Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Premium organic caffeine-free honeybush with organic flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Before I start this review, I wanted to update you with some news about 52Teas/Zoomdweebies/Southern Boy Teas!
Recently, they launched a whole new website and along with the new website came some exciting changes to the way they sell teas! They are now offering their teas in .5 ounce size pouches rather than the 1 – 2 ounce size pouches and what this means to those of us who subscribe is this:
- No longer will I be receiving 1 – 2 ounces of tea per week to add to my overwhelming stash. This is a good thing. I’m a taster. I like this small size because if I find a tea that I really like enough to add it to my stash, then I can buy more of the smaller size. This means the tea stays sealed and fresh until I want to use it!
- Savings! I am now able to subscribe not just to the 52Teas/Zoomdweebies “hot tea” blend but also the Southern Boy Teas weekly blend for about the same price as I was paying for just the hot tea blend from 52Teas. I am getting more flavor for a lower price. OK, sign me up! Here’s where you can subscribe!
Now … on to the review!
When I first read the name of this tea – Cinnamon Orange Iced Honeybush Tea – I thought it would be what I consider a “typical” cinnamon orange type of tea. That is, one of those red-hot, spicy-sweet cinnamon-y teas with notes of orange in the background. They are usually sold as “hot cinnamon” or “holiday” blends. But this iced tea doesn’t taste at all like I expected it to!
And that’s a good thing!
Oh sure, I enjoy those red-hot, spicy-sweet, candy-like teas. They’re one of those guilty pleasures of mine. But I was not too sure about that spicy-sweet flavor for an iced tea. Iced tea should be something very refreshing and cooling for the palate, and while I do enjoy those spicy-sweet teas, they aren’t really very cooling for the palate. I think it’s because of the spicy thing.
But this isn’t spicy-sweet. The cinnamon tastes sweet and it’s gently spiced and smoothly flavored. It doesn’t impart a warm flavor on my palate. It’s sweet and a little savory, but it isn’t hot or spicy. The orange is bright and juicy tasting. And it is a very refreshing taste.
The honeybush is a little sweet and nutty, and the earthiness of the honeybush brings out the earthier, sweeter flavors of the cinnamon without emphasizing it’s spicier side. The orange is sweet and vibrant.
A really tasty iced tea. I wouldn’t call it my favorite iced tea selection from Southern Boy Teas, but, I am really enjoying it and will have no problem finishing the pitcher. I might even buy another pouch or two in the future. It’s a good one.
Apple on the Green Tea from Pluck Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Pluck Tea
Tea Description:
Warming, soothing and fruity with a hint of cinnamon. This dried apple tea has been layered with premium green tea and just the right amount of spice for a flavourful but sophisticated tea, hot or cold.
Apple on the Green features MacIntosh apples grown in Niagara Ontario.
Learn more about August’s Postal Teas shipment here.
Learn more about subscribing to Postal Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
OK, so far it’s been 2 for 2 with this month’s box from Postal Teas. I loved the Peach tea and I’m loving this Apple on the Green! Apple isn’t always the easiest flavor to get right in a tea. But this is one of the best apple teas I’ve tried … at least that I’ve tried recently!
That’s because everything is balanced nicely. The green tea has a sweet, slightly grassy, slightly creamy flavor that seems to elevate the apple notes in a very pleasing way. The apple has a strong flavor, but it doesn’t taste fake. It has a very good, authentic apple-y taste. The cinnamon is strong enough to be tasted and add a vibrant zesty flavor to the cup without giving the tea too warm or spicy a flavor. Everything is done just right with this blend!
OK, so I know that Pluck is a Canadian company and I don’t mean to take anything away from that, but this tea seems very “American” (United States) to me because here we’re all about the apple pie. This cup of tea is like apple pie a la mode without the crust. The creaminess of the green tea gives it an a la mode sort of flavor, the apple is sweet and juicy and the cinnamon gives just the right amount of warmth – it’s just like a delicious apple-y filling that my gramma would make for her amazing apple pies.
Maybe this tea is just making me feel a little sentimental.
To steep this tea, I used my small teapot and measured 1 bamboo scoop into the vessel. I heated the water to 180°F and poured about 12 ounces of tea into the teapot and let it steep for 2 minutes. Then I strained off the tea and enjoyed. For the resteep, I added an extra minute onto the steep time but did not increase the temperature.
So far, this is the best tea that I’ve tried from my Postal Teas boxes. This tea has made my subscriptions worth it.
This one also offers a pretty decent resteep. The apple flavor is a little softer than in the first steep, but it’s still quite tasty and I think it’s well worth it to resteep these leaves.
Product Review: Organic Lime Pomegranate Lightly Sweetened Iced Green Tea from steaz
Product Information:
It starts with certified organic and fair trade green tea sourced from around the world – we then brew our tea with the most flavorful fruits that are rich in antioxidants and finished with a hint of organic cane sugar for a healthy and delicious refreshment that will enhance your senses. And becuase our farms are Fair Trade Certified™, we ensure equal pay, better health care and equal opportunities for our farmers – so they too can reach new heights as well.
Learn more about this product here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve said before that I’m not the biggest fan of RTD (Ready to Drink) teas that are available in just about any convenience store or grocery store. Most of them are crafted primarily of sugar or other sweeteners. They tend to be so full of sweetener and flavoring that the drinker can’t even taste the tea!
Occasionally, I come across one that’s different or at least, I come across one that seems to promise to be different. This can of Organic Lime Pomegranate iced green tea from steaz says “Lightly Sweetened” on it, and that’s what immediately caught my attention about it. Other eye catching features: “Organic” and “Fair Trade.” Two other things that I appreciated.
So, I’ll give it a try.
The description above states that there is a “hint of organic cane sugar.” However, the ingredient list tells a slightly different tale:
INGREDIENTS: Filtered water, organic evaporated cane juice, natural pomegranate & lime flavors, organic lemon juice, fair trade certified™ organic green tea.
When the ingredient is second on a list five ingredients, that suggests to me that maybe there’s a little more than just a “hint” of sugar in this. Also, after reading the ingredient list, I’m a little disturbed by the fact that the green tea is the LAST ingredient on the list! What?!?
And unfortunately, with this tea, you can taste the ingredients as they’re listed. I taste more sweetener and flavoring than I do green tea.
That said, this drink does have some redeeming qualities. It is a tasty drink. The lime is the strongest of the flavors, but I taste a sweet-tart pomegranate note in there too. While I do taste more sugar than I do tea, it isn’t TOO sweet or cloyingly so. This isn’t as sweet as say … the typical soda pop would be. My teeth don’t feel as though they’ve been coated with sugar as I drink this beverage.
It’s a tasty, refreshing beverage. I do wish I could taste more tea than sugar or pomegranate and lime. I feel like this has been marketed as a tea product and as an organic product for the health appeal without any real focus on the tea. Those who are trying to make “healthier” choices while shopping would probably buy this. This isn’t a drink for tea drinkers, it’s a drink for those who probably have never really tried green tea and think that this is what green tea is supposed to taste like.
Peach Cobbler a la Mode Flavored Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
This is delicious and refreshing. I don’t know if I’m tasting peach cobbler a la mode or not … but I definitely am tasting the peach cobbler. And it’s really yummy.
Peach cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. There are few desserts out there that say “summer” quite as clearly as peach cobbler! Sweet, fluffy, golden-browned biscuit atop sweet, juicy peaches and their juices. Mmm!
To brew this tea, I went with the hot-brew method. I brought 1 quart of freshly filtered water to a boil and then tossed in the tea bag and let it steep for 90 seconds, removed the bag and then poured the tea into my favorite tea pitcher. I repeated this process – bringing another quart of water to a boil, this time steeping the same tea bag for 2 full minutes, removing the bag and pouring the hot tea into the tea pitcher to combine both infusions.
Then I let the pitcher cool down a while before stashing the tea into the chillbox and refrigerating for a few hours. Mmm! Frosty, delicious iced tea!
The peach notes are sweet and I can taste notes of buttery, biscuit-y pastry that’s been caramelized. These flavors are evenly matched with the brisk-tasting black tea. It’s sweet and fruity, but not too much. The black tea balances out these flavors. The black tea isn’t bitter, and I like that it’s a rich, solid tasting black tea.
This is SO MUCH better than one of those ready-to-drink iced teas that you can buy in the grocery store that are mostly sugar. I can taste the black tea here. This isn’t an overly sweetened, overly flavored tea. It’s just a really refreshing, smooth-tasting, flavorful drink that tastes more like tea than a bunch of flavors and sugar … and it quenches my thirst on this hot summer day. I like it.
Cherry Cola Flavored Iced Black Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t drink a lot of soda, but on the rare occasions that we go out to eat and the iced tea available at the restaurant is questionable, I usually ask for a cherry cola.
So I was excited to try this iced tea flavor from Southern Boy Teas, because it’s a flavor that I enjoy and would be able to identify and also because in the past, I’ve been impressed with the cola flavored teas that 52Teas has offered. They really do have a bubbly, effervescent taste of soda pop, which is a little weird when I would drink the hot tea. Weird, but in a wonderfully weird sort of way.
To brew: The Southern Boy Teas are a “bagged” tea, sealed in a large tea pouch that makes it easy to cold-brew (put it in a pitcher with a half gallon of freshly filtered, cold water and then stash that into the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, take out the sachet – and save it to resteep later! – and enjoy) or to hot brew.
I do have another pouch of this tea and I plan to cold steep it to see how that turns out. I’ll have to come back and comment on this review to let you know how that turns out when I do that.
I usually hot brew all these iced teas for the first tasting, because I feel like I’m getting the true, intended flavor that way and since I want to write about the experience, I think that this is the best way to do that.
To hot brew this, I start with a quart of freshly filtered water and put it in my kettle and heat it to boiling. Then I just toss the sachet into my kettle and let the tea steep for 2 minutes, strain the tea into my favorite iced tea pitcher, and then I repeat the process, pouring another quart of water into the kettle, heating it to boiling and then resteeping the pouch, this time for 3 minutes. I let this come to a room temperature cool before I put the hot glass pitcher into the cold refrigerator. Then I let it chill for several hours (or overnight).
This is a tasty glass of cold refreshment. I can taste the notes of cherry and cola. And I can taste the black tea flavor too. It’s a bit like someone poured some flat cherry cola into my iced tea.
Yes, I’m still getting some of that aforementioned bubbly taste from this, but, it’s not as bubbly or effervescent as you’d get if you were drinking a straight soda pop. Nor should it be. This is tea, not a carbonated beverage. However, you can make it a tea soda.
I can taste that bubbly sort of flavor that I’ve experienced in the past with 52Teas soda flavors, although for some reason (I’m not sure of the reason) and this is something that I’ve noticed with the other cola flavored iced teas from SBT, the “soda” or “cola” flavor doesn’t shine through quite as copiously as it seems to when I sip on a cup of hot soda flavored tea from 52Teas. As I said, I’m not quite sure why this is.
That said, this is still really tasty. It quenches the thirst and it tastes great while it’s quenching the thirst, and that’s what I look for in an iced tea.