieces of fruit into the infuser of my infuser mug and poured the hot water over the fruit. I let it steep for a minute. The liquid was a very pale pink. It looked nothing like the rich ruby color that I saw in the picture (above). So I let it steep for another five minutes. At this point, even though the desired color had not been achieved, my fear of tarty hibiscus taste dictated to me that I must cease the steeping process.
The fruit is now soft to the touch. It’s been somewhat re-hydrated, but not completely. The liquid is more of a blush color.
The flavor is TART! Adding some honey makes this a much nicer tasting beverage, so I highly recommend doing so. It has a hibiscus-y like quality to it, but there’s more of a fruity element to it. While hibiscus has more of a berry-tartness to it. this is more like a plum tartness.
For my second experiment/tasting with Sant, I decided to try cold-brewing some of it. I used my glass iced tea pitcher and added 1/2 gallon of freshly filtered water to the pitcher. After I saw how pale my hot brewed infusion became, I decided that I’d try a little more fruit to this infusion, and I added about 2 palmfuls of the tea (This would amount to approximately 20 pieces of fruit of varying sizes).
Then I put the lid on the pitcher and stuck it in the fridge for a few hours. By a few hours, I mean 6 hours. After six hours, I fished out the re-hydrated fruit from the now bright maroon-colored liquid.
I took a few sips of the infusion and TART!
Keep in mind that the longer you keep the fruit in there, more potent (and tart) the beverage becomes. So you can keep it in there for a little less time for a lighter flavor and less tartness or you can keep it in there for longer than I did for a deeper color and more likely a stronger tart flavor.
I made a simple syrup of raw sugar and water and I added it to the cold liquid. With the sugar (not too much, I would say about 1/8 a cup of sugar for 1/2 gallon of the drink), the Sant Superfruit Beverage is an enjoyable, refreshing drink. It has a really tasty, fruity flavor to it that reminds me of plums and berries – but interestingly enough, not in a hibiscus-y way. I’d take a glass of Sant over a glass of chilled hibiscus tea ANY day!
I doubt it will ever take the place of iced tea in my fridge, but I am enjoying this and I’m finding myself curious about some of their recipes.
Now, you’re probably wondering about that giveaway, right?
When I got my reward for backing Sant’s Kickstarter, I actually got TWO packages of Sant instead of one. I guess two labels addressed to me printed out so by a lucky chance, I got a surprise in the mail from Sant. Actually, I got two surprises in the mail from them because I was STUNNED at how quickly we got the reward from this project! I certainly wasn’t expecting to go out to the mailbox and pull out one package from Sant, but I got TWO!
So, I talked to Kim at Sant and she gave her blessing to let my lucky surprise be a lucky surprise for one of our readers! If you’d like to try Sant, I’ve got a full 50 gram package to send to one of you!
To enter, just comment on this review below! Tell us why you’d like to try Sant and while you’re at it, don’t forget to include a way to get in touch with you should you be the lucky winner of the random draw on Friday, April 24.
Want a way to earn extra entries? Of course you do! Here are a few ways to earn extra entries, you get one bonus entry for each one you complete!
1. Go to facebook and “Like” Sant’s page.
2. While you’re there, go ahead and like the SororiTea Sisters too!
3. And since you’re still on Facebook, go to your page and write about this giveaway on your timeline! Be sure to add a link to this review so that your friends can come by and read about Sant too!
Wa-La! Three bonus entries!
Now it’s time for some fine print type of stuff, but instead of making it smaller, I’ll just make it italicized: This contest is open to US & Canadian residents only. You can enter to win now through April 24. On April 25, a winner will be drawn via Random.org and contacted, and once contact is established, the winner’s name will be announced. If we are unable to reach the winner within 3 days, that winner will forfeit and a new winning name will be drawn until contact is established. To ensure that we get a hold of you if you are the lucky winner, please be sure to include the best way to contact you in your entry.
Saskatoon Berry Tisane from Parenteau’s Gourmet Foods
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Parenteau’s Gourmet Foods
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Red and black currents, raisins, hibiscus, Saskatoon berries, blueberries, seneka root, natural flavours.
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
So this tisane is locally made and sold, and it features the Saskatoon Berry which isn’t as well known as it ought to be. I happen to live in Saskatoon Saskatchewan – and the berry is so popular around here that the city is named after the berry, and not the other way around. As such, any tea that features Saskatoons (of which there aren’t enough) very easily get my attention.
I decided to do a cold brew for my first try; sadly there’s a lot of hibiscus in the blend so a cold brew seemed like the best way to hold back some of the expected tartness I’ll likely be experiencing. Thankfully, there’s also a lot of berries in the blend as well but even still, not thirty seconds after I’d poured the water over the leaves the water was already the colour of McDonald’s mascot Grimace. The hibiscus in the blend was working quickly.
By the time the brew was done, it was a deep, dark almost maroon colour – but just slightly more purple. It reminded me of the colour of red wine. The smell is mostly hibiscus. That’s not very promising, but I’m still holding out that this’ll deliver the Saskatoon berry flavour I know and love anyway.
And the moment of truth; taste test!
The initial flavour here is a tart hibiscus flavour as anticipated; however, thankfully this isn’t all hibiscus. Similar to other berry/hibiscus teas I’ve had before like Rum Cream, from another local company (McQuarrie’s Tea & Coffee Merchants), this starts tart and softens into a more mellow berry drink; it’s quite juice-like. I can definitely taste Saskatoon berries myself, but I also really taste the blueberries and black currants in the blend. Thankfully, I don’t get much flavour from the raisins – I’m not a raisin person, so it’s no loss for me.
For people unfamiliar with Saskatoon Berries picture something sort of like a blueberry and cranberry cross. They’re great straight, in pies, in jam or jelly, and as syrup. Really, they’re just great in general. It’s that simple.
I am enjoying this cold brew a lot though I’m craving a richer, more full Saskatoon berry flavour. If they used more Saskatoons and cut down a little on the amount of other berries in the tea, I think this could be amazing without having a more monotone and flat flavour. As is, I’m concerned people not familiar with Saskatoons are mainly going to focus in on the other berries in the blend and the hibiscus and miss out on the great flavour.
And what a loss that’d be.
Serenity Now Herbal from DAVIDsTEA
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal/Tisane
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
So maybe you burned dinner. Maybe the dishwasher broke. Again. Maybe you just forgot to hit “save.” Life is full of stressful surprises. But lucky for us, life is also full of tea. And this oh-so-soothing blend is a guaranteed one-way ticket to your happy place. It’s got serene strawberries, harmonious hibiscus and restful rosehips, all in a base of low-key lavender. So get that kettle started and brace yourself for the rush of calm. Bring it on, life. We got this.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Serenity Now is the April ‘Tea of the Month’ from DAVIDsTEA.
Despite really liking the tea’s description (except for the part that called hibiscus ‘harmonious’ – that part is a total fib) I was very skeptical about this blend; I don’t much care for lavender myself, and I couldn’t see it going well with the strawberry, blueberry or other fruity things in the blend either. However, the quince was certainly an intriguing aspect; I’ve only had one other Quince tea but I really, really enjoyed it. As well, I do quite like the pairing of strawberry and spearmint! So despite reservations, it was worth a go.
I purchased this one in store as a Tea To Go; I decided on iced because the associate I asked said that hot was better for relaxing to/brought out the lavender more and iced was more refreshing and fruity. I actually initially didn’t really taste the lavender at all; my first few sips were almost entirely strawberry with a bit of a crisper spearmint backdrop. Hints of blueberry were present as well. The rosehips/hibiscus in this are pretty toned down; I think they just contributed a very slight tartness that blended in near seamlessly with the natural tang of the strawberry. Sadly, I didn’t pick up on the quince at all which is probably what I was most excited about.
About half way through drinking this one I sort of couldn’t help but burp a little bit? Something wasn’t sitting quite right with me and it resulted in this weird hiccup/reflux sort of cross. And that’s when I started to taste the lavender. Every time I’d ‘hiccup’ I get this flood of gnarly lavender flavour in my mouth. Very strong; borderline perfume-y. So, I’d take another sip to get my the taste out of my mouth – and then like thirty seconds later it’d hit me again and I’d get that nasty lavender breath. Repeated the cycle until the tea was gone – and then a few minutes later I was fine again.
Overall; this was better than anticipated for sure – I thought that the strawberry in particular was well executed, and the spearmint pairing definitely made for a light, fun fruity treat. It wasn’t “in your face” juicy – just a nice, softer and very refreshing drink like the associate I spoke to had described. I’d be interested in trying this one again to see if the same reflux type thing happened again – if it’s something caused by the lavender and going to be a regular occurrence when I drink this tea, then that definitely negatively impacts how I view this one (that lavender breath was NASTY), but if it was a one time deal then I think I could maybe get behind this one a bit better because the floral aspects were pretty in check, hiccups aside.
Honey Citrus Raspberry Green Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
M&K’s own unique blend! We take Chinese green teas, blend them with three citrus fruits, licorice root roasted in honey, and actual raspberries! Not too fruity, not too simple, it’s a perfect blend of green tea and fruit. We use local honey from California beekeepers and local California orange peel.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
After having tried quite a few different teas from M&K’s Tea Company, I must admit that this one isn’t my favorite. And I thought it would be one I like quite a bit because the name offers quite a bit of promise! Citrus, Honey and Raspberry flavors in a Green Tea? Yes, please!
But the execution is a little off for me and I can’t really pinpoint it yet, so maybe in the process of writing this review, I can figure it out.
To brew this tea, I measured 1 bamboo scoop of the loose leaf tea into the basket of my Kati Tumbler. Then I added 12 ounces of 175°F water and let the tea steep for 2 minutes.
The green tea base is pleasant: it’s a combination of two Chinese green teas: gunpowder and Huangshan Maofeng. Together they give the tea an enjoyable texture – soft and creamy – and a smooth, lightly buttery taste with hints of smoke and vegetation.
The citrus note is subtle to this and most discernible when the tea is slurped (this helps aerate the liquid on the palate and it “enlivens” the flavors for your palate). I taste tart and tangy notes of citrus with a light sweetness of the honey. I also get a hint of bitter from the citrus peel.
Then I pick up on the sweet notes of licorice. Because the licorice root has been roasted in honey, the flavor of the licorice has been softened – I’m not getting that sharpness that I often get from licorice root. I think that this works for this particular blend because if the licorice root hadn’t been softened somewhat, it might have taken over the blend and we’d have Licorice Citrus Raspberry Green Tea instead of Honey Citrus Raspberry Green Tea.
Instead the licorice just adds a hint of almost candy-like sweetness to the cup that I actually enjoy. It might be my favorite thing about this particular blend
The raspberry is also quite subtle and I think that is what I’m thinking is off. I feel like I’m tasting more hibiscus and raspberry leaf to accentuate the raspberry than I’m actually tasting raspberry and that’s unfortunate.
So, there you have it, I’ve pinpointed my issue with this tea: I’d like the flavors of citrus and raspberry to be a little more prominent in the blend. I do like that the green tea is a dominant flavor here and I like the little contrast that the licorice root adds, but I think that because this tea is called Honey Citrus Raspberry Green Tea that I’m wanting a little more focus on the citrus and berry notes.
It’s not a bad tea but it’s not as great as I thought it would be. I’ve enjoyed many of M&K’s blends though, so I won’t hold this against them, because while it’s not my favorite tea that I’ve had from them, it’s tasty. It’s good, just not as great as some of the other M&K’s experiences that I’ve had.