Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yaupon Tea
Where to Buy: Cat Spring Yaupon Tea
Tea Description:
As American As Apple Pie is our comforting black yaupon tea loose leaf blend as delicious as a slice of apple pie. Take a trip to grandma’s kitchen with every cup.
Contains: yaupon tea, bits of dried apple, sliced almonds, cinnamon, beetroot and flavoring.
(Allergen: Contains Almonds)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Have you ever looked at a tea and went- yeah right-this tea isn’t going to taste like that? Well I did. I did with As American As Apple Pie from Cat Spring’s Yaupon Tea. I have had a lot of other apple pie flavored teas and for the most part, they just taste like a apple cinnamon flavored tea. They don’t deliver on the baked good flavor.
As American as Apple Pie reminds me of an yerba mate blend when I first looked at it. It didn’t have any other attributes like yerba mate, just the look. The smell was more reminiscent of black tea. This particular tea smelled amazing. Rich apple notes mixed with a baked good aroma that really captivates you. I couldn’t wait to steep up this tea.
Steeped up the tea per the instructions on the back of the package and took my first sip. I have to say I was taken back by how fresh and bright this tea tasted. It really does come across as apple pie!! Apple Pie with touches of caramel drizzled on tea. The notes of flaky baked fresh crust with apples that are spiced with just the right amount of sugar and cinnamon. There is a slight roasted toasted flavor in the background that really elevates every sip.
I highly recommend checking this one out. Yaupon Tea was something I had only tried a few times in the past but never had an experience like this. Take a moment and check out yaupon tea and then check this tea out. It truly is like taking a trip to grandma’s kitchen!
Orange and Papaya from Tea Shirt
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Shirt
Tea Description:
Orange and Papaya from Tea Shirt
Flavoured Green Tea
Ingredients: green tea (60%), lemon grass, apple pieces, freeze-dried apple pieces, orange slices, mango flakes, papaya flakes, flavouring.
Preparation: Use one teaspoon of loose leaf tea per person.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Orange and Papaya flavored green tea from Tea Shirt had my interest right away. I mean orange, papaya, and green tea? How could this blend be anything but amazing?
When I received the tea, I was surprised by how big the fruit chunks are in it.The picture is exactly what you get. Huge chunks of mango, papaya, and orange peel along with apple pieces. Really lovely to look at and amazing to smell. Very rich in citrus and tropical notes.
I scooped a few heap fulls into my infuser and cold brewed this tea. With how muggy the summer has been lately, I wanted this tea to be a nice iced cold brew.
I let the tea cold brew overnight and tried it in the morning. I was hoping that those gorgeous chunks of fruit and lovely green tea leaves would produce an amazing treat for my taste buds. And it did just that!
The green tea gives a lovely buttery base that the orange and papaya flavors compliment nicely. Each flavor takes its time in the spotlight and there isn’t one flavor that overwhelms. Simple yet lovely. Lush Orange notes mingling with the tropical hints from the mango and papaya. A really nice refreshing take on a citrus tropical iced tea for the summer or really for anytime!
Well done Tea Shirt!
Pomegranate Olive Leaf from Simpson and Vail
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Simpson & Vail
Tea Description:
Pomegranate Olive Leaf Blend from Simpson and Vail offers the perfect balance of tart and sweet meet in this all organic herbal tisane. It brews to a pink cup with a bold fruit flavor and a light herbal aftertaste. Delicious hot or iced.
Ingredients: Organic Olive leaf, organic green rooibos, organic orange peel, organic hibiscus, organic spearmint, natural pomegranate flavor, organic red cornflowers
Brew tea at 212º – steep for 5 minutes.
Certified Kosher. Caffeine Free
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Pomegranate Olive Leaf Blend from Simpson and Vail is a blend I’ve had my eye on for some time. Simpson and Vail is one of my favorite tea shops. They are a wonderful company to buy from. Their care and compassion for their customers shows in their website, newsletter, and how they interact with their customers. I just love trying out their teas! They always taste fresh and crisp!
This particular blend was one I had my eye on for a while and I just had to try it. The blend is different. An Olive leaf and green rooibos blend mixed in with spearmint and pomegranate. So just by the description alone, you can imagine a blend that totes notes of honey, sweetness, tartness, and mint. An odd combination to say the least but I have to say, one that works!
I actually cold steeped the tea in a mason jar so I could enjoy this blend as a lovely iced tea during the day and I can’t say I would try this blend any other way. The blend itself is a lovely sight that reminds me of wildflowers. The different pops of colors amongst a green base makes me think of wildflowers in a lush green park area. Serene and vibrant. Which is a great way to describe this tea.
This tea is an unusual blend for sure but a wonderful sort of unusual. The tea has a subtle grassy like flavor mixed with a sweet honey like note and a tart minty finish. Like I said, very unusual, but one that I am digging. As a cold brew tea, this tea is refreshing, soothing, and just what the doctor ordered on such a hot muggy July summer day in the Midwest.
Pomegranate Olive Leaf from Simpson and Vail is just another wonderful example of their great fresh and crisp tasting teas I just can’t say enough about them!
Carrot Cake Cheesecake Honeybush from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
In honor of my significant other’s birthday, I’ve created a dessert-y tea to celebrate two of his favorite desserts: carrot cake & cheesecake. I decided to use a honeybush base for this because I thought that the natural nutty flavor of the honeybush would work well with these flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
One of the reasons I love 52Teas so much is the unique flavors they have. I mean who else would create a honeybush based carrot cheesecake. . .and thank goodness they did!
This is a brilliant tea blend with all the cinnamon, carrot cake, and cheesecake goodness you can hope for and more. The dry tea blend smells wonderful and it is one of those aromas you want to bottle up into a candle. That aroma would be amazing closer to the fall season.
I am not always a huge fan of honeybush based blends. Sometimes I feel like they tend to be a bit more like my arch enemy, red rooibos, but sometimes they are done just right. This is one of those blends that is done right.
Prepped per the instructions on the package, this tea comes out perfect each and every time. I have drank so much of this tea that I have gone thru a few tasters and am currently on a larger size pouch of the tea. I’ve tried the blend hot, iced, and cold brewed. Here is what I thought of this tea:
Hot: This tea sings cinnamon with a sweet creaminess mixed in. There is a subtle nuttiness that you get here and there but what you really get is this gorgeous cinnamon flavor. Not too overwhelming. Just very soothing, especially as a late evening cuppa. Simple soul warming cinnamon. Perfect to curb those late night cravings.
Iced: Probably my least favorite method. Again, the cinnamon was there are prominent but there weren’t any other flavors really popping thru either. Everything just seemed a bit muddled. I was sad and was hoping for more of a pop of a dessert flavor.
Cold Brew: This is the ticket to this tea. Cold brew this tea and you will be greeted with a lush creamy sweet yet tangy cinnamon slightly cake like tea. Do I have you drooling yet? I was surprised by how well this turned out. I didn’t get the cheesecake flavor but I loved and adored the flavors that were coming thru. Really well done and I made a huge pitcher of this tea and it was gone in no time flat. Both my hubby and myself thought this was the best of the three experiments.
Even tho I never picked up on the cheesecake notes from any of the three methods, I still am immensely happy with the flavors I did get. Can’t wait to enjoy more cold brew of this tea blend when I get home tonight!
Midnight Melange Black tea from Plum Deluxe
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Green, Roiboos, Etc.
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Tea Description:
A fresh cup of curious delight, great for calm mornings or evening gatherings.
All Organic: Black Tea, Hibiscus, Lemon Peel, Rosehips, Rose Petals, Vanilla Essence. Has Caffeine.
Learn more about this tea here. Learn more about their monthly tea subscription plan here.
Taster’s Review:
If you haven’t tried or checked Plum Deluxe out, do yourself a favor and click on those links above. Plum Deluxe is one of those companies that just makes you happy from the start. I may not like every blend they create, but they always put 100% into each blend, truly care about their customers, and have even created an online community for their monthly tea subscribers that is extremely active. I don’t participate as often as I would like to but I always check out whats going on. They have swaps and lots of fun goings on in the group. So neat to see what Plum Deluxe has created.
I have been a customer of Plum Deluxe for some time. I enjoy getting my purple envelope each month full of loose leaf goodness. Like I said, I don’t enjoy every blend but I can always find someone to share the tea with. Each blend is gorgeously hand blended giving you all the lovely tea feels you can want and more.
This month’s selection is a black tea, which I couldn’t be happier about. (I didn’t see this tea listed in the shop so I think this might be a subscriber only tea.) My favorite blends that Plum Deluxe creates are black and green tea blends. Midnight Melange Black Tea is a lovely blend of lemon peel, black tea, hibiscus, vanilla, and rose petals. The pieces of lemon are huge and the smell of this tea blend is heavenly.
Prepped with boiling water, I scooped a few tsps into my infuser and steeped the tea for about 4 minutes. I didn’t want to oversteep so I played it safe in the middle of the suggested parameters. I allowed the tea to cool for a moment and took a sip.
This tea shines and is perfection! Lush lemon along with a sweet creamy vanilla finish. There are hints of a tartness here and there from the hibiscus. The hibiscus is subtle and completes the sweetness from the vanilla nicely. A simple yet complex tea all at the same time. Each flavor really shines and delivers a lovely and gorgeous finished product.
Can’t wait to try this tea as a cold brew. I’m hoping the lemon flavors pop even more.
Another well crafted tea from Plum Deluxe!