Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Learn more about Southern Boy Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I wasn’t sure about this blend. I mean … you know me, I’m a chocoholic, so I LOVE chocolate, and chocolate teas are some of my favorite teas to be tasting. But, I have been kind of on the fence about iced chocolate tea. I don’t know why.
But wow! This is yummy!
It really tastes very chocolate malt-ish … but without the thick, rich ice cream-y texture of a chocolate malt. But the flavors are all there. It’s like sipping on a very thin chocolate malt.
It’s got a strong chocolate flavor (I like that!) and I can even taste the notes of malt. The natural nutty notes of the honeybush seem to accentuate the malt flavor. And I can even taste subtle notes of vanilla in there. It’s sweet and chocolate-y and just … so very yummy!
I like this a whole lot more than I expected I would.
To brew this, I brought a quart of water to a near boil: 195°F. Then I dropped the large tea bag into the vessel and let it steep for 9 1/2 minutes and strained the brewed liquid into my favorite glass 2 quart tea pitcher. Then I brought a second quart of water to 195°F and resteeped the tea bag for 12 minutes.
Remember, with honeybush, you can steep the leaves longer than you would steep the leaves of Camellia Sinensis because there are very little (if any) tannins in the honeybush leaves. You won’t get a bitter brew! The reason I go with a slightly below boiling temperature with honeybush (and rooibos) is because I find that if I go with a boiling temperature, I end up with a sort of ‘sour wood’ sort of flavor that I don’t enjoy. The slightly lower temperature eliminates this funky flavor. This little tip has helped me to enjoy honeybush and especially rooibos a lot more than I used to.
And I REALLY am enjoying this Chocolate Malt Iced Tea. It’s awesome!
Blueberry Banana 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:
Mmm! This iced tea is tasty!
I really like the combination of blueberry and banana. The blueberry is the top note. It is sweet with a pleasant level of tartness – not too sour or tart, I’m not puckering … but there’s just enough tartness to add a little bit of contrast. The banana is more like an undertone. It’s consistently there throughout the sip, from start to finish, but it isn’t a loud or aggressive flavor. Then again, banana isn’t usually a loud or aggressive flavor, is it?
It’s a sweet banana flavor, but I’m not getting the “candy-ish” banana flavor that I often get from the Southern Boy Teas/52Teas banana flavored blends. It tastes sweet but it doesn’t taste like banana runts.
I’m not a big fan of banana runts, so I consider this a good thing. I like the other runts in the package, but I’m always passing the banana runts over to my daughter, who loves them.
The blueberry flavor perks up the blend, adding it’s own “brightness” to the glass. Sweet with just a hint of berry tarty tingle at the finish. Yum!
The black tea is not overwhelmed by these flavors, either. It’s a brisk yet smooth tasting black tea base. The three flavors – black tea, banana and blueberry – work together very well to create a pleasantly sweet, refreshing iced tea. I like this blend. I can see myself getting more of this one in the future.
Rooibos Cinnamon Vanilla Tisane from Tea of Life
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Tisane Description:
Pronounced “roy-boss” and means “red bush” in Afrkaans, studies have shown this tea is comparable to green tea in the amounts of EGCG it contains. Rooibos is totally pure and natural. It contains no colorants or preservatives.
And Rooibos tastes divine! It is less bitter than most teas.
Learn more about Tea of Life and Amazon Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I confess that the first time I had a cup of this tisane, I accidentally oversteeped it. I had started it brewing and walked away and forgot about it. Some twenty to twenty five minutes later, I remembered it. Fortunately, it’s a rooibos blend and rooibos doesn’t get bitter the way a tea (Camellia Sinensis) would.
However, I didn’t figure it would be a fair assessment to write this review based upon that steeping, so I waited until the next evening (tonight!) to try brewing it for my usual steep time for a rooibos tisane (ten minutes) and this time actually setting a timer for it.
And while this review will be based upon my cup from the 10 minute steep, I will also add some thoughts on the cup that steeped longer. (Both cups were steeped with 195°F water.)
This is a very flavorful rooibos blend. It seems a simple enough combination: rooibos, vanilla and cinnamon. This combination makes me think “Snickerdoodle” and well, it does have a snickerdoodle-ish taste to it. The rooibos has a sweet, nutty flavor to it, and when combined with the vanilla and cinnamon, the result is a taste that’s a lot like the classic cookie.
The cinnamon is a warm but not spicy cinnamon taste, and one that marries well with the sweet, creamy notes of vanilla as well as the warm, honey-like sweetness of the rooibos. It’s a pleasant cup of tea that’s not too sweet, but makes a nice late-night snack if you’re craving something just a little sweet but don’t want to wreck your diet by indulging in a real snickerdoodle cookie. This tea makes a tasty and healthier substitute.
Wildberries Flavored Green Iced Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zoomdweebies
Tea Description:
Wildberries = Blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, elderberry, and black currant. Premium Organic green tea with organic flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Here it is … my first review of one of Southern Boy Teas green tea creations. I was excited to learn of SBT’s expansion into other tea types – they’re not just black teas anymore – since I usually prefer green or white iced teas (I find them more refreshing than black tea).
And this Wildberries Flavored Green Tea is VERY refreshing. Mmm! It’s bursting with berry flavor. My first sip I could really taste the elderberry and black currant flavors. In the aftertaste, I started to pick up on the other berry flavors, strawberry, blackberry and raspberry are the flavors that seem to tickle the palate in the aftertaste, with an emphasis on the raspberry notes.
The blueberry is a little less conspicuous.
As I continue to sip, I start to notice more of the berry flavor throughout the sip, not just the elderberry and currant. Now I’m tasting more blackberry, strawberry and raspberry throughout the sip, and I can even pick up on some blueberry notes.
And the green tea base is ideal for these flavors because it’s a lighter tasting base. I feel that a black tea base might be a little bit too much. It could work, and I’d certainly be more than happy to try it, but I like the softer flavor of the sweet green tea with light buttery notes and how the green tea allows the berry flavors to really express themselves fully, while not hiding off in the background. I still taste the green tea, but it doesn’t intrude upon the berry notes. It’s a very lovely balance that’s been achieved.
To brew this, I went ahead and used the “hot brew” method. I filled my kettle with one quart of water and heat it to 175°F. Then I allowed the sachet to infuse for 1 1/2 minutes. Then I poured the hot liquid into my tempered glass pitcher (to temper it, I just run it under hot tap water for about a minute to get the glass warm so that the hot liquid doesn’t shock the glass and cause it to break). Repeat with another quart of water heated to 175°F, this time allowing the sachet to steep for 2 full minutes. Then I stashed the sachet in an airtight container and put it in the refrigerator to see how a resteep would taste.
The verdict: The resteep is still VERY flavorful. Almost – if not just as – flavorful as the first half gallon that I prepared. This tea is a winner! It’s one that I’ll be getting more of!
Petal Passion Oolong Tea Blend from ArtfulTea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: ArtfulTea orArtfulTea on Etsy
Tea Description:
This lovely, flavored oolong combines the taste of passion fruit with an intensely tropical fragrance that immediately enchants. Aronia berries, mango cubes and rose petals enhance the exotic flavor of this half-fermented tea. Refreshing hot or iced.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have very much enjoyed the teas that I’ve tried from ArtfulTea this far, and this Petal Passion Oolong Tea Blend is quite lovely.
The dark Oolong tea leaves look a lot like either an Oriental Beauty or a Formosa Oolong. There are chunks of fruit and pretty pink rose petals tossed in with the tea leaves. It’s a visually appealing blend, and it’s beautifully aromatic with notes of tropical fruit.
And the taste is YUM! The Oolong base is smooth. It has an almost buttery texture to it – not so much of a buttery taste as a texture, but some of this texture seems to translate a little bit to the flavor. I don’t taste a heavy “buttery” quality to it. There are some woodsy notes to the cup.
But mostly what I’m tasting is the lovely tropical fruit notes of this tea. Passion Fruit and mango! It’s sweet and there’s almost a nectar-like flavor to this, as if someone had added freshly pureed fruit to my cup of Oolong! I like that these flavors taste authentic, they don’t have the fake or chemical-ish type of flavor that sometimes accompanies flavored teas. This tea just has a very pleasant tropical flavor to go along with the naturally woodsy, smooth flavors of the Oolong tea.
There are some aronia berries in this tea and they do give the cup a slight astringency. Don’t let that frighten you though, I’m finding the astringency to be rather mild, and I’m experiencing more of a tingly berry tartness than I am a pucker-y astringency. I find this to be an enjoyable contrast to the sweetness of the passion fruit and mango flavors.
Another really lovely blend from ArtfulTea, and I feel like I’m trying it right at the right time – we’ve been experiencing some monsoon-ish weather here in the Pacific Northwest lately, and it’s been uncomfortably hot and humid! Ugh! This tea takes me away – at least, mentally – on a tropical vacation. Unfortunately, my vacation only lasts as long as the cup of tea – but fortunately, this is an Oolong and can be resteeped! Revisiting my tropical island is as easy as resteeping my tea leaves!