Today is Christmas Eve… and I still haven’t finished all the holiday preparations. I still have presents to buy!
Yeah… I’m not the most organized individual you’re likely to meet. That’s putting it mildly!
It may not appear so by just reading these words, but … I’m about to have a panic attack! Good thing I have some tea to help soothe my nerves!
And the tea that I’m enjoying today is …
NEAPOLITAN HONEYBUSH
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
Our caffeine-free African Honeybush (If you are still not familiar with honeybush, it is very similar to Rooibos, but a bit sweeter and without the woody aftertaste that rooibos frequently has) blended with organic vanilla beans, organic cacao nibs, freeze-dried strawberry pieces and all natural flavors. This is a real treat hot or iced!
Taster’s Review:
I can’t believe that I haven’t yet written a review for this tea!
Well, no time like the present, eh? This is a tea that I’ve had on hand for some time now. I am not going to say its my favorite tisane from 52Teas, because it isn’t, but, I do like it quite a bit! I think I like it even more now than I did when I first tasted it.
For those of you that have one, I recommend brewing this in a Libre Tea Glass (or similar type vessel). I put the leaf into the main chamber of the glass, screw on the straining lid, and sip the tisane through the strainer. This enables me to keep the honeybush in the liquid as I sip it, and the flavor continues to intensify. This tea just keeps getting better and better the longer it steeps!
After steeping just six minutes, my first few sips were delicious. I could taste a good combination of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, together with the somewhat nutty/honey sweet taste of the honeybush. But now, after continuing to steep some additional 15 or 20 minutes after those first couple of sips, the flavor is even better. The chocolate – RICH! The strawberry – SWEET! The vanilla – CREAMY! I think I actually like this tisane better than the ice cream after which it was created!
The flavor is really smooth and creamy, just like ice cream. The only real difference is the temperature and the slightly nutty taste that comes from the honeybush. I have tasted this tea hot and iced, and it is really tasty either way. I found it to be very refreshing this past summer when I iced it. Right now, I’m finding it to be particularly soothing on the nervous tension I’m experiencing due to my shopping dilemma.
This tea is such a wonderful treat!
On the 1st Day of Christmas … from 52Teas
This year as a special holiday promotion, 52Teas offered a special 12 sampler package which is comprised of 11 of their best-selling teas, and 1 brand new tea (for Christmas day!). The “rules” are simple: open one cleverly disguised sample package per day – labeled simply with the day that it should be opened (today’s sample package reminded me that I should only open it on December 14, because “Santa is Watching”).
Inside the sample package includes a new label – the label for the tea – and enough of the tea for several cups. Today’s special tea is:
Piña Colada Honeybush
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
We create a lot of different blends here on 52teas. It is one of the things I absolutely love most about my job is experimenting with new flavor combinations and creating new and unique blends. I have to admit that some of our experiments are more successful than others. Some of the blends we create are good, some are great, and a few, like this week’s Tea of the Week, are just phenomenal!
Sweet African honeybush appears to be MADE for tropical flavors. Combine it with dried pineapple, unsweetened coconut flakes and a touch of rum flavor, and you’ve got a tea so soothing, relaxing and pleasing to the senses, that, like I wrote on the label, you ought to be required to sip it from a hammock on the beach.
We hope this tea blows you away as much as it did us. I’m seriously thinking this might be one to enter into the World Tea Championships next year. Enjoy!
Taster’s Review:
This is one of 52Teas best. Although, to say “one of 52Teas best” is a bit vague, not only because I happen to say that quite a bit, but because 52Teas makes a lot of great teas. It would be difficult to actually pinpoint their “best.”
However, this tisane happens to have the distinction of placing 3rd at the North American Tea Championship. Not too shabby!
You can read my original review of this tea here. My opinion of the tea hasn’t changed! The flavor is excellent. It is pleasantly sweet from the honeybush base, and the flavors of pinapple, coconut and rum are well-balanced.
I am really glad that this tisane was included – it’s a little walk down memory lane!
Tomorrow, I will be posting about the 2nd Tea of Christmas, which is… well… we will just have to wait to find out tomorrow!
Strawberry Pie from My Sweet Honeybush
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: My Sweet Honeybush
Company Description:
Why should apple, cherry and blueberry get all the attention? Here’s our strawberry pie flavored honeybush with real freeze dried strawberries, organic vanilla bean bits, cinnamon and all natural flavors including strawberry, vanilla and hints of butter, brown sugar and cinnamon!
Taster’s Review:
YUMMMMM! If you like strawberry – you really must try this honeybush blend. It’s fantastic!
The strawberry flavor is very authentic – it tastes like sweet, juicy strawberries. There is very little tart to this berry flavor. It is like the strawberries you might pick up at a strawberry field – fresh and ripe! And with the naturally honey-esque sweetness of the honeybush, the fruit flavor really intensifies.
The cinnamon and vanilla add a nice dimension to this blend too. But what really makes this blend so amazing is the buttery “pie” like flavor. With the butter flavor in there, it gives it a butter-rich shortbread crust kind of taste.
Now, I haven’t ever really had strawberry pie other than Marie Callender’s type of strawberry pie, and I’m not terribly fond of that syrupy gunk they put in their strawberry pie. But… I have had a lot of strawberry shortcake! My gramma used to make strawberry shortcake using her pie crust dough which was sprinkled with cinnamon. And that is what this tastes like!
Thank you, My Sweet Honeybush, for this lovely, very memorable tea that evokes such fond memories!
Blueberry Cheesecake From Art of Tea
Tea Type: Honeybush/Rooibos Blend
Where To Buy: Art of Tea
Product Description:
Artfully hand crafted organic and fair traded South African rooibos, honeybush, and antioxidant rich blueberries infused with a natural creamy rich flavor.
Water Temperature: 206 F degrees
Caffeine Content: Caffeine Free
Steep Time: 5-7 minutes
Ingredients: Organic fair trade rooibos, organic honeybush, organic blueberries, organic cornflowers, marigolds, natural flavors.
Origin: Art of Tea Blend
Tasters Review:
If it says “Cheesecake” I’ll probably try it!
At first sip I thought this was creamy and that was about it besides the honeybush and rooibos flavors but then I waited about 2 minutes at room temp…things changed from there on! The blueberry flavor plumped right up and was very tasty. There was still a great deal of creaminess to it tho.
I’m not sure if I would say cheesecake-like but it’s certainly creamy! As for aroma I can smell the blueberries slightly but not overly so.
It is VERY dark in color once infused especially for a Rooibos and/or Honeybush. The after taste is a blueberry and ends with a tiny floral taste.
I don’t know if I would say this about many other tisanes but I enjoy the creamy flavor mixed with the blueberry and I appreciate the blueberry not tasting fake or over the top!
Overall this was quite good and I would certainly have it again!
Guiltless Apple Pie from Element Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Honeybush
Where to Buy: Element Tea
Company Description:
This sin-free delicious dessert tea is perfect for any autumn day when you crave Apple Pie the most. You can literally taste the warm sliced apples and pastry in your cup. Yum!
Ingredients: Green Honeybush, Green Rooibos, Apple Bits, Raisins, Hazelnut, Flavoring Bits
Taster’s Review:
This tea smells so good. The dry leaf smells like a nutty apple pie. The brewed liquor smells a little less like pie but a little more of the apple scent comes through, and I can still smell the nutty scent. It smells like a homemade apple pie and evokes memories of visits to gramma’s house.
Mmm! This is delicious.
Let me start with the base of honeybush and rooibos. Using green honeybush and green rooibos for this blend is GENIUS for a couple of reasons. First, the green (or unoxidized) varieties of these two herbs tends to be lighter and fresher tasting. The green varieties also tend to have a little less of the woodsy flavor that these two leaves are known to have, and instead, the flavor tends to lean a little towards the fruity side. There is still a light woodsy flavor to it, but, because there is also a somewhat fruity nature to the taste, it lends itself well to a fruity dessert tea such as this.
Second, I have found that in a blend containing both rooibos and honeybush, that the honey-like quality of the honeybush tends to tame that funky sweet aftertaste of the rooibos quite well. By using both of these two leaves in the blend, Element Tea has managed to cancel out the funky taste of the rooibos while keeping a light, fruity taste and a honey-esque sweetness that complements the overall profile of this tisane very well.
But, enough with all the technical talk… let’s start talking about how this tea tastes! Put very simply, it tastes just as the name implies: it tastes like apple pie in a tea cup! The apple and raisins lend a sweet and well-rounded fruit flavor to the tisane, while the hazelnut offers a nutty taste. I can taste a pastry flavor to this too, it is slightly buttery. The nutty taste from the hazelnuts elevates the buttery quality and gives it a very nice, nutty crust like taste.
YUMMY! This tea is true to its name. It’s a great way to have your pie and drink it too!