Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Grey’s Teas
Tea Description:
Our Afternoon blend – Well chosen China and Indian teas are blended to give a light, fragrant liquor with a little smokiness. Once you have tried it you will not drink an average tea during the afternoon ever again! Can be drunk with or without milk.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I first open a package of tea, I do what many of “us” (tea drinkers) do, I inhale deeply to take in the aroma. And when I did just that with this Good Afternoon tea from Grey’s Teas, I noticed a hint of smokiness and a rugged earthiness, evoking thoughts of the smells I might encounter while hiking through the woods.
After brewing, the smell that wafted out of my tea pot and now out of my tea cup is smoky with hints of pepper. I imagine this is what it might smell like if I were to burn a bunch of peppercorns and pine wood in the fireplace.
But the flavor is quite surprising, because it isn’t as smoky tasting as the aroma lead me to believe. Yes, it is smoky, but, it melds quite nicely with the rest of the cup and doesn’t stand out as strongly as the aroma led me to believe it would. I taste the faintest hint of pepper as well. This is a very robust, bold kind of blend – much stronger than I expected for an afternoon blend. Other afternoon blends I’ve tried tend to have a lighter taste, like a Darjeeling. This tastes more like Lapsang Souchong (or possibly a strong Keemun) meets Yunnan and Assam for a power lunch.
All that said, I find this to be quite enjoyable. Different than I expected, but still, I am enjoying it. The smokiness is not overwhelming, it manages to marry well with the other flavors of the blend to become part of the complexity rather than oppressing it to the point where the complexity is lost – if that makes sense.
And as this tea cools, I find that it becomes even more enjoyable. It’s not cold, it’s still hot, it’s just not straight from the tea pot hot. It’s had a chance to cool just slightly and I notice the caramel-y undertones emerging, and an almost creamy note also come forth, which is really quite lovely when it melds with the smoky overtones. It’s really wonderful.
This is a powerful afternoon blend – for those days that you need something stronger than the average pick-me-up!
Southern Boy Teas Series, Part 1: Rainbow Sherbet from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
About the Southern Boy Tea Line of Iced Tea:
While I thoroughly enjoy crafting a new blend every week for 52teas, and while I realize that my customer base is comprised largely of enlightened individuals who appreciate loose leaf teas, I also know that there are scads more iced tea drinkers out there who have no desire to be bothered with the intricacies of anything that’s not already packaged in a tea bag.
For that reason, we are now launching a new brand, Southern Boy Teas, devoted entirely to premium iced teas in tea bags. Someday, we would like to be the Jones Soda of iced tea, offering truly unique flavors and premium teas. To begin, we’ve created eight blends of unique and amazing teas, all crafted with the finest ingredients we could find.
Learn more about Southern Boy Iced Teas here.
Taster’s Review:
I ordered one of each of the new flavors to the Southern Boy Teas line, except for this one. This one I ordered two, because I wanted to experiment with hot-brewing vs. cold-brewing, and as this was one of my very favorite flavors from 52Teas, I knew I wouldn’t mind tasting this one twice!
The first time I brewed it, I brewed it hot, using a quart of boiling water, and steeping for 3 minutes. I then removed the teabag, poured the hot tea into my pitcher, and added another quart of fresh water, and chilled it overnight. The next day, I had a pitcher full of delicious iced tea that was refreshing and tasted almost like the Rainbow Sherbet tea from last year. Almost… but not quite. The original was definitely much more memorable … but I wasn’t disappointed, because this was still very good, and it got me to wondering how good the cold-brewed batch would be.
Cold-brewing is even simpler than hot-brewing with this tea, because 52Teas put them into large tea bags. These tea bags are very roomy – lots of space for the tea to expand so there’s no worry about loss of flavor. I dropped the teabag into my new glass iced tea pitcher and added 2 quarts of freshly filtered water, sealed the lid and stashed it in the refrigerator overnight.
The result: PURE awesomeness! THIS is the Rainbow Sherbet tea I remember from last year. Sweet and fruity, with a touch of creaminess… just as if I had dropped a scoop of rainbow sherbet into my tea and it melted.
Seriously, iced tea doesn’t get much better than this!
Craigmore English Breakfast FOP from Deckan Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Deckan Tea
Tea Description:
A delicious black tea from the Nilgiri Mountains of Southern India that is very fragrant, fruity and ideal through out the day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea surprised me a little. When I read the label and saw “English Breakfast” on there, I thought “ok, a breakfast blend, probably a blend of Assam and Ceylon.” I figured I was in for the “usual standard fare” when it comes to English Breakfast blends. But upon closer inspection, I noticed that this doesn’t appear to be a blend at all. It appears to be a pure Nilgiri, from the Craigmore Estate, no less!
And wow! This “breakfast” tea is wonderful. It has managed to strike that balance between an invigorating “get up and go” type of tea and a “slow down and enjoy the amazing flavor” kind of tea. It is rich and robust, delicious, malty, a little earthy, and possesses that highly prized biscuit-y kind of quality, but still has a bracing, stimulating effect to help wake and refresh you.
I prefer most of my breakfast teas hot, but I think that this would be absolutely delicious served iced too. When served hot, it takes the additions of milk (or cream) and honey (or sugar) quite well, but is also delicious served straight with no additions. When served iced, enjoy it with a sliver of lemon or perhaps a sprig of mint.
An unexpectedly wonderful English Breakfast!
Plum Spice from Kally Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Kally Tea
Tea Description:
Nilgiri region black tea, blended with cinnamon chips, to give it a nice spicy bite. But we didn’t stop there, give it a plum flavor to add a depth of fruitiness as well as safflowers to balance it all into a comforting aroma and there you have Kally Tea’s presentation of “Plum Spice”.
Ingredients: Black Tea, Cinnamon Chips, Safflowers, Cinnamon and Plum Flavors.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! This tea reminds me of the holidays!
It smells amazing. The cinnamon is very strong in the aroma, it smells warm and cozy! The plum comes through – although a bit more gently than the cinnamon notes – providing a sweet yet spicy, fruity fragrance that is absolutely enchanting.
The flavor is a bit surprising. After smelling all the cinnamon and fruit notes, I wasn’t expecting the first flavor to hit my palate to be that of Nilgiri tea! That’s not a bad thing though – not at all. After all, I’m drinking TEA … not fruit punch. I’m happy to be tasting the tea, and I’m thrilled that Kally Tea focused on the tea in this blend, and less on the flavors.
I mean, sure, the flavors are important, because if I wasn’t wanting to taste plum and spice, I wouldn’t have selected the flavor, right? I would have just purchased pure Nilgiri tea. And the flavors are there! The point I was just trying to make is that the tea is the main focus in this blend, and that is just how it should be!
After the rich, bold flavor of Nilgiri touches the palate (malty, slightly earthy), I notice the sweet, caramel-y undertones of the Nilgiri, and the delicious spicy-sweet cinnamon. The cinnamon is a spicy/sweet type of cinnamon, but it isn’t an overpowering flavor, so it doesn’t overwhelm the palate with spice. It is warm, comforting and delicious.
The plum comes through as a sweet-tart kind of plum taste. The plum notes hit the palate at about mid-sip, weaving their way in and out until the aftertaste, where the plum notes are strongest. I taste PLUM now. YUM!
This blend is nicely balanced with its sweetness and spice, and well-rounded flavor of the Nilgiri. Very enjoyable. I find it’s better to allow this one to cool slightly, as the flavors begin to pop about three or four minutes after I poured the cup. This one is also quite delicious iced!
Green Mashdana FOP from Deckan Tea (aka Deckan Coffee Co.)
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Deckan Tea
Tea Description:
Green tea from the Nilgiri’s of Southern India. Very rich in anti-oxidants with a smooth, subtle smoky aroma. Only use half a teaspoon per 8 oz cup of water and steep for one minute. Enjoy it plain with a squeeze of lemon drops, hot.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I opened this package and peeked inside, the tea leaves looked a little bit like a Chun Mee tea as well as a bit of a Gunpowder Green tea. If you were to somehow marry the two tea types, this tea would look like the offspring of the two.
It possesses a smoky aroma, a bit smokier than some Gunpowder green teas I’ve encountered, but it isn’t as smoky as say, a Lapsang Souchong or even a Caravan blend. The smokiness melds with the essence of the green tea leaves in such a way that it comes off as a savory smoke that is really quite enticing. The fragrance of the brewed tea is quite similar, but, it might even be a tad smokier than the dry leaf.
The flavor is incredible. It is smooth and sweet, but also quite savory. In fact, I’d say that the savoriness of this tea outweighs the sweetness, but, the way the two flavor elements meld together is really quite delightful. It tastes like a mild green vegetable that has been smoke-roasted, which brings out the sweetness of the vegetable but at the same time imparts a savory quality that tantalizes the taste buds.
It isn’t what I’d call grassy, though there is some characteristics of this tea that can be considered “grassy.” So to explain my position on it, I’d say that it is more savory than a sweet grass taste, and not at all that bitter green grassy kind of taste. It is an interesting savory grassy taste that is quite unlike anything I’ve tasted before. And I am really liking it.
This is a very different approach to green tea, quite unlike a Chinese green or a Japanese green, and definitely one that I’d recommend to those who like green teas and are looking to expand their horizons a bit.