Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Chiang Rai Tea House
Tea Description:
An exquisite, balanced blend of two fragrant herbs typical of South East Asia. The lemony flavor and aroma of lemongrass is a great match to the sweet, vanilla-like taste of pandan. If you haven’t tried pandan yet, this infusion is not to be missed. The lemongrass-pandan combination is known to relieve stress, ease constipation. detoxify the blood and, being caffeine-free, it’s also the perfect after-dinner beverage. As for all our teas and herbs, these two are also organic.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Pandan seems to be becoming a more popular ingredient in herbal tea – I’ve certainly seen it more recently than I ever have before. It has quite a distinctive flavour, but one that’s also hard to describe – it’s sweet in a way reminiscent of liquorice root, with an almost thick-tasting starchiness. Pretty unique.
This particular blend contains an approximately 60/40 split between lemongrass and pandan. The “leaves” are quite small (approximately 2mm shreds of lemongrass, with slightly larger twists of pandan), but this also means that they brew up relatively quickly. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in boiling water. The resulting liquor is a pale golden colour, the scent generically sweet.
To taste, the pandan is definitely the most dominant flavour. It has a rather thick mouthfeel, and it’s the kind of flavour that lingers at the back of the throat. The sweetness, particularly, is rather cloying after a while. Fortunately, the lemongrass is there to freshen things up a little. It has a hay-like sweetness of its own, but also a clean, citrus edge that cuts through the pandan and helps to end the sip on a bright, refreshing note. I drank my cup hot, but I can also see this working well iced.
A pleasant, summery cup with two classically Thai components. This one is an excellent, and unusual, herbal, and definitely worth a try if you’re in the market for a caffeine-free option.
Peanut Butter Cup Tisane from DAVIDsTEA
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Tisane
Where to Buy: DAVIDsTEA
Tea Description:
Whether you’re looking for an afternoon pick-me-up or a sweet treat on the go, nothing beats peanut butter and chocolate. Sweet, rich, salty and addictive, it’s a classic combo for a reason. And with this smooth and satisfying blend, you can indulge your sweet tooth anytime, guilt-free. With almonds, cocoa beans and chocolate chips, it tastes just like the real thing. And since it’s completely peanut free, you can take it with you everywhere. Want to take it to the next level? Try it as a latte with frothed chocolate milk. You heard it here first…
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
DAVIDsTEA’s Fall Collection has been out for a little while now, but I’m just getting the chance to try the new teas in it. To me, this is definitely the most interesting one they’ve come up with this year; and if it actually delivers on the flavour then I think it could be a really unique, interesting dessert tea staple for late night sugar cravings!
Like tends to happen every season, this is a seriously heavy tisane so if you’re picking any up for yourself keep that in mind and know that 50g probably isn’t going to stretch super far. It does smell really decadent though with really creamy chocolate notes and a sweet, creamy and powerful peanut aroma. All combined, it really creates a solid, easily comparable smell to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I have to wonder how they got the peanut to come across so clearly when there isn’t actually any peanut in the blend (just almond). Having had a few peanut teas, I can say that I’ve been really let down by ‘peanut’ flavoured things that use artificial flavours. My experience is that you need the real thing to get the flavour across. But this tisane could easily break that trend.
I’ve read that people find this weird hot, and it’s better cold (or as a latte) but I decided to make my mug hot because I actually thought that would be the best way to serve it and I think cold brewing a tisane so heavy would be a big waste of leaf. The smell is very rich and reminds me of extra creamy peanut butter: the kind that gets stuck to the roof of your mouth and you can still faintly taste like half an hour after finishing it.
The taste is surprisingly accurate; I’d say it’s more peanut than chocolate, but that the chocolate is very creamy and sweet. I think DAVIDsTEA really, really achieved what they set out to do with this blend. Now, that said, it does have a little bit of an oily mouthfeel, which is relatively inescapable when you’re using chocolate chips, and the flavor is a little bit thin. I can see people either really liking this one or finding it incredibly weird or disappointing. Personally, I didn’t realize quite how much I liked it until I had finished the mug and had the immediate urge to go resteep the leaves again, which I NEVER do with tisanes. My second mug was also pretty thin tasting, and didn’t pack much of a chocolate punch but the peanut notes were still really strong.
Again, I very much want to know how they got the peanut flavor accurate. I’m sure there are gonna be a lot of people with peanut allergies hoarding this…
Elixir #9 (Peachy Oolong) From Liquid Proust Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Liquid Proust Teas (On Etsy)
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Green oolong (Vietnamese Tung Ting), peach blossoms, flavoring.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Finally trying the last of the tea samples that Andrew, from Liquid Proust Teas, was nice enough to send my way. Over on Steepster I’ve posted this review as well – and there it has some special significance as well as it’s my 3000th ‘tasting note’ on that site. I really wanted to celebrate my involvement in the Steepster community by drinking a tea made by someone also engaged within the Steepster community not just as a ‘creator’ but as a consumer as well.
The base for this tea is a Tung Ting/Dong Ding, which is a type of oolong I find pretty enjoyable though not one I drink as regularly as other types. The infused leaf was just gorgeous; long, full olive green leaves with a nicely bruised and oxidized red rim around the edge of the leaf. I tried to show my mother, who was watching me brew the tea but she just didn’t understand the beauty of that.
With both Western Style infusions I ended up doing, I found that more than anything else that I could taste the base tea. It was very fragile/delicate overall with an initial sweet flavour with almost a ‘leather’ or gentle smoke note, but then evolved into this super fragrant and aromatic floral tea with very bright, round notes of lily or possibly lilac to a lesser extent. There was also a smooth, silky vanilla-like sweetness as well especially in the end of the sip/long lingering aftertaste.
I could also taste the peach blossom as just this extra ‘floral’ flavour with a little bit of honey and generic fruit sweetness. Sometimes I forget that, unlike orange blossoms, peach blossoms don’t exactly taste ‘peachy’. I do wish this had been peachier, though – with a name that contains both “Elixir” and “Peachy” I expected both a more vibrant, rich fruity taste as well as something distinctly peach. That said, this was a very calm, delicious tea and I did really enjoy drinking it.
Persimmon Gelato Rooibos from The East Indies Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: The East Indies Tea Company
Tea Description:
There is nothing better than sitting on the porch on a warm Spring day with a cup of creamy gelato. Imagine the taste of fresh, ripe persimmons in the gelato, just dancing around your taste buds!
Learn more about this tea on Steepster.
Taster’s Review:
…Persimmon Gelato?
…Persimmon Gelato!
That’s such a unique and fascinating flavour idea, and the minute I saw it on East Indie’s website I knew that I had to try it. For anyone who isn’t aware of East Indies Tea Company, they’ve got some really interesting and well executed flavoured blends. Their ‘specialty’ is probably dessert blends. Also, for people not aware they seem to be the supplier for most of, if not all of, Della Terra Tea’s blends – a company pretty well known for having wonderful flavoured dessert blends.
When I cracked open my sealed up package of this the smell was really overwhelming; I honestly have only had persimmons once or twice and I found that they tasted like a very sweet tomato, almost with an orange-y flavour. The aroma of the dry leaf certainly causes me to relive that experience; it’s intensely sweet and fruity with a strong citrusy scent that makes me think of really ripe mandarin oranges or perhaps very ripe mangoes. Visually, there’s lots of dried fruit (Persimmon? I wish there was an ingredients list for this blend) in the leaf as well as a multitude of little yogurt drop type things. All of this in conjunction had me very, very pumped to get this tea steeped up!
I gave this a nice, long steep to make sure I drew out as much flavor as I could and to also give the many yogurt drops time to fully melt. I was somewhat worried that when they did melt the liquor would either get a little oily or I’d get “yogurt scum” similar to what happens with melted chocolate chips but neither really happened and the liquor was very smooth and thick. The flavour was quite wonderful too; while I ultimately think the gelato aspect of the blend could have come across better, as it was basically just added creaminess from the yogurt drops, the persimmon was very well executed! Persimmons, simplified, are basically just very sweet tomatoes and that came through. I got that wonderful umami flavor that a tomato has that manages to linger all over your mouth, but also fruity notes that made me think of very, very ripe mango or either naval oranges or really ripe, in season mandarin oranges.
Anti-rooibos tea drinkers be warned though, while the flavor is strong and lively it doesn’t completely mask that rooibos base so expect to taste it alongside the lovely persimmon/citrus notes. But overall this is just a really wonderful, unique flavored rooibos and I’m extremely happy with it and definitely recommend trying it if you find yourself with the chance to.
Toasted Apple Green from Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Bluebird Tea Co.
Tea Description:
This blend of roasted green tea, popped rice and toasty apples is a bit of a tea Marmite. Some are addicted to its grassy, savoury taste but it’s not for those with a sweet tooth. Don’t worry though, Genmaicha fans will absolutely love Bluebird’s unique twist on the classic Japanese ‘popcorn’ tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Calling this blend ‘tea marmite’ is, I think, a pretty big stretch and probably not the best selling tactic if Bluebird Tea Co. wants to get North Americans buying their blends. I’ve had marmite and I certainly was not a fan, nor are most North Americans; that’s one food from across the ocean that I can’t see catching on here. However, this tea? It’s got the potential to, if done correctly.
Genmaicha is one of those teas that I consider a cupboard staple; it makes a very soothing, calming cup of toasted brown rice goodness and it also a great blend for sharing a pot with among friends – and for people truly new to tea who haven’t even come across Genmaicha it’s a good conversation piece as well; explaining the origin of adding brown rice to tea to stretch it out among the lower class in ‘old Japan’ in a fascinating thing to here and gives insight to some just how important tea is in some cultures. I, for one, remember that fact/’origin story’ being one of the most interesting to me when I was first getting really into tea outside of the flavored stuff offered at local chains such as DAVIDsTEA.
Of course, “Genmaicha with a twist” is a fantastic thing too; one a think more companies should run with. Some of my particular flavourites are Nina Paris’ Japon, Verdant’s Minnesota Blend, and Ette Tea’s Mango Sticky Rice. Apple seemed like an obvious, but untapped route – until now.
The initial wave of flavours was a very roasty brown rice and almost barley flavor; this is by far the best part of Genmaicha to me. If the level of roasty/toasty notes isn’t strong enough I’m going to be disappointed and if it’s too concentrated or has a “burnt” taste, like burnt toast, then I’m probably not going to be able to make it through the cup. However, this strikes a really nice balance between the two and has a lovely robust roasty flavour without overwhelming some of the other things going on.
Underneath that first, and most important flavour, was a mild vegetal note – there was some grassiness but mostly it was very marine with a bit of a seaweed flavour. This part of genmaicha is less important to me personally; as long as I can taste the green tea and it isn’t bitter I’m usually a happy consumer and both of those criterion were definitely checked off in this case. Now we get into the most important part of this particular blend: the apple! I’ll admit I didn’t taste it at first; but once the liquor had cooled I started to notice this very bright, slightly tart apple note at the finish of the sip that was lingering into the aftertaste. It’s definitely a greener apple; think Granny Smith or Sundance apples. However, the tartness and slight sweetness provides a really nice contrast between the flavour and whilst fairly simple I think this would be really enjoyable as a flavoured Genmaicha year round, but particularly in the fall.
Definitely worth trying, if you get the chance!