Our Sister’s Thoughts:
Lemon-Lime Meringue Kukicha Green Tea from 52Teas. Just thinking about this tea makes your mouth water. I loved the original blend from 52Teas and honestly still have some. So I thought it was time to revisit the re-blend that was created earlier in the year.
First impressions-this tea has crisp tangy citrus notes that are crying to be a shaken iced tea. So that is exactly what I did.
I actually experimented a bit with this blend and tried cold brewing the tea a different way. I have a Grosche Smart Tea Maker and I love it. (Actually I have two!) They work really well.
So, I threw a few scoops of this blend into the tea maker, added cold water, and a few ice cubes and let the tea do its thing. At home I have very little free fridge space with having 5 boys with ranging ages in the house. So if this works, this could be a great shortcut to making cold brew tea.
Allowed the tea to cold brew for a few moments and took my first sip. Of course the tea wasn’t 100% ready but I was curious what the flavor would be like.
At 10 minutes: Brew came across as a subtle limeade. What flavors I could note where soft and gentle.
At 30 minutes: Tea was coming around. Lime flavors were stronger and there was a hint of lemon. Green Tea notes are starting to become pronounced.
At 1 hour: Lemon-Lime Green Tea at its finest! Ice cold and refreshing! The lime notes are the most prominent with a lemon citrus tang following. I can’t really pick up the kukicha green tea like I could when the tea was brewed hot but I love the rich smoothness the base tea adds to the iced tea. Absolutely delicious and refreshing.
I did try this blend brewed hot and I didn’t like it as much as I did as a cold brew. This is the way this tea should be enjoyed!
All in all, I think this experiment was a great success. This is going to be a great way to make cold brew tea while I’m at work.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description:
I was very excited when this tea won the vote for this Retro Monday, mostly because it was my first opportunity to blend with Kukicha! And after this very positive experience, I think I’ll be working with it again in the future!
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a lemon-lime meringue pie. My gramma used to make lemon meringue pies quite often, though and when I first smelled this tea, it brought me back to one of her delicious pies. The citrus is bright and I find that as I continue to sip, I pick up on more of the meringue flavors and even just a hint of buttery pastry.
The original description went like this:
This is a Kukicha green tea blended with lemon myrtle and natural flavors.
We’ve managed to capture the essence of a slice of lemon-lime meringue pie, with a light touch of pastry-like crust, lemon and lime and of course, the meringue. Those of you who have the opportunity to try this are going to be blown away by it. Don’t delay, it’s not going to last long.
This was one of my favorites from Frank’s teas and it’s especially awesome iced. I realize that it’s not quite iced tea weather just yet – depending upon where you are in the world – but you really should try some of this iced before your pouch is empty!
Taster size is approximately 1/2 ounce.
ingredients: kukicha green tea, dried lemon & lime segments, lemon grass*, lemon balm*, lemon myrtle*, lemon peel*, lime leaves, vanilla bean* and natural flavors*. *denotes organic
Learn more about this tea here.
Love Love Love from Harlow Tea Co
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: Harlow Tea Co
Tea Description:
Love, Love, Love Loose Leaf Tea
This caffeine free tea is a great tea for any tea drinker, someone brand new to tea or have tried it all.
Honeybush tea is vey mild, but gives great flavor without caffeine. Floral hints from rose hips, hibiscus flower, and lady’s mantle is balanced with the fruity aroma of dried plums.
Does not contain caffeine
Lady’s mantle is considered in many cultures to be used as a woman’s healing herb.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Honeybush and I have a love hate relationship. Sometimes I love it and sometimes not so much. I wasn’t sure what I would think of Harlow Tea Co’s Love Love Love blend.
First whiff of the dry leaf and I was greeted with a lush plum fragrance that I wanted to bottle into a candle. So very soft and romantic. This simple mixture yielded such an amazing full flavor, just like all of the other Harlow Tea Co blends I’ve tried.
Silky sweet notes combined with a deep plum jam note. Very soft notes of floral complete with sip with just small peeks of hibiscus. Each flavor does a great job of complimenting the others and no one flavor dominates. This tea is as romantic as you can get!
The perfect tea to end your day with. Soul soothing and one you can really curl up with. I’m in love with this blend! I haven’t had a chance to try Love Love Love as an iced tea or cold brew but that is next on the list. Another superb blend from Harlow Tea Co.
The Love Dalek Tea from Adagio Teas (Custom Blends)
CuppaGeek’s Review:
Love Dalek Tea (from Adagio Teas Custom Blend platform) is a blend based off of the Doctor Who series, one of my personal favorite. After taking a whiff of the dry leaf mix, you can almost taste a white tea flavor with notes of tart cherry and hibiscus. A great play on flavor-tart and floral.
Brewed up with water at 190F and allowed 3 minutes to steep, I was eager to take my first sip. In this blend it seems, black tea is king. I was eager for those white floral notes to pop out and play with the tart cherry flavorings added- but that didn’t happen right away.
At the very beginning of each sip, you know that the black tea reigns supreme. What I was hoping would be a lovely floral cherry tea with a slight astringency, turned into a heavy handed astringent hibiscus tea party.
But I wasn’t ready to just say, this isn’t my cuppa. After all, this is a Doctor Who blend. So I prepped a few more sessions with this tea. And Eureka! After third infusion I was finally able to pull out a lovely white tea astringent tea with pops of floral and cherry notes. Delicious and exactly what I was looking for.
So what are my final thoughts on this tea? As confused as the blend seems to be, I think there is potential. This may be a tea that needs a good solid cold brew to allow all the flavors an opportunity to shine. I’m glad I have a few servings left to try just that!
All in all, I still love the idea behind Custom Blends from Adagio Teas. Drinking a tea dedicated to your favorite fandoms just gives one warm fuzzies!!
What to learn more about this tea?
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black/White Tea Blend
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Tea Description:
YOU ARE DALEKTABLE. YOU WOULD MAKE A GOOD VALENTINE. INFATUATE! INFATUATE! INFATUATE!
Ingredients: White Peony, Black Tea, Rose Hips, Hibiscus, Apple Pieces, Rose Petals, Natural Wild Cherry Flavor, Rose Flavor, Dried Cherries
Learn even more about this tea here.
Filthy Human Plant Juice from Geeky Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Geeky Teas
Tea Description:
Green tea, cocoa nibs, natural chocolate mint, and peppermint flavor give us a tea that well, tastes like a thin mint cookie.
Girl Scouts beware! I will fling my pig of greased up squigginess at you!
Now we sing the doom song
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Geeky Teas is one of my favorite tea companies to check out. I love the compassion for all things geeky that they embrace. They have been busy too with moving to a new location so I haven’t had a chance to chat with Donna in a bit. I do believe that Filthy Human Plant Juice is one of about 3 or 4 remaining tea samples I have left from Geeky Teas. Looks like I may need to order more soon. (I mean c’mon- there is a Deadpool Oolong Blend!)
So right off the bat, this tea has a dessert feel to it. The description on Geeky’s Teas says it best-this tea does have a remarkably strong resemblance to Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. And who doesn’t love a Girl Scout cookie?
Brewed with the packages recommendations-Steep at 180F for 2-3 minutes, I was literally drooling with the idea of this tea. I am not a chocolate fan by any means but I have always loved Thin Mints. Especially after having them frozen in a freezer for a few months and enjoying them on a hot day. There is nothing better!
First sip of this tea and I could see exactly what Geeky Teas was trying to accomplish, but to me, it missed the mark a bit. The green tea has a more vegetal feel than I had hoped. That could be from a oversteep. I was hoping for more of a buttery silky tone and texture. The chocolate and peppermint also didn’t quite sit well with me. The flavors didn’t seem to really mingle well together and create the palate refreshing notes I was looking for. This blend just really seemed to want to contrast itself every step of the way. Maybe as a cold brew, this tea would bring out the notes I am looking for.
Even tho this particular blend didn’t sing true with me, there are so many others that do from Geeky Teas. I love the combo of fandom and tea. Just makes my geeky tea gal’s heart happy!
Banana Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
From the 52Teas site: I’ve never had a banana Marshmallow Treat – I don’t even know if such a thing exists. A quick google search yielded no results that appeared like banana marshmallow treat squares but I’ll admit that I really didn’t look very earnestly for it, mostly because I would think that the banana would be too slick and slippery and wouldn’t stick to the marshmallow which binds the crispy rice cereal together. I would think that banana would really mess up the chemistry that goes into the crafting of a marshmallow treat.
Then again, since I’ve never actually had one (and thus, I’ve never tried making one) I don’t know for certain. Perhaps it could be made with freeze-dried bananas (like the ones that I put in this tea blend) without much trouble.
Anyway, that lengthy introduction is my way of saying that this tea wasn’t inspired by something I’ve actually tried but something I’d love to try should I ever be so fortunate to find such a confection. What inspired me is my appreciation for fresh, sliced bananas atop my crispy rice cereal. One day while eating a bowl of cereal, I thought, wouldn’t a banana flavored crispy rice treat be awesome? At some point very soon after that, my thoughts turned to tea (as they often do) and I decided that I MUST create a Banana Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha.
And so I did! I started with my organic matcha infused genmaicha and added marshmallow root and freeze dried bananas. It’s a cuppa yum!
Taster size is approximately 15g.
organic ingredients: green teas, toasted rice, freeze-dried bananas, marshmallow root and natural flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
52Teas has done it again! I mean where else can you find a banana marshmallow treat genmaicha based tea? This blend is exactly why I love 52Teas so much. Fresh fun flavors that you honestly can not get anywhere else.
Unique blended with green tea, toasted rice, banana bits, marshmallow root and other flavors, this tea smells like banana pudding right out of the pouch. I instantly started drooling. I couldn’t wait to brew this tea up and enjoy this treat!
Brewed up by the recommendations on the pouch, I found myself staring at the infuser, willing the tea to steep faster. Finally, the brew was ready and I allowed the tea to sit for a few moments to cool.
A lovely pale yellow liquor sat in front of me, smelling of toasted goodness and bananas. My first sip was this gorgeous toasted genmaicha flavor. The banana flavor was subtle and not as smack in your face as I thought it would be.
Second infusion and still the toasted genmaicha seemed to be the dominating flavor. The banana notes were there and seemed to be a bit stronger, just not as dominating as I would have hoped. So I went for a third infusion. VIOLA! There it was. A brilliant banana flavor that tasted fresh with hints of a toasted marshmallow. Exactly what I was looking for. The perfect combo of a fruity toasted flavor.
After taking a look at my infuser, I realized I probably hadn’t shaken up the bag properly when scooping out the tea. Totally my bad. Regardless, I’ve been incredibly happy since the first sip of this tea. I mean c’mon. . .Banana Marshmallow Treat? So uniquely original! Gotta love that!
Kudos 52Teas for another amazingly unique blend. I would tell everyone to rush out and get this blend before it is sold out, but I’m emailing 52Teas now to see if my wallet can handle gobbling up the remaining inventory!