Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green & Red Rooibos
Where to Buy: Tealish
Tea Description:
A colourful blend of green and red rooibos with a smooth lemon taste reminiscent of freshly baked lemon meringue pie. With a delicious zesty lemon flavour and a perfect creamy finish, this red tea infusion is a sweet and healthy treat!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love my green rooibos. Red rooibos- can’t stand the stuff. But green rooibos I simply love and adore.
So the other day when I was going thru my oh so neglected tea stash I stumbled upon this delight. This is one example of why I love Steepster so much. I’m sure this tea came from one of my Steepster friends who wanted to share their tea love with me. Without that person sending me a lovely care package, I’m not sure I would have ever had this tea and that would have been a shame!
First off, the dry leaves smell so sweet and have a lovely lemon baked dessert fragrance. I brewed this up like an herbal-212F-5 minutes and allowed it to cool for a moment.
Wow, does this taste good! This tea tastes like a lemon tart! You can really taste the lemon but it tastes more like a lemon pie filling. Sweet and lush. There is also a tart like flavor that gives the tea more of a dessert quality. This may not taste like a lemon meringue pie but it still tastes amazing! I even had enough left over to try this tea iced and I ended up with the same amazing results. The only flavor I was really missing was the pie like flavor. The rest of them are spot on. I was even able to get a couple infusions out of this tea. I drank this tea to curve my sweet tooth craving that hits me somewhere between 2pm-3pm. It worked too!
I’m pretty impressed with this tea and I’m excited to see that I have more Tealish to try in the future.
Mocha Mate from Blackbird Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh Tea, Rooibos & Yerba Maté blend
Where to Buy: Blackbird Tea Co. or Black Bird Tea Co. Etsy
Tea Description:
In Argentina and Uruguay, maté is traditionally sipped through a metal straw in a cured gourd. Try that in rush hour traffic! Our interpretation is a blend of roasted maté mixed with rooibos, black pu-erh tea, and a kick of chocolate, lemongrass, cinnamon and ginger. Drink it throughout the day for a chocolaty, spicy pick-me-up.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When this tea first arrived, I was so excited! I have a tea that I love from Adagio Teas that is a version of a Mocha Mate. I can take that tea down in no time flat.
I quickly grabbed this tea and throw it in my Breville One Touch choosing the herbal setting (seeing how their is Mate in it). Poured myself a huge cup of it and sat down to write the review and then it hit me. The smell. The smell of my arch enemy. The smell one of the only teas I have trouble drinking. Yes. This tea had rooibos in it.
Unfortunately for me, I am not a rooibos fan. We each have our own teas that we adore and love and then there are the teas that really aren’t our cuppa. This one falls into the latter category. From the other flavors I was getting when I did try a sip, this tea is phenomenal. The spices and chocolate mix so well together and produce this vibrant and invigorating flavor with a sweet lemon like kick.
But with the rooibos in there, I think I need to find this darling a new home. Rooibos and I just have never gotten along. But from what I tasted, the rest of the tea is amazing. If you like rooibos blends, check this one out. I bet it would be delightful to you!
Marrakech Mint from Blackbird Tea Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Blackbird Tea Co website or Blackbird Tea Co Etsy Store
Tea Description:
If you’ve ever been to Morocco, you know the pleasure of drinking green tea with mint and ample amounts of sugar after dinner, or really, just about anytime. Our blend of loose leaf gunpowder green tea, peppermint and spearmint will help your meal settle – and the bonus? Fresh breath.
Brewing Instructions – Using water that hasn’t quite yet boiled (about 180 degrees Fahrenheit), steep 1 teaspoon of tea per 8 oz. of water for 2-3 minutes. Enjoy.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I am exhausted right now so I wanted a tea that was both refreshing and invigorating. I thought maybe a mint tea would do the job so I grabbed for a tea from a company I didn’t know about until recently.
Blackbird Tea Co has a presence both on Etsy and with their own website. They have a gorgeous website. Simple but beautiful. I love how the pictures of the tea are not over done and they let their sleep package do the talking. I was sold from the moment I saw their slick canisters.
Since this is a green tea, I just used the water for our coffee machine here at work and popped the tea into the water. As I sat waiting for the tea to steep, I enjoyed the delicious mint aroma I could smell. I felt that bit of pep that I was looking for.
Let this steep for about 3 minutes and took my first sip. This tea delivered on the taste I was looking for. Brisk green tea with a soothing refreshing mint that really invigorates your senses. Green tea with mint is a pretty simple tea but it has to be done right. Sometimes the mint can really overwhelm the tea or go the opposite way and be hardly noticeable. That is not the case with this blend. The peppermint and spearmint play nicely together in my cuppa and the green tea provides that smooth delicate feel with hints of a roasted flavor in every other sip or so. Very nicely done.
This tea gave me exactly what I need today. Just a bit of pep with a gorgeous mint background. I’m excited to try this as a mint iced tea. I’m thinking this would be a marvelous prepared that way. I do have a favorite Marrakech Mint from Tealated that I adore but this one is right there along with that blend. All the different aspects are just so fantastically present and not one flavor controls the flavor. I hope all the Blackbird Tea Co teas are this fantastic!
Oolong Mi Lan Dan Cong from Canton Tea Co
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Canton Tea Co.
Tea Description:
Dan Cong is the champagne of oolong tea: ripe with intense fruit and sweetness. The first time people taste this tea they are astonished by the arresting honey and floral notes – all completely natural. The tender leaves are thoroughly fermented and baked to produce a rich liquor bursting with peach, lychee, honey and orchid flavours. Grown on a plantation on the lower slopes of Wu Dong Mountain, Chao Zhou, this high-grade Chinese tea can be enjoyed through multiple infusion.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Canton Tea Co. is another company that I have always wanted to try but never did. I don’t have an answer of why I never ordered from them or swapped with a fellow Steepster friend, but I just seemed to stay in the realm of flavored teas. I lived a sheltered tea existence. . . until recently when I started devouring straight teas.
This tea delivered everything single flavor that is mentioned in the description. This particular oolong is sweet and full of flavor. Honey like with floral notes all the way. Hints here and there of a baked taste that just makes you want more. I can’t describe this tea to the level it should be. I’m actually in awe of how much I love this tea.
I was able to get several more infusions out of this tea even to the point of getting more of the peach notes that are described in the description. Just so delicate so light. The right amount of floral and the right amount of sweet. I have a crush on this tea.
I prepped this up using water heated from my One Touch Breville and I swear I was brewing up tea every 2 minutes. My tea cup seemed to be perpetually empty. I know. #First World Problems here.
This tea is a most for me when I start ordering teas again. I’m on a slight hiatus with the upcoming nuptials in all. (AH! I’m getting married in November!) But as soon as we get back from the honeymoon, Canton Tea I’m coming for you!
Joy Blend White Tea from Plum Deluxe
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Tea Description:
A happy tea for celebrating happy moments. Sip, smile, & share. $7/oz. $1 of every sale goes to our charity partner, The Joy Team.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love my purple packages each month. Those are the ones from Plum Deluxe and those are the ones that make me drool.
I have learned from just the few months that I have been a member of Plum Deluxe that how they descrie their tea is exactly how their tea tastes. If they say it is a grapefruit black tea, that is what it will taste like, making Plum Deluxe a tried and true tea shop to order from in my book.
This little gem was in this month’s package. I have been eyeing it for a while.
The smell of the dry leaves was a sweet jasmine citrus aroma. So delicious smelling.
I prepped this up using my handy dandy Breville One Touch on the white tea setting. Poured the sweet jasmine tea into my tea cup and instantly tasted it.
Jasmine, check. White delicate base with sweet notes, check. Hints of a citrus like tangerine flavor, check. Yep, check on all the flavors that were described. But does it taste good?
Oh yes it does. This is a sweet white jasmine tangerine tea that delivers a delicate sweet slightly floral taste. Exactly the flavor I was hoping would actually come thru.
I’ve been able to get another steeping out of these quality leaves and ingredients. Another winning tea from Plum Deluxe. Awesome job guys!