Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Aka Tea
Tea Description:
This tea is “mint” for you and me. Just sit back and enjoy life. Lighten the mood with the cooling breath of mint. Take a sip and imagine yourself breathing in a fresh spring breeze. Mint for You- A wonderful ratio blend between Peppermint and Spearmint.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love finding new tea companies that have blends that are catchy and delicious. Since stumbling upon Aka Teas website, I have been in heaven diving into their tea line up. I’ve tried their Caramel Apple Green Tea and that was incredible. Tasted just like one of those Caramel Apple Pops I had when I was a teenager.
Mint for You is another fantastic quality tea that I’m just going crazy over. Fresh peppermint and spearmint. A great tea to enjoy hot or as an iced tea. I am enjoying this one as an iced tea. The adjective that keeps coming up in my head to describe this blend is fresh. Like the you just cut this from your herb garden kind of fresh.
What I love to do is take herbal mint teas and mix them up with teas in my stash that I may not quite enjoy. For instance, I had an black flavored strawberry tea that wasn’t something I really enjoyed on its own. Too astringent. I threw some of this herbal mint blend in and I have a fantastic Strawberry Mint tea.
Super happy with this versatile blend and can’t wait to experiment more with it!
Hydrate from Yellowstone Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/White
Where to Buy: Yellowstone Tea Company
Tea Description:
Hydrate is a blend is a rich blend of green tea and white, making this blend high in minerals that fortify the skin and help sustain health and hydration.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been in a green tea drinking mood lately. Some of have been good. Some not so much. This particular blend was a hit with me.
Hydrate is a blend of green and white tea from Yellowstone Tea Company, a tea shop I found on Etsy. They have a wide variety of teas and when I saw this blend online, I just had to try it. The picture on the website looks very nice but looks like a blend I’ve seen on other sites. When this tea arrived, I had to do a double take. This tea blend is vibrant and gorgeous! The goji berries popped with a red color and the cornflower had such a deep blue. I couldn’t get over how fantastic and fresh looking this tea appeared. The chunks of fruit were just as impressive. Huge chunks of papaya and orange peel. I was taken with this tea at first sight.
I brewed this blend up like a green tea. As I look more at the ingredients, there is also oolong tea in this. I wasn’t sure which way to go with it so I decided to just go the green tea route. Let it steep for about 3 minutes in my tea pot while I worked away on a project. The smell was so inviting. Fruity goodness was cruising thru the air. One of my co-workers even asked me what I was eating or drinking. They couldn’t get over the fresh tropical like smell that this tea was creating.
I took a sip and BLAM-O! I was hit with all of these fresh fruity tastes and such a clean green tea finish. I really only picked up the green tea which gave a slight earthy grassy taste. The two flavors really worked well. I couldn’t identify every flavor separately but together they created a delicious treat for this afternoon. The tea blend has a tropical like feel to it with the papaya. The ingredients for this blend also listed pomegranate- which was very subtle. I only picked up a slight tart taste.
My only issue with this blend is that there is stevia in it. I couldn’t taste the stevia until the cup had cooled off a bit, but after it did cool, the stevia was a bit overwhelming. I’m not sure how this tea would be cold brewed-but I would love to find out. My only advice with this tea is drink it while the brew is still hot. Letting it cool brings out a stevia flavor that many may not enjoy. Beyond that, I am really happy with this one and plan to pick up more. I love finding new tea companies and this one met all my expectations and then some. Looks like I have a new tea for the summer!
Exotic Floral Green Tea from Mela Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mela Teas
Tea Description:
Ceylon green tea is mixed with Sepalika flowers, a classical Ayurvedic ingredient, said to induce calmness and tranquility. Maintains all the health properties of green tea, with the added benefit and buttery taste of the Sepalika flower.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Ever have a day where it feels like nothing is going right? It isn’t like things are going wrong per say. Just that before you have one project finished, another one pops up and another and still yet another. That is my day today.
Every day when I come to work I bring a bag full of different teas along with me. You never know what kind of mood you will be in once you hit the office. My office has a full kitchen in it so I have lots of tea ware goodies. Today was the kind of day that I pulled out the big guns and went for a refreshing soothing green tea that I hoped when get me thru the rest of the day.
I reached for my sample of Exotic Floral Green Tea from Mela Teas. Their Colombo Garlic tea was phenomenal. I know, garlic tea. . but it was so very good. I had high expectations for this tea as well.
I steeped this beauty up per the instructions on the package- 170F-3 min. As the tea steeped at my desk, there was a light floral fragrance in the air. Not overwhelming, just ever so slight. Made me smile and I breathed in deep. Just knowing I was about ready to indulge in this tea made me start to relax.
First sip and I was gone. This tea has such a beautiful quality to it. The green tea is there with a slight bitter edge but it works well and counteracts the sweet floral taste. This blend reminds me almost of a tea you would drink while reading a romance novel or one of my beloved Jane Austen novels. Such a delicate tea all around. Not being a jasmine fan, I really wasn’t sure what I would think of this tea. Before I knew it, my tea cup was empty and I needed more.
This tea is subtle with just the right amount of floral and natural flavors that create a soothing and relaxing atmosphere. I literally have papers all over my desk but I am not freaking out in the slightest. This tea came to my rescue!
Anniversary Blend from Tozy Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Tozy
Tea Description:
Celebrating Tozy Tea’s anniversary, this wonderful black tea blend features a smokiness and hints of caramel and vanilla.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love teas with a convenience factor to them. Prepping loose leaf tea is something I’m now used to and have worked that into my everyday. But there are some days that I don’t have time to boil the water, steep the tea, and pour it into my travel mug. Sometimes I just need to throw in some tea and go. I don’t yet have a travel mug that would steep the tea as I take on my daily grind. I need to look into getting one. But until I do I have this gem.
This tea has a slightly smokey black base finish with sweet caramel and vanilla notes in each and every sip. There are slight notes of tobacco, but very slight. I actually am surprised this tea sachet can pack this much flavor. I’ve had a few other offerings from Tozy Tea and this one ranks right up there with their Cherry Blossom, which I adore!
As this one cools, the flavors just continue to grow stronger. I even tried making this into an iced tea and the results were very similar. The only difference is the caramel and vanilla notes were more pronounced.
I think overall I preferred this one brewed hot. The tea gave me that warm and cozy feeling that a good tea will give you. I instantly wanted to curl up with a book and this cuppa. This particular tea sachet has such a simple yet delicious flavor.
Another winner from Tozy Tea!
Vanilla Spiced Pear from Urban Earth Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Urban Earth Teas
Tea Description:
This delicately flavored oolong tea blend combines the sweet flavors of pear and vanilla, with warming clove and cardamom.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I saw this on Etsy, I just had to try it. An oolong flavored Vanilla Spiced Pear. EEK! This one just had to be mine. So I picked this one up and a few other samples. I was very excited when this package showed up yesterday.
As soon as I hit the office this morning, I brewed this delight up. This smells fantastic. Think Vanilla Pear Candle with hints of Cloves and Cardamom. The cardamom is what I pick up the most.
So did the smell translate into the flavor? Oh momma. . did it. This is like a guilty pleasure. This is too good. All of the flavors are there. Vanilla, Pear, Cloves, Cardamom. . .and the best part. . you can completely pick up the oolong flavor so there is a bit of a vegetal finish to this. Sounds odd, but this tea really works. The flavor that does stand front and center is the cardamom but that could be just because I didn’t shake up the bag enough. All I have to add to the flavor of this tea is this tea is absolutely exquisite!
As wonderful as this tea is to drink, this tea is beautiful. There are huge chunks of pear, whole cloves, and whole cardamoms in the blend. You can tell this tea has been blended with care. I can’t wait to take this one home and try it as a latte.
The only bad part of this tea, is that the shipping is more than the tea itself. For a 10 cup mini the price is $5.59 but the shipping is almost $9. I know shipping is a big cost for companies and completely understand. Urban Earth Teas is located in Canada (I am located in the states).
So before taking the dive and ordering the 10 cup minis, I would suggest gandering thru the site and picking up a few samples first. I don’t think you’ll regret it!
(Edit: Second infusion was just smooth Vanilla Pear with very slight hints of the spices. Yum!)