Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
During their recent fundraising campaign, 52Teas/Southern Boy Teas had a few “flavorful” initiatives that once certain fundraising goals were achieved, new flavors were created. This is one of the flavors that customers of Southern Boy Teas could vote on – and they did! – and have created. And I’m really glad this Honey Ginger Flavored Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas was created, because I’m loving it.
To be honest, it isn’t a flavor that I would have really thought of to vote on. Not that I have anything against the flavor combination of honey and ginger, it’s something that I turn to whenever I’m sick. A cup of hot tea with ginger and honey always makes me feel a little better when I’m down for the count. But as iced tea? I wasn’t as thrilled with the flavor.
But I was wrong, because this is really yummy! The flavors come through just right. The ginger is a softer, sweeter ginger, which I contribute as much to the presence of the honey as I do the way the flavor was added to the tea. The honey softens the usual zesty, peppery ginger so that it is a warm taste, but not a spicy one. It is a very refreshing change to the way I usually experience ginger.
The honey is the strongest flavor of this tea, but I like that also. I don’t usually add honey to my tea unless I am feeling under the weather, because I find that it adds too much of it’s own flavor to the cup and I want to experience the tea and not really the honey, you know what I mean? So, I usually refrain from adding honey to my cup – but this tea allows me to enjoy the taste of honey and I’m liking that.
And the brisk, bold flavor of the black tea is perfectly balanced with the flavors. I taste tea, I taste honey and I taste a hint of ginger. It’s really a tasty glass of tea. This is one that I’m going to put on my re-order list.
Organic Gui Fei Oolong (Honey Tea) from Driftwood Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Driftwood Tea
Tea Description:
Gui Fei Honey Tea is created through a remarkable combination of plant and nature. Farmers allow the edges of these leaves to be nibbled by leaf hoppers which causes the leaf to producing an enzyme that results in a finished tea that has developed a naturally sweet, beautiful rich, almost honey like quality.
A beautifully rich, multi-faceted tea which is definitely deserved of the time spent to enjoy it over multiple infusions.
Learn more about this Oolong tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As I was steeping this Organic Gui Fei Oolong (Honey Tea) from Driftwood Tea in my gaiwan, I noticed the charcoal-y notes immediately. My mouth watered at the thought of that unique, smoky char taste! I didn’t really realize that this was a characteristic I’d ever really look forward to in an Oolong tea (or any other tea for that matter), but, there it is … I guess my palate has come to accept and even enjoy the notes of a charcoal-esque tea … and even light smoky notes! This from the woman who at one time threw away a full canister of Lapsang Souchong because I couldn’t handle that smoky aroma any longer!
Note: this was long before I discovered Steepster and found people who would have gladly taken that Lapsang Souchong off my hands … and also long before I’ve come to terms with Lapsang Souchong and actually enjoy the stuff now!
This Gui Fei is absolutely lovely! The flavor is far less “charcoal-y” than the aroma while brewing would lead me to believe … and it has only the slightest, faintest hint of a smoky quality to the cup. What I taste is a lovely honey-esque note that reminds me of a rich, raw honey. I taste a floral quality to the honey that is difficult to place … orchid, perhaps?
The tasting notes on the Driftwood Tea website suggest a chocolate-y tone which I do taste … and it’s coming as a big surprise to me because … I don’t recall ever really experiencing cacao tones from a pure Oolong like this. I taste the nutty quality as well which is sweet and I find that this nutty flavor is accentuated when I inhale the aroma of the tea deeply before I take a sip. The nutty flavors really come to life!
This is a tea that is definitely worth the effort to resteep several times too. I find that the honey-esque notes enhance in later steepings … In my second cup (the combination of infusions three and four), I noticed that the texture was a little thicker, reminding me of a thinned honey … and this really enhanced the experience as well. The roasted notes from the aforementioned charcoal-ish tones really bring out the sweet nutty taste in this cup.
A really excellent Oolong – definitely one to add to your Must Try list! If you’re a fan of Oolong like I am … you’ve got to try this one!
Honey Beauty Oolong Tea from T-Oolong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: T-Oolong Tea
Tea Description:
This Honey Beauty Oolong is all natural, handpicked, handcrafted and produced from Qingxin Dapa varietals, the tea leaves often used to produce Oriental Beauty oolong. This tea tastes similar to Oriental beauty but not quite the same. The taste and aroma of the tea are honey sweet, rich, and pleasant with a long lasting honey sweet aftertaste. This tea stands up well to multiple infusions, and has the complexities of an oolong in taste and aroma, but the appearance and strength of a black tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love a good Oriental Beauty Oolong, and when I read the name of this Honey Beauty Oolong Tea from T-Oolong Tea, I was intrigued … I was curious to find out how similar to an Oriental Beauty it would be.
The dry leaf appearance IS indeed very similar, with its dark chocolate colored leaves. The aroma is sweet, reminding me a bit more of the smell of molasses than of honey. It’s a very pleasant fragrance … sort of like walking into a kitchen when my gramma would make pecan pie. It smells a bit like that sweet, molasses-y filling of a pecan pie (but not so much like the actual pecans!) The brewed tea offers a different scent with notes of fruit, flower and yes, even a hint of honey.
The first cup (containing infusions #1 and 2 following a quick 15 second rinse) is very delicately flavored, and I noticed that it took a few sips for the flavors to begin to develop on my palate. By mid-cup, I was noticing a lovely honey-esque tone start to emerge. Notes of stone fruit … somewhere between nectarine and plum. It is sweet but there is a hint of contrasting sour there too.
The second cup (infusions #3 and 4) offered a stronger flavor than the first, and was my favorite cup of the three cups that I enjoyed of this tea. I noticed a stronger fruit note, and the honey notes are more profound with this cup. It’s sweet … and indeed beautiful! Honey Beauty Oolong seems an appropriate name for this tea.
With the third cup (infusions #5 and 6), I noticed the flavors becoming … not really “softer” but more unified. The honey note was not quite as focused, and the fruit note was less distinct. It tasted more like … well, imagine a combination of nectarines and plums that have been roasted to concentrate the flavor and bring out the sweetness of the fruit, and then drizzling this roasted fruit medley with sweet honey. That’s what I taste! YUM!
This tea is definitely a treat for Oolong aficionados!
Liu An Gua Pian Green Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
A great find for those looking for a more green tea with more character! Like several of our other teas, Liu’an Guapian is deservedly in the list of China’s top ten teas. Made only from larger, mature leaves that are rolled up during processing, the dry leaves have a distinctively plump shape to them – giving rise to its Chinese name of “melon seeds”. Very uncharacteristic for a green tea, it has a quite sweet taste and strong aroma, that is also overlaid with an almost smoky, spicy tang.
From Qiyun Mountain(齐云山), Liu’an, Anhui province
Harvest Time: April 2, 2013
Round shaped, vibrant leaves without any bud or stems
Produces a bright emerald coloured tea
A distinctive taste – sweet with a rich, slightly spicy taste
Low caffeine (less than 10% of a cup of coffee)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Liu An Gua Pian Green Tea from Teavivre has the mouth watering aroma of milk and honey. When I opened the dry leaf packet I let out an audible ahhhhhh. When I steeped it the moist leaf let off that sticky sweet smell of milk and honey and I was in love. The beautiful hand rolled leaf look like tiny unicorn horns. Yes this tea is what dreams are made of!
The flavor of this tea is like none other. Seriously this is not your average green tea! Yes there is a note of vegetation and unlike my SororiTea Sister I do get a bit of a grassy note, but it is so much more complex than that and I am in agreement with my SororiTea Sister Anne, that it is a stellar green tea to covet! Like her, I think my new favorite.
I too get that kick of a spicy note and a deep earthiness for a green. Something like peat moss perhaps. This is easily a tea that I could get all flowery with the words about but rather I want to just sit back and relax into this sublime cup. It is sweet, a tiny bit tangy and tart, a kick of spicy, a whole lot of grounding earthiness, vegetal, subtly grassy, with a touch of fruit flavor very much like that of a melon yet I also detect something perhaps like lychee with a light floral undertone to it.
Regardless of what verbiage I could use to persuade you to try this tea, I will restrain myself, if you don’t buy it then that just means more for me, and for my SoroitTea Sister Anne too I suppose. Seriously if you are not a fan of green tea you must try this. You will be changed for life. If you do enjoy green tea, you have to experience this one, and if you are a green tea lover you simply can NOT be without this in your stash!
Sinharaja from Golden Moon Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Golden Moon Tea
Tea Description:
For Sinharaja we use rich, dark loose leaf tea leaves that are nourished by fertile rain forest streams in the hills of Ceylon. It has a toasty, molasses-like character with ripe berry notes and a caramelized finish. Serve with a touch of raw sugar and cream for a taste that is smooth, full-bodied and warming.
WHY IT’S SPECIAL:
A sweet, full bodied Ceylon Tea
Natural notes of cocoa and honey with a finish of molasses
A personal favorite of our Owner, Marcus Stout
Pairs excellently with milk and honey
Grown at the basin of a rainforest giving it a wonderfully rich flavor
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL OF:
Sinharaja has a touch of astringency, which is great for first thing in the morning
A bold flavor that is heavier than most Ceylon Teas
While good as an iced tea, it actually tastes better hot
Not as malty as other Black Teas (like Assam)
If you drink the tea without milk and sugar/honey, then the second infusion is better than the first
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of Sinharaja from Golden Moon Tea is delightful. It smells rich, robust, sweet, and full of molasses. Yet to balance out this sweet tea we have an almost spicy, woodsy flavor. It is quite delicious. Now I can’t say it is the most robust black tea, nor the heaviest in the mouthfeel. Actually I have had teas with far more depth of flavor than Sinharaja, however I do love this tea. I like the subtle astringency indicative of a breakfast tea, without the ability for it to easily become bitter when oversteeped. Let’s face it, if I am going to over steep a tea it is going to be when I am barely awake, in the mornings. Well in honesty my mornings are more early afternoon, but you get the idea.
If you like to add creamer, milk, sugar, etc to your tea this is an excellent one to do it with. Although I find this tea to have plenty of flavor on its own and does not need additives, I have to admit that the milk and sugar do bring out new and exciting qualities in this tea. It enhances the richness and makes the tea a bit more robust, rather than drowning out the flavors. I also only added a slight hint of milk, and sugar.
There is a earthy yet sweet balance in this tea that keeps drawing me back. Chocolate notes that seem almost creamy as the cup cools some present. Bright berry notes do liven up the cup giving an almost sparkly like sensation to the palate. The berries taste more red berry, perhaps even a slight cherry or perhaps raspberry note to the cup. Based on the sparkly sensation I am going to have to go with very sweet raspberry.
I particularly love the after taste and while I know that Golden Moon says this is better hot I can’t wait to try it iced. I feel like this is one of those teas that can really match any weather. I can see this being so comforting on a dreary day, or really refreshing on a hot day. I need to get my hands on some more of this.