Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Golden Tips
Tea Description:
Handpicked from the most delicate and tender portions of the tea bush, early morning and just before sunrise, this Okayti White is a class apart. The fluffy silver needles are manufactured to perfection and display an opulence only found in certain select White teas. The nose to the infusion is superb with a delicate character combined with grassy notes which follow sweet hints of honey. The liquor is pale and almost colourless. The flowery character in the flavor is extremely complex and perfectly fruity. With no grassiness at all, the flavor keeps on developing in the mouth once you keep rolling it for a few seconds till it peaks and flushes your mouth with a unique sweetness. If you love white tea, you should not miss this.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, this is a lovely white Darjeeling! It seems like the Darjeeling region focuses primarily on their black tea production, but I find that the white, green and Oolong offerings that I’ve tried to be just as delightful – if not more so! – as the black teas and so when I do discover a white Darjeeling like this one from Golden Tips, I’m a very happy sipper!
To brew this tea, I used my 2 cup teapot (it’s a little ceramic teapot) and I ‘eyeballed’ a measurement of leaves that is approximately 2 bamboo scoops. (These leaves are very fluffy and difficult to measure with an actual bamboo scoop. So I must imagine that my hand is the bamboo scoop.) Then I poured water heated to 170°F into the teapot, put the lid on the teapot and let the tea steep for 3 1/2 minutes. Then I strained the tea into my brand new mug that my daughter gave me for Christmas.
And ah! This is truly a delight to sip.
The flavor is delicate – it is a white tea! – but not as delicate as you might expect! This has a stronger, more assertive flavor than a Chinese Silver Needle, but it’s certainly not as assertive as another leaf type.
It’s sweet with a very pleasant, thick texture. The description above suggests floral notes, and I am tasting those, but I’m also tasting delicious notes of melon and sweet grape. The sweetness comes not only from these fruit notes but also a honey-esque sweetness. There is an enjoyable balance between the fruity notes, floral tones and honeyed sweetness and I like how these play on the palate.
And this is a white tea! That means multiple infusions!
The second cup is darker in color. The first cup was quite light, almost colorless! This time there’s more of a light yellow-amber color to the cup. The flavor is stronger too, but I’m finding that balance between the fruit, floral and honey notes to remain. Each of those flavors is stronger with the second infusion but the flavors are still balanced. The texture seems a little thinner than the first cup and the best way I can think of to describe this difference is that the first cup was almost “creamy” in the consistency although it didn’t taste creamy. The texture of this cup isn’t as creamy.
With later infusions, I noticed the flavors change a little. The honey notes softened somewhat and I started to pick up on distant nutty tones. The tea is still sweet, just not as honey-like. I started to pick up on orchid notes. I could taste floral notes throughout, but I couldn’t really distinguish the flower I was tasting and as I continued to steep these leaves I began to taste more defined notes of orchid and maybe even a hint of honeysuckle.
The grape notes started to become more wine-like to me, too. Like a gentle white wine, but not such a dry or astringent finish as I’d experience from a white wine. Quite lovely!
If you’re one who tends to avoid white teas because you find that they taste too delicate for you, try a Darjeeling white tea like this Okayti Silver Needle. I think you’ll find the flavor more pronounced and much more satisfying!
Queen Mary Black Tea from TeaLeafs
Tea Type:
Black Tea
Where To Buy:
TeaLeafs
Product Description:
Origin: India, Sri Lanka, Kenya – Ingredients: Luxury Black tea – Good flavor tempered with flowery character and malty notes. 50%+ Ethical Tea Partnership, 50%+ Fair Trade Tea.
Tasters Review:
It had been a while since I had a Queen Mary tea and the last time I was in the Buffalo area I stopped by my new favorite store front…TeaLeafs. It was just a quick stop to get more of their beloved Fig Formosa Oolong that both hubby and I LOVE. But I bought two other teas, too! This was one of them! TeaLeafs’ Queen Mary Black Tea is bold, a bit brash, malty, and a semi-crusty floral type flavor to it especially in the aftertaste. The more it cools at room temp – it gets even more malty…both in taste/flavor and texture. This is a beautifully bold tea to wake up to! This was VERY MUCH worth the drive – which for me – was about 2 hours!
24 Days of Tea Holiday Countdown – Day 10 from Teanzo 1856
OK, I can’t believe that it’s already the 10th of December! Sheesh! It seemed like this year disappeared way too fast.
For today’s artistic inspiration, I decided to show you a piece crafted by artist Sherri Auld. Like several of the other pieces I’ve shown you thus far, this ornament was part of a 12 Days of Christmas mail art swap I was involved in a couple of years ago.
The photo doesn’t really do this adorable little ornament justice. What Sherri has done is backed a metal cookie cutter with decorative holiday paper and she’s strung the cutter to make an ornament out of it. Then she finished the piece with a little snowflake embellishment.
I love the dimension of this piece. I also love the sparkle that the silver metal adds to my tree! It’s a fun ornament – something that would be awesome to make for that “little extra touch” to top someone’s gift under the tree.
Today’s tea is one that when I started exploring Teanzo’s website, I hoped that they’d include it! It’s YUMMY!
Signature Coconut Chai Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teanzo 1856
Tea Description:
Our Signature Chai has the spices of a traditional Indian Chai, with a tropical twist. With flavors of coconut and vanilla, this Chai is a real treat without all the calories!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I pulled the sampler pouch marked with it’s “10” label from my Advent Calendar box from Teanzo and flipped over the pouch to read the tea for today, I was excited! Coconut Chai! Oh yeah!
The dry leaf aroma is yummy. Strong notes of coconut with notes of cinnamon and ginger. It smelled warm and exotic. It smelled delicious!
The brewed tea doesn’t have quite as delectable an aroma as the dry leaf. The brewing process has brought these essences together and they’ve become more melded. I still smell a strong coconut note, but the ginger and cinnamon seem to have become more of a background note. The black tea notes have more prominence in the aroma of the brewed tea.
This is really tasty. I can see why Teanzo have chosen to call this their ‘signature’ blend.
Although they call this a chai, I would categorize this as more of a warmly spiced coconut tea rather than a “chai.” Sure, chai = tea but, when I say the word “chai,” I’m talking about a blend of spices that may or may not have been blended with a tea base (or possibly a base of rooibos or other tisane-type base). I’m talking about a heavily spiced drink.
If I were to blindly taste this, I don’t know that I would have declared it a chai by taste. It tastes like a spiced coconut blend.
But I’m just arguing semantics here, if Teanzo wants to call this a chai – they can! It’s a really tasty blend of black tea, coconut and spice. If you like coconut – it’s a tea that you should try!
The black tea is a prominent flavor – it’s a bold black tea! It has notes of malt. it’s a substantial tasting black tea. It’s got a strong flavor with notes of malt. It’s a powerful presence in this cup and it has some real gusto to it – this would be a great tea to start the day with, especially if you’re looking for a tea with some flavors other than your typical breakfast blend. The warmth of the spices and the sweet coconut notes will add just that change of pace you’re looking for.
The coconut is sweet and creamy. I like how I feel that slick coconut feel in my mouth when I take a sip, however there isn’t that oily taste to it the way some coconut teas can taste. It’s very pleasant. I like the way the coconut is accented by the warm, zesty ginger and the spicy-sweet cinnamon. These spices are not too spicy, as I eluded to before. Instead, they’re a warm, cozy note to the cup that reminds me a little bit of being at gramma’s house while she’s baking cookies. You know, that delicious smell that keeps you going back into the kitchen wondering what’s in the oven? Yeah, that’s what the taste here reminds me of.
It’s really a yummy combination of flavors and one that I’m really thrilled that I got to try. I’m really happy that Teanzo included this in the box! YUM!
Bolder Breakfast Blend from The Tea Spot
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black & Pu-erh Teas
Where to Buy: The Tea Spot
Tea Description:
This new American black tea blend combines bold flavor, rich color, & full body with hints of chocolate. This robust breakfast blend is made from our favorite strong black teas from high altitude estates in China, India and Sri Lanka. We have combined these black teas with pu’erh, an aged black tea from Yunnan China, and dark chocolate essence. This tea yields a rich, dark liquor and a warm, well-rounded flavor that takes very well to milk and even better in the form of a tea latte. The high caffeine content and robust flavor makes this the perfect tea to help kick your coffee habit!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve tried quite a few different teas from The Tea Spot, so I was kind of surprised that this is one that I hadn’t yet tried. I mean, it has chocolate and The Tea Spot seems to understand that more chocolate = better. Check out their Chocolate “O” and Chocolate Cherry Bomb! if you don’t believe me.
Since this blend has pu-erh in it, I decided to brew it in my Kati Tumbler so that I could do my usual pu-erh rinse. I heated the water to 200°F and added a heaping bamboo scoop to the basket. Then I poured the water over the tea, allowing it to steep for about 15 seconds, and then strained off the liquid, discarding it. Then I refilled the tumbler with the heated water and steeped for 2 1/2 minutes and strained.
Wow! This is an interesting breakfast blend and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s a very GOOD interesting!
What makes it interesting? Well, first of all, The Tea Spot has got the right idea by adding CHOCOLATE to a breakfast blend. That’s my kind of breakfast blend. They should just call this the Chocoholic’s Breakfast Blend.
But when they do that, they should also consider adding more chocolate. Not saying that this doesn’t have enough chocolate, because it’s a rich and chocolate-y flavor. But really, is there ever “enough” chocolate? That’s like saying there’s enough bacon on a BLT. Uh … no. The rule when it comes to chocolate is more chocolate = better. That said, this does have a really wonderful, chocolate-y flavor and it’s a strong chocolate note.
The second thing that makes it interesting is the base. The base is a blend of black teas and pu-erh. And it’s what the pu-erh DOES to this particular blend that makes it so amazing. (Yeah, I didn’t think that I’d ever say those words in that particular order in a sentence either.) The earthiness of the pu-erh complements the earthy notes of the chocolate really nicely – it adds depth to the chocolate. It makes the chocolate taste even better. And the presence of the pu-erh also adds a deep, mellow flavor to the black tea. It makes the base taste fuller and better rounded. It’s a deeply satisfying cuppa.
The black tea in this blend adds notes of malt and caramel-y undertones. The pu-erh adds an earthy richness without tasting too much like earth. I think that the pu-erh also mellows out the black teas a bit, softening the edge enough so that you don’t need milk and sugar (or honey) in this tea to reduce the harshness like you might in a typical breakfast blend. This isn’t harsh. It isn’t bitter. It isn’t astringent.
It’s just pleasant and yummy. And as extraordinarily yummy as it is, it still has that hefty flavor that you want in a breakfast blend. This still has that vigor to get you off and running. It’s a much nicer way to deliver that kick in the butt that you need. It’s like a best friend kicking your butt instead of a stranger. And at least this best friend will share chocolate with you while it’s kicking your butt.
And that paragraph qualifies as the most times I’ve used the word “butt” in a paragraph this year. I apologize if it offended anyone.
A really, really good breakfast blend. I don’t really have a top list of breakfast blends, but if I did, this one would be somewhere in the top three. Yeah, it’s that good.
Morningtime Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
We don’t have a catchy intro for this tea. But it’s smooth, jolting, and flavorful. We consider this tea to be our flagship blend, perfect for the morning. Extra-strong Ceylon tea, Chinese Dianhong Gong Fu and Keemun tea, and Indian Assam tea: three continents in your cup! This blend is part of the Original 20 M&K’s Blends.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! The above description suggests that this is a jolting blend, and let me tell you, they got that right!
I was happy to find that the sample from M&K’s of this tea is just the right amount to brew 500ml of tea in my Breville One Touch! I poured the sample into the basket of the tea maker and added the water and then set the parameters for 212°F and 2 1/2 minutes.
The result delighted my taste buds! This Morningtime Blend is a great wake-me-up tea. It’s a bold, rich tasting black tea. Full-flavored and well-rounded. The sip starts out sweet yet bold. I notice notes of caramel and molasses mingling with malty tones, earthy notes and flavors of stone fruit and flower. There’s a lot of complexity beneath that robust, jarring flavor of WAKE UP!
Toward the tail, I pick up on light citrus tones and there is some dry astringency at the finish. The tea isn’t bitter, however, I suspect that it could very well become bitter if the tea were oversteeped, so don’t do that. I recommend no longer than 3 minutes brew time for this tea and from there, experiment a bit and find that right time for you and your particular tastes.
Another thing that I’m appreciating about the blend is that it really is a blend. A culmination of the four teas used to create the blend: I can taste notes of malt from the Assam, a wine-like flavor and hints of smoke from the Keemun, citrus-like flavors from the Ceylon and a rich Chinese DianHong rounds everything out with its rich, satisfying flavor. I can taste each of the components but they unite in this blend so well that it becomes almost seamless.
A really lovely breakfast blend type tea. It would take the additions of milk and honey well, but I like it straight up! It’s got just a little bit of edge to it that I like, but it isn’t too aggressive. It gives me the alertness I need and the smooth, rich, roundness I love from a well-crafted tea.
So far, I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve tried from this new-to-me company. They have excellent customer service – they promptly reply to questions and my order arrived very quickly. And I love these samplers!